Cheat meals, how do you feel about them??

yumi1
yumi1 Posts: 26 Member
edited December 2 in Health and Weight Loss
I don't eat cheat meals very often, but when I do, they are typically fast food items and then feel extremely guilty afterwards.
I pretty much feel that I still have quite a few more lbs to go about 45lbs and I have already lost a Total of 40lbs.

I went from weighing 220 to 178 in four months.

Should I be feeling extremely guilty after having a cheat meal?? For example today I ate super well, then I had a spicy chicken sandwich with a Mr pibb and french fries!! I rarely ever do this and yet I feel terrible for doing it!!!

I guess I feel Iike I'm going to gain some weight over night.

Any thoughts??!?
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Replies

  • yumi1
    yumi1 Posts: 26 Member
    Error*** I went from 220lbs to 178lbs in 4 months
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,185 Member
    I eat fast food pretty regularly. I just fit it in my goal so it isn't cheating. No need to feel guilty.
  • ElizabethOakes2
    ElizabethOakes2 Posts: 1,038 Member
    I don't call it cheating. It's a splurge, or a treat. I just got back from two weeks of dealing with a family emergency, followed by a weeklong emergency. I ate well, and a bit too much, and that's okay. I know that now that I'm home and back in my comfort zone, I'll get back on track. And I can look back at that awesome burger and microbrew, and the blueberry pancake breakfast, and remember how good they tasted, and how much I enjoyed them, and not stress about how many calories were in them, or how much saturated fat. :)
    The trick, I think, is to accept that there will be times when you'll want to eat something that's not on your plan, and you eat it, enjoy it, remember it as something you really enjoyed, but not let it get you off track or beat yourself up over it.
  • kendahlj
    kendahlj Posts: 243 Member
    For me, cheat meals aren't worth it. Very few options even taste good when it comes to fast food. They halt my momentum. I just avoid them. But guilt will destroy you so find a different emotion if you decide to partake once in awhile.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    I am not counting calories so I'm not entangled with the concept of "cheat meal". :)

    I could eat xxxx amount when good events and good foods are present or otherwise I eat less. For sure my weight can gain .2 to 4 lbs overnight after a serious meal but it can also drop immediately after a day or two with fasting. The body works very well with excess and deficits.

    That's how *I* feel about my gain and loss.

    Only you know your own discipline and eating behaviors. Only you could answer yourself whether you should feel guilty :)
  • BarbellzNBrotein
    BarbellzNBrotein Posts: 306 Member
    Hey. Your feeling of guilt is a natural one, especially for a dieter. I stopped labeling it "cheat food" that created the "off the wagon" feeling which was annoying me and made me spin my wheels because I would say to myself, "ok I've cheated a little *I might as well go all out and start clean tomorrow*. After months upon months of repeating this cycle I decided to sit down and really ask myself if all of this intricate diet stuff is worth my sanity? The answer was a resounding no. From that point on I simply eat what fuels my body best.. HOWEVER if I want a something that fuels my body less efficiently I'll just eat it and resume to normal procedure the next meal. No biggie. At the end of the day as long you don't emotionalize your diet you'll be fine. Great job with your current weight loss. You're doing awesome.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Reserve the idea of "cheating and feeling guilty" for relationships with a human partner, don't apply it to your relationship with food. Work on your attitude. All food can be eaten, but calories add up, and you'll want to get in proper nutrition. How you go on doing that, will be up to you.

    Oh, and one pound of body fat equals and excess of 3500 calories above your maintenance needs.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    Cheat meals:
    Most horrific waste of 6 months of my life.
    Eating fast food, makes me crave more fast food the next day. Something about it.
  • Budjola
    Budjola Posts: 148 Member
    the thing about cheat meal is to prepare for it, like have a good week of exercising, do your cardio, eat under maintenance then one day or one cheat meal wont do any harm to your body, its all about kcals in kcals out
  • candacem1991
    candacem1991 Posts: 19 Member
    Budjola wrote: »
    the thing about cheat meal is to prepare for it, like have a good week of exercising, do your cardio, eat under maintenance then one day or one cheat meal wont do any harm to your body, its all about kcals in kcals out

    Agreed ^ I only have a "cheat" meal once a month (typically when I go on a date night with my husband) but I plan for it and work really hard that week so it doesn't mess me up too much.
  • CincyNeid
    CincyNeid Posts: 1,249 Member
    For me personally they are a required Evil. I can eat only so much "Healthy Food" before I snap. Now i will say that my Cheat Meals have changed by leaps and bounds over the past two years. But I still consider them Cheat Meals, and Still log them. Right now I try to keep it to about one meal per every two weeks.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I lost most of my weight eating fast food.. as long as it fits in your calories and you still have a deficit, who cares?
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    You can't cheat on food. You just eat it.
  • BarbellzNBrotein
    BarbellzNBrotein Posts: 306 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I lost most of my weight eating fast food.. as long as it fits in your calories and you still have a deficit, who cares?

    Why not eat what best fuels you? Personally I feel more "alive" when I eat real food. Fast food has it's place but I don't see the benefit of it taking up the majority of your macros.
  • BarbellzNBrotein
    BarbellzNBrotein Posts: 306 Member
    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I lost most of my weight eating fast food.. as long as it fits in your calories and you still have a deficit, who cares?

    Why not eat what best fuels you? Personally I feel more "alive" when I eat real food. Fast food has it's place but I don't see the benefit of it taking up the majority of your macros.

    Fast food is food. It has macros and calories like any other food. Just because someone buys it in a restaurant doesn't make it not "real food".

    Agreed. Restaurant cooked food is real food .. however "fast food" wasn't defined by the poster.
  • _piaffe
    _piaffe Posts: 163 Member
    I used a "cheat meal" approach for three months involving very restrictive deficit (~1550ish for me) during the week to "bank" for a huge splurge meal (2,000+++). In retrospect, I would have been better off sticking to ~1750 a day and indulging more moderately on the way. The "cheat" mentality was too close to a binge / deprive cycle, something I've struggled with before.

    It doesn't work for me.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »
    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I lost most of my weight eating fast food.. as long as it fits in your calories and you still have a deficit, who cares?

    Why not eat what best fuels you? Personally I feel more "alive" when I eat real food. Fast food has it's place but I don't see the benefit of it taking up the majority of your macros.

    Fast food is food. It has macros and calories like any other food. Just because someone buys it in a restaurant doesn't make it not "real food".

    Agreed. Restaurant cooked food is real food .. however "fast food" wasn't defined by the poster.

    All food is real food. Some is more nutritionally dense than others, but it's all real food.
  • niblue
    niblue Posts: 339 Member
    Surely all that really matters is that your overall trend is towards your goals - and you seem to be making great progress having lost over 40lbs already. Nothing to feel guilty about!
  • BarbellzNBrotein
    BarbellzNBrotein Posts: 306 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I lost most of my weight eating fast food.. as long as it fits in your calories and you still have a deficit, who cares?

    Why not eat what best fuels you? Personally I feel more "alive" when I eat real food. Fast food has it's place but I don't see the benefit of it taking up the majority of your macros.

    Because there's no point in restricting yourself and not eating what you like - it's the best way of assuring that you'll give up entirely.

    The point is to find a diet that you can stick to.

    For what it's worth, I can't really stand fast food anymore because it doesn't fill me up for the calories, and it just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore... but if someone can fit it in their calories, there's nothing wrong with that. They still get plenty of nutrition from it.

    I'm not against restaurant cooked food. Not at all. I just don't use it as a staple for a variety of reasons 1) it doesn't fill you up like you said 2) I'm spending more money 3) I like cooking my own food. Not making fast food my main food source doesn't mean I don't indulge in it. What kind of life would that bb? At the end of the day one should do what makes them happy.
  • BarbellzNBrotein
    BarbellzNBrotein Posts: 306 Member
    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »
    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I lost most of my weight eating fast food.. as long as it fits in your calories and you still have a deficit, who cares?

    Why not eat what best fuels you? Personally I feel more "alive" when I eat real food. Fast food has it's place but I don't see the benefit of it taking up the majority of your macros.

    Fast food is food. It has macros and calories like any other food. Just because someone buys it in a restaurant doesn't make it not "real food".

    Agreed. Restaurant cooked food is real food .. however "fast food" wasn't defined by the poster.

    All food is real food. Some is more nutritionally dense than others, but it's all real food.

    I feel we have different definitions for what real food is. I don't see McDonald's as real food.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    I tried "dieting" M-F and then ate what I wanted on weekends but found I often ate back my calories and stalled for the week. This was exasperating, so now I try to stay close to my TDEE on weekends and don't "splurge". One Chinese Buffet on the weekend can do a lot of damage in my case. I have to contend with the glycogen refeed and the swoosh in water weight from the sodium bloat. I realize that it isn't fat gain and will drop in a few days.

    I pick and choose carefully at restaurants and often go for "light fare" under 500 calories. At McDonalds I can eat a Mcdouble cheeseburger, side salad and cup of icewater and feel satiated. I've also discovered that the grilled chicken is available a la carte if you ask for it (little known secret) for around $2.09. I'll make a mini grilled chicken salad by putting it with the side salad. That way I can eat with others who stop there and still stay on plan.

    However dealing with a gain over the weekend, going low cal at the beginning of the week just to get back to where I was to drop the bloat was demoralizing to read on the scale. I've struggled with a plateau and have maintained for a looong time. I have realized since starting MFP that my maintenance daily calories are higher than I once thought.

    Now instead of over restricting during the week and over-compensating on the weekend I've been eating closer to actual TDEE steadily so I don't have the cravings and feelings of deprivation.

    I'm starting fresh on Monday working out at the gym to see if I can drop 0.5 pounds a week. I plan to do that by burning an extra 250 calories a day on average either through extra activity or cutting calories. This should achieve my goal for me. If I can't lose weight and get off the plateau this go round, then I'm going to go to a general physician and possibly an endocrinologist to get thyroid screened.
  • flatcoatedR
    flatcoatedR Posts: 173 Member
    ElizabethOakes2 wrote: »
    I don't call it cheating. It's a splurge, or a treat. I just got back from two weeks of dealing with a family emergency, followed by a weeklong emergency. I ate well, and a bit too much, and that's okay. I know that now that I'm home and back in my comfort zone, I'll get back on track. And I can look back at that awesome burger and microbrew, and the blueberry pancake breakfast, and remember how good they tasted, and how much I enjoyed them, and not stress about how many calories were in them, or how much saturated fat. :)
    The trick, I think, is to accept that there will be times when you'll want to eat something that's not on your plan, and you eat it, enjoy it, remember it as something you really enjoyed, but not let it get you off track or beat yourself up over it.

    Amen to that! It took me years of losing and gaining to learn this truth. There are certain foods I don't eat on a regular basis. Ones that I love too much and consider trigger foods. But, when I do eat them and go off my program (sometimes a bit and sometimes too much) I've learn to enjoy them, let go of any quilt, and just get right back on program and go forward
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