Cheat days

beamer0821

midwesterner85 >> you are correct. just because you eat non-packaged food doesn't mean it will solve your hunger problems. its all about WHAT you are eating that makes you feel full, but also satisfies hunger. but NOT eating processed food is a start.

you should not be so hungry. eating well should not be miserable you should take a closer look at your diet and also check your emotions. are really hungry, stomach growling hungry or are you really bored stressed procrastinating <fill in the blank> think about it the next time you eat a well rounded balanced meal and are still hungry.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Yes, @beamer0821, I understand the differences between stomach hungry, mind hungry and heart hungry. I'm stomach hungry. My hope is that someday I will lose enough weight to get past that problem, but I probably won't. It doesn't help that I have some health issues. As a type 1 diabetic, I am unable to make insulin and that is very well known. What a lot of people forget is that I also do not make amylin. That affects hunger a lot.

cwolfman13

I maintained a very modest calorie deficit when I was losing...it was a mere 500 calories per day to lose about 1 Lb per week...I really didn't miss 500 calories per day all that much...I wasn't in misery...I never found the need to have a cheat day or cheat meal or whatever.

I also hate that entire concept and it just wreaks of a negative relationship with food. I most certainly had days when I ate over my calorie goals when i was losing...I didn't ever consider that "cheating"...usually it was a holiday or a special occasion...nobody gets fat because of a holiday or special occasion.

I've been in maintenance for over 18 months now...I eat pretty much the same as I did when I was losing...lost of whole, nutritious food...lean proteins, 6-8 servings of fruit and veg daily...whole grains, and healthy fats. The only difference is about 500 calories which generally just allows me a couple more beers in the evening or an extra snack that I didn't partake in while I was losing.

None of this should be miserable...if it is, you're doing it wrong.

beamer0821

ok well if you have other medical conditions affecting your hungry than thats one thing.
but for must of us being hungry still after a balance rounded meal seems like a red flag that something else is going on. i don't think its as obvious to people as they might think

Ruedora

The best way to fill yourself up on minimal calories is to eat whole foods. Fruits, veggies, lean protein etc. Make your carbs complex ones. Think sweet potato, brown rice, oatmeal and quinoa. They will not only fill you up but help with cravings. If I have something as simple and innocent as a piece of white toast with butter and no protein I start a cycle of poor nutrition decisions and find it very hard to stay within my calories for the day. If I lay off the processed foods like lean cuisines, white pastas, breads, rice, refined sugar etc and stick to whole foods, I can eat all day long, feel satisfied with my food and still have calories left over for reasonable treats. Some people do well this way and others like to have a whole meal or day where you let yourself indulge. I have to be careful doing that though because it is possible to undo your weekly deficit if you really go overboard.

ljashley1952

Bodies change over time. What worked when we were a little younger is no longer enough. There is no rule that says you can't enjoy a limitless day. In fact, you can eat what you want any time. The catch is that you have to either make up for it on other days or accept that your weight loss will be slower. I mostly eat what I want, but I cannot eat as much as I want. I practice diligent portion control because that is how I got to be 30 pounds overweight.

brittanyoneill37

I used to have 'cheat days' I intended to just have one a week, a Friday, but they usually carried on until Sunday night. Now I just eat at maintenance on a Friday instead so I get some treats but don't completely ruin everything. Allowing cheat days doesn't end well in my opinion you just end up eating EVERYTHING.

Liftng4Lis

I don't give up any food, you just fit them into your allotment. I have a treat daily and this is just part of life; like brushing your teeth.

NikiChicken

mblair4185 wrote: »

. All of those meals are frozen meals btw..tiny.

That's part of your problem right there! Learn to fix meals for yourself! Homemade food tastes MUCH better and you can eat a whole lot more for the same amount of calories!

Also, do not do anything to lose weight that you aren't willing to do FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE because, if you are miserable losing weight, you will NOT keep it off. As we age, it is natural to lose some metabolism and not be able to eat the same things and keep the weight off as you were in your 20's. That is life, unfortunately. So, the best course of action is to learn how to lose weight sensibly and by eating things you enjoy so that when you lose the weight you want, you can continue eating sensibly and keep the weight off.

Having said all that, one day of not counting calories or eating sensibly is not going to ruin a diet. You lose or gain weight by a pattern of eating. I've lost 85 pounds and am still losing, but I still manage to enjoy Thanksgiving, Christmas, my Birthday, etc. just fine. I do not count calories on those days. I also don't count on vacations. The difference now compared to when I was gaining instead of losing is that those days are one day only and I get back to counting the day after. Vacations are also only the length of the vacation and no excuses to getting back to counting when I get home.

gobonas99

I never have a cheat DAY, where I just say IDGAF and eat whatever I want. I sometimes have a "cheat" meal - and I put cheat in quotes because I still don't go all willy-nilly. I PLAN.

For example Friday is "date night" with the hubs. We go out to dinner almost every Friday night (the exception being if it is a race weekend, and the race is on Sunday...then we go out on Saturday night instead so I can carb load). We have a couple of restaurants that we routinely choose from, and I have a couple of dishes at each that I know are super yummy but aren't completely outrageous calorie-wise (though we're still talking about an 1000-1200 meal between salad, bread, and entree, since it's a restaurant meal instead of homecooked)....I just make sure I plan the rest of my day around that - a banana for breakfast, a salad with veggies and low-cal/low-fat dressing (usually 100-150 cals - LOTS of lettuce, which is basically a free food)...sometimes I'll even skip breakfast and just eat lunch. It depends on if I worked out that day and have extra calories.

For holidays, I try to get a workout in that morning - ie I run in a local turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning (usually a 5k...thinking about doing the 10k this year), and then head to my mom's for TG dinner. I don't deny myself anything, but I take small helpings and then if there's something I REALLY want more of, I go back for seconds of those couple of dishes. I only eat ONE piece of pie (or a half slice each of two different pies).

Christmas cookies are my weakness though. The Christmas cookies we make are ONLY made at Christmastime. So everyone tends to go a little crazy over them (mmmm...almond paste cookies...mmm...whiskey cookies...mmm...biscottis...mmm...grape-filled cookies...mmm...peanut butter cups....om nom nom nom nom). What I've found helps me is to not make any at my house. I go to my mom's or my sister's and we make them there....then I take a FEW home for the hubs, and the rest go in mom's or sis's freezer to be brought out after Christmas dinner. And if we happen to go to mom's or sis's for a family dinner before Xmas, you can't "sneak" more than one or two cookies, because they're frozen and you need to wait for them to thaw before you eat them! LOL!

It's all about eating in moderation (if I go over my calorie allotment for the day, I'm not over by more than 100-200 cals), instead "eat all the foodz" (a 3000 calorie day).

DeWoSa

gobonas99 wrote: »

I never have a cheat DAY, where I just say IDGAF and eat whatever I want. I sometimes have a "cheat" meal - and I put cheat in quotes because I still don't go all willy-nilly. I PLAN.

Totes agree. She's %100 right.

"Cheating" doesn't work with food. You can cheat on your taxes or on a test or on your spouse and maybe never get caught, but not with calories. Food in = energy. Either that energy is expended (normal activities, exercise) or it is stored as fat. There's no way around it.

If there were a way around, I'd be eating an entire cake right now.

tracie_minus100

My cheat days were turning into cheat weekends, and because of that, I was slowing my weight loss down to half a pound a week or less. (I'm obese, so that's bad!) So I had to rein it in.