Cheat Day

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vball1623
vball1623 Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Im a 4'11 teenager about 112 pounds (started at 125 about two months ago). I just recently started researching cheat days/meals. My first cheat meal (2 Chicken strips, 2 fried shrimp, fries + a cupcake and a cookie) was about two weeks ago and then last week I ate a few pieces of candy, some caramel popcorn and a churro. I went over my calorie budget, which is 1266 calories a day, for the first time that day by about 40 calories. Today I planned to only eat a slice of pepperoni Pizza and redvines but i had a BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich, Pizza AND redvines (1,046 calories over my calorie budget!!!!:embarassed: ). Is this really bad? will this really affect all my progress? I go to the gym 6 days every week (my rest day is usually on a friday, saturday or sunday) and do about 1 and a half of cardio and light weights, ab excercises and squats. Should I cut back cheat meals from every once a week to every other week? Tomorrow Im going to the gym still regardless of what I ate and I'll eat like normal (healthy and under my calorie budget that is). Was BBQ PUlled Pork, Pepperoni Pizza, and redvines too much of a cheat meal with 1,046 calories over?! because it seems like so much!!! (Everyday i lose about 650+ calories from exercising so im under budget every day; right now it says im about 3,939 calories under budget for the week). Someone please help/give your opinion!!!

Replies

  • xraymdabm
    xraymdabm Posts: 7 Member
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    You are forgiven! Others will likely reply but many diet and fitness experts allow a weekly cheat day to keep you on track. This is a method, not a sprint, and if you thought you would be 100% adherent 100% of the time, you would get frustrated and stop.

    Maybe give more thought to planning more intentional "cheats" on a regular basis so you won't feel like you are so restricted then have a big blowout - or maybe have a free day where you allow yourself to eat at will. However you do it, the next move is to "get back on the horse" and recognize that all progress is eventually forward no matter what happened behind.
  • deup
    deup Posts: 129 Member
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    I totally agree with a cheat meal not a cheat day those can get out of control.
    We go over on our dinner once a week by 1000-1500 calories this allows us something to look forward to weekly
  • CariJean64
    CariJean64 Posts: 297 Member
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    I've seen some research that varying your daily caloric intake keeps your body in fat-burning mode more than a strict number of calories each day. Still looking into that.

    Obviously, this is not a license to "cheat" a lot! But the occasional (every couple weeks? once a month?) high-calorie day will NOT derail you. Just keep tracking your food. Remember that the math can't fail: Burn more calories than you take in, and you lose weight. An extra 1,000 calories is a lot... but you need an extra 3,500 to gain a pound. Keep at your calorie level most of the time, forgive yourself for the cheat day/meal, and move on.

    :-)
  • goldmay
    goldmay Posts: 258 Member
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    One day of overeating isn't going to be a problem unless it turns into a daily habit. And you should be eating back most or all of your exercise calories anyway as the site already factors a calorie deficit into its calculations.

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