How many calories do you allow yourself for a cheat meal?

I don't cheat. If I have a day i go over, I log it and move on.

I do my darndest to not eat at a surplus for the day. So for instance if my TDEE is 2200 and I normally eat 1600, I could have an extra 599 calories in a meal and still technically still be in a deficit for the day.

It's just I know that the more days at TDEE means the longer it'll take me to reach my goal. But I don't call this a cheat meal. Just a day my deficit wasn't as large as other days.

i don't place moral judgements on food, so i can't really cheat...i have indulgences from time to time and I just do whatever I feel like doing...usually it's a special occasion or something along those lines...I just eat and enjoy as it is pretty much irrelevant to the whole of my diet.

IsaackGMOON wrote: »

I don't cheat.

Come on how can you say no to this.

Nalotaib wrote: »

How many calories do you allow yourself for your cheat meal (or cheat day) per week?

I don't have a hard and fast rule. What I've found is that seeing the impact of a big cheat day has over time convinced me that I should eat moderately even on cheat days - less than 3,000 kcals for sure.

Originally I'd allow myself complete cheat days, and discovered that I could eat 5,000 - 8,000 kcals in a day. But then that took a week or more to work off and it was also hard to go back down to tiny calories after such a huge feed. It was recoverable, but ultimately the enjoyment of not worrying about it was not worth the huge cost of recovery.

While with a more moderate day aiming at say 2,000 kcals, I can recover almost instantly. So you get the treats but without the cost. It's really all about how much time you're willing to throw away for a single special event (birthday, christmas, what have you).

As for a "weekly" cheat day, I allow myself one restaurant meal, either with my wife or with my family. I aim to keep this under 1,200 calories for that single meal. Today for example, we had lunch out with my son, and it clocked in at about 900 kcals.

Osric

A lot, sometimes...the other day between the beer and pizza, I was over 3000 cals in a day...but, I just try to cheat that often

JustMissTracy wrote: »

I don't have "cheat" meals or anything...if I want something out of the ordinary that happens to take me out of my range, oh well....I have many more years of eating left, I'm not about to worry about the numbers on a daily basis. At the end of the day, It is what it is.

I like you're way of thinking!

I don't worry a whole lot about my calories for a cheat or "treat" as I call them. Some days I go over on my calories and sometimes I'm under so it all evens out in the end. Also, I think it's important to enjoy the one thing you're totally craving to just get it out of your system. Who cares if it's 5 calories or 2,000. Sometimes you just gotta have it to move on.

I don't 'allow' anything. I'll have something if I REALLY want it... or if I'm really hungry... but it usually still fits in my weekly calories... but I'm maintaining.

But let's be fair - I've been maintaining 3 pounds from my goal for a year BECAUSE I started having 'cheat' days when I eat more than maintenance. If I didn't have them, I would have been at my goal months ago. I don't really care at that point, but people who think that 'cheat days' don't slow their weight loss down are in denial, IMO.

The bottom line is that most people who still lose a bunch of weight with one cheat day a week have an unreasonably low calorie goal the rest of the week, so it evens out to a more reasonable deficit after the cheat day. You're better off avoiding them altogether, finding a reasonable calorie goal, and trying to fit what you crave in your days, that way you're more in control and less likely to go completely overboard just because you feel that you can eat whatever you like one day a week.

Just IMO.

I don't have a cheat meal each week, myself. I allow some small treats just when I want them, like a sweet drink or if someone offers me something spontaneously, but I try to work those into my calories.

If I have a day where I'm over my goal is to stay under the "maintenance" line that mfp suggests (the cals/day if you're not aiming to lose or gain). For me that's just under 2000.

I've had days higher than that, but I consider those to be days to learn from (eg movie popcorn is seriously never worth it for me, I need to bring a small snack with me in the day so I don't have to buy something, etc).

I consider something sort of like a cheat meal when I go out to eat with friends, or it's someone's birthday or whatever. I love social eating, and it's not something I'm giving up. Those are days when I say "well I'm going to do my best but as long as I'm under [maintenance] it's no big deal" and just enjoy myself.