The Real Costs of Cheating on the ITG Diet Plan

I was on the ITG Diet Plan about a year ago and I lost 50+ lbs.  That was pretty amazing, but I could have done better.

How could I have done better?  By not cheating, that’s how.  Oh, I didn’t cheat big, but I still cheated.  I didn’t think it was a big deal, because I was still eating so much better than I did in the past.  But I wasn’t 100% compliant with the diet, so I was cheating.  The thing is, I was only cheating myself.

So, is it ok to cheat?  That depends.  You have to answer that question for yourself.  Before you can answer that question, you have to understand the real costs of cheating.

If you cheat one day on the diet, you might think to yourself, “I’ve lost a day on the diet, but that isn’t so bad.”  Not true.  First of all, you lost that day, but you also lost the “momentum” of the progress you made up to that point.  If you get back on track immediately, then you will take at least one more day of compliance to get back to where you were before you cheated.  It’s like climbing a hill on a bicycle.  If you stop pedaling for a period of time, you’re going to roll backward.  You will have lost ground, and it will take an equal period of time, or more, to gain back the ground you lost.  So, one day of cheating will cost you at least two days.  In that week, instead of 7 days of progress, you will have only 5.  Think about it.

Next, if you cheat a little on the ITG Diet Plan you will still lose weight.  That’s a good thing, right?  Well, yes and no.  Yes, because your objective is to lose weight, and that’s good.  But when you cheat, your pancreas has to work overtime again.  Remember, weight loss is one of our goals, but equally important is to get our bodies functioning in a healthy state, and a healthy pancreas is essential to that. 

From a psychological viewpoint, if you cheat and still make progress, you may think it is ok to cheat since there were no consequences.  Next time it will be easier to cheat again, and perhaps you will cheat for two days instead of one.   But there are consequences.  You didn’t make as much progress as you could have.

On the other side of the argument, if you absolutely have to have that one day of cheating as a “reward” or you can’t stay on the ITG Diet Plan, well the obvious choice is to cheat.

So, is it ok to cheat?  You’ll have to make the decision for yourself.  Think about it and weigh the consequences.  Just remember: when you cheat, you’re not cheating anyone but yourself.

By Tom Ferguson