Cheat meals

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Araganz
Araganz Posts: 32 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have heard that a cheat meal per week is necessary to keep your metabolism high and to avoid weight loss plateaus. So for a person of my weight (94kgs) with a calory intake of 1640 (previously 1460) what would be the ideal calory intake on a cheat day? Uptil now i have had beef sirloin for dinner as my cheat meal, with calories only exceeding by 200-400 max.

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  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    edited April 2015
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    They're definitely not necessary, I lost most of my weight without anything cheat meals or anything. But they might help your motivation lol. Personally whenever I have cheat meals now I don't bother with calories, most of what I find difficult with calorie counting isn't sticking to my calories, it's finding out the calories I'm eating (if I go to a restaurant that doesn't publish their calories or am at a buffet or something). So if I want to cheat then I won't bother trying to count, since that's what I usually find difficult.

    I do like to believe in the whole 'cheat meals help your metabolism' thing, even if only because it helps me justify cheat meals lol. But I don't regiment them, if something comes up where I'd much rather not stick to my calories, I'll use that as my cheat meal.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    No, it isn't necessary. I've been losing weight for fifteen months and never had one.

    If you do want to have one, most people try to stick to being within their maintenance calories.
  • Allelito
    Allelito Posts: 179 Member
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    No, a cheat meal won't change your metabolism and it won't help in avoiding plateaus. The only reason for a "cheat" meal is if you personally feel like you need one, but make sure you don't eat so much that you ruin the caloric deficit you had for the rest of the week. So, if you want to eat a cheat meal, maybe you could eat 50 calories less the other days, to save up 300 calories for your cheat meal.
    Cheers!
  • nxiety
    nxiety Posts: 84 Member
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    Never heard of that... I never used a cheat meal in the 9-10 months I dieted or since on maintenance. I lost without issue or plateaus.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Totally not necessary and won't do anything for your metabolism, but they do keep some people sane. Personally, I go by a weekly calorie deficit rather than a daily, so weekdays I tend to be about 1200 and weekends more like 2000. I don't consider them 'cheat' days, because it averages out to the deficit I'm trying to achieve.
  • Boogage
    Boogage Posts: 739 Member
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    I don't have cheat meals every week because every now and then I'll feel too tired to cook so we'll get a takeaway or someone will say they want to go out for a meal and if I'd had a cheat meal that week I'd feel like I was ruining my diet. I have recently lowered my carb intake though as it makes my tummy happy and I feel like I'm getting more cheat days as I get to have more proteins-oils, eggs, cheese!! :) I would never suggest a super low carb diet as I don't think its good for most of us but cutting back a bit is helping me enjoy my diet more.
  • Araganz
    Araganz Posts: 32 Member
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    well then, guess ive been believing in the wrong thing. What should i do about weight loss plateaus then? Because after 2 months of losing weight really fast, its become really slow lately
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    Araganz wrote: »
    well then, guess ive been believing in the wrong thing. What should i do about weight loss plateaus then? Because after 2 months of losing weight really fast, its become really slow lately

    Firstly, that's to be expected - the lower your weight, the slower you'll lose, and people tend to lose quicker at the beginning of a diet.

    If you feel like you're losing weight slower than you should be, make sure your logging is accurate - weigh and measure everything, and make sure not to overestimate your exercise burns if you're eating back your exercise calories. As you lose weight you'll need to eat less, too, so you may need to recalculate your goals.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,870 Member
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    First, I don't do cheat meals. If I want to eat more, I work for it. I exercise more. On weekends, I'll be out on my bicycle or hiking for hours ... and then I'll have a nice dinner all within my calorie totals.

    One of the reasons I'm here is because of cheat meals. Before I started logging, I would eat fairly well during the week, and lose a bit of weight, and then let myself go on the weekend, and gain it all back (+ some).

    Second, if your weight loss has slowed, you need to eat fewer calories. You say, you had a calorie intake of 1640 (previously 1460) ... why did you raise your intake? Does it correspond with the slow-down in your weight loss? Maybe you need to return to 1460 cal.
  • Araganz
    Araganz Posts: 32 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    First, I don't do cheat meals. If I want to eat more, I work for it. I exercise more. On weekends, I'll be out on my bicycle or hiking for hours ... and then I'll have a nice dinner all within my calorie totals.

    One of the reasons I'm here is because of cheat meals. Before I started logging, I would eat fairly well during the week, and lose a bit of weight, and then let myself go on the weekend, and gain it all back (+ some).

    Second, if your weight loss has slowed, you need to eat fewer calories. You say, you had a calorie intake of 1640 (previously 1460) ... why did you raise your intake? Does it correspond with the slow-down in your weight loss? Maybe you need to return to 1460 cal.

    I actually changed my calory from 1460 to 1640 yesterday because as i'm a 19 year old male, some of the experienced members from this forum told me that it is really unhealthy for me to be eating soo less and i should slow down my weight loss.

  • GlenQu
    GlenQu Posts: 4 Member
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    It's common for body builders and the like to have refeed days. These days are when where you are coming close to a show while "cutting" (losing weight). On a refeed day they will bump up there carbs by about 100% in order to increase leptin levels as they get depleted the longer you are in a deficit.

    The lower your leptin, the "slower" your metabolism runs. Notice the quotation marks around "slower".

    The most important thing about the refeed days is getting your macros right, you still want to be hitting 1lb per pound for protein and low fat as well as your Carbs coming from complex sources not simple. The reason why you increase your carbs is that it is the glucose that drives the leptin up.

    I think this is where people get the idea of "cheat meals" boost the motabalism, well they may do but only if done right.

    Here is some more info on the subject.

    Just thought I would share a little back ground on that,

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