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

13

Replies

  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    edited December 2015
    With clients I just refer to them as maintenance days or refeeds, depends on who I'm working with.

    I liked your rant for what it's worth.

    For some people perhaps the term isn't relevant but I do agree that calling it a cheat day just reinforces a dieting mindset and for some people it could be detrimental. I also don't think it's good that it's a term that stuck in the industry.
  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
    Well, people take "mental health days"...why not a "gastric indulgence day"? ;)
  • starwhisperer6
    starwhisperer6 Posts: 402 Member
    Well, people take "mental health days"...why not a "gastric indulgence day"? ;)

    I just gastricly indulged on homemade fudge. It was delicious!
  • SuggaD
    SuggaD Posts: 1,369 Member
    A high calorie day is what I call it.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,707 Member
    What's a better name than "cheat meal"?

    I call meals where I go over my calories for the day "celebration meals" because I only do that if I'm celebrating something like, say, my husband and my anniversary.

    I call days where I go over my calories "diet breaks". I took a 1-month diet break in June/July after I had been here for 4 months and had lost 15 kg. I took a 3-day diet break in early November, after I had been at it again for another 4 months. Since I'm nearly at my goal and am almost at maintenance, I've taken a couple more weekend diet breaks just recently, and I'm planning a 2-week diet break over Christmas. :)
  • jusca
    jusca Posts: 28 Member
    reward meal, reward day,
  • kbmnurse
    kbmnurse Posts: 2,484 Member
    STOP!!!!!!!
  • lisalsd1
    lisalsd1 Posts: 1,521 Member
    I usually just call it Mexican food or "beer night."
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,048 Member
    dhimaan wrote: »
    A happy meal.

    ^ Like!
  • soulofgrace
    soulofgrace Posts: 175 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Honestly, I never got why Ppl make such a big deal out of a word. I use cheat meal because it quickly describes to most Ppl what I mean. I don't restrict myself really from anything but, sometimes I want an entire box of butter pasta and no amount of moving things around is going to make it fit. I stopped letting words like that control my feelings. Call it cheat day, Maintenance day, refeed, treat, splurge, or the last supper for all I care. It is just words. If this a lifestyle change and not a diet this word is going to be the smallest of obstacles to overcome.

    because food is neutral and is neither good, bad, cheating, angelic, etc, so it should not be assigned moral values.

    A word like cheat meal only means what you choose to let it mean. I have no idea how you get that is assigned moral value. I don't what I want and I don't feel bad when I eat over. You live, you learn, you move the freak on. Like I said Ppl read too much into a innocent saying. I mean seriously there are bigger issues when it comes to this weight loss journey than a word.

    The word "cheat" does, in fact, have moral implications, in any usage. In this case, OP doesn't like it, and he asked for helpful suggestions. Weight loss is a journey fraught with emotion for many of us. If you don't get why it bothers him, then your experience is different. Words can most definitely hold power over us when we are vulnerable. Minimizing someone's feelings about something is not ever helpful.

    I also don't like the word cheat when it comes to what I eat. If I tell myself I am "cheating," I might feel disappointed in myself. It might bring on a host of feelings that I might not be strong enough yet to rationalize. I also don't like the word "diet." That's a pretty common opinion around here, though I've yet to see anyone argue that like I'm seeing from some in this thread..

    I think the most helpful suggestion in this thread, and more or less what I do, is to call it "dinner."

    Beautiful rant, by the way, OP, and funny too! I love a good rant. Have a great holiday. I hope you allow yourself more than a lick of a turkey slice! That visual is hilarious, LOL!
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    We could collectively call it a "stop being so dramatic and just log it and move on" meal.

    I like this suggestion.

    OP, I also like your rant. It really is about figuring out how to still fit in normal experiences into your life such as holidays, or heading out to the game and having a few beers with friends. This is life, there should be no moral connotations added to consuming more than your daily allotment of calories. Leading to much needed:

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  • boomshakalaka911
    boomshakalaka911 Posts: 655 Member
    IIFYM. No such thing. I hate the word diet.
  • ryansmama04
    ryansmama04 Posts: 15 Member
    I say bonus meal
  • ZeroDelta
    ZeroDelta Posts: 242 Member
    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?

    "The meal that puts me farther from my goal." : o:):p:*
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,379 Member
    Call it whatever you want, use any words you want. As long as you accept them on your own terms it doesn't really matter.

    Not being critical of the OP but it seems for a lot of people certain words here on the forums invoke a "trigger" type response. I see it all the time when someone says "junk food". For me, as long as it makes sense to me in the context I use it, it shouldn't matter. Call it junk, cheat, good, bad, or just food.

    If they flipflopped the use of the words "sane" and "insane" I think some people would go insane due to the new title they have. The others would just accept it and move on with life.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    There are no cheat meals, there are only cheat days when you go over your calorie limit for the day.

    Unless you eat your day's calories in one meal! :open_mouth: (That's called a feast.)

    And if you do IIFYM your cheat day still might not mean a cheat week.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    gorymeraz wrote: »
    yeah, *kitten* meal, coward meal, quitter meal.

    Woah.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,379 Member
    Orphia wrote: »
    There are no cheat meals, there are only cheat days when you go over your calorie limit for the day.

    Unless you eat your day's calories in one meal! :open_mouth: (That's called a feast.)

    And if you do IIFYM your cheat day still might not mean a cheat week.

    Great idea. I often eat most of my calories in one extended meal. Now I can call it a daily feast!
  • natboosh69
    natboosh69 Posts: 276 Member
    percolater wrote: »
    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.)

    It wasn't a smug little statement, I enjoyed reading the rant hence my following sentence.