Cheat meal
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I do have cheat meals, and more than I should because my husband likes to go out to eat. Sometimes we go to a restaurant where I can't find the nutritional info for the meals. If I know that's going to happen, I eat one small meal earlier in the day and hope I don't go over my calorie intake for the day. I'm starting to realize I don't like the concept of a cheat meal because it's counter-intuitive. It also seems to encourage my husband to eat more poorly, who then encourages me to eat poorly. I know I'm only accountable for myself, but if I want people in my life to take my effort seriously I have to set the example.0
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Thank you everyone for you input i think im gonna do a cheat meat bi weekly to keep myself. And if im craving something just have smaller portions0
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I don't have cheat meals or cheat days. To me that connotes something bad and there is nothing bad about a healthy lifestyle change. I do however, have days where I choose to eat a little more, go to a Chinese buffet or other restaurant. I try not to eat out more than once a week. I like to plan and not eat the full meal, most of the time it is way too much anyway. Buffet is a one trip with a small plate of fruit for dessert. It has taken a long time but my relationship with food is changing to where I am now in control.0
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If I didn't occasionally splurge on a meal, I think I'd go crazy. It's ONE meal. Once a week, I don't think it will hurt. I know that I try and exercise a little more on that day to make the calorie hit less painful.0
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dawndionisi wrote: »Does anyone have weekly cheat meals? I followed my diet all day saturday and went to olive garden for vday. Is that ok to do once a week?
In my opinion, I think it's perfectly okay (in moderation)! However, I don't do cheat meals.... I do CHEAT DESSERTS! And yes, I love using the word CHEAT because I feel like I'm getting something awesomely bad and still losing weight.
After a week of working out and intermittent fasting, I maintain my "healthy" eating into the weekend, BUT on Saturday or Sunday I'll pick a local place to go to for dessert. There are so many yummy bakeries and homemade ice cream shops that I could pick one a week and have places to go for months.
This last Saturday I got some homemade banana cream pic ice cream. It was divine. I felt absolutely no guilt and woke up the next morning feeling lighter than ever! I am pretty mindful of my calories and try not to go over, but if I do by a few *shrug* it's all good. Good luck and happy cheating! :-)0 -
i stick to a diet Sun-Friday. Saturday for me is limited diet day, i go to gym in morning but I also go out with my friends later that evening for drinks; i try to leave myself with a surplus of extra calories just incase i get the drunk munchies one day wont ruin you0
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lucian_simion wrote: »I wake up , take my pills (fish oil,bcaa, lose weight pill, aspirin ) + coffee (no sugar no creamer) all you need is the caffeine. 10:30 am Hit the gym on empty stomach with strength training and I end it up with 10-15 min of hit cardio (always put your cardio at the end). 12:00 pm Come home have protein shake and that is my lunch. Between 12 and 5 I may have a snack like a protein bar. 5-6 pm I eat a big *kitten* pizza w soda and whatever else I feel like to eat. 8 pm I may get a cup of ice cream and the rest of the pizza w some wings . And that's it .
When you train in fasted state more calories you burn, because there are studies that show that early in the morning when your blood is clean and the insulin levels are low you burn more calories then when you are not fasting. So if you prepare to have a cheat meal on Sunday, make sure you stay in the fasted mode for at least 8 hours and you will be just fine. You will actually have burned more calorie in the first half of the day that you actually eat. I do this all the time and next morning I am the same weight. Some people will say that that is "completely wrong" or "that's not how you do it" , u Know what , let me tell you something. You are not going to loose any weight by exercising and eating right 1 day out of seven the same way like "eating 1 day junk and not exercising, will not get you fat. Exercise and fast for 8 hours and than have any cheat meal you want and you will be like nothing happened. Trust me.
COUGH$#(BUl1$H1T)#$COUGH0 -
YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY CHEAT! In order to make eating healthy a lifestyle change you have to accommodate to your cravings. If one cheat meal a week allows you to remain eating healthy 6/7 days of the week then by all means yes enjoy that cheat meal! I have two cheats a week. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. Now that doesn't work for everyone. I also recommended that you workout on the day you cheat. Say you are going on a date Saturday night, don't make Saturday your rest day. That way you are still exercising on the day that you decide to splurge. Honestly I'm 122lbs at 5'8 and I workout 6/7 days a week with two cheat meals and I continue to lose weight. I use to weigh 135 and looked at cheat meals as something that would completely deter me. Because of this attitude I wasn't able to keep on track and it would often cause me to give up and binge on a Monday night. Remember we all train and eat differently. It's all about what you need and what your body needs! Happy eating
ps - Arctic zone is a great ice cream that fits macros and is only 35 calories a scoop (only 5g sugar, no fat) Great treat that's not a cheat! 0 -
As long as my WEEKLY calorie deficit remains at 3500+, then I don't worry about whether a meal (or day) is crazy.0
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To those saying "One cheat meal a week won't make a difference" - it certainly can if the poster is a petite, lightly active female who isn't a stickler for logging. If you are aiming for a 500 cal deficit per day, but you aren't using a food scale, you are probably hitting a 250 cal daily deficit at best. Then if your cheat meal is twice as big as a typical meal and you have a few beers, you could easily be eating an extra 1,000 cals. That will almost completely negate your calorie deficit for the week. And while it might not make you gain weight, it will for sure keep you from losing.
Obviously if you are a larger male, or someone who is working out consistently every day, you have more wiggle room.
OP, I try to stay @ 100 cals under my goal every day, that gives me an extra 600 calories. Then I can go out to eat and have a few drinks without worrying, but I still try to make smarter choices and not go overboard. Learning how to deal with social situations that revolve around eating, without becoming a party-pooper, is part of the process and a great skill to learn.
I eat the foods I love every day - pizza, ice cream, etc.- by fitting them in to my calorie goal. It keeps me from needing a "blow out". But that's just what works for me.0 -
To those saying "One cheat meal a week won't make a difference" - it certainly can if the poster is a petite, lightly active female who isn't a stickler for logging. If you are aiming for a 500 cal deficit per day, but you aren't using a food scale, you are probably hitting a 250 cal daily deficit at best. Then if your cheat meal is twice as big as a typical meal and you have a few beers, you could easily be eating an extra 1,000 cals. That will almost completely negate your calorie deficit for the week. And while it might not make you gain weight, it will for sure keep you from losing.
Obviously if you are a larger male, or someone who is working out consistently every day, you have more wiggle room.
OP, I try to stay @ 100 cals under my goal every day, that gives me an extra 600 calories. Then I can go out to eat and have a few drinks without worrying, but I still try to make smarter choices and not go overboard. Learning how to deal with social situations that revolve around eating, without becoming a party-pooper, is part of the process and a great skill to learn.
This is a great point. It's impossible for the blanket statement that "cheat meals won't make a difference" to be accurate without understanding where a person is at with their deficit or how many calories are in the meal. It's incredibly easy for some people to wipe out a week's deficit with a single meal.0 -
I don't call it a cheat day. I just plan around that meal. My wife has had us out to a restaurant 3 different times since I've been on MFP, over 30 days, and so far I've found menu meals under 800 calories. The sodium was high each time, but my normal days are low sodium and I normalize over the next couple of days. My calorie budget after walking a mile is over 2400 and my regular daily intake is about 1200-1300. Even if my wife surprises me with a demand that we eat out, I've got room in my daily budget for any restaurant she wants to visit, including OG.0
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I don't have cheat meals or days but I do have sweets or crisps pretty much daily, I just work them into my calories for the day. Having my little treats daily cuts out that urge, but as i worked into my calories, it is guilt-free!0
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I workout 3-5 days a week and eat a good diet mon-fri. But on weekends i eat what i want when i want and it did not interfere with my weight loss. Sometimes mondays I would feel a little too bloated, so ill just have a couple cups of green tea throughout the day and drink water with lemon and cucumber all day and that helps my bloatness, along with a bad *kitten* workout to start the week 0
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I'm cutting my usual winter gain right now...it's only about 8 Lbs...I'm pretty vigilant during the week about my diet and nutrition and a little loser on the weekends...I don't really consider it cheating and I don't go crazy or anything though. So long as my net position is a deficiency, I'll lose weight...never had a problem with this approach in the past. I also don't make it a whole day to just do whatever...I just have something for a meal that I wouldn't typically have...like last Sunday I grilled brats and we had brats and beer and some nice braised cabbage and apples.
I have difficulty with the concept of "cheating" though...it just implies that someone is doing something shameful and gives a more value to food and I don't think it's necessarily the healthiest mind set to get into.0 -
I love me a reward meal! yummy! If not once a week, once every two weeks. I never put on any weight afterwards so for me its fine.0
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I think it is whatever works for YOU. People arguing back and forth about this have too much time on their hands haha! Just do whatever works for you, if you like to have a cheat meal, have one, if you don't, don't! I personally have a cheat meal most weeks where I drink booze and eat a big meal. That is what works for me. Sometimes that turns into a cheat day and I don't lose as much that week, but oh well. I've lost over 75 lb and counting. Good luck!!0
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I have one day a month. An entire day, i can't do the one meal thing. I give myself one day to look forward to all month long.. and i live it up on that day. I always go out to eat somewhere, usually KFC because i love it. Then i get a few of my favorite snacks to take home and eat. But that's it. After that day, i work hard for the entire month and repeat the process. It works for me. I find that if i deprive myself completely of anything "good", it is a sure fail. I've failed many of diets taking the no splurge route. I finally found something that works for me so i'm sticking with it.0
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I dont.
I feel cheat meals are counterproductive to what I'm after - to learn portion control. A cheat meal could easily negate a week of deficit, especially if you are close to your goal. What I'm working on, instead of cheat meals, is to eat everything I like by planning it into my day. If I get an urge for a burger, I'll plan it for tomorrow and spread the rest of my calories accordingly. I'm hoping with enough time and practice I will learn how to to postpone my urges and make better decisions.
This! A cheat meal doesn't get me any closer to my goal.0 -
dawndionisi wrote: »Does anyone have weekly cheat meals? I followed my diet all day saturday and went to olive garden for vday. Is that ok to do once a week?
I read an article today about cheat meals giving your metabolism a kickstart again because it's foods and or minerals proteins etc that your body might not be getting. Was in a muscle fitness mag. Personally I allow myself a cheat meal but I make it fit into my day if I can. There's been the odd occasion, wedding and funeral where I just couldn't be bothered to count that day because I want to be present in that moment not glued to my phone and I think if you make a conscious decision to not Segway into bad habits they aren't a bad thing. Allowing yourself small pleasures can prevent binging.0
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