A lot of people have questions about the "cheat" day. Lets say it is your friend's birthday one night, and you take her out. You naturally split a dessert after dinner because it is her birthday. However, you have to admit that you felt compelled to have cake with her because it was her birthday even though you didn't really want it. How do you handle the social pressure of not eating like every one else does when you are out and about?

The Answer: You are the captain of your own ship. You should never do anything that is not inline with your beliefs or goals. It does not matter what other people do, but that you do what you need to in order to be your best.

It doesn't stop there though! Because you hadn't scheduled out this dessert as part of your cheat day before you had the cake, you feel guilty about eating it after you ate it and decided to make the harmless dessert into a cheat all out binge night. Why not your figure, you already messed up the eating plan?

The Answer: Don't allow one hit of a fight to knock you out. When you see you have taken a wrong turn, get back on the right path. Going further down the wrong path will not get you to your destination any faster. Stop the downward spiral before the momentum builds too high.

In phase three of the guilt and pleasure mix, the plot thickens. Now you feel like you've just blown your entire week and will have to spend the next week training like a madman just to burn off all of the fat you stored on this one night. This feeling makes you want go for hours without eating just so you can burn off the fat faster (which is how you have dealt with binge/cheat nights in the past). Your weight goes down quickly when you do this but you know that this doesn't work for long-term progress and is counterproductive. There is always a rebound in weight that puts you at a higher number on the scale then when you first started. The real question for you is how do you make a "cheat" day into a day that doesn't take you off track or impede progress: a day where you don't feel guilt and have no reason to feel guilt?

The Answer: You have educated yourself and know that everyone needs a cheat day for sanity and to enjoy the finer things life has to offer. A benefit of this is a zig-zag pattern in your caloric intake that keeps your metabolism from stagnating. Trust yourself and your knowledge…trust me and my expertise and simply get used to doing the right thing.

Lastly, how do you stay patient once you are doing things correctly if you are only losing 2 pounds per week? In order to lose 2 pounds of fat, you feel you need to be so meticulous about your diet and workout very hard the entire week. You almost feel deprived because you are so disciplined. You only see a 2 pound weight loss per week and feel that this is such a bummer after all of that hard work and detailed planning.

The Answer: Two pounds a week is awesome weight loss by anyone's standards. This is a healthy and sustainable weight loss that will stay off for life and keep you feeling great. You have to follow the steps that need to be taken in order to acquire anything of great value. Things that last, take time, effort and planning to establish.

Everything that has a great payoff requires some sacrifice and your workouts and diet are the price you pay to succeed at creating a fabulous body. There are many people out there that are willing to sell you a quick fix, but quick fixes do not work. Quick fixes are the cash cows that companies use to prey on those that are in a hurry to get something for nothing. Hard work and planning are the keys to success when it comes to physical change. Once you reach your goals, maintaining them is easy…that's the light at the end of the tunnel.