Weekly Cheat Meals

trinique44

Hi guys
I'm new to calorie counting and was wondering (don't scold me for asking this question so soon please) lol, but do you allow yourself one "cheat" meal per week where you don't count the calories, or you do count but ignore the fact that it's over what MFP allows? And if you do this, do you still lose weight each week?

I'm at 1400 cals a day, weigh and measure my food, exercise only 3 times per week by doing 30 mins cardio (cross trainer says I burn 300 calories in those 30 mins but I only log 200).

Any advice would be helpful. I have to say though that I'm supposed to be only eating 1200 cals according to MFP but I'm so hungry on 1200 I thought I would start with 1400 and work my way down.

Thanks a bunch

Mslmesq

Do you wear a fitbit? Can you walk a little more or be a little more active?

Mfp also gave me 1200, but myfitbit always gives me extra just by being active. I eat back those calories and average about 1500-1700 calories a day. I have consistently lost weight doing that and am almost at my goal now.

In answer to your question, I don’t have set cheat meals. I go over sometimes and log it. I don’t worry about it when it happens. I typically don’t go over by a huge amount. I’m not a binge eater and don’t have much of a sweet tooth, other than liking my wine. So I might hit 2000-2200 on some days. Maybe once every other week. More typically I might just be over by 100-200 calories. Either way, I don’t stress about it.

FlyingMolly

1200 is too low for most people, honestly. Is it possible you’ve set too aggressive of a weight-loss goal? 1% of your body weight per week is a good rule of thumb.

As for cheat meals...I think it depends on you. Some people swear by them, but I find that relaxing once a week becomes twice becomes quitting. All the yo-yo water weight makes it hard to see if I’m really losing, and I just get frustrated and give up. I’m doing keto now and thinking of having a non-keto day or two at the end of each month to break things up a bit—monthly feels less disruptive than weekly. I tried it at the end of January and was able to slide back in with no real trouble, but that’s always a risk to take.

I do recommend trying to incorporate your favorite foods into your current diet, and playing around with your macros to see what keeps you from being too hungry. The less deprived you feel, the less crazy you’re going to feel like you have to go on cheats. I was able to resume my diet this weekend because it includes a lot of things I actually look forward to, and I probably wouldn’t have room for them in my day if I were also eating all the extra “filler” foods I used to eat. Find enjoyable, satisfying foods and eat some of them, in moderation, every day. It makes cheating less interesting.

malibu927

No, for a couple reasons...

-if I don't count calories on something, I could likely erase my deficit with one meal
-I fit the foods I want into my goals and plan to do so in maintenance as well

MichelleSilverleaf

I echo what FlyingMolly said, your deficit is probably too extreme for your goal but without knowing your stats and how much weight you want to lose it's hard to say. I don't think cheat meals or cheat days are great, to me it sets you in the wrong mindset. Your efforts shouldn't be something you feel you have to 'cheat' from. Part of what's going to help you succeed in the long run is learning now how to eat in a way you'll be able to maintain long term. Often people will just cut things out, lose weight, but when they get to goal have no idea how to re-incorporate all those things they cut out and they're back to square one. You could lower your weekly loss goal to give you more daily calories, your loss will be a little slower but more enjoyable and give you more room to incorporate more foods and even treats. Also, remember that the odd random off day doesn't ruin your entire efforts.

trinique44

Thx everyone
I've set my goal to lose 1 lb per week. I'm 158 lbs and would like to lose 38. I'm only 5 feet tall. Does my goals seem realistic? I came off a keto diet straight into counting calories and so far I'm loving it. Keto made me weak and tired...so I wanted to try something new. I hope my calories are not too high. I guess when I weigh Saturday I'll know

PowerliftingMom

1 lb. per week is very reasonable. I stopped doing cheat meals over a year ago. If I want to indulge in something, I will and just incorporate it into my calories for the day. If I know I'm going out for a meal or want to eat something that has more calories than I usually consume, I will eat small, low carb/low fat meals.

MichelleSilverleaf

trinique44 wrote: »

Thx everyone
I've set my goal to lose 1 lb per week. I'm 158 lbs and would like to lose 38. I'm only 5 feet tall. Does my goals seem realistic? I came off a keto diet straight into counting calories and so far I'm loving it. Keto made me weak and tired...so I wanted to try something new. I hope my calories are not too high. I guess when I weigh Saturday I'll know

Eat to the number MFP gives you and wait about 4-6 weeks to see if what you're doing is working. A few days isn't going to be long enough to see if what you're doing is working, give it a bit more time. 38lbs sounds like a good goal, just remember that the closer you get to goal the slower your weight loss is going to be. That's just par for the course, everyone goes through that point.

genchiyu

trinique44 wrote: »

Thx everyone
I've set my goal to lose 1 lb per week. I'm 158 lbs and would like to lose 38. I'm only 5 feet tall. Does my goals seem realistic? I came off a keto diet straight into counting calories and so far I'm loving it. Keto made me weak and tired...so I wanted to try something new. I hope my calories are not too high. I guess when I weigh Saturday I'll know

Hi there, I also just started counting calories, weighing my food, and learning more about counting macros. Currently 150lb @ 5ft, I'm on this MFP journey to lose 20 lbs. I set my goal to lose 2lbs per week meaning a deficit of 7000cal per week. I've been amused weighing my food in, and it took 30 minutes before I actually took a bite, to log in everything I was about to eat. If I were to add in a 2000-calorie cheat meal, I would have a deficit of 5000cal for the week meaning I would have lost around 1.4 lbs for the week.

If you're counting calories, you should have a deficit of 3500cal. per week. Your cheat meal should be less than that if you want to see some results at the end of the week. If you have a 1000-calorie cheat meal, you would have a deficit of 2500cal for the week meaning you would have lost around 0.7 lbs for the week.

I've been doing some research on counting calories but anyone can correct me if I'm wrong! Best of luck to you on your journey.

trinique44

Thanks everyone. I've decided to count those calories into my day. I am planning on working out before going out for dinner and I haven't used any of my workout calories this week, so hopefully I won't do much damage. I weigh tomorrow for the first time since counting, I'm actually scared to step on the scale because I don't feel like I've lost weight

WinoGelato

trinique44 wrote: »

Thx everyone
I've set my goal to lose 1 lb per week. I'm 158 lbs and would like to lose 38. I'm only 5 feet tall. Does my goals seem realistic? I came off a keto diet straight into counting calories and so far I'm loving it. Keto made me weak and tired...so I wanted to try something new. I hope my calories are not too high. I guess when I weigh Saturday I'll know

If you were recently doing keto and went back to a higher carb diet it’s likely you will see some temporary water weight gain from glycogen stores being replenished so don’t be discouraged this week - you need to give it more time.

I’m 5’2 and started here almost 5 years ago at about 153 lbs and chose 1 lbs/week to lose, also got the 1200 cal bare minimum calories. I too quickly realized that wasn’t going to sustainable for me, and started reading the good advice on these boards that most people don’t need to go that low in order to lose. I raised my NET goal to 1400, then 1500, and kept losing; I was walking for exercise but not doing much more. About 6 months into things I got a FitBit and realized I was more active than I had realized. I raised my cals again to change my rate of loss to 0.5 lb/week and reached my original goal weight of 125 lbs about a year after starting. I’m in maintenance now, at around 118 lbs after continuing to lose and get more active. My TDEE is around 2200.

Back to your original question - I actually don’t believe in cheat days. I think you can undo your weeks deficit pretty easily, it can set up patterns of too much restriction followed by too much indulgence. I didn’t cut anything out while losing so I didn’t need to “cheat”. I work in the foods I love regularly - things like wine, pizza, and ice cream - without it being a huge cheat meal. What I did do, and still do, is if I know I’m going to have a more indulgent weekend because of a big event I may bank some calories during the week, coming in 100-200 cals below my target during the week gives me 500-1000 extra calories for a Saturday date night or a super bowl party. I still don’t call that a cheat meal - it’s just part of my plan.

Good luck, and read the stickied most helpful posts if you haven’t already - lots of good info in there.

WinoGelato

genaquino wrote: »

trinique44 wrote: »

Thx everyone
I've set my goal to lose 1 lb per week. I'm 158 lbs and would like to lose 38. I'm only 5 feet tall. Does my goals seem realistic? I came off a keto diet straight into counting calories and so far I'm loving it. Keto made me weak and tired...so I wanted to try something new. I hope my calories are not too high. I guess when I weigh Saturday I'll know

Hi there, I also just started counting calories, weighing my food, and learning more about counting macros. Currently 150lb @ 5ft, I'm on this MFP journey to lose 20 lbs. I set my goal to lose 2lbs per week meaning a deficit of 7000cal per week. I've been amused weighing my food in, and it took 30 minutes before I actually took a bite, to log in everything I was about to eat. If I were to add in a 2000-calorie cheat meal, I would have a deficit of 5000cal for the week meaning I would have lost around 1.4 lbs for the week.

If you're counting calories, you should have a deficit of 3500cal. per week. Your cheat meal should be less than that if you want to see some results at the end of the week. If you have a 1000-calorie cheat meal, you would have a deficit of 2500cal for the week meaning you would have lost around 0.7 lbs for the week.

I've been doing some research on counting calories but anyone can correct me if I'm wrong! Best of luck to you on your journey.

2 lbs/week is too aggressive if you’ve only got 20 lbs to lose - you should be aiming for 0.5-1lb/week. Too large of a deficit makes it hard to get adequate nutrition and can result in loss of lean body mass, as well as make the transition to maintenance more challenging.

MelanieCN77

Weekly would be too often for me, but I occasionally loosen up and allow myself to eat what I want but I always track it.

francisolorunfunmi

trinique44 wrote: »

Hi guys
I'm new to calorie counting and was wondering (don't scold me for asking this question so soon please) lol, but do you allow yourself one "cheat" meal per week where you don't count the calories, or you do count but ignore the fact that it's over what MFP allows? And if you do this, do you still lose weight each week?

I'm at 1400 cals a day, weigh and measure my food, exercise only 3 times per week by doing 30 mins cardio (cross trainer says I burn 300 calories in those 30 mins but I only log 200).

Any advice would be helpful. I have to say though that I'm supposed to be only eating 1200 cals according to MFP but I'm so hungry on 1200 I thought I would start with 1400 and work my way down.

Thanks a bunch

Yeah normally after a night out I have a fish and chips or Jamaican curry set meal. These are like 1000 calories and I work eat for the rest of the day through being so full and waking up late and lounging in bed.

trinique44

Curry goat and rice and peas..now you're talking! lol
I actually weighed a day early this morning and saw that on my first week I am already down 3.2. This amazes me because I ate 1300 to 1400 calories, ate rice, pasta and potatoes and bananas and lost weight! No more Keto for me. If I lose 1 lb a week I'm happy. Slow and steady and I get to eat REAL food. I was on the Ideal Protein Plan on and off for years. It sucked!

francisolorunfunmi

trinique44 wrote: »

Curry goat and rice and peas..now you're talking! lol
I actually weighed a day early this morning and saw that on my first week I am already down 3.2. This amazes me because I ate 1300 to 1400 calories, ate rice, pasta and potatoes and bananas and lost weight! No more Keto for me. If I lose 1 lb a week I'm happy. Slow and steady and I get to eat REAL food. I was on the Ideal Protein Plan on and off for years. It sucked!

Exactly be happy with the mirror and you'll be happy with yourself

trinique44

WinoGelato wrote: »

trinique44 wrote: »

Thx everyone
I've set my goal to lose 1 lb per week. I'm 158 lbs and would like to lose 38. I'm only 5 feet tall. Does my goals seem realistic? I came off a keto diet straight into counting calories and so far I'm loving it. Keto made me weak and tired...so I wanted to try something new. I hope my calories are not too high. I guess when I weigh Saturday I'll know

If you were recently doing keto and went back to a higher carb diet it’s likely you will see some temporary water weight gain from glycogen stores being replenished so don’t be discouraged this week - you need to give it more time.

I’m 5’2 and started here almost 5 years ago at about 153 lbs and chose 1 lbs/week to lose, also got the 1200 cal bare minimum calories. I too quickly realized that wasn’t going to sustainable for me, and started reading the good advice on these boards that most people don’t need to go that low in order to lose. I raised my NET goal to 1400, then 1500, and kept losing; I was walking for exercise but not doing much more. About 6 months into things I got a FitBit and realized I was more active than I had realized. I raised my cals again to change my rate of loss to 0.5 lb/week and reached my original goal weight of 125 lbs about a year after starting. I’m in maintenance now, at around 118 lbs after continuing to lose and get more active. My TDEE is around 2200.

Back to your original question - I actually don’t believe in cheat days. I think you can undo your weeks deficit pretty easily, it can set up patterns of too much restriction followed by too much indulgence. I didn’t cut anything out while losing so I didn’t need to “cheat”. I work in the foods I love regularly - things like wine, pizza, and ice cream - without it being a huge cheat meal. What I did do, and still do, is if I know I’m going to have a more indulgent weekend because of a big event I may bank some calories during the week, coming in 100-200 cals below my target during the week gives me 500-1000 extra calories for a Saturday date night or a super bowl party. I still don’t call that a cheat meal - it’s just part of my plan.

Good luck, and read the stickied most helpful posts if you haven’t already - lots of good info in there.

Thanks so much for this advice. I'm excited to get where you are! I know I have it in me to do this...just need to be consistent. I did bank my exercise calories this week and some days only ate around 1300 (never lower). Your post is very reassuring to me. Thanks very much for taking the time to write it. I need a fitbit! lol

jjpptt2

Personally, no I don't. Why? Because I can't keep my overall weekly deficit with a cheat meal each week. My cheat meals are too big and my deficit on the other days is too small.

Kinda like spending... save a tiny bit of money each week, then spurge once and month and buy a car. That's bad for the budget.

yirara

1200 is very low. Do you need to restrict so much?

I have two cheat meals per week: a proper white roll with full fat cheese is higher in calorie than the two slices of bread with ham or chicken breast I usually eat. And I just cooked a donbury dish wish crispy minced meat, fermented beans, soy sauce and lots of lovely other things (and I just realised I forgot to add the sesame seed). It's also a bit above my goal, but not by much. I could decide to not have a caramel wafer bar or chocolate pudding, but it's fine for this time of the week. It's my own decision anyway, and I do count the calories.

(edit: so without the sesame seeds I'm only 8kcal over my target today)

HoneyBadger302

I don't "not count" my calories. I don't do cheat meals. If there's something I'm really craving, however, no matter how "bad" it is, I just plan it into my week. Nothing is off limits, you just can't eat all of it all of the time.

If you're super hungry one day, it's not going to kill things to eat at maintenance every now and then, but realize that you're not gaining any weight loss ground, but probably not doing any damage, either.

chelliz88

I don't specifically do a cheat day, but if I want to eat something on the weekend that isn't when I eat during the week, I don't sweat if. I ALWAYS track it, though.