Here’s what fitness pros eat when they DGAF.
The idea of the "cheat meal" is an imperfect concept.
The phrase implies that when you eat stuff you really want to eat, you're doing something bad or wrong. But that's not quite what we mean here.
It's not uncommon for people who are in the health and fitness industry to stick to a fairly consistent diet — one that's aimed at workout performance and recovery or maintaining a certain body composition, etc. — and then every so often, take a break from their food routine to have a meal that, if they had it all the time, wouldn't help them meet their goals. Meet: the treat meal.
BuzzFeed Health wanted to know what fitness pros eat when they're throwing caution to the wind.
Here's what they told us:
Ice cream in a waffle cone with sprinkles
"This is real, artisanal ice cream from Salt & Straw, it's not some 'healthy' take on ice cream. If I'm going to have ice cream, I want the real deal. I don't have a specific timeline for when I have it — I may have it once a week or every other month."
—Erica Giovinazzo, registered dietitian, CrossFit Coach and manager of Brick Los Angeles
@saltandstraw / Via instagram.com
Pizza and wine and maybe dessert
"Every Sunday my girlfriend and I do a carb reload. Our most recent favorite has been the pizza at Marta. We get a bottle of wine and an embarrassing amount of thin-crust pizza. If we’re still feeling hungry we’ll walk down to Milk Bar and get some birthday cake balls and cookies. It’s not pretty."
—Rob Sulaver, founder and CEO of Bandana Training and founding trainer of Rumble Boxing
Courtesy Rob Sulaver
Pancakes with butter and syrup
"Pancakes are my absolute favorite go-to 'cheat meal.' There is truly something whimsical and nostalgic about sleeping in on a Sunday and making pancakes. I try to save them for special days or holidays as they aren’t nutritionally dense, but that’s what I love about them; the more butter and syrup the better!"
—Caitlin Krause, instructor, SLT (Strengthen Lengthen Tone)
Daydreamsgirl / Getty Images
via BuzzFeed/Food