How to recover from cheat meal?

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Replies

  • NoExcusesFitnessCoach
    NoExcusesFitnessCoach Posts: 106 Member
    One "cheat" meal won't throw off your progress. Just like one healthy meal won't make you fit. Just keep doing what you've been doing and you're good to go :smile:
  • delicious_cocktail
    delicious_cocktail Posts: 5,797 Member
    You need to find out why you cheated on your food in the first place. Only once you understand that can you really make amends to the food. If you really understand what happened, and know how to stop it in the future, you need to then apologize sincerely to your food and explain what happened, and how it will not happen again. After that, you need to remain vigilant and watch your motivations and keep an eye out for those character defects which led you to cheat in your food in the first place. That said, it is possible that your current food isn't the right food for you. That donut down in accounting might be exactly the right food for you, and you will be the happiest person on the planet if you fill your body to bursting with it every chance you get; behind closed doors in your office, at home - hell, even outdoors. And if that's the case you need to come to terms with that and level with your current food, or you'll really be cheating both of you.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
    You need to find out why you cheated on your food in the first place. Only once you understand that can you really make amends to the food. If you really understand what happened, and know how to stop it in the future, you need to then apologize sincerely to your food and explain what happened, and how it will not happen again. After that, you need to remain vigilant and watch your motivations and keep an eye out for those character defects which led you to cheat in your food in the first place. That said, it is possible that your current food isn't the right food for you. That donut down in accounting might be exactly the right food for you, and you will be the happiest person on the planet if you fill your body to bursting with it every chance you get; behind closed doors in your office, at home - hell, even outdoors. And if that's the case you need to come to terms with that and level with your current food, or you'll really be cheating both of you.
    no no no

    variety is the spice of life.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    If that's your cheat meal, what do you eat the rest of the time?

    The only solution is never weigh yourself the morning after you cheat.
  • PunkyDucky
    PunkyDucky Posts: 283 Member
    PS - how was that meal a cheat meal? Seemed pretty healthy. If you're considering a decent meal to be cheating there may be something wrong going on in your diet.


    I usually eat oatmeal/eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch, fruit/nuts for snack, fish/veggies for dinner and a jello cup for dessert.
    I considered eating out at a restaurant and eating a adequate amount of popcorn to be a cheat. (since i don't eat out and i don't eat popcorn everyday)
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    fit10.gif

    To me, that was a pretty normal meal. Stay within your calories for the week and you will be fine.


    ETA: And don't beat yourself up. Sounds like you made very healthy choices. Good for you!
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    I had my cheat meal of the week last night and gained 4lbs. Ugh :(

    All i had was pan seared/roasted salmon and mixed veggies for dinner at a 5-star restaurant and then a small popcorn (no butter, no salt) at the movies.

    I drank 2 liters of water throughout the day yesterday.

    What do i do to get back down to my original weight :(

    1. That is a normal meal, not a cheat meal. If that's a cheat meal, re-examine things.
    2. Perhaps you were dehydrated and the extra water you've been drinking is showing up on the scale now that you are hydrated.
    3. Don't weigh yourself every day unless you want to keep a spreadsheet with a trend line, as it's normal for weight to go up and down every day.
    4. Are you getting ready for your period? Could have NOTHING to do with your food.

    and finally..... if you ate a lot....things aren't going to even out for a while until you do one thing:

    5. Poop.
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
    PS - how was that meal a cheat meal? Seemed pretty healthy. If you're considering a decent meal to be cheating there may be something wrong going on in your diet.


    I usually eat oatmeal/eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch, fruit/nuts for snack, fish/veggies for dinner and a jello cup for dessert.
    I considered eating out at a restaurant and eating a adequate amount of popcorn to be a cheat. (since i don't eat out and i don't eat popcorn everyday)

    So, I can appreciate that restaurant meals have more /sodium than if you made them at home -- but it's highly unlikely the meal you're describing would be radically different in calories than what you make at home. I mean, maybe 200-300 for oils/butter. Maybe. I have found that fine dining actually saves you calories because portion sizes aren't out whack like you find at the Old Country Feedbag.

    Popcorn with no butter would be 300ish calories. Your jello cup is what, 60? That's only 240 more than normal.

    So you maybe consumed 600 calories more yesterday than normal (assuming you ate breakfast and lunch as normal), that doesn't make a 4 pound gain -- you probably didn't even eat to your TDEE.
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
    I had my cheat meal of the week last night and gained 4lbs. Ugh :(

    All i had was pan seared/roasted salmon and mixed veggies for dinner at a 5-star restaurant and then a small popcorn (no butter, no salt) at the movies.

    I drank 2 liters of water throughout the day yesterday.

    What do i do to get back down to my original weight :(

    You ate almost 14,000 calories in one meal?
    Edited to correct math
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    I had my cheat meal of the week last night and gained 4lbs. Ugh :(

    All i had was pan seared/roasted salmon and mixed veggies for dinner at a 5-star restaurant and then a small popcorn (no butter, no salt) at the movies.

    I drank 2 liters of water throughout the day yesterday.

    What do i do to get back down to my original weight :(
    Heck, that must have been some cheat meal-approximately 13,000 above your total daily energy expenditure. :wink:

    Seriously. Weight naturally fluctuates and restaurant food has a whole lot of sodium in it.

    You recover by just eating at your deficit until you decided to have another "cheat meal". Drink lots of water too. :smile:
  • Timmmy40
    Timmmy40 Posts: 152 Member
    I had my cheat meal of the week last night and gained 4lbs. Ugh :(

    All i had was pan seared/roasted salmon and mixed veggies for dinner at a 5-star restaurant and then a small popcorn (no butter, no salt) at the movies.

    I drank 2 liters of water throughout the day yesterday.

    What do i do to get back down to my original weight :(

    What about your meal was cheat? No way you gained 4 lbs from this meal.
  • VelveteenArabian
    VelveteenArabian Posts: 758 Member
    1 pound is 3500 calories.
    4 pounds is 28,000 calories.

    You would have bad to go over your TDEE by 28,000 calories to gain four pounds. Which wouldn't have happened in one meal.

    Weight fluctuates normally. You might just be hanging on to water or something.

    PS - how was that meal a cheat meal? Seemed pretty healthy. If you're considering a decent meal to be cheating there may be something wrong going on in your diet.

    ALL of this. I had my cheat meal last night too. Double burger from Wendy's. I gained 0.2 pounds. Weight fluctuates. If it's going to drive you THAT nuts, don't weigh yourself so often.

    4# is 14,000 calories.

    Math is hard! There's ten different numbers involved that you have to keep track of.
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
    1 pound is 3500 calories.
    4 pounds is 28,000 calories.

    You would have bad to go over your TDEE by 28,000 calories to gain four pounds. Which wouldn't have happened in one meal.

    Weight fluctuates normally. You might just be hanging on to water or something.

    PS - how was that meal a cheat meal? Seemed pretty healthy. If you're considering a decent meal to be cheating there may be something wrong going on in your diet.

    THIS


    This X2.
    My cheat meal is usually wildly unhealthy. It has included sharing a large buttered and salted movie popcorn a few times. One crazy meal or even day has never negatively effected me. It when I was eating that way month after month and year after year.
  • VelveteenArabian
    VelveteenArabian Posts: 758 Member
    1 pound is 3500 calories.
    4 pounds is 28,000 calories.

    You would have bad to go over your TDEE by 28,000 calories to gain four pounds. Which wouldn't have happened in one meal.

    Weight fluctuates normally. You might just be hanging on to water or something.

    PS - how was that meal a cheat meal? Seemed pretty healthy. If you're considering a decent meal to be cheating there may be something wrong going on in your diet.

    ALL of this. I had my cheat meal last night too. Double burger from Wendy's. I gained 0.2 pounds. Weight fluctuates. If it's going to drive you THAT nuts, don't weigh yourself so often.

    Your math perplexes me
    isnt 4 lbs 14000 calories????????????????????????????????

  • elandralee
    elandralee Posts: 11 Member
    You need to find out why you cheated on your food in the first place. Only once you understand that can you really make amends to the food. If you really understand what happened, and know how to stop it in the future, you need to then apologize sincerely to your food and explain what happened, and how it will not happen again. After that, you need to remain vigilant and watch your motivations and keep an eye out for those character defects which led you to cheat in your food in the first place. That said, it is possible that your current food isn't the right food for you. That donut down in accounting might be exactly the right food for you, and you will be the happiest person on the planet if you fill your body to bursting with it every chance you get; behind closed doors in your office, at home - hell, even outdoors. And if that's the case you need to come to terms with that and level with your current food, or you'll really be cheating both of you.


    Am I the only one who found this hilarious?
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    You need to find out why you cheated on your food in the first place. Only once you understand that can you really make amends to the food. If you really understand what happened, and know how to stop it in the future, you need to then apologize sincerely to your food and explain what happened, and how it will not happen again. After that, you need to remain vigilant and watch your motivations and keep an eye out for those character defects which led you to cheat in your food in the first place. That said, it is possible that your current food isn't the right food for you. That donut down in accounting might be exactly the right food for you, and you will be the happiest person on the planet if you fill your body to bursting with it every chance you get; behind closed doors in your office, at home - hell, even outdoors. And if that's the case you need to come to terms with that and level with your current food, or you'll really be cheating both of you.
    Am I the only one who found this hilarious?

    No, you are not. I found it hilarious, too.

    To the OP, so many variables effect weight fluctuation. I agree with the poster who questioned if TOM was at play. I'm level or gain between menstruation and ovulation and lose sharply between ovulation and menstruation (at ~16%BF). I think women have to look at a 4 week pattern before they know anything at all.

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