Q:  I have been told that I need to do away with my "free" day and eat right all day, every day.... Is this true?

A:  There is actually a physiological reason to purposely overeat once a week - it may help convince your body that it is not starving.  Giving yourself a good feed once a week may calm that thousand-year-old encoded alarm inside your brain that goes off every time you begin to burn stored bodyfat for fuel.

Beyond biological reasons, there are psychological benefits to the free day that are even greater.  As adult human beings, we want to have some choice.  We need to know that we have some degree of automotomy, that we are allowed to make some decisions for ourselves.  We don't want to have a line drawn around us that says this is where you can and can't go.  And so in the Body For Life program, there is one day to have that pizza, ice cream, pie, chocolate and everything they want, you can have once day a week.  Some people call it the "cheat day", some people call it the "free day".    It really frees up the energy that gets bottled up during the week.

You don't want to set yourself up for failure.  If you say to yourself that you cant have  McDonalds, the first thing you will crave is McDonalds.  No one wants to play a game that he or she cant win.  That is why the BFL program works.

By having one day completely  to yourself, you are downright eager to start the positive patterns of action for next week.  This free day serves the purpose of reminding you of what you used to feel like when every day was a free day.  It can keep you in touch with what you're trying to get away from - the sluggishness, indigestion, and energy drain created by overeating and infrequent eating.

Remember, that if you don't to this as a life long change, than it isn't worth doing at all.  Changing your eating habits is not something you do for just a certain amount of time, it is the way you will live for the rest of your life!

Excerpt from Jan/Feb 2001 Muscle Media Magazine.