Do you have a "cheat" meal?

ruthinator2009

To each their own. On Fridays I go out to eat with my family. If I know what I'm going to have for dinner (whether it's a cheeseburger meal or a quesadilla), I'll sometimes make sure I hit the gym early that morning so I can have a few spare calories if I need them.

Also, I haven't cut out the things I love...I just find lower calorie alternatives. Like instead of a large fry from McDonalds, I'll get a small.

A friend of mine, her mother, used to weigh around 400. She lost the weight and has kept it off for sometime now. And Saturday is her set cheat day. Although if you do decide to have a cheat day, just remember that it could slow down progress via not losing weight as fast as you want to.

I started my journey at over 300lbs. I'm now in the 230's. I tried cutting out potatoes and pop for a while...I lost a some weight. But since I deprived myself of it, I relapsed badly.

jillianedwards

I just fit it into my day, thin crust pizza helps! I get a thin crust dominos pizza with mushrooms and chicken it is quite tasty! Just enter everything in advance that way you can plan your other meals and snacks around it!

(Edited to add)

EXCEPT Chips mainly Doritos haha i can not let myself have those or i will eat an entire bag i can absolutely not control myself with those! Stupid tasty jalapeno cheddar...Now i just eat Quest chips if i want to have some chips

lemurcat12

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

Nope. I eat. Sometimes I indulge a bit. Sometimes I have treats. Sometimes i eat a little less. Sometimes I turn down treats. Sometimes I eat exactly what I'm craving. Sometimes I modify things. It's all part of "how I eat" aka "my diet".

This is basically how I look at it. I don't have "cheat" meals but I do have more indulgent meals from time to time. It's life; you shouldn't consider that cheating, IMO.

segacs

lemurcat12 wrote: »

This is basically how I look at it. I don't have "cheat" meals but I do have more indulgent meals from time to time. It's life; you shouldn't consider that cheating, IMO.

^This.

"Cheat" is a bad term for me for multiple reasons. It implies that I'm eating something I shouldn't, that I've somehow failed, that I should feel guilty. And it also implies a certain permissiveness that could lead to binge-eating far too many calories.

So no, I don't cheat. But I haven't cut out any foods or needlessly restricted myself, either. I eat chocolate almost every day. I build snacks into my plan. I've had days when I devote most of my calories to alcohol (e.g. a beer festival) or "junk" food (e.g. someone's birthday) and I certainly eat things like pizza whenever I feel like it.

I just make sure to fit it into my day's calories, and into my macros as much as possible -- though I don't stress about occasionally having days when my macros are shot. As long as the calories are on track and I'm getting my nutrition in, the rest is up to me.

No cheating. No guilt. Just food.

DonM46

Don't do INTENTIONAL cheat meals, but for special events, I relax a little. Anniversaries, family reunions, 'pot luck' lunches at church or the office, Thanksgiving, ... etc. I'll try to bracket those meals with a bit larger calorie deficit, but it's not the end of the world if I still exceed my budgeted calorie intake.
But I don't deprive myself of ANYTHING. Pizza? Sure, but only one or two pieces. Donuts? Sure, but just one. My wife's pecan pie? Of course, but just a skinny slice.
If you deprive yourself, you're more likely to binge when you DO yield to temptation.
So, eat the forbidden fruit if you want it; however, just a little (satisfying) bit.

SteveMFP123

I make homemade pizza every week, it hasn't hurt me. Just make sure it fits into your macros/calories.

Cheriesaurus

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

Cheriesaurus wrote: »

I USED to have cheat days (Resulted in me binging since I cut out so much), now I just have 2 meals a day of whatever I want and fit it in my 1200 calories goal.

This is where finding what works for you for the long haul becomes important. I could NEVER do what you're doing. Are you sure you're:
A: eating enough
B: eating food that fuels your body (micro nutrients/macro nutrients)
Just be sure you're not working against yourself/hurting yourself.

My diary is open if you're curious on what I eat ^_~ I'm not entirely sure if I get exactly enough of the right nutrients but I take a multivitamin just in case and I've had blood tests and everything is fine.

I generally eat a variety of food and I feel fine as opposed to other dieting methods like Low carb (Hard for me to maintain forever as I binged on carby foods later on) or 6 meals a day (Made me more hungry/strong cravings as it stimulated my stomach) However now I eat 2 nice satisfying meals at 600 calories each and not feel deprived as I did when snacking. I'm very sedimentary in general but I do go for the occasional walk or use my Wii-Fit which I do add in to MFP (Desk Job + Gamer after work = The struggle be real) I don't need so many calories for energy. I've been losing weight and I can maintain this way of eating for life unlike the other methods I tried.

catita1025

...short answer...do I have a cheat meal? No. Do I have a small snack every day? Yes. I improved my eating habits two years ago and haven't looked back. Why? Because there are medical conditions that run in my family. I'm dong my best to keep those at bay for as long as I can with good nutrition and exercise. That's incentive. Two years ago I was taking four medications for those conditions. Today, I take none of them. I no longer eat certain types of food because my system will no longer tolerate them. Seriously, I'll become sick. It's much easier now to make the choice to say, "No, thanks. I won't eat that." It's a process that you can learn. It takes times and repeated effort. It's worth it. Good luck and best wishes.

Sabine_Stroehm

mwm158 wrote: »

Food filled with sugar, fat, and salt!

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-food-addiction

Okay, so not "food" but food with ingredients you find challenging to control your intake of. "Fat" isn't a food. "Sugar" isn't a food...

Sabine_Stroehm

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

Nope. I eat. Sometimes I indulge a bit. Sometimes I have treats. Sometimes i eat a little less. Sometimes I turn down treats. Sometimes I eat exactly what I'm craving. Sometimes I modify things. It's all part of "how I eat" aka "my diet".

This is basically how I look at it. I don't have "cheat" meals but I do have more indulgent meals from time to time. It's life; you shouldn't consider that cheating, IMO.

Exactly. Indulgences happen. CELEBRATIONS happen. I strive for a diet that's nutrient dense, and then I know that life happens. Wine happens, treats happens.... And that's all part of life. That said, I don't eat stuff simply because it's deemed a "treat"...I make choices. Sometimes I eat the indulgent foods, sometimes I don't. I make choices.

cincysweetheart

Depends on how you define "cheat meals." Do I eat pizza, hamburgers, ice cream, etc? Sure. But I fit it into my calorie goal. I don't consider it a cheat. Do I have days where I go over my calorie goal? Sure. I still don't consider it a cheat. It's called life happens. I also have meals where I don't bother to weigh or measure anything or even log…. I simply eat what I want, moderating the best I can and I usually pick a random really high number and log it under quick add calories (such as Thanksgiving dinner). That's what I consider a cheat meal. So, yes. I have them on rare occasion. Rare being the key word. And while I do call it my cheat meal… I waste the grand total of ZERO seconds feeling the least bit guilty about it. And I get right back on track for the next meal… not the next day… the next meal! It hasn't hurt my weight loss one bit!

metalheadjessus

Of course you can have a bit of what you fancy, you most certainly will not have failed! However, what I've found is that I feel less inclined to indulge in something unhealthy that I'm craving because now I know what work goes into burning that number of calories off so I find myself looking for or making a healthier alternative. If you are feeling guilty about it, then find a healthier version of it: thin crust with veggie toppings (I love rocket and baby tomatoes on pizza!), homemade with a small amount of cheese etc.

Like someone has already said, don't intentionally make a point of having a cheat meal, but if you fancy it, or have a special occasion coming up then there's no reason why you shouldn't have it, at least you will have earned it, and there's always a healthier version, alternative or recipe.

Fayeworth

Sunday is supposed to be my "cheat" day which is when I have something sweet. Last night it was homemade mint chocolate cheesecake but I only had the smallest of slices, I swam for 45 minutes during the day but I still felt guilty all night afterwards. This is something I personally need to work on because you should be able to have a "naughty" food if it is within your calorie goal and not feel bad so I say go for it if you want it.

Davies_EL

Oh I definitely do... In the long run when you deny yourself something entirely you want it more, so once in a while I kinda... ignore the calories. I figure if I'm not doing it every day why the hell not - it's closer to a healthy diet long term to get into the mindset that you haven't completely failed because you decided that piece of chocolate fudge cake was just calling to you, or there was a very delicious cheeseboard right there and it would be rude not to.

You just, eat more veg the next day.

Also, 50% rule your cheats - eat half. Decide then if you're satisfied with that and would you be eating more for the sake of it. If you're not, eat half of what remains and ask yourself the same question. Critically thinking about what you're eating and how much really helps without cutting out little indulgences altogether. See: http://frenchwomendontgetfat.com/content/portions-50-percent-solution

natttynoo

Thanks for everyone's advice had two small pieces of pizza and it satisfied my cravings. I was within my daily calories and I worked harder today so not feeling guilty

segacs

natttynoo wrote: »

Thanks for everyone's advice had two small pieces of pizza and it satisfied my cravings. I was within my daily calories and I worked harder today so not feeling guilty

Yay!

Jimmyftw94

BBQ spare ribs

girlviernes

Another vote for no cheat meals. If you need to cheat that is a sign that this may not be something you can sustain for the rest of your life. I don't need to cheat because a) nothing is off limits, b) I can easily make adjustments to fit things in, c) this is the rest of my life so if I overdo it on food for a day or even a week, I know I will get back into my normal eating patterns and continue with weight loss.

Th3Ph03n1x

natttynoo wrote: »

I have just started eating healthy and exercising have had a really good 10 days where I haven't eaten or drank any processed/fizzy/unhealthy things.
I have woke up this morning craving pizza. If I have a pizza this evening have I failed or can I just carry on as normal tomorrow and have a cheat meal once a week?

You can make room for it in your calories. Or you can have a cheat/indulgence meal/day. hubby and I have one day a week where we eat what we want. Note we don't use it as an excuse to pig out we just eat more less nurtient dense/more high cal options and thus it ends up being more calories. You can also do things to make pizza healthier. I'm dying to try a pizza sub with zucchini crust. I like pizza and i love zucchini win/win.