Want to lose weight? Cheat on your diet

By Rory Evans

updated 4:54 p.m. ET July 31, 2009

No sweets, no snacking, no salt, no butter, no oil, no fun whatsoever — diets are associated with deprivation for a reason. Not surprisingly, they're also associated with a resolve that crumbles like a handful of potato chips in the face of temptation. Give in enough times, and you end up giving up altogether.

Here's the thing: According to the latest research on successful weight loss, we don't need to try harder to be faithful to our diets — we should be learning to cheat better. Forget drawing up elaborate, depressing lists of prohibited foods; isn't calculating exactly how often you can get away with indulging infinitely more appealing? “You can have it all — just not all in one day,” says Susan Roberts, professor of nutrition and psychiatry at Tufts University and author of "The Instinct Diet" (Workman). And she's just one of many nutritionists who have come to believe that this model — let's call it the Cheater's Diet — could change the whole way we think about what we put in our mouths.

Of course, there's being indulgent, and then there's being delusional — and even on the Cheater's Diet, there's a big difference between savoring a scoop of low-fat ice cream and “accidentally” finishing off the whole carton. Portion control and its boring cousin, calorie restriction, are still the cornerstones of weight loss. “It's just a matter of learning what you can get away with,” Roberts says. And yes, that might include a handful of chips.

The cheat: Snack smart
The mantra of the successful dieter should be “Eat early and often” (specifically, in 100- to 200-calorie increments rich in protein and fiber). Frequent snacks are, in fact, a key to weight loss, “because if you become ravenous, you're compulsive, you make bad food choices, and you give in to cravings,” says Stephen Gullo, a New York City health psychologist and author of "The Thin Commandments Diet" (Rodale). While there's no schedule that works for everyone, 100 or so calories every three to four hours should eliminate stomach rumbling. New York City nutritionist Lauren Slayton, founder of foodtrainers.net, likes high-fiber Gnu bars and dried-fruit-based Larabars, and cautions that whatever you choose should have fewer than 200 calories. “A lot of those nutrition bars are made for bodybuilders,” she says, “not for women sitting at their desks.”

The cheat: Eat — the right way
It's easy to stick to a diet — as long as you're not on a deadline, in the doghouse with the boss, or even just a tiny bit stressed-out. That's when the late-afternoon “vacuuming” can kick in (and not the kind done with a Dyson). Ideally, Gullo says, “you can convert your vulnerability into a virtue.” If crunching and chewing is what relieves the stress, he says, “nibble on broccoli or cauliflower or celery.” (For those who crave salt, he recommends pickled vegetables from Tillen Farms or 100-calorie Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop Light popcorn.) Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State University and author of "The Volumetrics Eating Plan" (HarperCollins), points out that “some people just need to get that oral satisfaction, and they can try chewing gum, which has been shown to reduce food intake.” Sucking on sugar-free candy might also do the trick, she says.

If the vending machine is your weakness, read the nutrition panel as soon as you fish out your treat, figure out how much of the package amounts to 150 calories, and wait until you get back to your desk to open it.

The cheat: Hit the hors d'oeuvres
“During the day, women can be good — almost too good,” Slayton says. They often abstemiously bank calories all day long in anticipation of later piling them onto their plate. “But then they end up going gangbusters — and can easily eat 1,200 calories at dinner, when someone not as hungry would eat much less.”

Sleep off the pounds Your eyes aren't the only things that puff up when you're exhausted: Your waistline might follow suit. Sleep deprivation, or getting fewer than seven hours a night over several nights, is often linked to craving sweet or fattening foods. It also causes a spike in cortisol, a stress (and appetite-inducing) hormone. Adding a few more z's, however, has recently been linked to weight loss, according to Michael Breus, a sleep psychologist, and Steven Lamm, a medical doctor. Their sleep-more/eat-less weight-loss plan stipulates that you sleep at least seven and a half hours a night, curtail caffeine after 2:30 P.M., and not drink alcohol within three hours of bedtime. So go fluff your pillow — and depuff everything else.

One way to avoid such a free-for-all at dinner is to eat a real lunch, preferably with lean protein and some vegetables. But the best solution actually sounds a lot like a riddle: “Eat before you eat” is Gullo's time-proven motto. That translates to having a prudent snack during that hang time (i.e., hunger time) between getting home from work and having dinner. Roberts recommends crumbling a little bit of intensely flavored cheese — such as Asiago, Parmesan, or Stilton — on a whole wheat cracker or a slice of apple. Gullo suggests a simple shrimp cocktail (about six shrimp), or vegetable slices dipped in nonfat (yet surprisingly rich and creamy) Greek yogurt — “anything that includes a little protein and has a few different parts,” which gives the impression that you're eating much more than you really are. Lisa Lillien, creator of the popular Hungry Girl website and author of "Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200" (St. Martin's Griffin), also prefers an assortment: “I always eat pieces of apple and a couple of turkey slices.” It bears mentioning, too, what she doesn't eat — or even keep in the house: any kind of chips. “If I start, I can't stop,” she says.

The cheat: Add an appetizer
Before a meal, fill up on salad, and by “salad” we mean predominantly leafy, green, and crisp, with vegetables — not a few hunks of iceberg under a mound of croutons, bacon, cheese, and full-fat dressing. Or, as Rolls puts it, when you think of salad, “pump up the volume — so there is a lot more food that's lower in calories.” It has its benefits beyond all the nutrients, considering that one of her studies at Penn State found that people who ate a large 100-calorie salad (romaine, iceberg, celery, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a little low-fat cheese) as an appetizer consumed 12 percent fewer calories of their main course than those who didn't. Roberts even suggests “sandwiching” a high-calorie, more indulgent food, like pizza, between two courses of much-lower-calorie food, like salad to start and then strawberries to finish. “The key is making sure you have at least one healthy thing — preferably two or more — at each meal,” she says.

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