Cheat meals

Morty90210

Will 1 or 2 cheat meals a week still enable you to lose weight or tone up?

malibu927

As long as you're still in a calorie deficit

CarvedTones

I am hesitant to even call mine cheat meals. I have unbalanced days where most of the calories come from a single meal and I don't worry too much about the make up (carbs vs protein vs fat) but I eat below maintenance every single day I am dieting. Making exceptions is how I let myself gain so much weight.

flippy1234

I never eat cheat meals. I eat what I want but make sure I watch my total calorie intake for the day. I feel like just saying cheat meals and thinking about adding them is a recipe for failure.

janejellyroll

It's really simple.

If you can have cheat meals and still be in an overall deficit, then you will lose weight.

If your cheat meals cancel out any deficit you built during the rest of the week, you will not lose weight.

Nobody can know, overall, which will be true for you.

Some people have a lot of success while still doing cheat meals, others find that it does limit or stop their weight loss.

kgirlhart

It depends on what you mean by cheat meals. I never have cheat meals. I do not restrict any foods. I only restrict calories. I can and do eat whatever I want that fits my calorie goal for the day. Occasionally I go over my calories for a special occasion. But I don't consider that cheating and I try to only do that when it is an actual special occasion. So if by cheat meal you mean eating foods that you normally don't allow yourself to eat while staying at your calorie goal then that is fine. In fact you could do that every day. If by cheat you mean go over your calories then that will depend on how far over your calories you go. You need to have a 3500 calorie deficit per week to lose 1 pound. If your cheat meals erase that deficit then you won't lose and could gain. If your cheat is just eating at maintenance it will just slow down your weight loss. I think it is best to find a way of eating that you can stick to for life and you won't feel the need to cheat.

laur357

If by cheating you mean eating/drinking whatever you'd like with abandon for two meals, it absolutely ruins my weight loss that week. As a short lady with a desk job, I either maintain or gain slightly. If I plan to include some indulgent meals and track them, I can lose weight - but I don't consider that cheating. I need to know what I'm eating so I can cut back at other meals or add exercise to cover my *kitten*.

kaseykofoed

I eat cheat meals. But what I'll do when I know I'm going to eat bad is burn a crap ton of calories before.
I'll aim to burn about how many calories I'm going to indulge in. I don't know if it is a good thing I do it like that, but I feel don't feel guilty for eating it.

abbynormalartist

I do have some days where I go quite a bit over my maintenance (usually holidays and family gatherings with big dinners and few low-calorie options, etc) but I try to keep to a reasonable deficit for a few days afterwards the and week usually ends up around maintenance. I try not to do that too often because most "cheat" meal foods are not super satisfying. They may be tasty, but they don't fill me up. And if I do eat enough to fill up on them, then I have a tummy ache afterwards. I don't find it worth it. I had donuts on a date last night and while each donut was more than 300 calories, I was still hungry at the end of the night AND way over on calories for the day. I wish I could have just had a home cooked dinner and a chocolate protein bar instead