Losing weight is an emotional experience.

You’ll probably experience every emotion across the spectrum (including a few that’ll surprise you).

Some, like fear, and guilt and shame, are unfortunately par for the course any time weight loss is involved, and one way those emotions can manifest are what I’ve come to think of as cheat dreams.

A cheat dream is where someone following the Code Red Lifestyle™ dreams they ate off-plan, or even dreams they gained a bunch of weight.

Cheat dreams don’t happen to everyone, but they are common, especially in people newer to Code Red.

When people who experience a cheat dream wake up, they’re pretty relieved it was just a dream.

But why did they have the dream in the first place?

No one can say for sure, but here are some possibilities, based on the experiences of Rebels who’ve reported having a cheat dream.

Fear of making a mistake.

When you really want something – such as to finally lose your weight and KEEP IT OFF – it’s normal to feel anxiety about doing things correctly, and to put pressure on yourself to do them correctly.

A cheat dream is one way the anxiety and pressure may express themselves.

Fear of failing.

Most people who’ve tried to lose weight and keep it off have failed multiple times.

That fear of failure may play out in a cheat dream. On the bright side, when you wake up and realize it was a dream, you also realize you experienced how horrible going off-plan feels, but without actually doing it. It’s motivating to stay ON plan!

Guilt and shame.

Like I said, guilt and shame play a huge role in weight loss. They’re often a factor in why we gain weight, why we don’t try to lose it, and why, if we make a mistake, we say “screw it” and go completely off the rails.

They can most definitely inspire a cheat dream, especially if you’re used to sneaking around on other programs and feeling guilty about it.

If you have a cheat dream, know that yes, it happens a lot.

It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you.

It’s just your subconscious mind expressing expressing itself. (And it’s sure as heck preferable to actually going off-plan!)