How much over on cheat meals?

strickland8052
strickland8052 Posts: 105 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My cheat meal ritual has become Friday night dinner at a restaurant. I like to order a healthy low-cal entree like salmon and veggies but then splurge by sharing an appetizer AND dessert with my fiance (or maybe skipping one of those and having a drink). Fridays are also my rest day for exercise. Knowing I'm going to go wild at dinner time and not exercise, I try to cut back during the day more so than usual. With all of this I still end up going over by 1000-1200 calories, which puts me at 2000-2200 net calories for the day.

I don't think the cheat meal is setting me back on weight loss goals, and it also seems to give me more energy for Saturday when I do a longer workout session than normal. However, everytime, I panick and worry and feel really guilty. Just wondering.. what do you guys do on cheat meals? Should I do my exercise on cheat meal day? Should I limit myself to just an appetizer and no dessert or vice versa? Or should I just stop feeling guilty and enjoy my Friday night date? :)

Replies

  • spamantha57
    spamantha57 Posts: 674 Member
    I think you should stop feeling guilty & enjoy it.
    You're human. You have likes & wants. If every other day during the week you eat well & exercise I honestly don't see a problem with it, unless you do something crazy like eat so much you throw up. I know I eat pretty well, so once in awhile when I do have 4 pieces of pizza I don't beat myself up about it.
  • 4littlemonkeys
    4littlemonkeys Posts: 166
    Stop feeling guilty and enjoy your Fridays!!! :flowerforyou:
  • AggieFan2011
    AggieFan2011 Posts: 551 Member
    I honestly wouldn't feel guilty about it. If it hasn't hindered your weight loss and it's something that helps you stick with it, then just enjoy it guilt free. It sounds like you're already working it into your plan for the week by having a longer workout session on Saturdays and eating smaller portions during the day on Fridays, which should be reason enough to just destress and let yourself indulge a little bit. Everyone approaches their weight loss journey a little bit differently, but you have to do what works for you.
  • sozisfitnow
    sozisfitnow Posts: 209 Member
    how about changing to friday being an exercise day ! Problem solved!:smile:
  • misssmarita
    misssmarita Posts: 130
    I am in complete and total agreement with everyone who replied before me, to not feel guilty about your splurge! If you exercise regularly, and have a pretty healthy and balanced diet throughout the week, you can totally get away with one night out a week. If you're worried about going over your calories, you might want to concider tweaking your exercise routine so you can burn maybe 100 extra calories a day, and that'll kinda balance out whatever you do on Friday, and you'll end up with a good weekly total. But seriously, please don't feel guilty about treating yourself. Food is not only for fuel, it's there to be enjoyed and experienced. Live a little :)

    GOOD LUCK!
  • furrina
    furrina Posts: 148 Member
    I don't like the idea of having cheat meals or cheat days. If it's about forming healthy habits, those habits have to be pleasant and rewarding as well. The idea of "cheating" is sort of enforcing the message that good diet habits are a deprivation and the cheat meal is this "guilty" pleasure, something to be looked forward to outside the "bad" deprived daily diet. Ideally we'd look forward to whatever we want to eat, most of the time. I think it's better to learn to enjoy eating healthy–and that includes occasionally going over calories, eating foods that are "bad" sometimes when we crave them, etc.–rather than purposefully giving ourselves "cheat" meals after being overly deprived. It's kind of tied in with the thinking that we shouldn't reward ourselves with food/treats, as it reinforces mental habits that aren't conducive to forming good and long-lasting ones.

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