how to save up calories for a cheat meal?

People who say "never cheat" are just not being realistic. We can't all be pillars of virtue.

I "save" calories a couple of days before a "cheat" meal. It works for me. Maybe saving the calories doesn't really work and it is just coincidence that I have lost weight. However, I think it works and I get to go out to eat every Sunday with my family and I never have to worry about the calories I am consuming during that meal. Win!

hahahah

Before I started working out again I had to do this once in a while, if I was craving , let's say pizza for instance and I wanted to keep within my 1480 calorie goal I would not eat until pizza time. A lot of people are going to come on here and start pontificating about that's evil, wrong, dangerous, unhealthy, blah, blah, blah, but I satisfied my craving without blowing my eating plan and then was ble to get back into my routine the next day sans craving. Didn't happen often but sure did the trick when I needed it,

I thought about doing something similar, eating small during the day like fruit and splurge at one meal!

I have saved up calories before. I have also done the reverse when I went over on calories. Basically, you can just not eat a hundred or so calories each day until they add up to what you need for the splurge meal. I look at everything a week at a time. They say 3500 calories is one pound, so you need to stay under your TDEE by 3500 calories each week. You can do it a variety of different ways, so long as you keep it at 3500 calorie deficit, you're good.

Don't cheat. :sad:
Either substitute part of the meal with a healthier choice (Baked potato or salad instead of fries).
Or only eat half a portion.
It helps to drink a lot directly before you go, too. That way you're not as hungry.
Or do an extra cardio session to earn more calories.

Usually you get around being over the limit quite comfortably...

Why not? It's okay to "cheat" every now and then. It won't kill your goal.

I don't think of it as cheating. To me, cheating is not logging something or logging exercise that you didn't do. Sorry, but enjoying a slice of pizza is not cheating. it's called enjoying life.

I'm really interested to hear more about If people are sticking to a daily goal or prefer a weekly goal.

I go week to week. I plan my grocery list bi-weekly and have a list of potential dinners and lunches that I figure in a weekly basis. It's much easier for me to do things on a weekly basis instead of a daily basis. Plus, some days I don't exercise at all, other days I work really hard. I like to take things one week at a time, then I figure a daily average. I like to play with numbers anyway.

I'm not sure what TDEE is.
I'm 5'2, 124 lbs,body fat 21%-ish, BMR is about 1600, I eat between 1200-1400/day, weights for 30-40 minutes three/four days a week and I am usually in training for a half marathon. My occupation is a desk jockey, very sedentary.

I'm mostly happy with my progress (I've plateaued recently), but I just don't understand saving calories for a cheat meal. It doesn't seem like it would be beneficial, but since I don't get it, I'm just trying to understand what it means.

She's almost to goal so a moderate deficit of about 20% is perfect for you.
Eating below BMR daily....not so good.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I tend to disagree with the concept of regularly planned cheat meals and cheat days. I know it works for some people. ironically, I also think carb cycling, if done right, actually works. I just worry about always having a regularly scheduled 'cheat' situation. At least 'cheat' is an honest word!

There are enough times where we get hit by cravings or get put into situations that are not ideal. That is why I think 'planned' cheat times are excessive for many. The other problem is that a cheat meal/day can really throw things off like your blood sugar and then trigger excess cravings and energy lows.

But, there are times when you know there will be a meal or situation (celebrations, vacations, holidays, etc.) where you are facing more calories and/or less healthy choices than normal. Perhaps that is why you are asking this?

One strategy is to reduce calorie intake prior to this event or to increase exercise calories burned or both. Just make sure that you are not undercounting your calories and overcounting your calories burned- which is an honest and common mistake and leads to so many threads here saying, 'help I'm not losing, why?'.

ETA: more important than any meal (it takes appx 3,500 extra calories in theory to gain a pound of fat, keep that in perspective) is that we have a healthy mindset about this diet and weight loss thing. We need to avoid the extremes and also retain a healthy sense of humor during the process. One meal should never cause a freak out but at the same time its good to be mindful of that meal and how it may impact our weekly goals.

I HAVE to cheat periodically to keep me sane and motivated. There are people who just have the iron willpower to never eat cheesecake again, and that's great to see and very inspiring, but I'm simply not one of them :-). The stark prospect of a life with no cheats for my entire foreseeable future would likely send me directly to the nearest Haagen Daaz! So yep, I cheat. Sometimes little cheats (a brioche instead of a whole-wheat vegan waffle), sometimes big cheats (a haute cuisine dinner with excellent company).

I typically pay for my cheats with a combination of fewer calories (focusing on less fat too, because my cheats are usually pretty loaded with fat, yum!) and more exercise, often spread throughout the course of the week so that my nutrition doesn't totally suck for any given day. If it's a little cheat, I try to account for it that day or a day right next to it (directly before or after).

At least that's what I shoot for. Application is likely less than perfect, but I'm getting pretty good results and enjoying the periodic cheat as I do it!

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Had my first free meal in 10 weeks yesterday.... I went crazy. Realized my appetite has changed and I can't comfotably eat as much as I was able to a few weeks ago. Some sweets are really really too sweet and a sugar rush actually does exist. Not as exciting as I thought it would be. Best part, I came away feeling like I'm not really missing out on anything by sticking to my MFP diet.

Saving your calories up is not a cheat meal. I'm not sure how you don't understand how to do it. Just add up your calories for the week and see how many you have left.