As a fitness professional it’s my job to motivate and educate others on how to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle when it comes to nutrition and exercise and I try my absolute best to practice what I preach on a daily basis. I stress the importance of planning ahead when it comes to reaching health and fitness goals. I provide tips on meal prepping, how to make wise food decisions and finding time to fit in a quick workout even when living a hectic, demanding and stressful lifestyle. Because of this though I think my clients believe that I myself have the perfect workout routine and the cleanest diet and that I go through each day as if I were a machine that requires little to no rest and that has no tastebuds whatsoever. Well, to be brutally honest, I don’t have the “perfect” workout routine nor do I have the cleanest and healthiest diet. And I’m not a machine, I am a human. Therefore I do sometimes feel tired, bored and stressed which does sometimes lead me to miss the occasional workout or have the occasional slice of pizza or piece of chocolate cake. However unlike most fitness enthusiasts and workout addicts I actually don’t feel bad when I take a break from my diet and training. In fact I feel pretty damn good. And here’s why – “Cheating” or “Being Bad” on one’s diet, is in my opinion actually good for you!

First off let’s examine what the words “cheating” “eating dirty” and “eating clean” really mean when it comes to dieting. As a competitive bodybuilder I’ve done just about every single diet plan out there when it comes to trying to lose body fat while building and maintaining quality lean muscle tissue. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with dozens of other fitness competitors and athletes and assist them with their own nutritional plans. And I can tell you first hand that I’ve never once used the exact same nutritional plan for all of my clients, including for myself. There are so many factors to take into consideration when designing a solid nutritional plan for a particular individual which means that a generic one size fits all program will not suffice. Therefore the words “cheating” “eating dirty” and “eating clean” have little to no meaning in my programs.

Let’s say for example you are a naturally lean person with a faster then normal metabolism and your main objective is to add quality lean muscle mass onto your frame. Obviously to do this you are going to have to be in a calorie surplus. Now technically a calorie is a calorie therefore if you consume more calories, you should realistically gain more weight. Well, this might be true, but remember, your main objective is to add QUALITY muscle and not just quantity weight onto the scale. Therefore if you were my client I would have 90% of your calorie intake come in from whole natural foods sources such as quinoa, yams, oats, some fruits and lean cuts of meat, unless you’re a vegetarian, in which case I would have you consume lentils, beans, legumes, etc for your protein sources. The other 10% of your calorie choices I would leave up to you the client to decide. That 10% could be anything and everything. Dirty, clean, whatever you want to call it you can eat it.

I like to give my clients as much freedom as possible when it comes to planning their meals. I don’t believe in heavily restricting oneself when it comes to dieting. In my experience this only leads to eating disorders and establishing unhealthy relationships with food. This is why I, unlike most personal trainers actually encourage “cheating” on your diet every so often.

Now your definition of cheating might be different then mine. For me cheating on my diet is having something that I know is not good for me. Not necessarily bad for my physical appearance but more so for my internal health. For example, I know how bad processed sugar can be for the body. However I absolutely love homemade cookies and have no problem eating a dozen in one sitting. I’ve done this for years and plan on continuing to do this for years to come. And guess what? Internally, I’m pretty damn healthy and externally I look pretty damn fit and I just had my annual physical to prove it!

Now I’m not saying eating unhealthy, highly processed sugary foods and salty snacks is the secret to a lean, hard, ripped body. I’m simply saying that by incorporating a small percentage of these types of food into your own nutritional plan should have little to no impact on your physique both physically and internally. But only on one condition – YOU NEEED TO EXERCISE!

That’s right. It’s not all fun and games. If you’re going to consume food that you know is not good for your body then you better have a plan on how to get rid of it. And this is where exercise comes in. Whenever I have my dozen cookies or order an extra large pizza you better damn well believe that I’m using all those extra calories to my advantage in the gym the very next day. After all, if a calorie is just a calorie as most people claim, wouldn’t it make sense that you would have more energy and strength with the more calories that you consume? Well technically no, not really, but that’s a discussion for another blog.

At the end of the day I believe it’s important to be able to eat what you want and when you want it. However I also believe that’s it important to practice a little bit of discipline when it comes to your body and health. As a society we know that consuming too much sugar can lead to diabetes. We know that too much saturated fat can cause clogged arteries. And we know that deep fried foods and trans fats can lead to heart disease. But you can also get these illnesses from living a healthy and so-called clean lifestyle as well. Many illnesses and diseases are passed down through genetics and outside factors that we cannot control. However in my opinion if you supply your body with mostly nutritious foods and get plenty or rest and exercise your immune system will have a much better chance and fighting back and winning the ultimate award of living a healthy and immensely enjoyable life.

So eat your cookies, but just make sure to eat your broccoli and spinach first!

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove