The NOTORIOUS "cheat"

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  • delilah47
    delilah47 Posts: 1,658
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    Rewarding yourself with food for losing weight doesn't make sense, especially if you are going to "cheat". Sometimes a "cheat" meal can lead a person to abandon their healthy diet and go berserk. It's happened to me. Now I reward myself with an article of clothing or other non-food items.
  • shani251
    shani251 Posts: 145 Member
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    In the humble opinion of someone who is at goal....you do what you need to do to make this lifestyle change fit your life. i think it's okay to have a special meal now and again, just work out more. i wouldn't go overboard, just have what you've been craving and be done with it already. This is not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. Just make it work for you. Eat your meal, log your food, and decide from there if it was worth it or not and don't beat yourself up for any of it. :)
  • KrazyAsianNic
    KrazyAsianNic Posts: 1,227 Member
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    I don't have cheat days or meals. I found that I cannot control myself. I have this problem that if I plan to eat only healthy stuff adn cut things out, i won't eat and binge out on the bad. When I'm not thinking about my weight or diet, I do eat a LOT healthier and am always snacking on fruit and veggies. it helps that i know have my own kitchen and fridge to cook and by whatever I want around. Everything in moderation. that's how I'm doing it these days
  • Elzecat
    Elzecat Posts: 2,916 Member
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    I have "cheat" days all the time, but they aren't scheduled and they aren't rewards for good behavior. I simply eat what I want when I want to. And because I don't put restrictions on stuff, I find myself not craving them as strongly as I would if they were off limits.

    I run hard/long/often enough to burn off the occasional treat. When I stopped worrying and restricting myself, my weight started coming off. Eating shouldn't be a stressful, restrictive thing. I enjoy eating and I enjoy running. That's all there is to it.

    This.
  • Elzecat
    Elzecat Posts: 2,916 Member
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    I don't have to "cheat". I simply train harder. There's a reason my long runs are on the weekend. I operate in margarita math, which means if I run 7+ miles, I can have at least 2 or 3 margaritas, based on calories burned.

    I run for chocolate. And breakfast burritos. And...yeah, you get the picture. :)
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    9 Pepporni Pizzas for 3500 calories?
    Don't know where you get pizzas, but I'd find somewhere tastier! Unless you mean slices - in which case that about makes sense.
    A quick look at the Pizza hut UK menu - If we go for stuffed crust large, for the 'eat-in' option you get 333 calories a slice. 8 slices per pizza. Add in a drink with sugar and we're at 3500 easily.

    I could easily enough eat a whole pizza to myself on top of 2000 calories for the rest of the day.
    I suspect if there was a desert mentioned, I'd go for that too.

    I could easily eat a 400g block of cheese a day and have done. 1664 calories from that. Add in various other bad things and I could easily continually eat 5500 calories a day with a fairly sedentary life style.
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
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    I didn't read any of this, but the topic made me think of... :

    180px-TheCheatAsTheCheat.png
  • sonny368
    sonny368 Posts: 61
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    It depends...I can cheat 1 time a week but if my intension is to drop weight I'll cheat for 1 meal not all the day...the important is not to go over the 500-600 calories over our normal range, if it's just one day the body forgives...plus if you exercise regularly the metabolism is already speeding up so no matter at all, I eat everything I want...if I want chocolate I eat it, sure not in large amount but I eat it and even pasta not more than 125 gr per day but I eat it with pesto or tpmato sauce or cream or cheese or whatever and I keep loosing weight, but not every day this...just size your pleasure for food and stay always under...
  • reedkaus
    reedkaus Posts: 250 Member
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    i do it, usually once a week sometimes twice. i have a free for all on weigh in days (provided i've lost some, which i have for the past 4-5 weeks, so something's gotta be working), and occasionally mid-way through the week i might have a treat. the way i see it is if i eat 6 times a day, that's 42 meals a week. if 1 or two of those meals isn't perfect then i don't have to worry about it.

    eda: i usually eat about 2400 kcals each day. on the cheat days i have somewhere between 3500-4000
  • emtjmac
    emtjmac Posts: 1,320 Member
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    The great thing about MFP is that you can make almost any food fit into your daily calories, even if you do go over sodium or some other macro. Many of us, myself included, come from a place where binging was a normal part of life. For me, overcoming that has been the biggest obstacle in the 30+ days I have thus far been committed to the program. Having said that, I have binged once during that time and I don't regret it. I needed it at the time and it fulfilled it's purpose. The next day, I got right back on track and kept going. One binge or cheat meal/day/whatever isn't going to derail you unless you want to be derailed. MFP puts the ball in your court, so play ball. Just because you fall down and skin your knee doesn't mean that you have to pack up and stop playing.
  • magj0y
    magj0y Posts: 1,911 Member
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    I like the words "day off from my diet"

    Now, it doesn't have to feel like you wrecked your diet. You honestly don't even need to "wreck" and then feel all sorts of guilt.
    You can also use that day to push yourself just a bit harder or longer at the gym and pick another "day off from exercise"

    if you have a designated 11,200 cals a week (or 1600/day) if you did instead 1550 cals a day, you would have 1900 for your day off and even out at the end of the week. During the holiday season, I go here;

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

    and use the 7 day zig zag and then rearrange for my scheduled parties.
  • newmooon56
    newmooon56 Posts: 347 Member
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    i don't have a cheat meal anymore. i had plenty of them for years.


    i stay within my boundaries and still enjoy life.

    Pretty much my philosophy- I wouldnt be on MFP had I not cheated myself for the last 20 years. I made tons of bad choices either not caring or noticing what it was doing to my health. Now I treat food as fuel and try not to get sucked into any event that is focused on food. I dont mean I dont go- I just refuse to "toast" with a giant turkey leg. I can choose wisely and still join the fun.
  • Merrysix
    Merrysix Posts: 336 Member
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    This is a great thread to read -- for me, I try to stay away from foods (some call them "trigger") foods that set up a craving to eat more of them. Its not worth it. I think different people have different trigger foods (and some people don't seem to have any). That being said, since its calories in and out, a meal out with friends, may be "moderate" in that I eat some things that have more calories than I would at home (steak vs. chickien), etc. So then I log the calories -- this is a plan for life. But I really try to stay away from things that trigger a strong desire to eat more of them (ice cream is a prime example). If I am tired and stressed, I find it incredibly hard to stop at one serving, and its not worth the effort, and I don't want to wake up the next day having eating the whole container and wanting more. For me its not about will power, it is a very strong physical craving, like for alcohol.

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