cheating meals! are they okay?!?!

kamp150

what are your thoughts on this? should i do it? is it worth it? any advice is great!

jayjay12345654321

To quote your profile:

"i've been fat all my life, and as i'm getting older i realize i cant keep living my life like this anymore or i will end up in very serious trouble.
seeing all these people on MFP really show that anybody can do it if your put your whole soul into it."

Are you putting your whole soul into it when you're asking about cheat meals? Your body, your call. You're the only one with the answer.

str8bowbabe

To quote your profile:

"i've been fat all my life, and as i'm getting older i realize i cant keep living my life like this anymore or i will end up in very serious trouble.
seeing all these people on MFP really show that anybody can do it if your put your whole soul into it."

Are you putting your whole soul into it when you're asking about cheat meals? Your body, your call. You're the only one with the answer.

I personally do have not only cheat meals but days. As long as you are not over you calories every day...you should be ok. Mine all balance out to where at the end of the week I am still under and I am still losing weight. 13 lbs down and counting. Good luck! It is a personal decision but I have found this works best for me.

kamp150

bump

1PatientBear

Could not disagree more with jayjay. There is nothing wrong with an occasional cheat meal. Do something that is sustainable for the rest of your life. Can you really go the rest of your life with pizza or a burger EVER??? I can't.

Just exercise, stay within your calorie goals, eat back at least some of your exercise calories (if not all) and, if you really want to add the efficiency of your plan, pay attention to your macros.

You'll be fine. Don't demonize food, stay committed and you'll reach your goals.

obsidianwings

Yes they are. When I am at a lower body fat I have a cheat meal every week or so, after a heavy lifting session. Apart from that I just fit junk food I want into my macros.

serindipte

what are your thoughts on this? should i do it? is it worth it? any advice is great!

Based on this:
GOAL 1
- 280 by february 2013- completed 02/05/2013 279 lbs
GOAL 2
- 270 by march 2013-completed 02/27/2013 269
GOAL 3
- 255 by april

Looks like you may have gotten a bit sidetracked by cheat meals last time. (I did, too! Not judging here, just pointing out what seems obvious)

Personally, I am trying to revamp what I'm eating in a way that doesn't build the desire for cheat meals. So far, so good.

lodiloohoo64

YES! Once a week is fine. Keeps your body guessing. Otherwise, we go into a kind of starvation regular and loss slows. It's a win win. See?

bassclef19

I believe in cheat days.
I have cheat weekends.. Friday to Sunday. It's my reward for being a good girl during the week.

I have realised that I can't go too crazy - having high intensity workouts on the weekend helps. You can't go too overboard with cheating or you will ruin all of the accomplishments you made during your "good" days. Trust me, I know this from experience.

Perhaps cheat weekends aren't the best, maybe a cheat day or meal. Also, there are lots of healthy snacks that can be made that can seem like cheats but are still healthy - check out Pintrest.

lodiloohoo64

Also, it gives you that light at the end of the tunnel. This creates an awesome drive to do good and earn that cheat day. When I cheat, I can hardly wait to get back to my routine. Eventually, you may not want to cheat because bad food makes you feel.....bad!

lodiloohoo64

Strongly agree.:glasses:

jayjay12345654321

Could not disagree more with jayjay. There is nothing wrong with an occasional cheat meal. Do something that is sustainable for the rest of your life. Can you really go the rest of your life with pizza or a burger EVER??? I can't.

Just exercise, stay within your calorie goals, eat back at least some of your exercise calories (if not all) and, if you really want to add the efficiency of your plan, pay attention to your macros.

You'll be fine. Don't demonize food, stay committed and you'll reach your goals.

What are you disagreeing with? I didn't give any advice at all. I told him only he knows what's best for him.

VoodooChummy

My biggest problem with the "Cheat Meal" is in the name itself. It invokes the theory that you're doing something wrong and or possibly forbidden and immediately gives it more power than it should have. Some people just can't resist the "forbidden fruit" especially when that fruit is actually a Bacon Cheeseburger w/ Fries.

The key is to create something that works longterm much like mentioned above. (exercise, stay within your calorie goals, eat back at least some of your exercise calories). It's not a sexy gameplan but an effective one.

Also, reading your profile I noticed around this time last year you had reached a few of your goals. Look closely at what you were doing just prior to that and what derailed you. If cheat meals and the associated guilt played a part in the later then either drop them or drop the associated guilt or the cycle will repeat itself.

kamp150

great point

1PatientBear

Could not disagree more with jayjay. There is nothing wrong with an occasional cheat meal. Do something that is sustainable for the rest of your life. Can you really go the rest of your life with pizza or a burger EVER??? I can't.

Just exercise, stay within your calorie goals, eat back at least some of your exercise calories (if not all) and, if you really want to add the efficiency of your plan, pay attention to your macros.

You'll be fine. Don't demonize food, stay committed and you'll reach your goals.

What are you disagreeing with? I didn't give any advice at all. I told him only he knows what's best for him.

I am disagreeing with this:

Are you putting your whole soul into it when you're asking about cheat meals? Your body, your call.

You may not have technically "given" advice but you're implying that a cheat meal is a bad idea. So, again, I disagree. My Wendy's double burger last Friday was delicious.

cordianet

There is no right or wrong answer here.

Ultimately you have to find what works for you. For some people, having a cheat meal would start them down a binge eating path that could quickly derail their efforts. For others, the thought of going forever (or even a long time), without some of the foods they enjoy makes it extremely hard to stick to a reduced calorie plan. For these people, they plan in some indulgences and are thus are better able to stay on track.

For me, an occasional cheat meal is just the thing I need to "recharge" and get back after it. In addition, for me, doing so seems to help reset my leptin levels and make continued adherence to my plan easier. If you are worried such a cheat may undo all your hard work, just plan it in. What I mean is if you know you want a burger an fries and that this meal is ~600 calories more than what you might eat for a regular dinner, it's easy enough to eat 100 calories under goal for a week to "bank" the calories.

YorriaRaine

I kinda eat whatever I want throughout the week as long as it is in my calorie limit. So I don't ever feel like I'm cheating.

However, special occasions arise where I cannot realistically guess how much I'm eating and it would be silly / inappropriate / a mood killer to bring a scale to weigh my food. Typically those days I allot around 75% of my calories to the event and eat small meals the rest of the day. Whether I'm over or not, who knows, but I don't worry about it. One day won't undo all my hard work. I HIGHLY doubt though I go above my maintenance TDEE.

Also, oftentimes I am 50-150 calories under my daily goal for calories, I take those "unused" calories for the week (just that week), and move them over to the day that special event/meal occurs. This further "cushions" the "cheat meal" on top of allotting most of my calories for the day to that event.

tomomatic

You've gotta live a little. There are more important things in the world than losing weight, like meals with family and loved ones. Our time on this planet is rented. If you're going to have a cheat meal, do it for your family.... Like Thanksgiving Dinner... or even Sunday brunch.

When I was good about keeping my food diary, I would track my food from Mon-Fri. Sat and Sun were too unpredictable to plan.

Francl27

It really depends. If someone is starving themselves at 1200 calories a day while exercising, well yeah, cheat meals will probably help. If someone eats what they should (like 20% below their TDEE) and they do 4000 calorie cheat meals every week, it's not going to help.

IMO it's best to have a reasonable daily goal so you can eat what you want in moderation, and a cheat meal once in a while if you REALLY want something you can't fit in your daily calories.

weezieleopard

LIVE LIFE! If you feel like some cake or McDonalds or you're out and about with your friends and they're indulging then go for it!? One bad meal isn't going to undo all your process and make you gain a million kilos! Think about it...

kbmnurse

I usually have a cheat day weekly. The key is to get right back to it the next day. Don't delay. i am sooooo good at that. LOL