Cheat meal

dawndionisi

Does anyone have weekly cheat meals? I followed my diet all day saturday and went to olive garden for vday. Is that ok to do once a week?

bendyourkneekatie

There's no easy answer to that. If you can make it fit your weekly defecit, then yes it's fine, but that requires cutting calories elsewhere. Some people 'bank' calories throughout the week, others will eat really lightly/fast on the day in question, leading up to the treat meal.

M30834134

I dont.

I feel cheat meals are counterproductive to what I'm after - to learn portion control. A cheat meal could easily negate a week of deficit, especially if you are close to your goal. What I'm working on, instead of cheat meals, is to eat everything I like by planning it into my day. If I get an urge for a burger, I'll plan it for tomorrow and spread the rest of my calories accordingly. I'm hoping with enough time and practice I will learn how to to postpone my urges and make better decisions.

lucian_simion

I wake up , take my pills (fish oil,bcaa, lose weight pill, aspirin ) + coffee (no sugar no creamer) all you need is the caffeine. 10:30 am Hit the gym on empty stomach with strength training and I end it up with 10-15 min of hit cardio (always put your cardio at the end). 12:00 pm Come home have protein shake and that is my lunch. Between 12 and 5 I may have a snack like a protein bar. 5-6 pm I eat a big *kitten* pizza w soda and whatever else I feel like to eat. 8 pm I may get a cup of ice cream and the rest of the pizza w some wings . And that's it .
When you train in fasted state more calories you burn, because there are studies that show that early in the morning when your blood is clean and the insulin levels are low you burn more calories then when you are not fasting. So if you prepare to have a cheat meal on Sunday, make sure you stay in the fasted mode for at least 8 hours and you will be just fine. You will actually have burned more calorie in the first half of the day that you actually eat. I do this all the time and next morning I am the same weight. Some people will say that that is "completely wrong" or "that's not how you do it" , u Know what , let me tell you something. You are not going to loose any weight by exercising and eating right 1 day out of seven the same way like "eating 1 day junk and not exercising, will not get you fat. Exercise and fast for 8 hours and than have any cheat meal you want and you will be like nothing happened. Trust me.

HutchA12

lucian_simion wrote: »

I wake up , take my pills (fish oil,bcaa, lose weight pill, aspirin ) + coffee (no sugar no creamer) all you need is the caffeine. 10:30 am Hit the gym on empty stomach with strength training and I end it up with 10-15 min of hit cardio (always put your cardio at the end). 12:00 pm Come home have protein shake and that is my lunch. Between 12 and 5 I may have a snack like a protein bar. 5-6 pm I eat a big *kitten* pizza w soda and whatever else I feel like to eat. 8 pm I may get a cup of ice cream and the rest of the pizza w some wings . And that's it .
When you train in fasted state more calories you burn, because there are studies that show that early in the morning when your blood is clean and the insulin levels are low you burn more calories then when you are not fasting. So if you prepare to have a cheat meal on Sunday, make sure you stay in the fasted mode for at least 8 hours and you will be just fine. You will actually have burned more calorie in the first half of the day that you actually eat. I do this all the time and next morning I am the same weight. Some people will say that that is "completely wrong" or "that's not how you do it" , u Know what , let me tell you something. You are not going to loose any weight by exercising and eating right 1 day out of seven the same way like "eating 1 day junk and not exercising, will not get you fat. Exercise and fast for 8 hours and than have any cheat meal you want and you will be like nothing happened. Trust me.

Not this. You can over eat on a cheat meal and not lose weight, even if its one day. If you need a cheat day I would plan it to be maintenance and not over. You will lose a little less for the week but at least it wont set you back 6 other days. If you do got over you can either just move on or try to cut a little extra if you have room over the next week to cover some.

trjjoy

The advice from @lucian_simion sounds ill-advised.

Bank your calories so that you can splurge on a nice meal if you want to. I have banked around 700 calories in anticipation of tonight's dinner at the bf's brother. And I still managed to eat tons of sweet stuff yesterday while remaining under my calorie goal.

IncredibleShrinkingSandy

I gained my weight because I ate too much fast food. I am still addicted to it. When I started on mfp and losing weight I had a cheat day which more often than not turned into a cheat weekend. I still lost weight consistently for awhile. This was because I was under calories by 100-300 every day during the week. When I got closer to my goal this wasn't the case because being under calories during the week became a lot harder. I would spend the week losing what I gained over the weekend and repeat. I am finally getting out of that habit and being more careful on the weekends and it has made a difference in how quickly I am losing. The "plateau" magically disappeared when the weekend binges did.

M30834134

lucian_simion wrote: »

I wake up , take my pills (fish oil,bcaa, lose weight pill, aspirin ) + coffee (no sugar no creamer) all you need is the caffeine. 10:30 am Hit the gym on empty stomach with strength training and I end it up with 10-15 min of hit cardio (always put your cardio at the end). 12:00 pm Come home have protein shake and that is my lunch. Between 12 and 5 I may have a snack like a protein bar. 5-6 pm I eat a big *kitten* pizza w soda and whatever else I feel like to eat. 8 pm I may get a cup of ice cream and the rest of the pizza w some wings . And that's it .
When you train in fasted state more calories you burn, because there are studies that show that early in the morning when your blood is clean and the insulin levels are low you burn more calories then when you are not fasting. So if you prepare to have a cheat meal on Sunday, make sure you stay in the fasted mode for at least 8 hours and you will be just fine. You will actually have burned more calorie in the first half of the day that you actually eat. I do this all the time and next morning I am the same weight. Some people will say that that is "completely wrong" or "that's not how you do it" , u Know what , let me tell you something. You are not going to loose any weight by exercising and eating right 1 day out of seven the same way like "eating 1 day junk and not exercising, will not get you fat. Exercise and fast for 8 hours and than have any cheat meal you want and you will be like nothing happened. Trust me.

"Hit the gym on empty stomach with strength training - I guess some can do it, I read about it on the Internet, but I have yet to meet one in person who can put a decent weight lifting session in a fasted state. Cardio fasted for weight loss is excellent.

"always put your cardio at the end" - that just depends on your goal. If you goar is to gain muscles, doing cardio after your weight lifting will put a big dent into that plan.

When you train in fasted state more calories you burn, because there are studies that show that early in the morning when your blood is clean and the insulin levels are low you burn more calories then when you are not fasting - That's just wrong. What studies? Do you have any references? All you can do with fasted training is somewhat influence the source of the energy your body uses but your body burns the same calories for the same activity.

So if you prepare to have a cheat meal on Sunday, make sure you stay in the fasted mode for at least 8 hours and you will be just fine. You will actually have burned more calorie in the first half of the day that you actually eat - this just doesnt make any sense. Are you saying that a cheat meal can be effectively offset by prior fasting of 8 hours? How does that work? I could easily cheat at Olive Gorden with 5000 calories - how's 8 hours prior fasting would "burn more calories in the first half of the day"?

eating 1 day junk and not exercising, will not get you fat - you wana bet? One day junk food could very easily amount to 3-5k calories. That's a big chunk of calories. If your weekly deficit is set to 0.5 lb or 1 lb per week, that one day of junk food could negate the entire week of your deficit and then add some pounds. Do the math.

'Trust me. - I'd rather not. Sorry.

ElizabethOakes2

I don't 'cheat', but I do have splurges, and I bank exercise calories to use for them. Some people can't have splurge days because they find it really hard to get back on track (like my husband). It's all down to what works for you personally.

A funny thing has happened over the past six months though- I can't eat like I used to. We went out for Valentines Day to our favorite Italian restaurant, and I ordered the fantastic proscuitto fontina mushroom pizza. Time was, I could eat the whole thing. (It's a 12" meal-sized pizza). This time? I ate three pieces and was full. Our waiter kept asking if everything was okay with the food! I was guessing I'd eaten about a thousand calories... when I got home and weighed out the remaining pieces and broken down the ingredients? I ate about 500 calories and was within my daily caloric allowance.

Also, if I tried to do fasted cardio, one of those fat little jogging-stroller babies or someone's poodle would start looking really tasty. "HELP! TRAIL RUNNER ATE MY BABY!"

GsKiki

I eat what I want just careful about when and how much.
I don't like cheat days, but I do like to work my cheat meals into the schedule.
It's all really about what works for you.
I would advise you tho not to go super crazy on cheat meals and make them work in your daily calorie goals, or at least close.

debradugas9

I don't necessarily have cheat days it just happens. I fall and k get back up. It's been working great so far

kgirlhart

I don't really think about having cheat meals or cheat days. To me that puts me in the mind set that I am doing something wrong. Plus I don't want to reward myself with food. But I think it is perfectly fine to go over your calories occasionally. I eat out all the time. I just try to make what I eat fit into my goal for the day. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. As long as it fits in more often than I go over then I don't worry about it.

kgirlhart

lucian_simion wrote: »

I wake up , take my pills (fish oil,bcaa, lose weight pill, aspirin ) + coffee (no sugar no creamer) all you need is the caffeine. 10:30 am Hit the gym on empty stomach with strength training and I end it up with 10-15 min of hit cardio (always put your cardio at the end). 12:00 pm Come home have protein shake and that is my lunch. Between 12 and 5 I may have a snack like a protein bar. 5-6 pm I eat a big *kitten* pizza w soda and whatever else I feel like to eat. 8 pm I may get a cup of ice cream and the rest of the pizza w some wings . And that's it .
When you train in fasted state more calories you burn, because there are studies that show that early in the morning when your blood is clean and the insulin levels are low you burn more calories then when you are not fasting. So if you prepare to have a cheat meal on Sunday, make sure you stay in the fasted mode for at least 8 hours and you will be just fine. You will actually have burned more calorie in the first half of the day that you actually eat. I do this all the time and next morning I am the same weight. Some people will say that that is "completely wrong" or "that's not how you do it" , u Know what , let me tell you something. You are not going to loose any weight by exercising and eating right 1 day out of seven the same way like "eating 1 day junk and not exercising, will not get you fat. Exercise and fast for 8 hours and than have any cheat meal you want and you will be like nothing happened. Trust me.

I need my coffee to taste good so I always add sugar and cream. If this works for you then this is fine, but it seems awfully complicated to me. I never fast because if I do then I tend to overeat when I finally do eat.

OP you can ruin a whole week of staying at your goal by one cheat day. But you can fit eating out into your calorie count. You may just have to eat lower the next day or workout extra. And don't go crazy when you do eat out. There is no rule that says you have to finish your plate at Olive Garden. Eat half and take the other half home and have it the next day. That way you are spreading those calories out over two days.

murp4069

I'm in the same camp as a lot of others and don't designate any cheat days or even really cheat meals. I just try to make everything fit into my calorie goal for the day and for the week. If I happen to go over one day, I don't sweat it because I never allow myself to go over by more than a few hundred calories, which I can burn off with exercise or keeping my calories a bit lower for the next few days. Since I still eat what I want, I don't feel I need cheat days or meals. I also tend to keep my calorie intake a little lower during the week so I have some extra calories for the weekend, when I know I'll eat at least one meal out and therefore have less control of the calories. I still don't consider meals out "cheat" meals because at least for me, eating out is a regular part of life and I have to learn out to eat out sensibly and without complete overindulgence.

That being said, cheat days and cheat meals really seem to help some people stay on track. If it helps you, more power to you.

misty589

I'm doing it once a month. Just a meal, not a whole day, and not worrying about it. It helps me fight temptation when I have something to look forward to. When I get really close to my goal I may have to rework this strategy, but it seams to be working so far

lisamlinct

dawndionisi wrote: »

Does anyone have weekly cheat meals? I followed my diet all day saturday and went to olive garden for vday. Is that ok to do once a week?

Calling it a "cheat" meal is not a good thing. The word cheat implies that you've done something wrong, or something you are guilty of. If you make the conscious choice to allow yourself extra food/calories on any given day - then view it as that, you allowed yourself to exceed your daily calorie goal and enjoy it as an occasional treat vs. a cheat.

Is it ok to do? That's totally up to you. Realize that one meal out, especially in a place like Olive garden where you're getting processed white carbs with bread and high calorie sauces, may be a thousand calories or more for just one meal. You can always look at the online menu and view the calories of each item and pick the lowest calorie option in advanced. Being prepared is good damage control.
Skip the bread, not only is it high in calories, is also going to trigger cravings. Have a small serving of pasta with Red sauce - the cream or cheese based sauces are wicked high in calories, saturated fat and sodium and load up on the salad with the dressing on the side so you can control the amount. Drink lots of water before and during your meal.

If you do allow yourself an occasional treat, acknowledge the potential consequences in advance. The high sodium meals can cause a temporary climb on the scale due to increased water retention that Sodium often causes and you'll probably face a few days of increased cravings. Some people do have a weekly treat, but that's far different than an "all you can eat cheat day" Allowing unlimited calories one day a week might negate everything you lost the other six days of that week. You need to burn off or reduce calories by 3500 per week to get a one pound a week weight loss. For a two pound weekly loss you need 7000 less calories per week. If your cheat day/treat day each week totals an extra thousands calories, that's more than 4000 per month so you'll actually GAIN a pound that month, vs lose.

If you have a treat, keep it simple. Instead of a full meal loaded with saturated fat, excessive sodium and ridiculous calories, or an entire day of endless eating, have two cookies or a scoop of ice cream or a piece of dark chocolate and up your exercise the next day to reduce the impact. That way you can enjoy the TREAT with no guilt of a CHEAT and it won't derail your progress.

You don't want your treat to result in undoing everything you did the rest of the week, and causing a gain instead of the loss you were working toward. Allowing a weekly cheat day vs. an occasional small treat might send the scale and your waistline in the wrong direction.

Hope this helps.

Lisa L.

pzarnosky

I have a huge cheat meal every week. It keeps me sane and capable of being strict and good to my body all week. I have been consistently losing by doing this. If you need a cheat meal to stick with it the rest of the week then go for it. One meal isn't going to set you back much IF you are accurate with your logging the rest of the week. Any significant weight gained from a cheat meal will be water weight, aka, if you step on the scale the morning after a cheat meal and you weigh 5lbs more, it's water, not fat.

JILLCLI4D

pzarnosky wrote: »

I have a huge cheat meal every week. It keeps me sane and capable of being strict and good to my body all week. I have been consistently losing by doing this. If you need a cheat meal to stick with it the rest of the week then go for it. One meal isn't going to set you back much IF you are accurate with your logging the rest of the week. Any significant weight gained from a cheat meal will be water weight, aka, if you step on the scale the morning after a cheat meal and you weigh 5lbs more, it's water, not fat.

Good advice, Pz. I also cheat once a week. I have to use portion control, though ... too much fat, sodium, carbs, sugar, etc, in a meal will make me lethargic the next day, no matter how much water I drink.

AnnPT77

+1 to the "don't think of it as cheating" idea. Cheating who or what? I think of it as "real life has occasional days when I eat beyond maintenance". If I want to lose or maintain, I have to balance it out somehow - eating less at other times, getting more exercise.

Personally, I'd advocate logging any over-goal day or meal as accurately as practical (if it's non-chain restaurant food that may require estimating, which is fine, just don't lowball). Then, if you have any difficulty hitting a weight loss target, you can go back & see why, and decide what changes will help you achieve your goals in a sustainable way.

If it's at all possible, I think it's a great idea to take the emotion, guilt, and pseudo-moral-judgement out of eating.

lucian_simion

@pzarnosky A big Thank You ! you know what I am talking about
@MasterVal and everybody else here, please google how a cheat meal can help you lose more weight than dieting alone. There are tons of studies out there. Is it called the 90/10 Rule. ALWAYS HAVE A CHEAT MEAL, guys !!! Trust me !

Asher_Ethan

I will give myself a meal with unlimited calories every once and awhile. Not weekly but biweekly. I usually know it's coming up so ill have a bigger deficit for a week leading up to this glorious meal.
It's the only reason I've been able to keep this weight off.

Nerdycurls

I do have cheat meals, and more than I should because my husband likes to go out to eat. Sometimes we go to a restaurant where I can't find the nutritional info for the meals. If I know that's going to happen, I eat one small meal earlier in the day and hope I don't go over my calorie intake for the day. I'm starting to realize I don't like the concept of a cheat meal because it's counter-intuitive. It also seems to encourage my husband to eat more poorly, who then encourages me to eat poorly. I know I'm only accountable for myself, but if I want people in my life to take my effort seriously I have to set the example.

dawndionisi

Thank you everyone for you input i think im gonna do a cheat meat bi weekly to keep myself. And if im craving something just have smaller portions

namelesshere

I don't have cheat meals or cheat days. To me that connotes something bad and there is nothing bad about a healthy lifestyle change. I do however, have days where I choose to eat a little more, go to a Chinese buffet or other restaurant. I try not to eat out more than once a week. I like to plan and not eat the full meal, most of the time it is way too much anyway. Buffet is a one trip with a small plate of fruit for dessert. It has taken a long time but my relationship with food is changing to where I am now in control.

AmyWebb2

If I didn't occasionally splurge on a meal, I think I'd go crazy. It's ONE meal. Once a week, I don't think it will hurt. I know that I try and exercise a little more on that day to make the calorie hit less painful.

jillian909

dawndionisi wrote: »

Does anyone have weekly cheat meals? I followed my diet all day saturday and went to olive garden for vday. Is that ok to do once a week?

In my opinion, I think it's perfectly okay (in moderation)! However, I don't do cheat meals.... I do CHEAT DESSERTS! And yes, I love using the word CHEAT because I feel like I'm getting something awesomely bad and still losing weight.

After a week of working out and intermittent fasting, I maintain my "healthy" eating into the weekend, BUT on Saturday or Sunday I'll pick a local place to go to for dessert. There are so many yummy bakeries and homemade ice cream shops that I could pick one a week and have places to go for months.

This last Saturday I got some homemade banana cream pic ice cream. It was divine. I felt absolutely no guilt and woke up the next morning feeling lighter than ever! I am pretty mindful of my calories and try not to go over, but if I do by a few *shrug* it's all good. Good luck and happy cheating! :-)

xero2099

i stick to a diet Sun-Friday. Saturday for me is limited diet day, i go to gym in morning but I also go out with my friends later that evening for drinks; i try to leave myself with a surplus of extra calories just incase i get the drunk munchies one day wont ruin you

Small_Town_Southern_Man

lucian_simion wrote: »

I wake up , take my pills (fish oil,bcaa, lose weight pill, aspirin ) + coffee (no sugar no creamer) all you need is the caffeine. 10:30 am Hit the gym on empty stomach with strength training and I end it up with 10-15 min of hit cardio (always put your cardio at the end). 12:00 pm Come home have protein shake and that is my lunch. Between 12 and 5 I may have a snack like a protein bar. 5-6 pm I eat a big *kitten* pizza w soda and whatever else I feel like to eat. 8 pm I may get a cup of ice cream and the rest of the pizza w some wings . And that's it .
When you train in fasted state more calories you burn, because there are studies that show that early in the morning when your blood is clean and the insulin levels are low you burn more calories then when you are not fasting. So if you prepare to have a cheat meal on Sunday, make sure you stay in the fasted mode for at least 8 hours and you will be just fine. You will actually have burned more calorie in the first half of the day that you actually eat. I do this all the time and next morning I am the same weight. Some people will say that that is "completely wrong" or "that's not how you do it" , u Know what , let me tell you something. You are not going to loose any weight by exercising and eating right 1 day out of seven the same way like "eating 1 day junk and not exercising, will not get you fat. Exercise and fast for 8 hours and than have any cheat meal you want and you will be like nothing happened. Trust me.

COUGH$#(BUl1$H1T)#$COUGH

terooru

YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY CHEAT! In order to make eating healthy a lifestyle change you have to accommodate to your cravings. If one cheat meal a week allows you to remain eating healthy 6/7 days of the week then by all means yes enjoy that cheat meal! I have two cheats a week. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. Now that doesn't work for everyone. I also recommended that you workout on the day you cheat. Say you are going on a date Saturday night, don't make Saturday your rest day. That way you are still exercising on the day that you decide to splurge. Honestly I'm 122lbs at 5'8 and I workout 6/7 days a week with two cheat meals and I continue to lose weight. I use to weigh 135 and looked at cheat meals as something that would completely deter me. Because of this attitude I wasn't able to keep on track and it would often cause me to give up and binge on a Monday night. Remember we all train and eat differently. It's all about what you need and what your body needs! Happy eating ps - Arctic zone is a great ice cream that fits macros and is only 35 calories a scoop (only 5g sugar, no fat) Great treat that's not a cheat!

jaynee7283

As long as my WEEKLY calorie deficit remains at 3500+, then I don't worry about whether a meal (or day) is crazy.

kimny72

To those saying "One cheat meal a week won't make a difference" - it certainly can if the poster is a petite, lightly active female who isn't a stickler for logging. If you are aiming for a 500 cal deficit per day, but you aren't using a food scale, you are probably hitting a 250 cal daily deficit at best. Then if your cheat meal is twice as big as a typical meal and you have a few beers, you could easily be eating an extra 1,000 cals. That will almost completely negate your calorie deficit for the week. And while it might not make you gain weight, it will for sure keep you from losing.
Obviously if you are a larger male, or someone who is working out consistently every day, you have more wiggle room.

OP, I try to stay @ 100 cals under my goal every day, that gives me an extra 600 calories. Then I can go out to eat and have a few drinks without worrying, but I still try to make smarter choices and not go overboard. Learning how to deal with social situations that revolve around eating, without becoming a party-pooper, is part of the process and a great skill to learn.

I eat the foods I love every day - pizza, ice cream, etc.- by fitting them in to my calorie goal. It keeps me from needing a "blow out". But that's just what works for me.