Cheat Meal Practice?

JaydeSkye

Those of you who follow the practice of eating a Cheat Meal, how do you do it?

Do you eat one cheat meal per week? More or less frequent? Are there stipulations to "when" you can have a cheat meal? (Based on weight loss, maintenance, weekly calorie goals? etc.) Also, do you workout on the day of your Cheat Meal, or do you save it for your rest day? Are there any foods that are always "off limits" or does anything go on a Cheat Meal?

I am just curious to hear about the experiences of people who eat a Cheat Meal. Does it help you stay focused and on track, does it make you crave foods more? Has it been a positive or negative experience? Thanks

lisalooleeli

I have a cheat day, I plan to have them when I am going out with friends or family. Other times I may have a cheat meal, is when my calories are too low for the day so, I will have something to boost the calories up. I hope my haphazard way shed a lil light.

jamie_reynolds

i know i'm going to consume more on the weekend nights, so i exercise longer during those days and consider extra unused calories from the rest of the week as extra calories for the weekend. i look at meeting my weekly goal as opposed to a daily goal.

panda4153

I try to save mine for special occasions, those can be far apart, or in some cases close together. For example Easter, was a cheat day for me, it will be my only day in April, but in May I will probably have a few, Mothers Day, my Daughters Birthday, and maybe memorial day if we have a BBQ. I try to remind myself the rest of the time of when that day is coming up, and to stay on track the rest of the time.

Londonette

I workout everyday apart from Saturday's and this has been my rest day and cheat day for years now. I can't eat "bad" food when I am training as this can't help with my performance. Also a cheat meal doesn't new a cheat day. I authorise myself to eat anything (of course in normal proportion) so for example this will be mc do + ice cream or nice meal cooked at home with cheese, a nice sauce etc. also this is the only moment I drink alcohol (if I have to)... I hope this helps.
Also a cheat meal is almost essential as it will give a nice boost to your metabolism if you follow a specific diet during the week.

ForeverSunshine09

I have a cheat day every Saturday. I stay at or below maintenance. Nothing is off limits but, I don't scarf down like whole pizzas or boxes of pasta probably just half. My cheats are always planned aheaD of time. It has helped me because I can look forward to things I don't eat or the volume during the week. I still have little treats every day but, 2 oz of pasta just doesn't cut it so I wait til Saturday so I can havs 6-8 oz.

Bugdude54

I do it randomly. Like if I'm at work and everyone wants to go out. Or if I don't feel like cooking. Random.

ndj1979

stop viewing eating certain foods as "cheating" and just eat the foods that you like and make sure you stay within your calorie/macro/micro target…

Life becomes easier when food is not evil …

just my .02

Cookiejo2270

I try to have a day each week where I can eat stuff that I crave throughout the week. I don't view the food as evil - just that it isn't the best choice. I usually eat pizza and drink wine.

ImmortalFire

I agree ^
I don't specifically have a cheat day or meal. I tend to have a treat once a day that isn't too over top like maybe before going to bed I'll have a chocolate chip cookie with milk of something. I've found that it works better than say one meal one day a week, as when I did that, I found that there would be weeks when I gave up because Saturday seemed to be a lifetime away. As long as my treats fit with the total calories for the day I'm all good.
If its a birthday or something, I'll plan a little more exercise that morning to make up for it, or maybe lay off the "daily" treats for a couple of days if I had a really huge sugar hit.

Everything in moderation is the idea

mmonaghan99

If I know I might be having a treat (for example, a slice of cake or some pizza) I try to fit it into my day without going over. I don't consider this a cheat as long as I stay within my calorie goal (even if I don't hit macros). I don't do this much, every couple of weeks or so. I have full blown cheat days on special occasions (like my birthday last week), and I don't even try to worry about how much I'm going over. I try not to do this too often though once every 3-4 weeks at the most. For me, a cheat day means I get to have whatever I want, so I would rather do them less often and really enjoy it. However, I still try to practice some amount of moderation. The first time I did one since starting my plan I went really overboard, like a full on binge, and I am not a binge eater typically. I think I just felt like I had to eat everything while I had the chance. Now that I know that I will be giving myself cheat days once a month or so, I don't binge because I know it's not like it is my last chance to eat unhealthy stuff. I will say that I tend to not feel so great after a cheat day, I get really bloated, so it's not worth doing too frequently. I'm still working out the kinks, but I feel good about it generally.

DaneanP

jmeprich wrote: »

i know i'm going to consume more on the weekend nights, so i exercise longer during those days and consider extra unused calories from the rest of the week as extra calories for the weekend. i look at meeting my weekly goal as opposed to a daily goal.

Same here.

rainbowbow

I have a cheat meal on friday nights. I usually go to some nice fancy restaurant.

I just fast that day and then have my nice meal that night.

Saturday i'm back on the calorie allotment.

eta: My training schedule is Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. So I have friday/saturday off from the gym. But having my cheat meal this way is the only way i stop myself from having a cheat meal to cheat day to cheat weekend.