Sometimes on the weekends, I'll go out for dinner and eat way too much of the wrong kinds of food. Would it be good to make up for it by skipping breakfast the next day and workout on an empty stomach?

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Michael Collins: No, you can't “make up” for a crappy meal by skipping a meal or two. The body isn't designed that way. You'll actually be digging yourself in a deeper hole by throwing your body's processes out of whack.

 

And as Eugene points out, you can't use exercise to undo a crappy diet.

Here's a better solution.

If you know you're going to go out for dinner, and you haven't yet mastered the art of control at the dinner table, you can reduce the damage in other ways.
 

1) Before going out to dinner, eat a small meal consisting of a solid source of protein with some fibrous vegetables, such as grilled chicken and broccoli. This combination will fill you up and satiate you so you're less likely to eat too much.

 

2) Snack on a green apple before going out. Green apples have a natural compound in the skin that tend to make you less likely to binge on unhealthy foods. They also contain pectin, which is a fiber that expands in the stomach, making you feel full. A client of mine had great results with it, as you can read in the Green Apple (Mini) Project.

 

3) Perform your most challenging weight training workout of the week a few hours before going out for dinner. An intense workout raises your metabolism for the next several hours, resulting in a lot of the food you eat being burnt off instead of stored.

 

This phenomena is called EPOC. Another benefit of a hard workout before the meal is that you can take advantage of the hormone surges, where much of the protein and carbohydrate will go towards anabolism (repair) and glycogen stores.

 

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 Michael Collins