Cheat meals a go? Or no?

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ANT98
ANT98 Posts: 137 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
With 8 weeks left to be on stage with a bikini (for a pageant, but still want to look lean...)
Will iifym with cheat meals work fine or not as effective as iifym with clean foods? Would my results be different if I still hit my macros and calories but not have cheat meals vs yes, having cheat meals? Make sense?

Replies

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    edited December 2015
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    It doesn't work the way you are thinking.

    1g of protein is 1 gram of protein
    1 calorie is 1 calorie

    If you are hitting your macros, and calories, that's enough. You aren't getting some magical kick because they came from a half cup (EVIL!) of ice cream vs. a chicken breast (GOOD!).
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
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    Who are you cheating on?
  • Phillip65
    Phillip65 Posts: 2 Member
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    One "cheat" day for me becomes two, becomes three becomes four... they grow each week, and before I know it, I'm gaining the weight I lost. Yeah, I dont believe in good or bad calories either... I've tries the tricks and ended up confused... why am I gaining weight again?. Nothing confusing about calories.
  • casandra_zamarripa
    casandra_zamarripa Posts: 133 Member
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    Every one who is trying to lose weight SHOULD have ONE cheat day a week! & By cheat day NO not binge eating or just eating what ever you want all day! But by simply enjoying the foods you like with PORTION CONTROL! Why cheat days are great--> It tricks your metabolism in to thinking it's going back in to old habits. Slows it back down from the junk you ate & then Boom back to diet and exercise and you metabolism is once again getting started and working it's hardest!
  • thunder1982
    thunder1982 Posts: 280 Member
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    22pounds (looked at your goal in your profile) in 8 weeks is a big ask as I am guessing that if your in a bikini pageant your not obese to start with.

    The only thing I would say about cheat meals is usually mine have more sodium and cause fluid retention. I often skip my normal daily weigh in for a few days and smash the water so I dont get a false inflated result. So in the lead up week to your pageant I would cut back on salt and amp up the water.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    edited December 2015
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    casandra_zamarripa wrote: »
    Every one who is trying to lose weight SHOULD have ONE cheat day a week! & By cheat day NO not binge eating or just eating what ever you want all day! But by simply enjoying the foods you like with PORTION CONTROL! Why cheat days are great--> It tricks your metabolism in to thinking it's going back in to old habits. Slows it back down from the junk you ate & then Boom back to diet and exercise and you metabolism is once again getting started and working it's hardest!

    Going by that, I (and others here) enjoy "cheat days" seven days a week. But your metabolism does not get tricked. Eat more than you burn, gain weight. Eat less than you burn, lose weight.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    casandra_zamarripa wrote: »
    Every one who is trying to lose weight SHOULD have ONE cheat day a week! & By cheat day NO not binge eating or just eating what ever you want all day! But by simply enjoying the foods you like with PORTION CONTROL! Why cheat days are great--> It tricks your metabolism in to thinking it's going back in to old habits. Slows it back down from the junk you ate & then Boom back to diet and exercise and you metabolism is once again getting started and working it's hardest!

    Going by that, I (and others here) enjoy "cheat days" seven days a week. But your metabolism does not get tricked. Eat more than you burn, gain weight. Eat less than you burn, lose weight.

    This.
  • Oflamez
    Oflamez Posts: 43 Member
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    rainbowbow wrote: »
    It doesn't work the way you are thinking.

    1g of protein is 1 gram of protein
    1 calorie is 1 calorie

    If you are hitting your macros, and calories, that's enough. You aren't getting some magical kick because they came from a half cup (EVIL!) of ice cream vs. a chicken breast (GOOD!).


    I respect your opinion but mine is different, it's not a huge difference if the macros are the same but my personal opinion is that "Clean" food is better then just hitting your macros with "Junk".

    Don't take this offensively, I agree macros are very important.

    The quality of fats in junk is not as good as whole foods, not talking bout saturated but industrially altered fats, also I do believe that excess sugar is not good for the human body and I like mine from fruits milk and honey.

    IIFYM is a good weight control system especially if you get 80% of your foods from "Clean" sources, though it's specific like olive oil is a processed source of food but a great one, so is butter or whey.

    But if you're gonna cheat and you do it within your calories its way way better then just adding a huge not tracked cheat meal full of sodium (water retention) to your current calories.
  • Oflamez
    Oflamez Posts: 43 Member
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    casandra_zamarripa wrote: »
    Every one who is trying to lose weight SHOULD have ONE cheat day a week! & By cheat day NO not binge eating or just eating what ever you want all day! But by simply enjoying the foods you like with PORTION CONTROL! Why cheat days are great--> It tricks your metabolism in to thinking it's going back in to old habits. Slows it back down from the junk you ate & then Boom back to diet and exercise and you metabolism is once again getting started and working it's hardest!


    Cheat meals are great to enjoy life and to keep up your healthy lifestyle by indulging occasionally but your body does not exactly require you to eat pizza junk and candy you can also speed up your metabolism by simply eating more calories from "Healthy/Clean" sources, but if you only have 1 cheat day a week with portion control your diet is already better then 99% of peoples, it's about your lifestyle and making it work in the real world which looking at your profile pic you do very well.

  • Buckeye_Dave
    Buckeye_Dave Posts: 59 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Going by that, I (and others here) enjoy "cheat days" seven days a week. But your metabolism does not get tricked. Eat more than you burn, gain weight. Eat less than you burn, lose weight.

    Absolutely this!
  • xKoalaBearx
    xKoalaBearx Posts: 181 Member
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    Cheat days worked for me when I was losing weight. Once a week, and then back to strict calorie limits. If you're the type of person who will snowball into making it twice a week, three times a week... seven days a week, then you probably shouldn't do it.

    I no longer do cheat days because my maintenance calories are high enough that I can now have a substantial treat daily without going over my calorie limit.... so every day is a cheat day. I do still take a macro day off on Saturdays and eat whatever I want without worrying about my macros (really just protein)... but still staying around my calorie limit. Seems to be working for me for the past 6 months of maintenance.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    Oflamez wrote: »
    I respect your opinion but mine is different, it's not a huge difference if the macros are the same but my personal opinion is that "Clean" food is better then just hitting your macros with "Junk".

    Better for overall health? Yeah, depending on your definition of "clean" vs. "junk" there is probably greater nutrition in the "clean" foods.

    Better for weight loss? Nope, exactly the same.
  • Lucille4444
    Lucille4444 Posts: 284 Member
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    If I should 'fall off the wagon' for a day I would pick myself up and go on.
    And there have been a few days I ate at maintenance instead of at deficit.
    But to deliberately plan a day that would go over maintenance? Nope.

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