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Ready to win your battle with the bulge? Try cheating on your diet.

In a new study conducted by the School of Health Sciences at the University of Tasmania in Australia, 51 men (ages 25 to 54) were separated into two groups. One followed an unbroken, calorie-restricted diet for 16 weeks; the other abided by the same meal plan but took two-week breaks during which they increased their calorie intake. To ensure they “dieted” just as long, the cycle was repeated for 30 weeks—AKA 16 weeks of total dieting.

As a result, the men who took a step back from their strict regiment shed more pounds than those who dieted nonstop. The reason? It all goes back to that caveman thing—or, if you want to get technical, adaptive thermogenesis.

“When we reduce our [food] intake during dieting, resting metabolism decreases to a greater extent than expected,” says study leader Nuala Byrne. “This ‘famine reaction,’ a survival mechanism which helped humans to survive as a species when food supply was inconsistent in millennia past, is now contributing to our growing waistlines when the food supply is readily available.”

So if you’ve been dying to cheat on your diet, go ahead — and if your exasperated wife says you shouldn’t be indulging, tell her science recommends it.

Meanwhile, whether you’ve lost weight or not, Garmany has all you need for the upcoming fall season!