Cheat meals - yay or nay?

Nickih4619093

Wondering if people incorporate cheat meals or a cheat day & how crazy do you go? Does it hinder or does it help weight loss by shocking your system?

chezjuan

I had days where I go over my calorie goal, and it didn't affect my weight loss. I am on maintenance now and still go over on occasion and it all balances out.

Generally, my overages are 400-600 calories or so.


ETA: it never seemed to shock the system into losing more either.

ldula88

I plan one day a month where I don't log, and I can eat whatever my heart desires in whatever quantity I want :P It keeps me sane, and if I get cravings I just tell myself to save it for my one cheat day. Although I really do mine for "mental health" more than weight loss benefits, I've heard many people say it can be helpful, and maybe even break you out of a plateau. Of course, many people also consider a cheat day eating at maintenance calories, instead of going as all-out as I do I've never had any negative effects, however

cwolfman13

I personally find them unnecessary if the calorie deficit is reasonable.

courtney1189

I dropped from 220 to 140 by counting calories during the week and having weekends where I would not count as much. However, when I hit 140, this stopped working for me. If I even have a cheat meal now, it hinders my weight loss. I consider a "cheat" meal now to just eat within my maintenance (1700 calories). I also try to hit the gym the day of a big meal so that I do not have to deprive myself the rest of the day!

jamesseay1

I went over today by about 700 calories, I think we are human and we will fall time to time, just need to get back on track.

jamesalytle

I don't plan to cheat but if there's a day where it makes sense to in order to keep the mrs happy or something, then i take it for what it is and adjust the rest of my week to help balance it out.

benlambrou

Yay for sure.

we mostly go out once on the week end so I enjoy what I want in moderation, I am in a deficit but I make sure i do not go over my maintain goal for the day. that extra 1000 calories give me alot of room. Its always the appetizer that gets me every time.

Sunshine2plus2

I have a cheat MEAL once a week, I have never plateau!

Jenn19891

I do a cheat meal once a week when I go for dinner at my family's house. (Mainly because there's dessert).
I'll try to eat lighter the first part of the day so I don't feel as guilty afterwards.

torichantel2005

I just started this whole deal... I was originally thinking a cheat day (or meal) once a week... I'm now thinking I might do once a month. I'm doing really well so far, and I just can't bring myself to possibly mess that up.

amusedmonkey

Since my weight loss journey is a long one, I've been doing a "cheat whenever you feel like it" kind of thing. Believe it or not, it actually makes me cheat less. I just keep my calories between 1200-maintenance. There have been occasions when I was eating maintenance for weeks or months at a time. As long as you don't gain, and lose whenever you can, you will get there eventually.

For me personally I feel "planning" a day or a meal where I would purposely cheat creates a syndrome where I keep waiting for that day/meal all week and stressing, making the rest of the week feel like a punishment for overindulging during that day. I just keep it simple and go with the flow. It seems to be working for me. In my case stress is the biggest enemy so I try to keep it to a minimum.

Nickih4619093

I usually do a cheat evening on Fri or Sat, and I rarely go too crazy with it, but wasn't sure if it was holding me back. I had never thought of keeping it within my TDEE(is that right?) though, that makes sense! I might have to start doing that! Thanks for sharing guys!

amblight

I'm not a fan of cheat meals.

First of all, I don't feel like it's cheating, if my week is still within my calorie and macro goals, which I make sure it is, kind of the point of logging and planning my diet at all :b

2nd, I don't want to 'plan' to eat unhealthy/calorie dense. What if the time comes around, and you don't feel any particular 'need' for it, but then a couple of days later, you find you could really have used those calories (for example, if you're at some sort of event and there are some really calorie dense things you'd like to eat). Then, if you've eaten your planned cheat meal, you don't have 'room' to eat something outside your ideal plan later on the week.

So I just plan my meals strictly, and then there's room for mom's cooking/café with friends/celebrating a good grade with wine etc. when ever I feel like it.

sarahslosingit2014

I had an "on-purpose" cheat day last weekend. I went about 500 calories over. I didn't notice any hindrance in my weight loss - the next day my weight was the exact same, and I actually have lost about 1.5 lbs since then. Mine was strategic - I had been stuck at pretty much the exact same weight for about 10 days (bounced around, but didn't really lose or gain overall) and thought the extra calories might kick start my body.

Who knows if it actually made a difference, but I would do it again, unless I notice it is negatively affecting my weight loss. I can't do this lifestyle change if I can't splurge every now and then.

sillyvalentine

Nay.

I used to cheat once a month when we went into the city but it always ended up being a huge binge. I would have a 5000 calorie meal, around 2000 calories of booze and then I would get home drunk and eat whatever was in the house. I could literally ruin an entire months progress with just one night.

For me, it's all or nothing. Once I realized that, I was better off. Maybe in the future, I can respect food enough to taste it before I swallow it lol but as of now I just eat eat eat given the chance.

The day of my period I do allow myself an extra 500 calories (usually in the form of a bottle of wine). SO I guess that could be considered cheating but it's still under maintenance.

rybo

The whole cheat meal thing is a mental game. It seems if you have to label something as "cheating" to be ok with it, then it's not the most sustainable approach, IMO.

Doc_V

I'm in a long-distance relationship, so I tend to cheat on our weekends together (which happens to be about every other weekend, sometimes more). We do a lot of eating out, and he cooks a lot of southern homecooking sort of meals when we aren't.

What works for me is making responsible decisions and still logging all my calories. So I'll take a smaller portion of what he's having, make a big salad on the side, and eat what I want when we go out. I may order a burger, but I'll stop eating when I feel full. After months of changing the way I eat, I actually do end up making healthier choices. I never think about calories until the end of the day when I log. Even when I think I go all out, I haven't gone much over maintenance. My weight loss goal is 1470, my TDEE is around 1750, and I haven't peaked much past 2000 in a hot minute.

I find it makes me less hungry throughout the week, and I still lose slowly. Planning cheat days/meals was bad for me because once I got into the "cheesecake and chili fries!!" mode, I would eat all sorts of bad things and then feel miserable for a few days. I'd also find myself trying to make the meal 'count' when really all I wanted was a half sandwich and some soup. Plus I find if I eat something really junky, I'll start craving junk food. So even on 'cheat' days I moderate. It's a lifestyle, not a diet. Enjoy it!