Dexter's cheat meals

[TVelinov]

So after winning AC this year, Dexter mentioned in an interview that he throws in a cheat meal everyday... I thought that pro's go for a cheat meal or day like once every month or so, this really surprised me. If you're having a pizza, a pancake or a freakin' burger everyday, wouldn't that affect your physique in a way? I know he has like 5 or 6 other clean meals a day, but this really shocked me.

[jaredlap]

Not really because his body composition is going to be determined by his net macronutrient intake relative to his energy expenditure, excecuted over a period of time.

If you took a prisoner in auchwitz and fed him a slice of pizza on top of his usual rations he would still end up looking like an emaciated skeleton.

[MillerTime07]

So after winning AC this year, Dexter mentioned in an interview that he throws in a cheat meal everyday... I thought that pro's go for a cheat meal or day like once every month or so, this really surprised me. If you're having a pizza, a pancake or a freakin' burger everyday, wouldn't that affect your physique in a way? I know he has like 5 or 6 other clean meals a day, but this really shocked me.

Its ultimately calories in vs calories out, so no its not going to have any effect. No single food affects your physique, its your overall diet.

[lotus_esprit5]

Shouldn't be (and obviously isn't) a problem for him as long as it fits into his allotted calories for the day. Plus I think Dexter has always had a pretty easy time staying lean, so while it might not be a good idea for everyone it seems fine for him.

[TVelinov]

So basicly if that last meal is taking him to his daily calorie intake it's okay to be a cheat meal?

[NVious]

Pros tend to be very ambiguous when it comes to certain parts of their diet all while claiming to be "clean eaters."

If you have a fast metabolism, are over 230lbs stage weight and doing who knows what...well we know what Juan is capable of, fitting in a 1-2kcal meal per day doesn't seem crazy.

[TTimmerman]

He probably needs to eat well above 5000kcal just to maintain weight... Not that hard to have 1 junk meal everyday with his metabolism

[Exane]

On top of the above, dont forget two important things, his genetics and his life experiences (i.e. diet history). He might look that way despite him having a cheat meal every day, not because he is having one. Also, his body just may be adjusted to having that cheat meal. Everyone is different and I fully believe how your body handles certain things/nutrients/cals/macros can fully be because of what you have done in your past. No two people are alike.

[Kulutues]

Dem Dexter cheat meals and Dexter cheat days....

Dex might have to hit up Dennis Wolf for some calf tips....that's just sad

[JaxVilleNick]

dexter lives here in my hometown and i know he frequents longhorn steakhouse around the corner for some good steak meals

[Big Slim DaDDy]

The rules of diet are a little different for IFBB guys who take so much creatine.

[MrDeafMuscle]

If you are concerned about how diet works when on, just go on and experience it.

Eating clean did nothing to solve the feeling of always being hungry. It is funny because it feels like it has more empty calories than calorie dense food.

However eating clean does not mean just meats and carbs. It is how you eat them imo. I do not know why people think pros do not eat fast food or pizza.

[BennyLuce]

OP, he was referring to his off season. He said he ate "clean" the entire year and had one cheat meal a day to stunt temptations of eating badly.

[BOUNTYHUNTERMK2]

He still has cupboards full of Hydroxycut from his MuscleTech days. That's how he can eat pizza.

[Ikatsu]

yall don't even understand the effects of that much roids. watch and learn

[GBLynden]

He is a freak on top of what is already mentioned. He has eaten chips backstage at shows and gotten harder when he was younger. Most others would suffer immediate damage for the next several hours to their physique. Not Dex though!

GB

[tom11]

So basicly if that last meal is taking him to his daily calorie intake it's okay to be a cheat meal?

"Cheat meal" is something that puts you above your supposed calorie number for that day. If he has 1.500 calories left to eat at night and crushes a frozen pizza to hit that number, then that frozen pizza isn't a "cheat meal".

[mike8190]

yall don't even understand the effects of that much roids. watch and learn

omg juan we caught you slippin...wtf you doin eating your pizza with a fork at 27:48? aren't you from NYC? If you were a member here id neg your ass.

[BackDouble]

There are a lot of bodybuilders who don't even count calories or only eat 2 huge meals a day and still look amazing. A lot of elite bodybuilders just want to portray this image of living an extremely strict, ascetic lifestyle to the public while doing the opposite behind closed doors. Especially with guys who have good genetics to begin with. It's funny because it's the bodybuilders with crappy genetics at the lower levels who actually work a lot harder to try to make up for their weaknesses.

[stealth_swimmer]

Not really because his body composition is going to be determined by his net macronutrient intake relative to his energy expenditure, excecuted over a period of time.

If you took a prisoner in auchwitz and fed him a slice of pizza on top of his usual rations he would still end up looking like an emaciated skeleton.

This. And he was talking about his offseason diet, not contest prep.

"Cheat meal" is something that puts you above your supposed calorie number for that day. If he has 1.500 calories left to eat at night and crushes a frozen pizza to hit that number, then that frozen pizza isn't a "cheat meal".

No, a cheat meal is something that isn't what you normally eat during diet. You're thinking of a "refeed day" which is where your day's calories (especially carbs and fat) are higher than your usual intake.

[weltweitefurcht]

The traditional reason for a cheat meal is in regards to the hormone leptin.

Look up how leptin increases and decreases in the body in response to dieting and over eating.

The cheat meal is meant to boost the leptin levels and continue the fat burning process. Leptin decreases with dieting generally.

Yes of course everyone will say they do it just to stay sane and keep them happy, but there is an actual scientific reason for it.

[weltweitefurcht]

Its ultimately calories in vs calories out, so no its not going to have any effect. No single food affects your physique, its your overall diet.

I understand why you say this, but I still believe that the food choices do matter. I think that maintaining low insulin levels is important and also raising insulin levels at the appropriate times is just as important.

Remember too that different protein sources have different amino acid profiles. For example, the leucine content matters in whether a food is extremely anabolic or not so much. Take whey protein versus pea protein. One has very high levels of leucine, the other doesn't. One increases protein synthesis much more than the other. Casein doesn't spike protein synthesis as well, but contributes to greater nitrogen retention over whey due to its slow amino trickle and reduced amino oxidation effect.

Or how about the MCTs in coconut oil fat that are more efficiently used as energy versus other fat sources. How may this speed up fat burning or be advantageous?

So in that sense, intelligent eating by picking the appropriate foods at specific times does have nutrient partitioning and protein synthesis advantages.

Putting more of your daily carbs around the workout time has numerous benefits versus eating them at night before bed for example. Raising insulin around the workout time can help with muscle gain, whereas keeping insulin levels very low during a workout can really eat into those stubborn bodyfat areas.

Foods that raise insulin dramatically WILL cause different physiological effects than eating foods that slowly trickle insulin... or not at all in the case of low carb diets.

So calories really aren't calories from the standpoint of how food influences hormones such as insulin, thyroid hormone, epinephrine, ghrelin, catecholamines, GLUT-4 receptors, etc. etc.and this does have an effect on the physique.

[tmorgan22]

I love when people say IIFYM doesn't work, you can eat tilapia and asparagus all day if you want, but I'm going to eat ice cream and stay shredded. As for Dexter, it is very simple, different things work for different people. And it is not the cell tech that allows you to eat whatever you want,its you metabolism and calories in vs calories out and how you personally respond to different methods.

[AnabolicAnimal1]

I understand why you say this, but I still believe that the food choices do matter. I think that maintaining low insulin levels is important and also raising insulin levels at the appropriate times is just as important.

Remember too that different protein sources have different amino acid profiles. For example, the leucine content matters in whether a food is extremely anabolic or not so much. Take whey protein versus pea protein. One has very high levels of leucine, the other doesn't. One increases protein synthesis much more than the other. Casein doesn't spike protein synthesis as well, but contributes to greater nitrogen retention over whey due to its slow amino trickle and reduced amino oxidation effect.

Or how about the MCTs in coconut oil fat that are more efficiently used as energy versus other fat sources. How may this speed up fat burning or be advantageous?

So in that sense, intelligent eating by picking the appropriate foods at specific times does have nutrient partitioning and protein synthesis advantages.

Putting more of your daily carbs around the workout time has numerous benefits versus eating them at night before bed for example. Raising insulin around the workout time can help with muscle gain, whereas keeping insulin levels very low during a workout can really eat into those stubborn bodyfat areas.

Foods that raise insulin dramatically WILL cause different physiological effects than eating foods that slowly trickle insulin... or not at all in the case of low carb diets.

So calories really aren't calories from the standpoint of how food influences hormones such as insulin, thyroid hormone, epinephrine, ghrelin, catecholamines, GLUT-4 receptors, etc. etc.and this does have an effect on the physique.

This.

[ArmyROTCCadet05]

I love when people say IIFYM doesn't work, you can eat tilapia and asparagus all day if you want, but I'm going to eat ice cream and stay shredded. As for Dexter, it is very simple, different things work for different people. And it is not the cell tech that allows you to eat whatever you want,its you metabolism and calories in vs calories out and how you personally respond to different methods.

I dont think people say IIFYM doesn't work.

I think the argument is, individuals who follow IIFYM probably won't realize their FULL potential following that style diet versus the traditional clean food approach.

[weltweitefurcht]

I love when people say IIFYM doesn't work, you can eat tilapia and asparagus all day if you want, but I'm going to eat ice cream and stay shredded. As for Dexter, it is very simple, different things work for different people. And it is not the cell tech that allows you to eat whatever you want,its you metabolism and calories in vs calories out and how you personally respond to different methods.

People can choose to do things any way they like. Do you take in protein during your workout? Maybe pre or post or intra? If so... why? Because studies show that is an optimal time to take it and there is an advantage. Someone can come across this post and say "I don't do that, it isn't important and I grow just fine without it". That is what your comment seems like to me.

In the interview with Dexter from two days ago, he said he used to eat anything and everything and it STILL worked for him, but now that he is doing things more clean, he is noticing a difference.. which supports my point.

I dont think people say IIFYM doesn't work.

I think the argument is, individuals who follow IIFYM probably won't realize their FULL potential following that style diet versus the traditional clean food approach.

Thank you Army, I have seen people make all types of progress eating anything and everything. I have a fast metabolism and I can get away with eating ice cream and pizzas etc... but I still believe the proper foods give me the best chance for success.

[Bankruptt]

Anyone else lol when Phil Heath and Flex Lewis call their sushi dinners cheat meals? Meanwhile at Morel's pad...

[etaskusut]

So after winning AC this year, Dexter mentioned in an interview that he throws in a cheat meal everyday... I thought that pro's go for a cheat meal or day like once every month or so, this really surprised me. If you're having a pizza, a pancake or a freakin' burger everyday, wouldn't that affect your physique in a way? I know he has like 5 or 6 other clean meals a day, but this really shocked me.

Total post : 46 nuff said

[mike8190]

Thank you Army, I have seen people make all types of progress eating anything and everything. I have a fast metabolism and I can get away with eating ice cream and pizzas etc... but I still believe the proper foods give me the best chance for success.

Not to mention digestive health (and whatever the fuk illnesses could be associated with that down the line) and cognition/mental clarity. I could stay lean eating whatever I want but there's more benefits to eating primarily whole foods/ non-preservative/artificial foods than being shredded. And if you eat "unclean" your whole life without experimenting to gauge how certain foods affect things like digestion, cognition and overall performance then you won't really know what's optimal for you.

[TropicalSunset]

Great point Mike. I always find it funny how people seem to TOTALLY neglect health in all of this. Its not all about being huge and ripped, you also want to be healthy and make sure that it is not affecting your health.

I can only imagine how bad the ungodly amounts of sugar Morel eats on his cheat days are, along with all the other stuff he consumes he shouldn't be.

IIFYM is in principle correct, but you have to keep in mind that it only deals with how you LOOK, not how HEALTHY you are.