Cheat meal

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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    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.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    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.
  • RUNucbar
    RUNucbar Posts: 160 Member
    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!
  • XxQueenMxX
    XxQueenMxX Posts: 683 Member
    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 :)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited February 2016
    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.
  • TamzFit777
    TamzFit777 Posts: 110 Member
    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.
  • SamanthaLeeann1
    SamanthaLeeann1 Posts: 12 Member
    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!!
  • Kaelan1995
    Kaelan1995 Posts: 20 Member
    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.
  • ZeroDelta
    ZeroDelta Posts: 242 Member
    MasterVal wrote: »
    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.
  • wykkedtruth
    wykkedtruth Posts: 47 Member
    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.
  • BrideSept2017
    BrideSept2017 Posts: 28 Member
    I don't cheat in the sense that I go over my goal, but for the occasional holiday or special occasion I will bank calories and/or switch to a maintenance goal for the day. I will also add up any unintentionally banked calories (days when I just didn't meet my daily goal for whatever reason) and add them to one of my weekend days as an extra snack. (Usually 200-300 calories). So far I've been losing an average of 1.5-2 lbs/week.
  • charlieaulert
    charlieaulert Posts: 127 Member
    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?

    Avoid the cheat meal & watch the results fly in much quicker! Think about what you're doing when eating a cheat meal... Going against all the clean meals you've had, making it a longer journey to achieve your goals!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,269 Member
    wykkedtruth wrote: »
    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.

    Your approach seems sensible.

    But to the bolded bit: Please, please folks, for optimal health, put a priority on getting adequate nutrition every day, or as near every day as possible. Your body has a way to store energy (e.g., fat, primarily), but there are helpful nutrients that it can't store longer-term for future utilization in the same way it uses nutrients from current/recent food. Protein and some of the water-soluble vitamins are examples.

    I've been kind of looking out for real (peer-reviewed, sensibly-designed, etc.) research result - without actually searching hard, BTW - that supports the idea that re-feeding (over/at maintenance occasionally) is helpful to weight loss in some way. Haven't run across anything yet. If anyone's seen such a thing (solid research results), please comment.
  • wykkedtruth
    wykkedtruth Posts: 47 Member
    Havent read a scholarly article yet which I am always on the hunt for. I tend to take Muscle Mag or Fitness Magazines with a grain of salt. What works for one might not necessarily work for another as well. For me it would just enable me to have that cheat meal and be able to rationalize it. But if I do find anything I will let you know.

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