"cheat" meals and "free" days.
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I've hated and never used the term 'cheat' day. However, I do SPLURGE on occasion.0
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I'm shaking my head at people thinking that having a slice of pizza and a beer is cheating. If it fits your calories, I fail to see what's wrong with it.0
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I find that the only way I can stick to my weekly weight loss goal is to track everything and in some cases this means pre-logging. Yesterday I was invited out for dinner by some friends and it was to an Indian restaurant. I didn't worry about it, just pre-logged what I wanted to eat the night before and that way I knew how much I had to burn off through exercise and how much I could eat before dinner time in order to be able to have that meal. This stopped me going over on my calories and meant I didn't feel that the diet had gone out the window.
In the end I had a starter, a main course (a dry tandoori dish with some sauce on the side and without rice or bread) and a couple of glasses of wine which I enjoyed, and I was full at the end. I stuck within my macros and the only sacrifice I had to make if you can call it that, was a longer workout than I would normally have so that I could eat a couple of hundred more calories than I would normally that day.
By doing this I don't think it's necessary to feel bad or to have a cheat day. I know that if I want to eat something I can do it but have to work the rest of my day's food around it.
Tomorrow I'm going for lunch at an Italian restaurant and I already know what I'm going to eat, but I'll pre-log again so I don't go over and make sure I stick to what I have planned to eat there.0 -
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My day off is every Sunday. Knowing that I can have ice cream that day, I don't feel so deprived during the days I'm working out and dieting. But, if I have calories left over during the week, I'll still have a snack.0
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I don't log my food on weekends or (major) holidays. (ie, Thanksgiving or a close family member's birthday, but not like... National Hug a Hamster Day)
I only have about 15 (maybe 20) pounds to go, but rather than aiming for a half pound a week, I'm set for .8 pounds a week, and that gives me a little buffer on the weekends. I don't go crazy on my off days, but it's more of a mental reset where I'll eat things that are a pain in the *kitten* to log, like a handful of crackers. Sometimes I don't want to be so damn anal that I weigh everything. Or if I'm at a party with friends, I'm not going to take my scale along. Doing it this way keeps me from being too OCD.
I've already lost 5 pounds this month, aiming for less than one a week. I think I need to up my calories a bit.
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I think my style is 80/20. Most of the time I eat well and on Sundays, our faith and family day, we have and old fashioned Sunday dinner and dessert. I try to keep to my portion sizes and act responsibly, while enjoying a "sometimes" food. It's how our family tries to be balanced.0
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I just wonder what you're cheating on? "Cheating" is an ugly word with a negative connotation. It's something surreptitious, sneaky, dishonest. It's something that makes you feel guilty and ashamed. I try to avoid any such association with food. If I want it, and it's worth either fitting into my calorie goal, or delaying my progress, then I eat it. No sneaking, no guilt, no explanations needed.0
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SnuggleSmacks wrote: »I just wonder what you're cheating on? "Cheating" is an ugly word with a negative connotation. It's something surreptitious, sneaky, dishonest. It's something that makes you feel guilty and ashamed. I try to avoid any such association with food. If I want it, and it's worth either fitting into my calorie goal, or delaying my progress, then I eat it. No sneaking, no guilt, no explanations needed.
From the OP: "I hate to even call them that; it's kinda implying you are doing something immoral and bad. Perhaps I should refer to this as "The days when I am going to eat things or portions I normally do not now.""0 -
No I don't, unless deciding to ignore my macro goals every so often constitutes cheating.0
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I have a treat meal now and then. I try not to do it more than once per week and I don't just stuff myself silly. Last time I had one I went over my net calories but I was still slightly under maintenance but as long as I stay under maintenance for the week I'm not going to stress over it.
I will log it so I know exactly where I'm at and if I need to adjust other days to compensate.0 -
I guess I don't really call it a "cheat" meal or a "free" day because if I decide to eat something I feel chunk full of calories I still log it and just have to deal with the consequences. I love pizza so when I am around it I find it hard to resist but I still log and keep my records. When I go over my allotted calories because I decided to eat more than I should seeing the numbers snap me back to reality if I going to maintain/lose weight I must eat right. Happy eating and enjoy yourself for a day then get back to your plan!0
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
I said pizza and beer... NOT SLICE of pizza and beer. Big difference between 1 slice and several slices with chicken wings or breadsticks.
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I have them once in a blue moon. Usually for holidays (Christmas) (New years) etc, or when someone comes to visit and we go out to a restaurant which would just be too hard to count calorie wise. I don't schedule them in though, otherwise I'll become obsessed with thinking about how much I'm going to stuff my face.0
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
I said pizza and beer... NOT SLICE of pizza and beer. Big difference between 1 slice and several slices with chicken wings or breadsticks.
A few people mentioned pizza (me included), but I didn't see anyone suggest eating a slice and a beer was cheating. Just curious what prompted that post.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
I said pizza and beer... NOT SLICE of pizza and beer. Big difference between 1 slice and several slices with chicken wings or breadsticks.
A few people mentioned pizza (me included), but I didn't see anyone suggest eating a slice and a beer was cheating. Just curious what prompted that post.
It was the pizza and beer comment. Both of which can fit in a day just fine as long as you don't go overboard... so I didn't understand why it was considered 'cheating'. Obviously if you eat 3 slices plus wings and breadsticks after a normal day of eating... then yeah.
But I'm not saying that it's wrong to go over either, heck I do it all the time and make up for it later. I was just trying to say that there's no need to demonize food and you can fit pretty much anything (to a limit, obviously) in your calories.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
I said pizza and beer... NOT SLICE of pizza and beer. Big difference between 1 slice and several slices with chicken wings or breadsticks.
A few people mentioned pizza (me included), but I didn't see anyone suggest eating a slice and a beer was cheating. Just curious what prompted that post.
It was the pizza and beer comment. Both of which can fit in a day just fine as long as you don't go overboard... so I didn't understand why it was considered 'cheating'. Obviously if you eat 3 slices plus wings and breadsticks after a normal day of eating... then yeah.
But I'm not saying that it's wrong to go over either, heck I do it all the time and make up for it later. I was just trying to say that there's no need to demonize food and you can fit pretty much anything (to a limit, obviously) in your calories.
Hmm, I didn't see anyone demonize food, suggest eating any food within limits was cheating, or even suggest that occasionally overeating was bad.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
I said pizza and beer... NOT SLICE of pizza and beer. Big difference between 1 slice and several slices with chicken wings or breadsticks.
A few people mentioned pizza (me included), but I didn't see anyone suggest eating a slice and a beer was cheating. Just curious what prompted that post.
It was the pizza and beer comment. Both of which can fit in a day just fine as long as you don't go overboard... so I didn't understand why it was considered 'cheating'. Obviously if you eat 3 slices plus wings and breadsticks after a normal day of eating... then yeah.
But I'm not saying that it's wrong to go over either, heck I do it all the time and make up for it later. I was just trying to say that there's no need to demonize food and you can fit pretty much anything (to a limit, obviously) in your calories.
Hmm, I didn't see anyone demonize food, suggest eating any food within limits was cheating, or even suggest that occasionally overeating was bad.
Well someone mentioned beer and pizza as a cheat meal. I just said I didn't agree that beer and pizza was necessarily a cheat meal.
Whatever else you got from my post, well, it's not really my fault.0 -
Gah. "Cheat".
Weekly context is everything.
I ate ice cream and about 1500 calories of "junk" after a hard weightlifting session today, and I'll be calorically flat for the week.
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Cheat meals are a must. However, what it important to not go off completely. I believe that you can and should eat the things you love, but in moderation!0
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