Cheat meal question

MissMeghan802
MissMeghan802 Posts: 29
in Food and Nutrition
Every Saturday night I go out with the Hubby and have a "cheat meal". My daily goal is 1690. My question is how many calories over do I need to go in order for me to gain weight, because I really do not want to gain anything. My maintence calorie goal is 2700. My cheat meal usually puts my calories around maintenance.

Replies

  • chunkydunk714
    chunkydunk714 Posts: 784 Member
    It takes 3500 calories to gain one pound...

    I think ur fine.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    You need to go over maintenance EVERY DAY in order to gain weight.... If you are over with a few hundred calories on your cheat day and under for the rest of the week it will balance out....
  • californiabella
    californiabella Posts: 152
    yeah, one night of "cheating" isn't going to make you gain unless you're consuming at least 3500.

    But if you're going over your calories every day in addition to your cheat meal, then that can easily total 3500+ if you aren't careful.
  • MissMeghan802
    MissMeghan802 Posts: 29
    Ok, that makes me feel better. I never go over during the week, only on Saturdays when I have the cheat meal. Last Saturday i was at 2800, so 100 above maintence for me but usually its lower than that.
  • ccburn5
    ccburn5 Posts: 473 Member
    Good question however if its truly a "cheat meal", should you be worried about calories? LOL.

    I am curious though because I have not been able to anything physically active in about 3 weeks because of a sciatic nerve issue in my back and am slightly worried because of that.
  • kyleekay10
    kyleekay10 Posts: 1,812 Member
    It's important to note that in order to gain a pound of fat, you'd have to be at 3,500 over Maintenance (not just eating 3,500 flat). So that means you'd have to eat 6,200 calories to gain a pound.
  • MissMeghan802
    MissMeghan802 Posts: 29
    Oh wow 6200, that is a lot! No way I would ever even come close to that...

    As for you, CCburn5, I consider a cheat meal differntly I guess. I consider it a meal, in which i can go to a resturant on a Saturday night and order anything off the menu that I want. I still log it, using the nutritional information the resturant provided on their websites.
  • sassabella
    sassabella Posts: 98
    Oh wow 6200, that is a lot! No way I would ever even come close to that...

    As for you, CCburn5, I consider a cheat meal differntly I guess. I consider it a meal, in which i can go to a resturant on a Saturday night and order anything off the menu that I want. I still log it, using the nutritional information the resturant provided on their websites.

    Yeah that's what I consider my cheat meals to be. I just let myself treat myself to whatever off a menu :) I think you're fine though. As other people said, you'd have to be eating a hell of a lot more than your maintenance goal in order to gain anything x
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,098 Member
    You're not really "going over" if you're eating at maintenance. For that one day you're holding steady. From the numbers you gave, your daily goal is about a 1000-calorie deficit, which would give you a two pound loss each week (on average - for a lot of people weight loss doesn't occur at a steady pace, even if you do the same things every week). So if you keep to the goal the rest of the week, and eat at maintenance on Saturdays, you'll average about a 1.7 lb weight loss each week instead of 2 lbs. That seems like it's worth it if you can have a nice relaxing meal with your husband once a week.

    Edited for grammar:smile:
  • clgreene2
    clgreene2 Posts: 6 Member
    One cheat meal is not going to sabotage your plan. However, cheat meals are often loaded in sodium, Extra sodium, along with filling up glycogen stores that were emptied while eating at a deficit may cause you to retain a bit more water than usual. That could show up on the scale temporarily.

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