Is this a cheat day?

diegoalatrista010494
diegoalatrista010494 Posts: 10
in Food and Nutrition
If I eat 6 days healthy clean food about 1500 calories and the 7th day I eat at a restaurant ,or some Chinese but still stay under my maintenance which is 3000 am I cheating ? I would only eat probably 2500 calories at the most which means I'm still 500 deficit. It's just a question I been asking my self since I have been eating clean for 3 months and don't wanna ruin anything. I'm just trying to enjoy my self once a week with some delicious food :)

Starting weight 285lbs
Current weight 238lbs
Goal weight 195 lbs

Replies

  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
    That sounds good to me. If you can do this and it is not affecting your weight loss, then go for it. Treats that stay within the goals are a great way to reward yourself for a job well done. I do have a comment though. If you maintain weight at 3000 calories/day, I think that 1500 calories/day is too few calories. If you eat too little, your body (which its main goal is survival) will go into starvation mode and make metabolic adaptations to lower your metabolism. Eventually, this will lead to a plateau. At this point you'll have nowhere to cut from and you'll be stuck. I advise people to eat the absolute most you can while still losing 2-3 lbs/week. This way, if they hit a plateau, I have room in their diet to make adjustments to get the scale moving again. For instance, if you can still lose weight at 2300 calories/day (700 calories under your maintenance), then if you get stuck, we have a lot of room to make adjustments to get you back on track.

    Hope this helps, and if you have any questions, please let me know
    Allan
  • diegoalatrista010494
    diegoalatrista010494 Posts: 10
    When I first started in didn't really know what I was doing so I just ate only 1000 calories and then I started going up since I was researching online and by the end of the first month i was eating 1400 calories and now 3months later I'm eating about 1600-1700 calories but I lift every day and a quick run so I burn about 150-250 a day which puts me at 1500-1600 calories a day. I know I eat only 1400 calories but I'm eating about 180-200gs protein/ 100-150carbs and 30-50 fat at first I had no energy but now 3 months later I feel normal and have the same energy as when I used to eat 3000+ calories .. My goal is too maybe cut down too about 196-200lbs and then bulk up to 215 and then cut to 200and keep doing that for like a year. I would like some information in what you think I should do? Maybe up my calories a little more?
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
    Yeah, keep upping the calories. If you can still lose at a higher calorie level, then you'll be much better off down the road. The absolute minimum that I recommend to people is 1800 calories/day.
  • diegoalatrista010494
    diegoalatrista010494 Posts: 10
    1800 calories while eating the calories I burn lifting and running also? Or just 1800 calories in total with out eating the calories I burned?
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
    I've never subtracted my calories burnt from a workout from my daily intake. I just make sure that I'm eating ~2000 calories/day (working on upping my intake) and hit my workouts hard. Worked good enough for me to drop 64 lbs.
  • diegoalatrista010494
    diegoalatrista010494 Posts: 10
    Congrats on dropping the 64lbs I will soon be saying that also! Thanks for the tips also!
  • indians1975
    indians1975 Posts: 29 Member
    I eat between 1800-2000 calories per day. I also allow my self an occasional cheat meal. I do not have any foods that are off limits. It has worked for me. I never eat back my workout calories. I would hate to eat them back and overestimate how many I actually burned. I do crossfit 5-6 times per week and I box 1-2 times a week on top of that. I am sure I could do better but this life style suits me well. I never feel as though I am missing out on things. Congrats on your weight loss.

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