Do you believe in having a weekly cheat meal? what's your reason?
kirzz92
Posts: 61 Member
As my heading states, what are your opinions on a weekly cheat meal?
I'm kinda leaning towards being pro, perhaps a nice idea for a sunday eve to end off a successful week of hard training and clean eating.
Where do you draw the line though?
What do you classify as too much of a cheat meal?
I'm kinda leaning towards being pro, perhaps a nice idea for a sunday eve to end off a successful week of hard training and clean eating.
Where do you draw the line though?
What do you classify as too much of a cheat meal?
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Replies
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I think the whole idea of "cheat" is putting yourself in the wrong mindset0
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No.
I try fitting what I want into my weekly goals. If it means going over a day or more, like on holidays or vacations, I can lower my intake to make up for the surplus.
When I was losing weight in an unhealthy manner, eating less than 1k (I did weigh everything), I had a cheat day at the end of the month where I ate whatever I wanted. I always felt sick at the end of the day.0 -
No.
IIFYM; hit your micros and macro goals while enjoying the foods you love.
I eat what I want... when I want.
I don't like having the mentality of "omfg it's Thursday time for some chocolate cake".0 -
No. Cheating on what? I pre-plan my meals. Some meals will be higher in calories than others, depending on what I have going on that week (events, social stuff, etc).0
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The OP managed to reference both a "cheat meal" and "clean eating."
There's going to be a lot of rustled jimmies in this thread.0 -
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No.
Having a cheat day will make you think and feel about food in an unhealthy way. Eat what you want and be reasonable about it. A cheat-day indicate that the whole day will be ruined instead of enjoying meals and the odd 'crave'. Good luck!0 -
No. I go by weekly calorie goals. If I go over on one day, I make up for it on another. I try to eat consciously, lot's of veggies and fruit, but if I fancy a burger or ice cream, I will have it. I see it as a "way of life" rather than a diet to quickly loose some weight. I have been maintaining successfully for many months now and for me weekly goals help.0
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I don't "cheat" and I dislike the word. I also don't like "clean". (LOL @kwtilbury ) "Cheat" infers that you're doing something wrong or against the rules and "clean" means something different to everyone you ask even if you all start out with "foods that aren't processed".
If you want to eat more on one day, do it, but don't think of it as cheating. Log it and own it. And if you feel the need to eat things you don't consider "clean" on your "cheat" day then you're doing it wrong. Eat now like you plan to eat for the rest of your life, just less calories. To do anything else is setting yourself up to gain the weight back later.0 -
No.
I love the diet I eat and don't feel the "need" for a cheat meal. If I want something off plan (birthday cake or something) I just eat it and go over a little that one day. It's rare for me because I hate the way sugar and heavy foods make me feel. It also sets me up for more junk food. You have to know yourself and whether or not you can limit yourself. If you decide to do it, I wouldn't go crazy--it would be easy to undo all your hard work.0 -
I believe that people do it! I don't, though. I want to be healthy and lose weight every day, not six out seven of them.
This is how I eat now, not how I'm trying to eat or what I'm doing for weight loss.
It works really well for some people and they should do it! It's just not my thing.0 -
What you consider "cheating" depends on what you think the "game" is.
For me the "game" is being completely honest about what I put in my mouth. Lying to myself about how much and what crossed my lips was part of what made me fat. Since honesty is my game, the only way I can "cheat" is to lie to myself about what our how much or what I eat and drink.
Even if I eat or drink complete nutritionless crap that sends me way over my calorie goal (which happens from time to time), if I log it honestly, then it's not "cheating" to me.0 -
I'm a "NO" too. We aim for healthy all the time and I have learned to have no guilt. If I decide I want a McD's oreo Frappe tomorrow...I put it into my diary first...and then fill the rest with lots of fruit, veggies, meats, etc to meet my calorie goal. I don't consider it cheating, I consider it life.0
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The OP managed to reference both a "cheat meal" and "clean eating."
There's going to be a lot of rustled jimmies in this thread.IsaackGMOON wrote: »
you guys aren't cool.. I'm not on these threads often, and have been going at my fitness goals on my own.... I didn't know how to word something "correctly" to people who I thought were friendly enough to have a discussion with me.
Thanks everyone else for your input! I like the idea of putting it in your diary and planning the rest of the day around it.
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My "cheat meals" are still foods that work with my way of eating but I tend to eat more calories. For instance, last night I wanted to snack, but my "snack" became large and included cheese, pepperoni, and macadamias with coconut. I ate more than I intended for that day, but I'm happy with what I ate.
I won't cheat with sugars or grains. At least not now. Maybe many months in the future when I have mastered maintenance and my health is great.0 -
My thoughts ...
If you stay within your maximum daily calories ... you are not cheating.
If you stay within your maximum weekly calories ... you are not cheating.
If you go over your daily maximum calories ... maybe you're cheating.
If you deliberately overshooting your maximum weekly calories ... you might be cheating.
Personally I prefer to think of those occasions NOT as cheating, but rather as planned breaks or celebrations.
I took a planned break for about a month back in June. It was great!! I was holidaying at the time too.
And I took a celebration day in late August for my husband and my anniversary. I only went over about 300 cal ... and I would have been within my weekly calories. So no worries.
Also ... I find exercise really helps too because exercise raises my maximum daily calories. If I cycle for 2 hours and burn approx. 800 calories, I can eat 400 - 600 of those, which means I can feel OK about going out for dinner and having something a little bit higher in calories. No cheating involved.
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My rules for eating are very strict to help me stay on my plan. I allow myself packaged meals, and arbitrary amounts of fruit or vegetables. This enables me to eat things I like (fruit and veggies) without worrying, and keep myself alive (via packaged meals) without overindulging. Also packaged foods are much easier to log accurately, as the number is right there on the box.
So by definition for me anything else right now needs some kind of exception - and I call that my cheat day. Language lawyers can go hang ... if you say I "plan" to binge once a week on whatever I happen to choose off a menu, I'd say that's not a "plan", that's a random act of calories.
On the cheat day, I am allowed to either take my wife out for supper (every other week) or have supper with my whole family (on the alternate weeks). So once a week, at a restaurant, I can eat 1,000 or 1,500, or even 2,000 calories, and know that it won't really set me back overall. You can usually see those meals out on my chart the next day, but overall the trend isn't affected.
Osric
[edit to add tracking comment]0 -
you guys aren't cool.. I'm not on these threads often, and have been going at my fitness goals on my own.... I didn't know how to word something "correctly" to people who I thought were friendly enough to have a discussion with me.
Thanks everyone else for your input! I like the idea of putting it in your diary and planning the rest of the day around it.
My comment wasn't a criticism of you, but rather a commentary the tendencies of the board...but I see how you could have taken it that way. Sorry.0 -
OP is this you in the photo? Are you trying to lose weight?0
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Where do you draw the line though?
What do you classify as too much of a cheat meal?
I would say that a "cheat" meal or day is one where you eat something you would not ordinarily do so on the dieting plan you have chosen (so if you are low carbing then something with higher carbs and so on.)
The idea is that is like a valve which you can turn on if you want to relieve any restriction you feel from dieting. It would be too much if it became a binge and resulted in a loss of control and / or your maintenance calories being excessively exceeded.
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No. You either eat a certain way or you don't. Why would you intentionally schedule to eat foods you otherwise wouldn't? I'm all for eating what is traditionally thought of as clean, but I allow for "life happens" moments without scheduling them. Just eat & move on guilt & stress free.0
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As my heading states, what are your opinions on a weekly cheat meal?
I'm kinda leaning towards being pro, perhaps a nice idea for a sunday eve to end off a successful week of hard training and clean eating.
Where do you draw the line though?
What do you classify as too much of a cheat meal?
I don't know what this means I don't restrict myself like that. There are times I might overindulgent in something and go over my calories but clean eating to me doesn't actually mean anything. There are times where I might have something a little bit more sugary like ice cream or cake but I'm never outside of my calorie goal when consuming those things0 -
I think cheat is the wrong term as well. I still call it that but my cheat meal is usually breakfast out and I am still very aware of what I am having and fit it in my calories.0
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Do you believe in having a weekly cheat meal? what's your reason
no,. its self sabotage of the worst kind0 -
No. You either eat a certain way or you don't. Why would you intentionally schedule to eat foods you otherwise wouldn't? I'm all for eating what is traditionally thought of as clean, but I allow for "life happens" moments without scheduling them. Just eat & move on guilt & stress free.
I know its the strangest thing huh.
sunday schedule
10:00 am rise
10:30 work out
11:00 eat an entire bag of doritos, drink a can of soda, eat ice cream.
12:00 healthy lunch
crazy huh.
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I'm ordering in a pizza tonight simply because I have a craving for it, not really eaten unhealthy in the last 2 weeks which is unheard of for me.
I'm not going crazy though it will be smaller than what I normally get, granted it will take me over the calorie limit but it's not the end of the world for me0 -
Yes. Its easier for me to stick to my plan by that. It doesn't mean i eat heavy dirty, but i eat for example more carbs than usual.0
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