Cheat meal-does it work?

How long have you not been losing? Can you open your diary? If you're not losing, you're probably not eating at a deficit.

As for cheat meals, I've never felt the need for one. I eat what I want, in moderation, and within my calories (weighed and measured).

Weight loss isn't linear. There will be weeks where you stay the same or go up. One week does not make a plateau.

Also, I take it back...go for the cheat meal because 500 calories a day? No.

Never eat under 1200 calories a day.

Is your diary accurate? If so, may I ask why you think you need to eat 500 calories per day?!

It's accurate. Long story short -I was put on prescription medication for migraines (topamax) and I totally lost my appetite for 4 months... Got used to eating about 500 calories a day because I literally could not eat more. Now I've adjusted to my doseage, appetite is somewhat back, but when I tried to up my calories to 1200/day, I gained like crazy, even while working out. And 1200 calories STILL feels like way too much for me, I know I need to eventually work my way up and increase my calories, I just don't know how.

So that's something you NEED to talk to your doctor about. Not MFP. I'm on the same medication but for Epilepsy. I'm on 100mg twice a day. My neurologist asked if the weight loss is a concern and if it does become one to check back in. So if you don't know how to go about it, you need to talk to the person who prescribed it. 500 calories a day is not healthy and is not sustainable long term. They can put you on different migraine medications if this one isn't working out.

There's absolutely no evidence that a cheat day can boost your metabolism. Doesn't sound logical to give your body something bad to boost anyway! I think cheat days are only good because you can enjoy your favorite sugary snack or soda without overdoing it.

However I think it is best to find a healthy substitute to whatever you love to eat. This way, you can have a 'cheat' day every single day! For example, you would make pancakes made of coconut flour, organic cane syrup, and raw milk for breakfast. For a chocolate shake, you could easily mix organic coconut powder, nuts, and coconut milk. I have been literally astounded with how much a healthy dessert can taste like my favorite non-healthy dessert.

That's not to say that you shouldn't eat any junk food period, but why not eat what taste like your usual "junk food" everyday and get healthier and thinner doing so!

So, lately I have not been losing. Actually this past week, I gained two pounds, and had been following the same meal/exercise plan that I had been following the past couple months. I believe I have plateaued.

1 week is not really a plateau, esp. for a woman.
500 cal per day is not healthy. Even 1200 isn't healthy unless you're very short (like 5' or less) or under a doctor's supervision for weight loss.
Talk with your doctor.
Cheat meals are really good for undoing all the hard work & self-control you've put in to lose weight.
I don't cheat, I eat what I like in reasonable portions. If I want something less healthy, I know I'll be eating less overall that day &/or exercising more.
You might be adding muscle & losing inches; have you been taking measurements?
You only have 9 lb to lose, so even 0.5 lb per week is a big victory.
Is your goal weight healthy for you? If not, your body is going to fight to stay at a healthy weight. Are you in the green range here? http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf

This calculator will tell you not only your BMI, but how many servings of various foods to eat to maintain that weight.
If you enter your healthy goal weight from the table above, this will help you plan your food intake.
https://www.bcm.edu/research/centers/childrens-nutrition-research-center/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html


"Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.
However, evidence shows the only way to maintain weight loss is to be engaged in regular physical activity."
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

Eat more real, nutritious food.

Today: soup, cucumber, egg = 183 cal of 819. Everything else is ill-spent calories.
Yesterday: nothing logged
Friday: salad = 121 cal of 726 (+ junk food & 2 alcoholic drinks)
Thursday: egg, cucumber (+ junk, junk, and junk... 90% of your calories this day are junk, and you totalled 254 cal)
Wed.: egg, squash, butter (+ junk, for a total of 476 cal)
Tues: egg, cucumber, grapes (+ junk, 245 cal total)
Mon.: yogurt, egg = 167 of 623 total calories

You are SEVERELY under-eating, and you are spending lots of your calories that you do eat on non-nutritious food.
See. Your. Doctor.
Call tomorrow.
This is an emergency.
Also try to get a referral to a counselor who deals with eating disorders.

I don't have an eating disorder, I'm not starving myself on purpose. But thanks for your advice. I will be consulting my doctor about the side effects of my medication.

Regardless of whether you're doing it on purpose or not (incidentally EDs aren't something you do "on purpose") you really need to visit a doctor asap. And eat more. Like triple at least what you're currently eating. Eat whether you're hungry or not. Just eat.

I have migraines, I also suffer from Endometriosis, so I know pain and I know pain management medications. Your doctor would verbally rip you a new one if they saw just how little you're eating. You have an eating disorder. You can argue with that if you'd like, but you're stuck inside, we're all out here viewing what's visible and all signs point to ED.

People who've been in severe accidents, major surgeries or in comas eat FAR MORE calories daily than you do.

I'd go to the ER now, they'll help and probably refer you to a social worker for a mental eval.

I'll be forwarding your account info to Support.

Since you're already going to see your doctor, my next piece of advice would be to stop weighing yourself so often. Go to once a month, or at the very least once every TWO weeks, not one. You might be so caught up in the numbers that you lose sight of the long-term goal and start reacting to the scale. Like you're driving a car and way over-steer to avoid a pothole and end up in a ditch.

It is impossible not to lose weight on 500 calories a day. Your weight will be much more erratic, and will bounce up and down inconsistently, but the overall trend will absolutely be downward as long as you are overweight. Now, we all know people who have lost weight on severely low-calorie diets, and many of us know people who kept the weight off. But they are absolutely the exception, and it's abnormal, not normal. The vast majority of people will crash and burn on such a low-calorie diet. As someone on the forums said this past week, trying to restrict calories drastically might get you 15 pounds lost in a month, but you'll burn out. At the end of six months, you'll be lucky if you haven't gained it all back, but you probably will. On the other hand, if you do it slow and steady and easy, at the end of six months you'll have lost 30 pounds and be much better off. (I'm assuming a heavier person here, people who are close to goal might lose as little as half a pound a week doing it slow and steady and easy.)

But if you've been eating so few calories for an extended period of time (whether because of the medicine or not) and you're not losing anything, that's really worrisome. That SHOULD be a severe calorie deficit, and if it's not, you could be in trouble.

Obviously, going to the doctor is first. But I'd plan on getting up to 1000 calories a day within a week, and then 1200 the week after, and then to your TDEE-20% the third week. Eat at your TDEE-20% for weeks three and four and then weigh yourself at the end of a month. Work from there.

As someone else said, stop actively trying to eat "diet" foods. Eat the yolk of the egg, not just the white. Use the full-fat salad dressing. If you use it, give up fake sugar. Eat the real stuff in moderation. Nuts are really good for you and pretty fatty, have some in moderation. Try to fit in oatmeal, leafy greens, carrots, and oily fish into your weekly diet.

And step from the scale. Don't obsess. To answer the original question, though, you shouldn't even consider a cheat meal a cheat meal. At 500 calories a day, you could easily eat two to three times that and be losing.

Good luck. Feel better.