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Cheat Meal - Under/Over Daily Calories and Macros?

2MaB_
2MaB_ Posts: 6 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
What do you guys usually do when consuming your "Cheat Meal": work it into your diary to stay under calorie intake and macros for the day, or eat your usual clean diet while substituting one meal for your cheat meal that may put you over calorie intake and macro intake?

Which do you prefer while still showing progress?

Replies

  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    What do you define as a cheat meal?
  • 2MaB_
    2MaB_ Posts: 6 Member
    cityruss wrote: »
    What do you define as a cheat meal?

    Foods high in calories and either fat/carbs. Typically things I dont eat within my diet.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    2MaB_ wrote: »
    cityruss wrote: »
    What do you define as a cheat meal?

    Foods high in calories and either fat/carbs. Typically things I dont eat within my diet.

    Why can't you fit them into your calories from time to time? As a 30 year old male your calorie goal should be high enough to allow you to fit a burger, pizza, beer, wings, or ice cream in once or twice a week without negatively impacting your hunger levels.

    If you don't eat them within your diet because they aren't "clean" but you still eat them on cheat meals that sort of defeats the purpose of saying you are a clean eater. Most people who follow things like IIFYM eat "clean" 70-80% of the time, which is just like a clean eater who has cheat meals.
  • sammyliftsandeats
    sammyliftsandeats Posts: 2,421 Member
    I agree with @usmcmp.

    I have a much lower calorie target than you (I'm assuming because I'm a 5'3" female) but yesterday I had fish tacos, yam fries, and two cocktails for dinner. And tonight I fit in wings and beer.

    So if I can make it work with 1700 calories, I'm sure you can make it work with a much higher calorie target.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    It's not really a "cheat" if you're still within your goals, is it?

    But that's what I do...work it into my calories for the week. Yesterday I went to Longhorn for lunch and had a steak, so today I'm eating lighter.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    When I first started I had a higher calorie day as a result of my "cheat" meal. I never went hog wild but I did consume things that I probably wouldn't normally have eaten. So at the end of the day I might have been over a couple hundred calories or so. I often found the next day or two I wasn't as hungry and so I might or might not have evened out for the week. Since a "cheat" meal only happened once or twice a month it wasn't a big deal. The trick is not to start doing it all the time and to plan it rather than allow it to just happen. Let's face it that's how most of us ended up needing to lose weight in the first place, lol.
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