What do you consider a cheat?

tequierosince06

What do you consider a cheat meal? Is it something that you wouldn’t usually eat? Is it still a cheat if you maintain a good caloric deficit? Is it still a cheat if its within your macros or if you still hit your daily calorie limit?

Yesterday I ate a homemade philly cheesesteak with fries (725cal) but i worked hard to keep my total cal for the day in check & Was under my calorie limit (1550cal). I actually preplanned my meal because I knew I was making cheesesteaks. This I would consider a cheat meal but I was trying to give myself a pat on the back for putting in the effort to have the cheat -+ stay under my cal limit + almost hit my nutrient goals.
I shared my efforts with someone & they said it doesn’t count because of the cheat. I tried to say well at least I didn’t go over maintenance & im 100cal under my recommended limit. I dont always put this much effort on a cheat day & was proud I did good. But 😐. This is why I dont diet w friends.

AnnPT77

Well . . . I don't believe in cheating, kinda like as an adult I don't believe in Santa Claus. It's a nice idea, but sadly mythical.

That said:

* If we want to manage our weight, then hitting a reasonable calorie level on average most of the time is necessary.
* If we want good nutrition, we need a reasonably well rounded amount of the key macronutrients, protein and fat; plus fiber; and lots (really lots) of nice varied, colorful veggies and fruits.

That's about it (unless you have medical conditions that impose special requirements).

It's OK to go over calorie goal sometimes. It's good to stick with it most of the time.
It's OK to miss nutrition targets rather dramatically on the odd day here and there. It's good to hit close to nutrition targets most days (over some days, under others, on any one item).

That's about it. When you think about "cheating", who or what would you be cheating? It doesn't make sense to me. It's just food, not a melodrama about Good and Evil. We need to eat food. It's not wrong to enjoy it.

If you hit your calorie goal today, I think that's great. Your unusual meal had some protein, probably some calcium and other micronutrients, there are at least minor amounts of other macro/micro nutrients in there. You need some fats to be healthy, and it sounds like that had some. I don't know what the rest of your day was like, but if was a little more nutrient-dense on the fiber/micronutrient side, and you got enough protein overall, the whole day could even be a home run.

Even if your all-day nutrition wasn't ideal, hitting that most days will work out fine. You're allowed a case of pure enjoyment now and then (as long as it's not poison or something you're allergic to, of course).

Eating is about balance, balancing calories, nutrition, satiation, *enjoyment* and more. Your friend sounds like someone who thinks eating is like some kind of weird religion, with Good and Evil battling it out. I would ignore that person, if I were you.🙂

tequierosince06

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Eating is about balance, balancing calories, nutrition, satiation, *enjoyment* and more. Your friend sounds like someone who thinks eating is like some kind of weird religion, with Good and Evil battling it out. I would ignore that person, if I were you.🙂

Thank you! The reason I posted was to hear other ppls perspectives because Ive heard many ppl in the community say “no food is considered an off diet food and that cheats aren’t necessarily cheats”. Iknow theres always ways to better ourselves & ways to try to eat cleaner but sometimes I really am trying my best & this friend sometimes is a real bummer.

My day yesterday

Eggs with cheese & whole grain protein tortilla

Philly cheeseteak & fries for lunch

Protein shake for snack & greek yogurt.

Chicken breast & broccoli for dinner

My total came to 1541
126g protein, 104g carbs, 68g fat.

I felt like I deserved a gold star. I went of my diet recently but after i got back on track I told myself the only way I can have any cheats this weekend is if I stay under my cal limit. Which I did both today & yesterday.

AnnPT77

tequierosince06 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Eating is about balance, balancing calories, nutrition, satiation, *enjoyment* and more. Your friend sounds like someone who thinks eating is like some kind of weird religion, with Good and Evil battling it out. I would ignore that person, if I were you.🙂

Thank you! The reason I posted was to hear other ppls perspectives because Ive heard many ppl in the community say “no food is considered an off diet food and that cheats aren’t necessarily cheats”. Iknow theres always ways to better ourselves & ways to try to eat cleaner but sometimes I really am trying my best & this friend sometimes is a real bummer.

My day yesterday

Eggs with cheese & whole grain protein tortilla

Philly cheeseteak & fries for lunch

Protein shake for snack & greek yogurt.

Chicken breast & broccoli for dinner

My total came to 1541
126g protein, 104g carbs, 68g fat.

I felt like I deserved a gold star. I went of my diet recently but after i got back on track I told myself the only way I can have any cheats this weekend is if I stay under my cal limit. Which I did both today & yesterday.

I think that's pretty darned good, too. I still don't understand why it's cheating. It's food, it's nutrition.

Truthfully, I'm a real big veggie/fruit advocate personally, so I'd like to see a bit more of that sort of thing in there (5+ servings kind of thing), but every day doesn't have to be perfect.

You're doing fine. Just hit your calorie goal, get good overall nutrition on average, try to do that eating foods you enjoy and find filling, and don't worry about whether you're cheating or not. It'll work out great. 🙂

Machka9

As long as the calories I consume are within my goal, I'm not cheating.

I can eat pizza, cake and all sorts ... as long as I stay within my goal.

tequierosince06

Machka9 wrote: »

As long as the calories I consume are within my goal, I'm not cheating.

I can eat pizza, cake and all sorts ... as long as I stay within my goal.

I think you may have inspired me to make personal pizzas this week.

netitheyeti

I don't like restricting the foods I "can" or "can't" eat, though I do tend to aim for whatever my calorie goal is at the time.

I'd *maybe* call a special occasion type of meal at a pizza place/restaurant kinda a cheat since I don't usually log that day (find it impossible to estimate properly), but I go out for food so rarely it doesn't really make a dent plus I try and keep my food choices reasonable and don't eat past fullness.

nanastaci2020

To me, its cheating if I'm dishonest. So it does not really apply to food. I mean, if I eat something and choose to not log it or knowingly underestimate my calories: they still entered my body. I am a little OCD so try for accuracy, and to round up or at least make a note in my log if a guesstimate is the best I can do for something.

Food is about choices and budgeting.

nanastaci2020

Ps-Discussing this stuff with friends & family can be rough. There is so much 'diet misinformation' and fad style beliefs out there! And even if you know your stuff inside & out, it seems almost pointless to try to share the light.

My general rule is I don't bring it up, but I'll tell what I think/know if people ask. It is almost like a free method like CICO is too good to be true, so people would rather a system/program that is complicated and/or requires you to buy in!