Cheat Meals/Days - Necessity or Disaster?
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I think everyone already chimed in nicely. I personally would not do a cheat day. It's all about daily balance to achieve goals. I make room everyday for a "treat" whether it's sweet or savory. If your body feels it's being deprived of an item you're more likely to "obsess" over it until you have your cheat day and consume more than you intended.
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OP-since you are new, I will point out that you can track your weekly "balance" under the nutrition tab. So if you know Friday's are going to be higher, you can scale back a little on other days and still hit your weekly deficit.4
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If i want to have some of my favorite chips during the day, i fit it in, i'll have one ounce instead of half the bag. I still eat things i enjoy, however I hardly ever used to eat sweets,but do like ice cream occasionally so i have a cone with 1/2 cup of ice cream which is enough but if i did have a sweet tooth I would need advice1
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A "cheat meal" depends on the "diet". I don't do chray meals or cheat days. I do a " splurge meal". This means since I plan my meals out and they to eat the same thing at the same time each day for a week, I splurge on ONLY ONE meal once a week. That doesn't mean pizza and brownies. That means a healthy unprocessed meal not eaten throughout the week such as a baked sweet potato, fried brown rice or something like that. Definitely NOT trigger foods.0
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Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
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I think you asked and answered your own questions.. do what you want and what works for you.0
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Hello! I totally understand the thought process behind considering a cheat day/meal. I also have wondered this.
However..here is what works for me. I find a regular planned cheat leads me to get really obsessed with my cheat meal..I look forward to it and become obsessed and ultimately I binge more than necessary and end up eating back all the calories I cut during the rest of the week. It's easy enough to do...especially if you already know you have a tendency to extend that cheating to a weekend...or, like me find that one donut just isn't enough!
So I simply try to work as many nice "treat foods" into my daily diet as I can within my calorie allowances. When I log in advance Ali plan a nice dinner first. So I know I have a meal I will truly enjoy. Then I work everything else around it. Or if I know I want to go out for coffee I plan my calories for the day around the latte I want.
Does that mean I never take a break? No. If I go to a birthday party I'm gonna have cake! If it's my anniversary or birthday I'm going for dinner and drinking wine. And getting dessert. But because these occasions are not that often, it's OK!
For me the key to sustainable weight loss is making sure you don't let dieting ruin the I portent stuff. Your birthday, anniversary, Christmas (maybe a cheat day here
), maybe a family wedding...allow a cheat meal on those days.
These rest of the time just stick to your diet and don't make unnecessarily restrictive.
Good luck
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LukeAdrianBoardman wrote: »What works for you? do you have a cheat meal/day every week? every two weeks.
I stuck to my diet like glue for 16 weeks with NO cheat days whatsoever ... absolutely no going over my calorie limit. At the 16 week point, I hit my first goal, so I took a month off to travel and decide what I wanted to do next. I decided to stick with it for another 16 weeks and hit my second goal.
Cheat days are not necessary.
Instead, I exercised enough to be able to have quite a bit of flexibility in my diet. I was eating a whole pizza about once a month. Gotta love long distance cycling! 
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courtneyfabulous wrote: »Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
Low carb is not necessary unless OP has a medical condition.2 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
4 Krispy Kremes are ~760kcal. If someone wants to forgo a meal or two to fit them in, that's their prerogative. It doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong.
Also, no one should be eating low carb and low fat at the same time. And they don't have to eat either low carb or low fat unless they have medical reasons.6 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
I "diet" on 2500 calories so could comfortably hit my protein goal and still consume 4 or even 9 doughnuts. I don't need to skip dinner or eat low carb or fat. Please don't give out misinformed information as if it is gospel.4 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »A necessity? No. Overeating/cheating once a week would just make me want to overeat the other 6 days, too, which is how I got fat in the first place. I chose my new lifestyle for a reason...I didn't want to be that person anymore. Maybe I sort of equate it to meeting back up frequently with an ex...like, how good is it for me, mentally, with moving on and taking control? Having a treat each day works better for me.
Lol. This is epic!1 -
It's not "cheating," its "Choosing to eat at maintenance for a day."
Accept that doing that too often will significantly slow your overall progress, and then decide how often you want to do it in order to make it easier to ultimately get to your goal. You'll get there slower, but you can still get there.
If you think of it as "cheating," then for many people there are two problems:
1) You really, truly, are "only cheating yourself."
2) MANY people, once they "get away" with any kind of cheating, instinctively push the limits and cheat harder and more often.3 -
If you are on a low carb , hight fat diet then yes you will need to have a carb up meal . Call it a cheat if you want , but it's not really because it's part of the plan.0
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courtneyfabulous wrote: »Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
4 Krispy Kremes are ~760kcal. If someone wants to forgo a meal or two to fit them in, that's their prerogative. It doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong.
Also, no one should be eating low carb and low fat at the same time. And they don't have to eat either low carb or low fat unless they have medical reasons.
Agree with the low carb/low fat comment. However, no need really for anyone to be eating 4 doughnuts a day IMO.2 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
4 Krispy Kremes are ~760kcal. If someone wants to forgo a meal or two to fit them in, that's their prerogative. It doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong.
Also, no one should be eating low carb and low fat at the same time. And they don't have to eat either low carb or low fat unless they have medical reasons.
Actually you shouldn't eat low carb or low fat- a healthy balance is best. But if you eat a donut it is high in carbs and fat and low in protein, so to balance out your macros your next meal will need to be high protein and low carb and low fat. It should probably include greens & veggies too to make up for the lack of vitamins & nutrients in the donut. It's just math. I never said someone's entire diet should be low carb/low fat.0 -
For me personally, if I feel the need to cheat it means I'm not eating enough calories. So I make sure I eat more for a few days - nutritious food though. Delicious and enjoyable for sure but never junk food.
I like the line between nutrition and indulgence clearly defined (being grossly indulgent landed me at MFP and I have no intention of that ever happening again). I have no problem indulging in foods I don't usually eat for holidays, special occasions or for anything social really (aka cheat meal/day) but never because I need to. Needing a cheat meal - to me - would be a sign that my regular diet isn't on point and could use some adjustments. I don't schedule off plan days and generally let them come about as they will but they're not weekly. Not even monthly outside of the holiday season.0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »courtneyfabulous wrote: »Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
4 Krispy Kremes are ~760kcal. If someone wants to forgo a meal or two to fit them in, that's their prerogative. It doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong.
Also, no one should be eating low carb and low fat at the same time. And they don't have to eat either low carb or low fat unless they have medical reasons.
Agree with the low carb/low fat comment. However, no need really for anyone to be eating 4 doughnuts a day IMO.
Unless you are following a structured PSMF.0 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »courtneyfabulous wrote: »Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
4 Krispy Kremes are ~760kcal. If someone wants to forgo a meal or two to fit them in, that's their prerogative. It doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong.
Also, no one should be eating low carb and low fat at the same time. And they don't have to eat either low carb or low fat unless they have medical reasons.
Actually you shouldn't eat low carb or low fat- a healthy balance is best. But if you eat a donut it is high in carbs and fat and low in protein, so to balance out your macros your next meal will need to be high protein and low carb and low fat. It should probably include greens & veggies too to make up for the lack of vitamins & nutrients in the donut. It's just math. I never said someone's entire diet should be low carb/low fat.
In general, high carb should generally be low fat. And high fat should be low carb and moderate protein. Balanced macros work also 40/30/30 for example. It is individual. If high protein works for you, then that is terrific.1 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »courtneyfabulous wrote: »Um.... 4th Krispy Kreme?? 4th!!
You are not on a diet if you are eating 4 donuts. You can probably fit half a donut into your calories/macros. MAYBE a whole one... but that should be plenty anyways.
You can still eat treat foods, just keep them in moderation and work them into your calories. If you want that donut skip make your dinner low carb & low fat.
Low carb is not necessary unless OP has a medical condition.
I assumed she meant to balance the macros due to the high carb content of donuts.0
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