In defense of the cheat meal

Options
2456

Replies

  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
    Options
    I think my view of a cheat day is a little distorted... what I do is eat normal, then go over by 200-400 calories, then make up for it by cutting 100-300 a day for a few days. Then it all balances out, does it not?

    That's how I do it anyways :P

    that doesn't sound like a cheat to me. That sounds like budgeting your calories.... If I know I'm going to have a 2500 calorie day (I usually eat around 1900) I'll cut to 1600 leading up to this day (wedding for example, food and drinking)


    Having a high day is like weight fluctuations. Some days you're heavier than others but you didn't gain fat. Some days you eat more, some days you eat less. If your numbers balance out at the end of the week you should be good.
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
    Options
    I credit much of my success to "cheating." I couldn't do this for months and months (and months) if I didn't give myself permission to live a little.
  • garciabnm
    garciabnm Posts: 138
    Options
    some days you just gotta have the extra slice of pizza, or cake, or icecream....damn it...where's the icecream......
  • sagefitnessfanatic
    sagefitnessfanatic Posts: 75
    Options
    Oh how I love cheat meals! Had one today - short stack from IHOP w butter and syrup : ) Based on the research I've done, a spike in cals is good for the body - keep the body guessing. My goal is one per week but I seem to usually have 2 cheat meals per week. I'm bulking right now so I'm not stressing too much over the 2 cheat meals. Come January when I cut though, I'm going to have to buckle down and really focus!
  • chezjuan
    chezjuan Posts: 747 Member
    Options
    I don't have cheat days. Or at least I don't call what I do cheating. If I go over in calories for a special occasion, I call it "life happens," and I may or may not make up the calories later. If I plan for a bigger than normal day by "banking" calories (like I did last Thanksgiving), and my week is in line with where it should be, then I don't see it as cheating either.

    And if I am within my calories for the day, and at least somewhat close to my macros, it doesn't matter what I eat, it is not cheating.

    The only thing I do is make sure that life doesn't happen too often - that's what got me here in the first place. But now I am happily maintaining, and my plan seems to be working.
  • annbillingsley
    annbillingsley Posts: 60 Member
    Options
    I just gotta say that I love this thread! I was feeling guilty and anxious over how I was going to eat on my vacation in 3 weeks (a cruise to Bermuda). while it will be an entire "free week", there are many more healthy weeks ahead of it. My entire life I have so thought diet=deprivation and it has failed every time. I am finding that "fitting in" the calories works very well and I try very hard to not get hung up over one meal or one day....even one week! I am in this for the long haul and ups and downs in weight, calorie consumption and hunger is inevitable---it is how I deal with it that will determine my success.

    so thanks for the morale boost! it is nice to feel validated & accepted and not shamed! :)
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    Options
    When you have a cheat meal, does it cause your weight to go up for a time? How long?

    for me, if I got out to eat and eat a high sodium meal like I did at Olive Garden, I unfortunately got a dinner entre and had leftovers a couple days, so it turned out to be a 3 day meal, in order to keep within my MFP numbers and for some reason, my weight loss was slower that week.

    I would love to have a splurge but it seems like it slows my progress, probaly from the sodium.... :( how do you do it? or do you just go with slower weight loss which is probably water weight, but i cant stand that.
  • RevCO30
    RevCO30 Posts: 176 Member
    Options
    I am in favor of a cheat meal/day...and for the haters, mind your own business. What works for you may not work for me and vice versa. In most cases people are pretty resaonable and can say, "ok, I went overboard and my cheat day cost me a loss(or a gain)" and they can take corrective action. Nobody on here should be anybody else's food cop.
  • nelinelineli
    nelinelineli Posts: 330 Member
    Options
    LOL this makes no sense!

    The hot button is ACTUAL cheat days, in which you go wild in fast-food land, and sometimes don't even log it. 3-4k calories that you can't "even out" with the other days.

    Just redistributing your calories over a week or two to fit in a slice of cake is not cheating, is brilliant!
  • mthr2
    mthr2 Posts: 158 Member
    Options
    Well, I did have a day two weeks ago that made mfp say that I would gain 15 over 5 weeks. Lol. Sad but true. But I'm at my lowest, so whatevs. Maybe I ate so much crap that I couldn't even store it.

    But....it made me feel like crap....I've been pretty good other than that and running like a friend....so I'm not advocating binging as a weight loss tool by any means. Budgeting is more my thing.
  • alexveksler
    alexveksler Posts: 409 Member
    Options
    I think cheat days are fine if you are at your goal weight. If not, you just fooling yourself.
  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
    Options
    I know the cheat meal/cheat day is a hot button topic at times here at the wonderful world of MFP, but I am a firm believer of saving a few calories every day so I can have a treat at least once a week. It keeps me on track and curbs cravings before they're out of control. My cheat day is normally Saturday, and I am having cheesecake for dessert tonight. Love me some cheat day. :drinker:

    ETA: I posted this in Maintaining Weight because I am in maintenance. I also lost the weight using the cheat meal strategy, FWIW.

    I think the way you explained it makes sense. Save up some calories when you know you want to have something that is calorie dense. I do not believe in deprivation or removing foods you enjoy from your diet. I do believe in planning ahead and/or compensating for calorie dense food choices.

    But, I would caveat and say 'free for all' days are kinda a bad idea because I know I can eat a seriously large amount of calories just by choosing calorie dense foods. I could undo a week's worth of effort in one day if I let myself have a regular 'cheat day' to eat as much as I want of anything I want.

    I wouldn't sweat vacations though. Unless you treat every vacation day as a 'as much as I want of whatever I want day', you're not going to undo your progress, you'll probably just have bloat from restaurant made, sodium packed food. No big deal, bloat washes away with hydration and time.
  • brraanndi
    brraanndi Posts: 325 Member
    Options
    My goal is 1 lb a week but...I just set my weightloss to eat for losing 1.5 lbs and don't care how bad I do on Friday/Sat because I've got that buffer.

    So, for me atleast, it should "In Defense of the Cheat Weekend" haha.
  • Froody2
    Froody2 Posts: 338 Member
    Options
    I eat chocolate or candy pretty much ever single day *shrug*


    Me too. Two hundred of my fifteen hundred calories per day are eaten after dinner on sweeties - life's too short to go without Nutella :smokin:
  • mrsjobba2
    mrsjobba2 Posts: 81 Member
    Options
    I love this topic. This is what I do. I try and save calories during the week , not too much but I might not use the calories I earned during a walk. Then on the day I weigh in ( usually a Saturday ) after I've weighed I eat what ever I want. Anything I've been craving . I still log and am always in the red. But it's about balance . It means I can go out with my friends for a drink or meal and not worry. Come the next day I'm back on track. I've done this since I started and have lost my weight. I don't feel like I'm on a diet as nothing is restricted .
  • alisonlynn1976
    alisonlynn1976 Posts: 929 Member
    Options
    I think being able to eat whatever you want in reasonable amounts instead of completely eliminating certain foods is good, it's just the term "cheat" that bugs me. It implies that eating certain foods is some kind of moral failing, and I don't think it's good to conceptualize food that way.
  • TheFitnessTutor
    TheFitnessTutor Posts: 356 Member
    Options
    Call it a cheat meal or a controlled refeed, but a high day of either calories/carbs/fat/ should be in the dietary intake at least every two weeks. It's a matter of some math and some "how much of a backwards step do you want to take" as to how big that refeed/cheat day is.
  • lesandjer
    lesandjer Posts: 4
    Options
    I agree with you, If i were to cheat it would take forever to get back on track. A whole day, I might as well not be on a calorie counting diet.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    Options
    When I know Im going to be out and have a special meal like today I am going to take my daughter out for dinner, I know Im going to probably overeat my calories.

    Since I dont juggle my calories, nor do i exercise extra, nor play around with borrowing calories from Monday to pay back Sunday, I just eat the best I can today and even if its 1,000 calories more, do you know that i may lose 1/2 pound rather than 1 pound this week.

    Thats how i will approach splurges.

Categories