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Cheat day..yes or no?
Replies
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I'm a clean eater (trying) responding to a post about "cheat days." Of course I use the term - in expressing how I don't like it. LOL! I'm trying to help the OP. You're just satisfying your need to be snarky.
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I'm a clean eater (trying) responding to a post about "cheat days." Of course I use the term - in expressing how I don't like it. LOL! I'm trying to help the OP. You're just satisfying your need to be snarky.
If that's how you see it, ok...0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »If you have to cheat, you're not making a lifestyle change - one you can live with.
Eh, I don't like the term "cheat" either, it makes no sense to me, but most people who use it just mean eating more indulgently than usual or going over their normal calorie goal. You can do that within the context of a "lifestyle change" (although there's a good discussion on that phrase elsewhere on the forum and I agree with the OP of that topic). You certainly can make a lifestyle change you can live with and have days where you eat more than usual. I like to go to a nice restaurant on the weekend and so plan for it.I made my decision that I want to be healther, less fat and more muscular. That's more important than pizza, oreos and ice cream. Will I have those things again? Sure. But not every other day and it won't be cheating. It'll be an occasional treat I'll plan for. In the meantime, I'm eating delicious food, staying under my calorie goal and I'm happy I found a plan I can live with.
Why can't you have an oreo (50 calories) or even a serving of ice cream (200 calories, depending) or sorbet (I like a mango sorbet that's 80 calories) every other day? For that matter, what's the huge difference between a thin crust pizza with lots of vegetables and lean meat and a pasta with lots of vegetables and lean meat? I don't have the pizza that often (I'm lazy so prefer to have it made for me in an Italian restaurant, as I might tonight), but I have pasta with vegetables and lean meat often, and I think it fits well in a healthful diet, as well as being a fast dinner that happens to meet my goals (largely healthy fats, adequate protein, and lots and lot of vegetables). Especially if you pair it with a salad!
I get that we all have different goals, so maybe you have some kind of fitness competitor thing, but in terms of losing weight, getting more fit, gaining muscle (I'm basically recomping at the moment), meeting training goals (I'm focused on some endurance training goals), and generally being healthy and getting in the nutrition you need, why would these foods be a problem, even having one or the other every other day. (Packaged cookies aren't my thing so I'll pass on the oreos, but they certainly aren't high cal, at least not individually.)
Maybe that's the problem... I used specific example, people ignored the context and jumped on those specific examples. The point I keep trying to get across is that if you stay within your own defined goals you shouldn't have to "cheat." "Cheat meals" ... "cheat days" ... it's stupid. Can an alcoholic have a "cheat shot and a cheat beer?" FOR ME (nobody else, for me), when I say pizza I'm not talking about a thin crust veggie. When I say oreos I'm not talking about 1 or 2. When I say ice cream I'm not talking about one half cup serving. There's a reason I and most people on here got fat in the first place. It's because we at a lot of crap a lot of the time. Is "cheating" eating 1 cookie or 1 slice of a thin crust veggie/tofu pizza? Not to me.
You have to know what others mean by "cheat meal." Often they just mean "different than how I normally eat." For example, I rarely have Chicago style pizza anymore but I do occasionally and might call that a "treat meal." (Well, I wouldn't call it anything special really, but I know that people could consider it such and I get it, even if I find the term "cheat" in this context grating.)
The alcohol example is really beside the point, as no reason someone into fitness couldn't occasionally have something off-plan. I used to overeat Indian food. I initially figured out how to eat it within my calories, but I decided I wasn't much interested -- I'd rather have it less often and eat whatever I want when I do. So I do, often on the day of or the night before a long run.
And when I say ice cream I mean a half cup and when I say pizza I usually mean thin crust with vegetables.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Eating clean to be "healthy" is not a ridiculous made up thing.
Do you understand what "eating clean" is? If not, I get it -- it's not like it has a real definition. However, my understanding is that typically it refers to a claim that one eats no processed foods (like pasta and protein powder and smoked salmon and whole wheat homemade bread and cottage cheese and plain greek yogurt, oh no!)
Eschewing those food has no relationship to getting in good nutrition or getting healthy, so the claim that it does IS a ridiculous made up thing.
For that matter, a claim that someone is inherently less healthy because she occasionally eats an oreo or pizza or ice cream -- making one not a clean eater -- is ridiculous.
For me, eating clean is getting stuff as unprocessed as possible, doing my own cooking at home to control what goes in to my food. It means fresh pineapple and fruits I cut myself. It means reading labels. It means shopping the outside perimeter of the grocery store and avoiding the chip and cookie isle. Am I following a perfect science? Of course not. Am I cheating based on my goals? No. I'm making my own hamburger instead of going to a fast food place. (Actually I use salmon or turkey burgers.) I'm eating way "cleaner" than I was and that is MY GOAL.
Just another example of taking one thing I said out of the whole context and pouncing. The OP asked about cheating and I gave my opinion.
Sigh, I hate the perimeter thing, it's so silly. The donuts and cupcakes are on the perimeter in my grocery (bakery) and the vegetables and fruits are not.
I ate vegetables and fruits and mostly whole foods before choosing to lose weight. I also made my own burger, rarely ate fast food (don't really like it), and -- as now -- ate processed foods which include all kinds of burgers mentioned, as well as the perfectly healthful foods I mentioned before. That's why I find the term "clean eating" bizarre. (Plus, I was probably a "cleaner" eater when I didn't pay attention to calories or my weight much at all. "Clean" and calorie appropriate or even "clean" and overall nutritious diet are not the same thing. I prefer focusing on nutrition, not ever varying ideas of what's "clean" -- like eating only at Panera, apparently, given their current ad campaign playing on trendy buzz words!)1 -
I'll second that. No need for cheat days using flexible dieting. Cheat days are a waste of your hard work. Eat what you want, stay within your macros and calorie goals. Exercise consistently. That's about it.pbandalyssa wrote: »IIFYM
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Except are you really a "clean eater"? Seems to me that you eat processed foods like the rest of us do.
And a cheat day could refer to # of calories, not type of food. Thanksgiving could be a cheat day, and made all at home using farm-sourced whole ingredients.2 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »If you have to cheat, you're not making a lifestyle change - one you can live with.
Eh, I don't like the term "cheat" either, it makes no sense to me, but most people who use it just mean eating more indulgently than usual or going over their normal calorie goal. You can do that within the context of a "lifestyle change" (although there's a good discussion on that phrase elsewhere on the forum and I agree with the OP of that topic). You certainly can make a lifestyle change you can live with and have days where you eat more than usual. I like to go to a nice restaurant on the weekend and so plan for it.I made my decision that I want to be healther, less fat and more muscular. That's more important than pizza, oreos and ice cream. Will I have those things again? Sure. But not every other day and it won't be cheating. It'll be an occasional treat I'll plan for. In the meantime, I'm eating delicious food, staying under my calorie goal and I'm happy I found a plan I can live with.
Why can't you have an oreo (50 calories) or even a serving of ice cream (200 calories, depending) or sorbet (I like a mango sorbet that's 80 calories) every other day? For that matter, what's the huge difference between a thin crust pizza with lots of vegetables and lean meat and a pasta with lots of vegetables and lean meat? I don't have the pizza that often (I'm lazy so prefer to have it made for me in an Italian restaurant, as I might tonight), but I have pasta with vegetables and lean meat often, and I think it fits well in a healthful diet, as well as being a fast dinner that happens to meet my goals (largely healthy fats, adequate protein, and lots and lot of vegetables). Especially if you pair it with a salad!
I get that we all have different goals, so maybe you have some kind of fitness competitor thing, but in terms of losing weight, getting more fit, gaining muscle (I'm basically recomping at the moment), meeting training goals (I'm focused on some endurance training goals), and generally being healthy and getting in the nutrition you need, why would these foods be a problem, even having one or the other every other day. (Packaged cookies aren't my thing so I'll pass on the oreos, but they certainly aren't high cal, at least not individually.)
Maybe that's the problem... I used specific example, people ignored the context and jumped on those specific examples. The point I keep trying to get across is that if you stay within your own defined goals you shouldn't have to "cheat." "Cheat meals" ... "cheat days" ... it's stupid. Can an alcoholic have a "cheat shot and a cheat beer?" FOR ME (nobody else, for me), when I say pizza I'm not talking about a thin crust veggie. When I say oreos I'm not talking about 1 or 2. When I say ice cream I'm not talking about one half cup serving. There's a reason I and most people on here got fat in the first place. It's because we at a lot of crap a lot of the time. Is "cheating" eating 1 cookie or 1 slice of a thin crust veggie/tofu pizza? Not to me.
You have to know what others mean by "cheat meal." Often they just mean "different than how I normally eat." For example, I rarely have Chicago style pizza anymore but I do occasionally and might call that a "treat meal." (Well, I wouldn't call it anything special really, but I know that people could consider it such and I get it, even if I find the term "cheat" in this context grating.)
The alcohol example is really beside the point, as no reason someone into fitness couldn't occasionally have something off-plan. I used to overeat Indian food. I initially figured out how to eat it within my calories, but I decided I wasn't much interested -- I'd rather have it less often and eat whatever I want when I do. So I do, often on the day of or the night before a long run.
And when I say ice cream I mean a half cup and when I say pizza I usually mean thin crust with vegetables.
Well, I guess we all have different definitions for everything. For some of us overweight people, when we say pizza it's a little different than when you do, I guess. LOL! But I thought I did a pretty good job of explaining what I meant in my first post though. Anybody should have been able to figure it out. I think my basic message was pretty good... make a plan where you can be happy and don't have to "cheat" for a whole day. If you feel you're depriving yourself, in my opinion, you increase your chance of failing. I want to try and help people into the direction of success, not badger people into agreeing that what I'm doing is the only right way or insult anybody else's way.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »
Except are you really a "clean eater"? Seems to me that you eat processed foods like the rest of us do.
And a cheat day could refer to # of calories, not type of food. Thanksgiving could be a cheat day, and made all at home using farm-sourced whole ingredients.
I put "clean eater" in quotes and explained in several places where I'm not perfect but my goal is to eat cleanER than before and avoid as much of the heavily processed stuff as possible. I know it's hard to keep up with all these posts but if you want to hammer me on one little thing, refer back to see if I said anything else about it first please.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »If you have to cheat, you're not making a lifestyle change - one you can live with.
Eh, I don't like the term "cheat" either, it makes no sense to me, but most people who use it just mean eating more indulgently than usual or going over their normal calorie goal. You can do that within the context of a "lifestyle change" (although there's a good discussion on that phrase elsewhere on the forum and I agree with the OP of that topic). You certainly can make a lifestyle change you can live with and have days where you eat more than usual. I like to go to a nice restaurant on the weekend and so plan for it.I made my decision that I want to be healther, less fat and more muscular. That's more important than pizza, oreos and ice cream. Will I have those things again? Sure. But not every other day and it won't be cheating. It'll be an occasional treat I'll plan for. In the meantime, I'm eating delicious food, staying under my calorie goal and I'm happy I found a plan I can live with.
Why can't you have an oreo (50 calories) or even a serving of ice cream (200 calories, depending) or sorbet (I like a mango sorbet that's 80 calories) every other day? For that matter, what's the huge difference between a thin crust pizza with lots of vegetables and lean meat and a pasta with lots of vegetables and lean meat? I don't have the pizza that often (I'm lazy so prefer to have it made for me in an Italian restaurant, as I might tonight), but I have pasta with vegetables and lean meat often, and I think it fits well in a healthful diet, as well as being a fast dinner that happens to meet my goals (largely healthy fats, adequate protein, and lots and lot of vegetables). Especially if you pair it with a salad!
I get that we all have different goals, so maybe you have some kind of fitness competitor thing, but in terms of losing weight, getting more fit, gaining muscle (I'm basically recomping at the moment), meeting training goals (I'm focused on some endurance training goals), and generally being healthy and getting in the nutrition you need, why would these foods be a problem, even having one or the other every other day. (Packaged cookies aren't my thing so I'll pass on the oreos, but they certainly aren't high cal, at least not individually.)
Maybe that's the problem... I used specific example, people ignored the context and jumped on those specific examples. The point I keep trying to get across is that if you stay within your own defined goals you shouldn't have to "cheat." "Cheat meals" ... "cheat days" ... it's stupid. Can an alcoholic have a "cheat shot and a cheat beer?" FOR ME (nobody else, for me), when I say pizza I'm not talking about a thin crust veggie. When I say oreos I'm not talking about 1 or 2. When I say ice cream I'm not talking about one half cup serving. There's a reason I and most people on here got fat in the first place. It's because we at a lot of crap a lot of the time. Is "cheating" eating 1 cookie or 1 slice of a thin crust veggie/tofu pizza? Not to me.
You have to know what others mean by "cheat meal." Often they just mean "different than how I normally eat." For example, I rarely have Chicago style pizza anymore but I do occasionally and might call that a "treat meal." (Well, I wouldn't call it anything special really, but I know that people could consider it such and I get it, even if I find the term "cheat" in this context grating.)
The alcohol example is really beside the point, as no reason someone into fitness couldn't occasionally have something off-plan. I used to overeat Indian food. I initially figured out how to eat it within my calories, but I decided I wasn't much interested -- I'd rather have it less often and eat whatever I want when I do. So I do, often on the day of or the night before a long run.
And when I say ice cream I mean a half cup and when I say pizza I usually mean thin crust with vegetables.
Well, I guess we all have different definitions for everything. For some of us overweight people, when we say pizza it's a little different than when you do, I guess. LOL! But I thought I did a pretty good job of explaining what I meant in my first post though. Anybody should have been able to figure it out. I think my basic message was pretty good... make a plan where you can be happy and don't have to "cheat" for a whole day. If you feel you're depriving yourself, in my opinion, you increase your chance of failing. I want to try and help people into the direction of success, not badger people into agreeing that what I'm doing is the only right way or insult anybody else's way.
That is definitely not how I read your first post which seemed to imply that eating things like pizza, Oreos and ice cream... And being healthy, losing weight, and improving fitness are mutually exclusive that you can't do both.
I don't have "cheat" days either, what I prefer to do is work those foods in every day, as part of an overall balanced diet. There are days where I know I will exceed my calorie target, but I still don't call that "cheating" because it implies I'm doing something wrong. I'm out of town visiting my family this weekend and am going to be eating and drinking more than usual. I saved up calories during the week to offset the overage on the weekend, but I still don't call it "cheating".
There are many people who get caught up in feeling they have to be perfect in order to be successful. That they can't eat certain foods (like pizza, Oreos and ice cream" and still lose weight. Why I respond to posts like yours, is to make sure anyone reading along knows that you don't have to cut any foods out, you don't have to eat clean, you can enjoy all the same foods as before even on a daily basis and still meet your goals.3 -
I think my basic message was pretty good... make a plan where you can be happy and don't have to "cheat" for a whole day. If you feel you're depriving yourself, in my opinion, you increase your chance of failing. I want to try and help people into the direction of success, not badger people into agreeing that what I'm doing is the only right way or insult anybody else's way.
For the record, I agree with this. I just don't think you should jump to the conclusion that someone who uses the term "cheat meal" or "cheat day" is going to fail or feels deprived or the like. I don't like the term myself (any more than I like "clean eater," but I know others use it in a variety of ways.2 -
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lemurcat12 wrote: »
Except are you really a "clean eater"? Seems to me that you eat processed foods like the rest of us do.
And a cheat day could refer to # of calories, not type of food. Thanksgiving could be a cheat day, and made all at home using farm-sourced whole ingredients.
I put "clean eater" in quotes and explained in several places where I'm not perfect but my goal is to eat cleanER than before and avoid as much of the heavily processed stuff as possible. I know it's hard to keep up with all these posts but if you want to hammer me on one little thing, refer back to see if I said anything else about it first please.
My point is that you seem to think you eat dramatically different than those who us who don't care for the term "clean eater," and I doubt it.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »If you have to cheat, you're not making a lifestyle change - one you can live with.
Eh, I don't like the term "cheat" either, it makes no sense to me, but most people who use it just mean eating more indulgently than usual or going over their normal calorie goal. You can do that within the context of a "lifestyle change" (although there's a good discussion on that phrase elsewhere on the forum and I agree with the OP of that topic). You certainly can make a lifestyle change you can live with and have days where you eat more than usual. I like to go to a nice restaurant on the weekend and so plan for it.I made my decision that I want to be healther, less fat and more muscular. That's more important than pizza, oreos and ice cream. Will I have those things again? Sure. But not every other day and it won't be cheating. It'll be an occasional treat I'll plan for. In the meantime, I'm eating delicious food, staying under my calorie goal and I'm happy I found a plan I can live with.
Why can't you have an oreo (50 calories) or even a serving of ice cream (200 calories, depending) or sorbet (I like a mango sorbet that's 80 calories) every other day? For that matter, what's the huge difference between a thin crust pizza with lots of vegetables and lean meat and a pasta with lots of vegetables and lean meat? I don't have the pizza that often (I'm lazy so prefer to have it made for me in an Italian restaurant, as I might tonight), but I have pasta with vegetables and lean meat often, and I think it fits well in a healthful diet, as well as being a fast dinner that happens to meet my goals (largely healthy fats, adequate protein, and lots and lot of vegetables). Especially if you pair it with a salad!
I get that we all have different goals, so maybe you have some kind of fitness competitor thing, but in terms of losing weight, getting more fit, gaining muscle (I'm basically recomping at the moment), meeting training goals (I'm focused on some endurance training goals), and generally being healthy and getting in the nutrition you need, why would these foods be a problem, even having one or the other every other day. (Packaged cookies aren't my thing so I'll pass on the oreos, but they certainly aren't high cal, at least not individually.)
Maybe that's the problem... I used specific example, people ignored the context and jumped on those specific examples. The point I keep trying to get across is that if you stay within your own defined goals you shouldn't have to "cheat." "Cheat meals" ... "cheat days" ... it's stupid. Can an alcoholic have a "cheat shot and a cheat beer?" FOR ME (nobody else, for me), when I say pizza I'm not talking about a thin crust veggie. When I say oreos I'm not talking about 1 or 2. When I say ice cream I'm not talking about one half cup serving. There's a reason I and most people on here got fat in the first place. It's because we at a lot of crap a lot of the time. Is "cheating" eating 1 cookie or 1 slice of a thin crust veggie/tofu pizza? Not to me.
You have to know what others mean by "cheat meal." Often they just mean "different than how I normally eat." For example, I rarely have Chicago style pizza anymore but I do occasionally and might call that a "treat meal." (Well, I wouldn't call it anything special really, but I know that people could consider it such and I get it, even if I find the term "cheat" in this context grating.)
The alcohol example is really beside the point, as no reason someone into fitness couldn't occasionally have something off-plan. I used to overeat Indian food. I initially figured out how to eat it within my calories, but I decided I wasn't much interested -- I'd rather have it less often and eat whatever I want when I do. So I do, often on the day of or the night before a long run.
And when I say ice cream I mean a half cup and when I say pizza I usually mean thin crust with vegetables.
Well, I guess we all have different definitions for everything. For some of us overweight people, when we say pizza it's a little different than when you do, I guess. LOL! But I thought I did a pretty good job of explaining what I meant in my first post though. Anybody should have been able to figure it out. I think my basic message was pretty good... make a plan where you can be happy and don't have to "cheat" for a whole day. If you feel you're depriving yourself, in my opinion, you increase your chance of failing. I want to try and help people into the direction of success, not badger people into agreeing that what I'm doing is the only right way or insult anybody else's way.
That is definitely not how I read your first post which seemed to imply that eating things like pizza, Oreos and ice cream... And being healthy, losing weight, and improving fitness are mutually exclusive that you can't do both.
I don't have "cheat" days either, what I prefer to do is work those foods in every day, as part of an overall balanced diet. There are days where I know I will exceed my calorie target, but I still don't call that "cheating" because it implies I'm doing something wrong. I'm out of town visiting my family this weekend and am going to be eating and drinking more than usual. I saved up calories during the week to offset the overage on the weekend, but I still don't call it "cheating".
There are many people who get caught up in feeling they have to be perfect in order to be successful. That they can't eat certain foods (like pizza, Oreos and ice cream" and still lose weight. Why I respond to posts like yours, is to make sure anyone reading along knows that you don't have to cut any foods out, you don't have to eat clean, you can enjoy all the same foods as before even on a daily basis and still meet your goals.
Well, maybe you put it better than I did - I agree with you 99%. I just know I can't meet MY goals and have those items (the way I like them) on a daily basis. (Maybe I could eat a veggie thin crust pizza every day but it's not the same for me. I don't want a veggie pizza.)
Back to the original topic ... we both agree to "NO" on cheat days. And we agree to plan and prepare so we can have the things we want that make us happy and help us toward our own individual goals. I think that's a good thing. Thanks for your friendly and wise post.
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lemurcat12 wrote: »I think my basic message was pretty good... make a plan where you can be happy and don't have to "cheat" for a whole day. If you feel you're depriving yourself, in my opinion, you increase your chance of failing. I want to try and help people into the direction of success, not badger people into agreeing that what I'm doing is the only right way or insult anybody else's way.
For the record, I agree with this. I just don't think you should jump to the conclusion that someone who uses the term "cheat meal" or "cheat day" is going to fail or feels deprived or the like. I don't like the term myself (any more than I like "clean eater," but I know others use it in a variety of ways.
I based my assumption that the OP feels deprived on reading her post. Wouldn't she be much happier knowing she can have that beer or two on a float trip and not feel she's "cheating." Now, it is an assumption on my part that she'd be more likely to succeed if she had a plan she was happier with. I base that on my own personal experience. I'm not perfect, just trying to offer an option and some encouragement.0 -
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Why cheat? Tgat connotates a bad thing. Instead, use your daily calories wisely and if you have a hankering for something work it into your calories! In this way you won't find yourself feeling deprived and then bingeing on bad stuff! Stay within your calories1
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Right. Well said.
Hopefully I say this right... I can't sustain a diet where I'm always hungry, where I'm not happy, where I have to look forward to "cheating" for a meal or a day, where I'm feeling left out of fun... luckily for me I'm doing well and am happy with the things I'm eating and I'm also below my calorie goals and losing weight at a good pace. Now in October when the DQ Pumpkin Pie Blizzards come out will I have one? You bet your *kitten* I will. Maybe a few times. Will I be cheating? Nope. I'll plan for it. And maybe I'll get a medium instead of a large (or XLarge) ...
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A "cheat day" is a word only a "clean eater" would use...
I'm definitely not a clean eater, and i don't know that i'd call what i do a "cheat day", it is more of a don't worry about portion sizes day. Like i'll have a 130g bowl of cheerios instead of 30g (which I've never done, too little to bother with), or i'll eat a whole pack of cookies instead of 1 or 2. It's a freeing and happy day.0 -
Right. Well said.
Hopefully I say this right... I can't sustain a diet where I'm always hungry, where I'm not happy, where I have to look forward to "cheating" for a meal or a day, where I'm feeling left out of fun... luckily for me I'm doing well and am happy with the things I'm eating and I'm also below my calorie goals and losing weight at a good pace. Now in October when the DQ Pumpkin Pie Blizzards come out will I have one? You bet your *kitten* I will. Maybe a few times. Will I be cheating? Nope. I'll plan for it. And maybe I'll get a medium instead of a large (or XLarge) ...
Sounds like a good plan to me...0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »If you have to cheat, you're not making a lifestyle change - one you can live with.
Eh, I don't like the term "cheat" either, it makes no sense to me, but most people who use it just mean eating more indulgently than usual or going over their normal calorie goal. You can do that within the context of a "lifestyle change" (although there's a good discussion on that phrase elsewhere on the forum and I agree with the OP of that topic). You certainly can make a lifestyle change you can live with and have days where you eat more than usual. I like to go to a nice restaurant on the weekend and so plan for it.I made my decision that I want to be healther, less fat and more muscular. That's more important than pizza, oreos and ice cream. Will I have those things again? Sure. But not every other day and it won't be cheating. It'll be an occasional treat I'll plan for. In the meantime, I'm eating delicious food, staying under my calorie goal and I'm happy I found a plan I can live with.
Why can't you have an oreo (50 calories) or even a serving of ice cream (200 calories, depending) or sorbet (I like a mango sorbet that's 80 calories) every other day? For that matter, what's the huge difference between a thin crust pizza with lots of vegetables and lean meat and a pasta with lots of vegetables and lean meat? I don't have the pizza that often (I'm lazy so prefer to have it made for me in an Italian restaurant, as I might tonight), but I have pasta with vegetables and lean meat often, and I think it fits well in a healthful diet, as well as being a fast dinner that happens to meet my goals (largely healthy fats, adequate protein, and lots and lot of vegetables). Especially if you pair it with a salad!
I get that we all have different goals, so maybe you have some kind of fitness competitor thing, but in terms of losing weight, getting more fit, gaining muscle (I'm basically recomping at the moment), meeting training goals (I'm focused on some endurance training goals), and generally being healthy and getting in the nutrition you need, why would these foods be a problem, even having one or the other every other day. (Packaged cookies aren't my thing so I'll pass on the oreos, but they certainly aren't high cal, at least not individually.)
Maybe that's the problem... I used specific example, people ignored the context and jumped on those specific examples. The point I keep trying to get across is that if you stay within your own defined goals you shouldn't have to "cheat." "Cheat meals" ... "cheat days" ... it's stupid. Can an alcoholic have a "cheat shot and a cheat beer?" FOR ME (nobody else, for me), when I say pizza I'm not talking about a thin crust veggie. When I say oreos I'm not talking about 1 or 2. When I say ice cream I'm not talking about one half cup serving. There's a reason I and most people on here got fat in the first place. It's because we at a lot of crap a lot of the time. Is "cheating" eating 1 cookie or 1 slice of a thin crust veggie/tofu pizza? Not to me.
You have to know what others mean by "cheat meal." Often they just mean "different than how I normally eat." For example, I rarely have Chicago style pizza anymore but I do occasionally and might call that a "treat meal." (Well, I wouldn't call it anything special really, but I know that people could consider it such and I get it, even if I find the term "cheat" in this context grating.)
The alcohol example is really beside the point, as no reason someone into fitness couldn't occasionally have something off-plan. I used to overeat Indian food. I initially figured out how to eat it within my calories, but I decided I wasn't much interested -- I'd rather have it less often and eat whatever I want when I do. So I do, often on the day of or the night before a long run.
And when I say ice cream I mean a half cup and when I say pizza I usually mean thin crust with vegetables.
Well, I guess we all have different definitions for everything. For some of us overweight people, when we say pizza it's a little different than when you do, I guess. LOL! But I thought I did a pretty good job of explaining what I meant in my first post though. Anybody should have been able to figure it out. I think my basic message was pretty good... make a plan where you can be happy and don't have to "cheat" for a whole day. If you feel you're depriving yourself, in my opinion, you increase your chance of failing. I want to try and help people into the direction of success, not badger people into agreeing that what I'm doing is the only right way or insult anybody else's way.
That is definitely not how I read your first post which seemed to imply that eating things like pizza, Oreos and ice cream... And being healthy, losing weight, and improving fitness are mutually exclusive that you can't do both.
I don't have "cheat" days either, what I prefer to do is work those foods in every day, as part of an overall balanced diet. There are days where I know I will exceed my calorie target, but I still don't call that "cheating" because it implies I'm doing something wrong. I'm out of town visiting my family this weekend and am going to be eating and drinking more than usual. I saved up calories during the week to offset the overage on the weekend, but I still don't call it "cheating".
There are many people who get caught up in feeling they have to be perfect in order to be successful. That they can't eat certain foods (like pizza, Oreos and ice cream" and still lose weight. Why I respond to posts like yours, is to make sure anyone reading along knows that you don't have to cut any foods out, you don't have to eat clean, you can enjoy all the same foods as before even on a daily basis and still meet your goals.
Well, maybe you put it better than I did - I agree with you 99%. I just know I can't meet MY goals and have those items (the way I like them) on a daily basis. (Maybe I could eat a veggie thin crust pizza every day but it's not the same for me. I don't want a veggie pizza.)
Back to the original topic ... we both agree to "NO" on cheat days. And we agree to plan and prepare so we can have the things we want that make us happy and help us toward our own individual goals. I think that's a good thing. Thanks for your friendly and wise post.
This is why it's good to keep talking to understand what people mean.... A lot of time everyone gets caught up in a choice of a particular word or phrase and either don't bother to explain what they actually mean, or they don't bother to listen to what anyone else actually means...
For what it's worth, veggie pizza isn't my thing either. I eat 2 pieces of sausage and pepperoni with a salad and a single breadstick when we do get pizza. It's about half what I used to eat but I've found i can be perfectly happy with this amount.1 -
Well, maybe you put it better than I did - I agree with you 99%. I just know I can't meet MY goals and have those items (the way I like them) on a daily basis. (Maybe I could eat a veggie thin crust pizza every day but it's not the same for me. I don't want a veggie pizza.)
The bolded really spoke to me. I was, and to some degree, still like that. If I want ice cream, 1/2 cup just did not do it for me, I had to have the whole pint. I found though that I would under eat too much during the week to enable myself to over eat too much on the weekend. Physically I felt fine, but mentally I felt awful. IMO, I was well on my way to a disordered eating pattern. I had to train myself to be satisfied by 1/2 cup of ice cream, or 4 hershey's kisses, instead of the whole bag. I still have my moments where I throw caution to the wind and just enjoy without thinking, (you'll see that in my diary when I use quick add calories) but my habits are such now that it has no effect on me (mentally).
It's what we do most of the time that has the biggest impact on our health and fitness, not what we do some of the time.
Anyhow, I know this was a little off topic but your post really brought it out of me...3 -
yes, it happens
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Taylorgo90 wrote: »yes, it happens
Why the sad face? Do you plan on eating "perfectly" for the rest of your life?0 -
Have a cheat day , bu then work small cheat meals or snacks into your calories every day. When i did this , i found myself bored with *kitten* food and actually wanted to eat healthy. Also cheat towards the end of the day so you dont look for more. And drink a lot of water. Or fast the whole day , then cheat. Youll probably not even eat the calories you were suppossed to .0
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Waaaalllll, I have to admit now: I sort of have a "cheat day." It's just that on Sabbaths, if I choose not to keep track of my food, I don't. I still eat very carefully; it's just that I don't record every little thing.0
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Every cheat day has set me back 3-5 days.
No to cheat days
Work treats into regular eating and if you know you're going to have a really calorie laden day..:work it off in advance and after via excercise0 -
karinabree wrote: »Every cheat day has set me back 3-5 days.
No to cheat days
Work treats into regular eating and if you know you're going to have a really calorie laden day..:work it off in advance and after via excercise
Whaa you must have had some epic cheat days
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I have one low calorie day and one high calorie day. That I call my "controlled" cheat day.0
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You still have to live your life, so have that beer on the river! Experience all the fun things! Just fit it in to your daily allotted calories or work those "cheats" off with exercise. However, beware of triggering a binge of badness. I find that if I eat certain treats or high calories things I'll end up eating way too many and then saying f*** it and blow the whole day. LOL.1
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