Free meal/cheat meal once a week
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Yep, I am much more relaxed on my diet on Saturdays. I don't go crazy, but I give myself the mental break from counting calories. I've had success so far, I am down 26 lbs in 20 weeks.5
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Yes, exactly. I had one meal a week. Had to set my week (example Monday thru Sunday) and one meal during that week I could have anything I wanted. Of course my first thought was a whole chocolate cake. But then I thought about what that would do to my careful eating and careful logging all week long. I could easily wipe out my deficit and then some with that one meal. I soon found I was using that one meal for eating at a friend or relatives house, trying to eat reasonably, not asking questions about ingredients in everything, and just enjoying myself. When I got home, I tried to log what I could and just used quick add=estimated calories for the rest, never gave it a second thought, cause I had my dieticians blessings doing it that way. Probably didn’t change what I ate much, but certainly changed how much worrying I did over one meal.
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I track everything except one meal a week. As long as that cheat meal doesn't turn into a cheat day and so on then it's not going to hurt your long term goals.4
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What not everybody understands is that depending on how many calories you get per day, you can’t always just work chocolate, cake, cookies, pizza and ice cream into your daily or even weekly calorie budget. I challenge you to eat at 1300 calories a day and see how that works out for you. Hence the desire for a “cheat” meal or day for some people.
If I were very very short AND sedentary so truly needed to eat 1300 calories in order to lose weight, I would increase exercise and get more calories.10 -
Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »How it would work in my case is one meal a week I would eat a normal sized portion
Aren’t you eating normal sized portions? Logging becomes habit. It not tedious or stressful for me. Everyone has to do what works best for each of us.
Yes of course I am. Example, instead of chicken and vegetables like usual I could have a couple slices of pizza for dinner. That kind of switch up. And I personally hate logging but I still do it because right now it’s necessary.
Well, I eat pizza, but I log it.
I also have less pizza than before, add a large salad, and eat more slowly.
I also tend to save it for days where I have more exercise calories.1 -
Cheat meals/days work for some people and not others. Didn't work for me and my wife. What started out as a pretty good idea for us - one meal a week of not going crazy but just taking a time out from logging and having a "treat" - turned into a cheat day, which started out sane and eventually evolved into a complete free for all of Chinese buffets, chocolate and chips, etc. Once those free for alls got too out of hand, we were giving back half our weight loss for the week and then threw in the towel and never got back to dieting and logging. That's a cycle we repeated several times. Other people might have better success with it, of course.
We're using a new approach that's working far better for us. We simply log everything. No cheat meals, no cheat days. We focus on making sure the food is what we enjoy and that we're getting enough of it, so that we're not constantly on a low-boil of feeling deprived and punished. If you enjoy what you're eating and are getting enough of it to feel satisfied, it's much less likely that you'll feel a burning need for an off meal/day or that you'll suddenly lose self-control and end up face down in an extra cheese and pepperoni pizza. Even if this means increasing the cals a bit (and losing a little less weight), it's just an easier way to go about it, and hopefully will set us up better for long-term maintenance when we get to weights we want to maintain.
When we hit the occasional day where we just want some more food or are out dining with friends, we just eat some more and log it as best we can. The very act of logging an off-diet meal helps keep it sane; no one wants to input 4,000 calories for a dinner and desert.6 -
I think if you mean cheat is having a slice or two of pizza for dinner vs chicken and vegetables (as you stated above) I would say yes, do so. Because if you like pizza and you 100% eliminate if from the food you eat you will end up not being successful because you will always be craving what you "can't have." You can have/eat anything either just in moderation or adjust other means to allot for that. If you mean cheat by eating something and then not logging it, I would say not to that. I try to be accountable and track everything including overages. To have the app say I meet my calories for the day when in fact I went over them, would only be a fib to myself.4
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I do a "cheat" meal once a week. I like it. I can have whatever I want for that one meal and not have to worry or feel guilty or deprived. I usually go to my favorite breakfast restaurant. My favorite meal is about 1000ish calories or so, based on my best estimate.
I have mixed feelings about a cheat day. I have control issues and a whole day of freedom makes it hard for me to get back on track the next day. Also, I can easily consume enough food in one day that I would gain weight for the week.
Years ago, I did a weight loss/exercise plan that had a cheat day each week. I was insanely strict and pure all week long (no sugar or chemicals or processed food, etc). On Saturdays, I ate whatever I wanted. The first week, I felt a little sick. The second week, I felt just awful. By the third week, my cheat day had turned into either nothing or else eating one small treat because the misery the next day wasn't worth it. These days, my regular diet isn't nearly as pure and my cheat meals are pretty healthy food, too, just more of it.4 -
The problem with the cheat meal is that there is NO cheating. Your body doesn't differentiate between calories based on how you view them. If a cheat meal is of sufficient calories it will completely disrupt your weight loss for the week.
The other problem is that learning to live within your calorie budget most of the time is how you need to live your life. If it is just a matter of slowing down your weight loss a little it is no big deal but eventually you will get to maintenance and you may not have many more calories to work with than you do now. A "cheat" meal then will likely be a surplus and you will begin gaining weight. You can't just assume you will adopt better habits when you are at goal. Too many people go through too much to get to goal and then end up regaining their weight.
This all assumes the worst case scenario which will obviously not be the case for each individual with varying ideas for how a "cheat" anything is implemented.5 -
I started a new job and don't have time to exercise on Friday any longer, so I save up 200-300 calories per day on Monday through Thursday, couple that with about 250-300 I usually have left over on Friday after lunch, and go out to dinner on Friday night without exceeding my weekly calories. So far this is working for me. I end up with usually 1300-1500 calories available for Friday night dinner by counting weekly instead of just daily, and I would be hard-pressed to eat that many calories in one sitting, so I am probably at a very slight deficit for the week overall.1
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What not everybody understands is that depending on how many calories you get per day, you can’t always just work chocolate, cake, cookies, pizza and ice cream into your daily or even weekly calorie budget. I challenge you to eat at 1300 calories a day and see how that works out for you. Hence the desire for a “cheat” meal or day for some people.
Surely you could have some chocolate for about 70 cals, biscuits for about the same amount, ice cream for about 150? Not all together on the same day obviously
Cake admittedly is a bit harder sometimes its not even worth for me having such a small amount that is a sensible calorie amount because it leaves me feeling deprived.
Im a massive pizza fan, so I find that making my own version means I can fit it in. So a mini flat bread of some description, toppings with tomato sauce and veg on top, some cheese and thats a dinner with some salad.9 -
I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.7
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I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.
Hey thanks for your response! Yes I’m definitely talking about one meal and NOT a whole day. I am not having trouble sticking within my calories at all. Once I got on a roll it’s easy. The issue is tracking is exhausting and I want a night off tracking once a week. I also find it VERY hard to fit normal pizza or cake into my macros and trying to is exhausting. I refuse to eat diet food, I don’t eat halo top or skinny cow or anything like that. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some lean meat. When I have icecream I have full fat dairy icecream. When I have a candy bar it’s an actual candy bar, not a protein bar. To expect myself to replace these things or cut them out entirely the rest of my life is unrealistic. I have cut out soda completely because I actually dislike it now that I switched to water. That’s about it for things I have eliminated completely though. I think it’s much more realistic to plan for eating these things which I will always have at some point since I love them. My way of planning is one meal a week of a single portion of something that I want. One thing whatever that is. I think it’s crazy someone could think one meal would wipe out a deficit of 7000+ calories. If someone is eating 5000+ calories at once they have a binge eating disorder. If I ate that much at once, even in one day I would be physically ill. My deficit is about 7-8000 calories a week. I’m not ever gonna undo that with one 1000 calorie meal a week. I appreciate the flexible and rational people in the comments. It’s good to weigh other opinions if they make sense. That being said, I never understood the all or nothing mentality. People didn’t get fat for no reason. People will eat what they like and if you try to restrict too much you will binge. I’d rather have what I want without becoming obsessive counting every gram, every second of my life. For a few weeks I plan to track everything except one meal a week. Then after I get better at learning portion sizes etc. I will probably repeat a lot of meals for which I already know the macros and be more lax on tracking. Lots of people have lost without being an obsessive train wreck XD I’m going to be one of them.
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This is why I love being active. I am cutting on 3k a day so I can have 1k in "cheat" calories every day while getting leaner. I don't call it cheating.8
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Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.
Hey thanks for your response! Yes I’m definitely talking about one meal and NOT a whole day. I am not having trouble sticking within my calories at all. Once I got on a roll it’s easy. The issue is tracking is exhausting and I want a night off tracking once a week. I also find it VERY hard to fit normal pizza or cake into my macros and trying to is exhausting. I refuse to eat diet food, I don’t eat halo top or skinny cow or anything like that. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some lean meat. When I have icecream I have full fat dairy icecream. When I have a candy bar it’s an actual candy bar, not a protein bar. To expect myself to replace these things or cut them out entirely the rest of my life is unrealistic. I have cut out soda completely because I actually dislike it now that I switched to water. That’s about it for things I have eliminated completely though. I think it’s much more realistic to plan for eating these things which I will always have at some point since I love them. My way of planning is one meal a week of a single portion of something that I want. One thing whatever that is. I think it’s crazy someone could think one meal would wipe out a deficit of 7000+ calories. If someone is eating 5000+ calories at once they have a binge eating disorder. If I ate that much at once, even in one day I would be physically ill. My deficit is about 7-8000 calories a week. I’m not ever gonna undo that with one 1000 calorie meal a week. I appreciate the flexible and rational people in the comments. It’s good to weigh other opinions if they make sense. That being said, I never understood the all or nothing mentality. People didn’t get fat for no reason. People will eat what they like and if you try to restrict too much you will binge. I’d rather have what I want without becoming obsessive counting every gram, every second of my life. For a few weeks I plan to track everything except one meal a week. Then after I get better at learning portion sizes etc. I will probably repeat a lot of meals for which I already know the macros and be more lax on tracking. Lots of people have lost without being an obsessive train wreck XD I’m going to be one of them.
It’s ironic you are talking about people being so extreme, taking an all or nothing approach, because to be honest that’s what your posts read to me. Your approach sounds excessively restrictive as do your comments about your attention to your macros. Macros don’t determine success or failure. They can help with satiety and ensuring a minimum consumption of protein can be important for some fitness goals. But many people (myself Included) don’t even look at macros and still find success.
How much weight are you trying to lose?a deficit of 7-8,000 cals per week is appropriate for someone with around 100 lbs to lose. Is that your goal?
Eating only chicken and vegetables also sounds unnecessarily restrictive, no wonder you feel you need a day off.
You’re talking about people obsessively counting but your approach seems borderline obsessive. Depending on your goals, such an extreme approach may not be warranted. What many are trying to tell you is it’s possible to eat pizza, ice cream, etc without it having to be a cheat or a special one day/week allowance. You can eat these foods, logging them, AND hit your macros and calorie goals if you choose.
Also plenty of us gained weight without it having to be a binge eating situation. Eating just a little too much of too many foods, while having a mostly Sedentary lifestyle is exactly how I found myself in the position of needing to lose weight. But I did so while continuing to eat pizza and ice cream without feeling like I was cheating. So for many of us, logging all meals regardless of what we are eating doesn’t feel obsessive, it feels liberating. It gives us the knowledge we need to ensure we hit our goals without stressing about things like scale fluctuations, plateaus, etc.
At the end of the day you asked if people can be successful while loosening up a bit on a regular cadence and the answer is sure, of course. You just need to figure out a balance between attention to important indicators and the kpi’s that matter to you. What those are, and what balance you feel comfortable with, is very individualized.8 -
What not everybody understands is that depending on how many calories you get per day, you can’t always just work chocolate, cake, cookies, pizza and ice cream into your daily or even weekly calorie budget. I challenge you to eat at 1300 calories a day and see how that works out for you. Hence the desire for a “cheat” meal or day for some people.
Surely you could have some chocolate for about 70 cals, biscuits for about the same amount, ice cream for about 150? Not all together on the same day obviously
Cake admittedly is a bit harder sometimes its not even worth for me having such a small amount that is a sensible calorie amount because it leaves me feeling deprived.
Im a massive pizza fan, so I find that making my own version means I can fit it in. So a mini flat bread of some description, toppings with tomato sauce and veg on top, some cheese and thats a dinner with some salad.
Not unless I’ve done a good hike that day. Much of my exercise is from lifting, which doesn’t net you that many additional calories. With three regular meals in the 350-400 calorie range plus one mid-afternoon and one after-dinner snack of 100-150 calories each, I’m at my calorie limit. And ice cream or candy for a snack does nothing to fill me up, satisfy me, or contribute to my protein macro, so they are empty/wasted calories unless I’ve done a good hike or sometimes a spin class (which are difficult to come by where I live).
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What not everybody understands is that depending on how many calories you get per day, you can’t always just work chocolate, cake, cookies, pizza and ice cream into your daily or even weekly calorie budget. I challenge you to eat at 1300 calories a day and see how that works out for you. Hence the desire for a “cheat” meal or day for some people.
Surely you could have some chocolate for about 70 cals, biscuits for about the same amount, ice cream for about 150? Not all together on the same day obviously
Cake admittedly is a bit harder sometimes its not even worth for me having such a small amount that is a sensible calorie amount because it leaves me feeling deprived.
Im a massive pizza fan, so I find that making my own version means I can fit it in. So a mini flat bread of some description, toppings with tomato sauce and veg on top, some cheese and thats a dinner with some salad.
Not unless I’ve done a good hike that day. Much of my exercise is from lifting, which doesn’t net you that many additional calories. With three regular meals in the 350-400 calorie range plus one mid-afternoon and one after-dinner snack of 100-150 calories each, I’m at my calorie limit. And ice cream or candy for a snack does nothing to fill me up, satisfy me, or contribute to my protein macro, so they are empty/wasted calories unless I’ve done a good hike or sometimes a spin class (which are difficult to come by where I live).
Yes I suppose so. I found a chocolate coin left over from xmas yesterday so I had a bit of chocolate for quite small calories. I also had for my tea last night greek yoghurt and fruit which could have been ice cream I suppose. It was very hot here so I didnt fancy a proper dinner. As I said I would have done a pizza for a dinner, you could make one for about 400 cals I think?1 -
Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.
Hey thanks for your response! Yes I’m definitely talking about one meal and NOT a whole day. I am not having trouble sticking within my calories at all. Once I got on a roll it’s easy. The issue is tracking is exhausting and I want a night off tracking once a week. I also find it VERY hard to fit normal pizza or cake into my macros and trying to is exhausting. I refuse to eat diet food, I don’t eat halo top or skinny cow or anything like that. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some lean meat. When I have icecream I have full fat dairy icecream. When I have a candy bar it’s an actual candy bar, not a protein bar. To expect myself to replace these things or cut them out entirely the rest of my life is unrealistic. I have cut out soda completely because I actually dislike it now that I switched to water. That’s about it for things I have eliminated completely though. I think it’s much more realistic to plan for eating these things which I will always have at some point since I love them. My way of planning is one meal a week of a single portion of something that I want. One thing whatever that is. I think it’s crazy someone could think one meal would wipe out a deficit of 7000+ calories. If someone is eating 5000+ calories at once they have a binge eating disorder. If I ate that much at once, even in one day I would be physically ill. My deficit is about 7-8000 calories a week. I’m not ever gonna undo that with one 1000 calorie meal a week. I appreciate the flexible and rational people in the comments. It’s good to weigh other opinions if they make sense. That being said, I never understood the all or nothing mentality. People didn’t get fat for no reason. People will eat what they like and if you try to restrict too much you will binge. I’d rather have what I want without becoming obsessive counting every gram, every second of my life. For a few weeks I plan to track everything except one meal a week. Then after I get better at learning portion sizes etc. I will probably repeat a lot of meals for which I already know the macros and be more lax on tracking. Lots of people have lost without being an obsessive train wreck XD I’m going to be one of them.
I'd get very sick of logging and tracking too if I were so anal about getting my macros spot on and would be yearning for a break from it. The great thing about weight loss is that it is much more about your calorie deficit than it is about hitting particular macros. As long as you are meeting the minimum requirements for fat and protein macros are mostly important for satiety and adherence.3 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.
Hey thanks for your response! Yes I’m definitely talking about one meal and NOT a whole day. I am not having trouble sticking within my calories at all. Once I got on a roll it’s easy. The issue is tracking is exhausting and I want a night off tracking once a week. I also find it VERY hard to fit normal pizza or cake into my macros and trying to is exhausting. I refuse to eat diet food, I don’t eat halo top or skinny cow or anything like that. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some lean meat. When I have icecream I have full fat dairy icecream. When I have a candy bar it’s an actual candy bar, not a protein bar. To expect myself to replace these things or cut them out entirely the rest of my life is unrealistic. I have cut out soda completely because I actually dislike it now that I switched to water. That’s about it for things I have eliminated completely though. I think it’s much more realistic to plan for eating these things which I will always have at some point since I love them. My way of planning is one meal a week of a single portion of something that I want. One thing whatever that is. I think it’s crazy someone could think one meal would wipe out a deficit of 7000+ calories. If someone is eating 5000+ calories at once they have a binge eating disorder. If I ate that much at once, even in one day I would be physically ill. My deficit is about 7-8000 calories a week. I’m not ever gonna undo that with one 1000 calorie meal a week. I appreciate the flexible and rational people in the comments. It’s good to weigh other opinions if they make sense. That being said, I never understood the all or nothing mentality. People didn’t get fat for no reason. People will eat what they like and if you try to restrict too much you will binge. I’d rather have what I want without becoming obsessive counting every gram, every second of my life. For a few weeks I plan to track everything except one meal a week. Then after I get better at learning portion sizes etc. I will probably repeat a lot of meals for which I already know the macros and be more lax on tracking. Lots of people have lost without being an obsessive train wreck XD I’m going to be one of them.
I'd get very sick of logging and tracking too if I were so anal about getting my macros spot on and would be yearning for a break from it. The great thing about weight loss is that it is much more about your calorie deficit than it is about hitting particular macros. As long as you are meeting the minimum requirements for fat and protein macros are mostly important for satiety and adherence.
Thanks! I know the calories are more important for weight loss than macros. Sometimes I focus too much on macros just because I enjoy hitting those as well. It’s nice to be reminded though
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This is why I love being active. I am cutting on 3k a day so I can have 1k in "cheat" calories every day while getting leaner. I don't call it cheating.
That is amazing! I’m fairly active NOW. I was a potato all winter. As of the last month I run for an hour everyday. On top of my hour of running, I also lift weights a couple times a week, hike every weekend and in general live a much more active life since the summer began. I’m hoping over time I will get my metabolism up to that level. I am currently losing 2lb a week on 1600 NET calories a day I’m not even technically overweight by BMI, but I am overweight by body fat percentage. I started using happy scale to track my weight when I found the MFP estimates to be way too low for me. I do not typically log my weight on MFP. I also found the predicted weight loss way slower on MFP than I am actually losing. I also love not calling it cheating! Eating what I want and just being healthier overall is part of my new life.
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