What's a better name than "cheat meal"?

Losingthedamnweight
Losingthedamnweight Posts: 535 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Cause I'm sick of hearing it. Sick of saying it. Sick of it even being a common word used in our forums. What we are doing is part of a lifestyle to be healthier. That doesn't mean we are going to turn into gigantic prudes and on thanksgiving tell our families "I only have 10 calories left in my budget. Just enough to smell the turkey and maybe lick a slice of it 1 time". Most of the time we stay within our calorie budgets but on certain occasions, sure. Stop worrying so much about 1 meal because I don't want to be old and retired and looking back on my life someday with regret thinking "I could've enjoyed my life more at different times". If I have the self discipline to not go on a 3 day binge from just eating a big meal 1 time, then "cheat meals" are fine.

But cheat? How am I "cheating"? I'm making a conscious decision to eat a little more 1 time and burning it off after. I'm not cheating anything. I'm living. So what's a better name for it?
«134

Replies

  • natboosh69
    natboosh69 Posts: 276 Member
    Erm, how about just 'meal'? That was quite a rant.
  • Losingthedamnweight
    Losingthedamnweight Posts: 535 Member
    natboosh69 wrote: »
    Erm, how about just 'meal'? That was quite a rant.
    It's been awhile since I've gotten to rant. Long overdue!
  • percolater
    percolater Posts: 55 Member
    I would much rather read an interesting rant than a smug little statement that starts with a derisive "erm."

    "Cheat meal," is a term long used in magazines and diet books to refer to a day planned to go off your diet and eat whatever looks good. I agree that it's not a good term.

    A few alternative suggestions:

    Free Day.
    Feast Day. ( Particularly good for celebrations with religious roots like Easter, Passover, Christmas, etc.
    Mental Health Day)
    Date Night
    Replacement Day. ( I believe, for some people, cravings are due to a deficient in the diet. They may crave cheese because they need calcium. Replacement days might actually be good for them.)
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    You eat, you log, you move on. Sometimes you eat more. It's that simple.
  • allenpriest
    allenpriest Posts: 1,102 Member
    Dinner.
    Thursday.

    You get the drift.


    Anything but cheat day.


    I don't care if it is in 100 books. The premise is wrong for me. I'm not dieting as that implies deprivation. I'm changing the way I live and eat. Permanently.
  • Soopatt
    Soopatt Posts: 563 Member
    Tonight I shall call it : Dinner.

    I can see how some people might need a term, because you might want to mark out or plan those days in your diary, in that case, I like the "replacement day" suggestion above or anything completely uncharged and neutral where you are not labeling yourself a crazed food lunatic loosed on the world for having a larger meal within a more standard deficit.

    Non Standard Day?

    I look at my week rather than my day, so naming a meal or a day would be strange to me. Also, why should I single out the big meals when I am not singling out the small ones? Some days I have tiny meals in anticipation of a hearty meal later in the week. I don't call those "starve meals" or "deprivation days".

  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    edited December 2015
    Don't bother with cheat meals and you don't have to call it anything. Stop making your plan so rigid and you don't need to cheat on it.

    I eat more on Thanksgiving, birthdays, vacation, etc... All of them fit in my plan which has come along quite nicely over the last 7 months. What I don't do is go off the rails and cheat on myself.
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,123 Member
    I call mine a treat (meal). It implies that what I'm doing isn't something that should happen everyday but it is something that I can incorporate into a balanced diet. I ought to enjoy the meal, but I don't want to say that I am necessarily being "bad" for deviating from my normal diet. Heck, most of the time those "treat meals" fit perfectly into my calorie goals.
  • MikeLeTwigg
    MikeLeTwigg Posts: 162 Member
    I like feast. Not something you do too often. Does not imply guilt or reward.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    You eat, you log, you move on. Sometimes you eat more. It's that simple.

    +1
  • GillianSmith2
    GillianSmith2 Posts: 387 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    You eat, you log, you move on. Sometimes you eat more. It's that simple.

    this^^

  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
    A cheat meal means you are doing something wrong. Or naughty. Which I hate, because this whole losing weight thing isn't about punishment. So enjoy the foods you'd 'cheat' with in small quanities all the time.

    Before I lost 50lbs my diet consisted of bagels, donuts, chicken nuggets, french fries and an amazing amount of potato chips. I still eat those things, just in my smaller quantities. Nothing SHOULD be off limits, you just have to learn that you can't eat a whole bag, unless that's all you want to eat today - and since I'm hungry every 2-3hrs NO MATTER WHAT I ate, the whole bag thin doesn't work for me.
  • JohnBarth
    JohnBarth Posts: 672 Member
    Splurge meal.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    i call it eating….
  • dkingdom1
    dkingdom1 Posts: 60 Member
    I call it a day where I just "happened to eat more than my calorie goal". It always happens to me and that's life. I try not to emotionally attach myself to these kind of ideas of cheat meals and treat meals and such.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    "But cheat? How am I "cheating"? I'm making a conscious decision to eat a little more 1 time and burning it off after. I'm not cheating anything. I'm living. So what's a better name for it? "

    But if you are "burning it off after" you would be staying within your caloric limits (including exercise calories) and therefore not "cheating". This would be a meal.

    I always considered a "cheat meal" be to one that took me over my calorie limit for the day. In that case, enjoy it, log it and move on. Such is life. I prefer to look at my daily weekly averages for a truer picture of my adherence to my limits. One day, one meal, really doesn't mess things up too badly. Even Thanksgiving week was under my weekly caloric limit. Not by much, but under ;-)

    Cheat meal, Feast, Banquet, Over doing it for the fun of it, Moment of weakness, Splurge meal, treat (meal). Call it want you want. Don't call it anything at all. What's in a name, that by which we call a rose, by any other, would smell as sweet.
  • ChiliPepperLifter
    ChiliPepperLifter Posts: 279 Member
    Maintenance day!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,489 Member
    Personally, I just don't bother calling it anything.

    For example tonight: I'm going to see STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and at every movie I eat- 2 hot dogs, a nachos, a small bag of buttered popcorn, a Milk Duds and a diet Pepsi or Coke. About 1600 calories worth of food. Best choices? Nah, but it's part of my lifestyle when I go to the movies.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • jackidoll
    jackidoll Posts: 8 Member
    your high calorie meal, when I know im going out for a big dinner i replace my breakfast and lunch with protein bars and drink lots of water so i can eat the big dinner and actually have enough calories
  • IAmTheGlue
    IAmTheGlue Posts: 701 Member
    JohnBarth wrote: »
    Splurge meal.

    ^this.

    It's a splurge. Much like buying yourself a little luxury you can afford. Nothing wrong with that, just fit it in your budget and move on.

Categories