Cheat meal once a week?

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shorty35565
shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm normally pretty strict myself and rarely do I cheat, but I've been doing this weight loss thing for a year now and I'm getting to the point to where I tried of restricting ALL THE TIME!
Would cheat for 1 MEAL (not day) once a week be ok? When I say cheat, I don't necessarily mean always going over my calories, because if I can go to a place where I can count the calories, I will & I will try to stay under my goal. I guess that more goes under everything in moderation, but it still feels like cheating to me cuz it won't be a healthy meal u kno? My friend often tells me I suck at cheating lol Cuz when I cheated this week, I only got to 1940 cals haha But I did go over my sodium and carbs, so that constituted as cheating to me.
Opinions?
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Replies

  • mgobluetx12
    mgobluetx12 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    Every single time (three this month) I had a 'cheat' meal or day, I lost weight the very next day. I don't see the harm. It's all about everything in moderation, right?
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    Every single time (three this month) I had a 'cheat' meal or day, I lost weight the very next day. I don't see the harm. It's all about everything in moderation, right?

    That's a really nice to hear! Just 1 meal a week of something I actually like & I will be ok. I just need some reassurance. I'm very careful with all this.
  • Aventuria
    Aventuria Posts: 151
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    I think everybody reacts differently to such cheat meals. One swears it works the other one can't have one single extra thing without bad consequences.

    Just have a look what works out best for you! :glasses:
  • fairestthings
    fairestthings Posts: 335 Member
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    You seem to have the healthy perspective of "cheating", so go for it in *your* way.

    If I cheat in the way my friends do, I would gain weight (like they do). They like to take the entire weekend off and just eat whatever, not exercise and then start again Monday-Friday. Unfortunately, our bodies don't care what day of the week it is LOL.

    Anyway, you sound smart about it! Enjoy a cheat meal :D
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    You seem to have the healthy perspective of "cheating", so go for it in *your* way.

    If I cheat in the way my friends do, I would gain weight (like they do). They like to take the entire weekend off and just eat whatever, not exercise and then start again Monday-Friday. Unfortunately, our bodies don't care what day of the week it is LOL.

    Anyway, you sound smart about it! Enjoy a cheat meal :D

    I'm glad to be in tht mindset, it helps keep me in check. Entire weekends?! I can't even take a whole day off. I just want 1 meal LOL Even then, I'll be sticking to my 6 day a week exercise routine. My cheat day will fall on grocery day, because it's easier to eat out those days & I workout that day, so end up earning some extra cals for day.
    Thanks u!
  • fairestthings
    fairestthings Posts: 335 Member
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    LOL I know.. I can't do an entire weekend. I almost panic when we have to leave town for vacation. My first thought is, "What will we EAT?!" ;-)

    Best of luck to you! It's a scary thing to enter the maintenace mode!
  • sparklelioness
    sparklelioness Posts: 600 Member
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    Thats what i do, basically-one meal a week 'free'. I dont like to call it a cheat meal, kind of implies im doing something wrong by eating a yummy dinner, and thats not the attitude i want to have towards food. So yeah, m-sat, eat healthy, stay within calorie oal, and exercise. Sunday, i still log my food, but i usually dont exercise (although more often than not i end up walking a lot while out with my bf), and i eat a smallish breakfast, but have a starbucks if i want. I still dont snack, but if i want a glass of iced tea, i have one. On weekdays i only have one, with dinner. Then at dinner i have my free meal-eat out at a restuarant, order in pizza, ect. For dessert tho, i usually just have my regular 'diet' dessert, sugar free jello pudding or coconut milk ice cream or whatever. If i know that day i'm craving ben and jerrys i can have a pint-but that means eating a small low cal dinner-i usually dont have a big dinner AND a big calorie-filled dessert.

    Doing this ive lost 34 lbs in four months. Like someone said above, i seem to lose weight after my free meal... Its weird.

    A couple times a year tho, the bf and i go on a little vacation-tomorrow we're leaving for Reno and coming home monday. While i'm there i'm gonna eat whatever i want :). However, im not going to pig out for just the sake of it. Before, i'd think like that-its cheat day! Im going back to my diet soon, i better take this chance to eat as much good stuff as i can!. Now, i'm not on a diet-i'm just eating healthier, so theres no feeling of constant deprivation that makes me want to binge, :)
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    Thats what i do, basically-one meal a week 'free'. I dont like to call it a cheat meal, kind of implies im doing something wrong by eating a yummy dinner, and thats not the attitude i want to have towards food. So yeah, m-sat, eat healthy, stay within calorie oal, and exercise. Sunday, i still log my food, but i usually dont exercise (although more often than not i end up walking a lot while out with my bf), and i eat a smallish breakfast, but have a starbucks if i want. I still dont snack, but if i want a glass of iced tea, i have one. On weekdays i only have one, with dinner. Then at dinner i have my free meal-eat out at a restuarant, order in pizza, ect. For dessert tho, i usually just have my regular 'diet' dessert, sugar free jello pudding or coconut milk ice cream or whatever. If i know that day i'm craving ben and jerrys i can have a pint-but that means eating a small low cal dinner-i usually dont have a big dinner AND a big calorie-filled dessert.

    Doing this ive lost 34 lbs in four months. Like someone said above, i seem to lose weight after my free meal... Its weird.

    A couple times a year tho, the bf and i go on a little vacation-tomorrow we're leaving for Reno and coming home monday. While i'm there i'm gonna eat whatever i want :). However, im not going to pig out for just the sake of it. Before, i'd think like that-its cheat day! Im going back to my diet soon, i better take this chance to eat as much good stuff as i can!. Now, i'm not on a diet-i'm just eating healthier, so theres no feeling of constant deprivation that makes me want to binge, :)

    I dont look at mine as a diet either, it's a lifestyle change. But with my lifestyle change, I've thrown a LOT of things I love because I want to be healthier. When I eat unhealthy, I feel like I'm cheating, because it's not part of my lifestyle anymore. And I used to just deprive myself of those things & it didn't make me want to binge. it still doesn't because I know it's not gonna get me anywhere. I want this far too much to do anything like tht. I would just enjoy having a cheat meal. It's nice to know ppl who cheat and it's not doing bad things to them!
  • angelicasmommy
    angelicasmommy Posts: 303 Member
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    I do a treat meal or snack once a week. I don't use it as an excuse to eat whatever, I still stay within my normal portion size.
  • KharismaticKayteh
    KharismaticKayteh Posts: 322 Member
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    Everyone definitely does cheating differently, if they cheat, but I think it's really important to do, especially when dieting, to reward your body, basically. For instance, I'm a pescatarian and the only meat I eat regularly is fish, but on my cheat days, I allow myself to have other meats like beef or chicken. Ideally, I should only do it for one meal, but sometimes I allow it the entire day. My cheat days aren't any particular day in the week, just any day I feel like taking if I haven't taken another one in the past week.

    So for anyone else, a cheat meal could be a meal with meat, if they don't normally eat meat, or it could be dessert if they've denied themselves sweets most of the time. It could be a day to go over their calories without working off the excess. You just have to think about what exactly you want in a cheat. Sometimes it may just be a treat rather than a cheat (kind of like the dessert I mentioned) just rewarding your body and keeping yourself from getting burned out on your diet.
  • jrig9463
    jrig9463 Posts: 7
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    It can actually be advantageous to have one fatty meal per week. It's called cycling and it's a technique that many gym junkies and body builders use because it is supposed to help you lose weight. How ? If you constantly deprive your body of fat, your body will attempt to keep any fat it has and can eat away at muscle instead - which is bad. Muscle is not only what bodybuilders want more of, but the more muscle you have (or lean body mass) the higher your basal metabolic rate will be. Basically, muscle burns fat. So by cycling in one fatty meal per week your body won't panic and will continue to burn off fat. Pretty cool huh. Just don't go ballistic on the fatty meal.
  • manenina
    manenina Posts: 71
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    Hi!

    In my experience this is perfectly possible! :-) From time to time I go to burger king because my boyfriend loves it (I must say that here in Sweden they are pretty good... We tried them in the US and they were kind of terrible!). Anyway... I just go and order a whopper jr meal, which is kind of small but I do get to eat some fries and a hamburger!!! I also like to buy very very small ice cream portions (about a 100 kcal) or small chocolate pieces. Of course I don't eat like that every day and I always keep those things between my daily calorie allowance... I've also found pretty great low cal muffin recipes! And I do recommend muffins (or at least having them in portions from the very beginning) so you can control the size.
  • manenina
    manenina Posts: 71
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    I also want to say that fikas (some sort of dessert + coffee during the afternoon kind of gathering) are extremely popular and everyone looks at you kind of weird if you don't eat a thing so... I just try to eat a very small piece and I'm really happy tasting a good dessert, but then again, I just keep it small. I must add that I keep about 200-300 cal a day for snacks and so I just use those snacking calories and maybe some from another meal to have something sweet.
  • nataliexxxx
    nataliexxxx Posts: 262
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    As long as you eat it in moderation then go for it:)
  • vtmoon
    vtmoon Posts: 3,436 Member
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    As long as it's in moderation then I don't see why not. Fried food is delicious I will save or workout extra calories just to have some every couple of weeks it's like a treat for me, I just don't go crazy and eat like 5 pieces of fried chicken or 2 large orders of fries.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    Also worth considering doing some exercise before/after the 'cheat' meal.
    Yesterday I had a pretty nice home made 'hunters chicken' with wedges. Not up to the levels of macro nutrients pre-being good, and used weight watchers cheese (30g protein, 10g fat; melts weird but tastes good), but still 800 calories total.
    However, I cycled 12 miles in the morning, did two and a half hours rock climbing in the afternoon and a 4.5 mile dog walk in the evening - meaning I could justify the nice food with the exercise.
    Fried chicken and bacon this morning, but a 7.5 mile run after it and I've not even covered the calories burnt yet!

    However, even without that, I've found the OCCASIONAL cheat meal has done me fine, providing I keep it to that one meal and don't make it a day, then a weekend then a week.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    1) You are still subject to the calories that you eat during your cheat. These calories will offset the deficit you create during other days of the week.

    2) Plenty of people incorporate this successfully by not allowing the magnitude of the cheat to exceed/undo the progress they make during the non-cheat days. You just have to make sure you don't do an all-out binge.

    (EDIT: Frequency is also a consideration).

    3) Some people have a hard time going back to their diet after cheating. Some people have a MUCH EASIER time sticking to their diet because they allow themselves to cheat. I think knowing where you land on this is very important.

    food for thought.

    I cheat, mostly for mental reasons (non-tracking days) since I don't eliminate any food that I enjoy, even while I'm in a deficit.
    I recommend others do it but ONLY if they are capable of being mindful of the above, AND if they believe they can recognize the difference between "allowing themselves a break" vs using it as an excuse to not have willpower.
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member
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    It's all about doing what works for you. I relax my diet a bit on Saturday and Sunday... I don't gorge myself and go crazy (unless it's my birthday. I gorge myself on my birthday), but I eat a little bit of the stuff I wouldn't eat during the week. This works really well for me because if I get a craving during the week I can tell myself I'll just have it on the weekend and that deals with the craving. I have it to look forward to, and sometimes the waiting makes it go away all together. I make sure I always work out on my "cheat" days, and that it's a more intense workout than I would do during the week. For me, it really works.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    I don't log on weekends. I don't consider it cheating, because most of the time - when I'm not invited to a party or something - I'm eating within my calorie goal. It's more of a mental reset to keep me from getting too obsessed with numbers.

    I blogged about it here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/to-log-or-not-to-log-that-is-the-question-415713

    When I was still actively losing, I took one weekend day off a year. Since reaching my initial goal, I took both weekends and any day-off holiday or vacation, and some random time off here and there for various reasons from injury to apathy. :tongue:

    To give myself a little more wiggle room for summer parties, I'm eating just below maintenance, and even eating what I want on weekends, still losing the predicted .25 pounds a week.
  • kms1104
    kms1104 Posts: 110 Member
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    Every single time (three this month) I had a 'cheat' meal or day, I lost weight the very next day. I don't see the harm. It's all about everything in moderation, right?

    That's a really nice to hear! Just 1 meal a week of something I actually like & I will be ok. I just need some reassurance. I'm very careful with all this.

    I feel sad for you if you're thinking "a meal a week of something I 'actually' like"... I know I have a different perspective than some on here, but the same as others. Maybe because I'm only trying to lose a little more weight, or maybe because of what life has put me through...BUT if you are not liking what you're eating on a regular basis, it will not stick. I have begun eating much healthier than I did a year ago, but I've never told myself I "can't" eat something... I make smarter choices of foods that still satisfy my appetite, too. I don't log on weekends, because I don't want to get discouraged if I go over. I've lost about 10lbs total, and have another ten or so to go. I'm trying to incorporate a healthy lifestyle that's livable for me so I don't go back to how I WAS eating regularly.

    I do however TOTALLY understand those that need to be more disciplined. Again, if you have a healthy perspective on food and find things you enjoy, it's all about moderation with the non-health foods (as so many have said)... you just have to find what works for you, keeps you going, and makes you HAPPY :)

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