Meat Cheat meal vs Pasta & Desert Cheat meal

donjtomasco
donjtomasco Posts: 790 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have now had 2 pretty big cheat dinners since April 25th (start date) that blew the days calories big time. But I have each day been consistent about my cardio and weight lifting (light lifting I guess but pretty heavy for this 54 yo).

My first cheat dinner was lamb chops, last nights cheat dinner was 1.4# prime grilled ribeye with baked red potatoe slices. The calorie count for both cheat dinners were really high, but my sides with both were healthy.

So this morning I had my lowest weight so far, which really surprised me.

Will cheat meals catch up a day or so later on the scale? I am pretty good about hitting a lower calorie (around 1,200) the following day of a cheat meal.

Also, is it different cheating with beef (like an Atkins diet) versus cheating with like spaghetti or a big pasta dish with heavy sauce (another favorite of mine) with a big rich sweet desert, IF both different types dinners were equal in calories, but completely different in the types of food?

I guess that's the question, but I keep reading here that it DOES NOT MATTER what food you eat as long as it is recorded as calories in, but it still seems to me logically that different foods would make a difference.

Very confusing to me...

Replies

  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    edited May 2016
    I've found many times that pigging out with meats was a lot less "damaging" than with carbs. Not only the weight gain was noticeably higher with the later, but so was the hunger in the next 10 hours. I have done a lot of experiments :)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    How many calories are in your cheat meals?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    SideSteel wrote: »
    Generally speaking, your weight loss is primarily going to come down to differences in calories consumed vs calories expended.

    Whether or not your "cheat days" are going to catch up with you is just going to depend on whether or not you are cancelling out the calorie deficit that occurs during your "non cheat" days.

    This is pretty much what I was going to say, only stated better.

    Your weight loss will be dependent on what's going on overall, not the day to day minutia.
  • cajuntank
    cajuntank Posts: 924 Member
    So just some rambling thoughts on this. Something to keep in mind due to your mentioning that some sides you had were healthy, that while certain foods have more nutritional value (micronutrients, fiber, phytonutrients, etc...), this still does not negate the calorie value they might possess (No different than me stating that a 1lbs of pennies weighs the same as a 1lbs of feathers). And you don't get bonus points in weightloss for eating above your nutritional needs.

    People forget that calories in vs calories out, is an equation. There are two sides to that equation and different variables effect both sides of that equation (sometimes differently). So for example, protein has a higher thermic effect, meaning it will take more calories to digest protein than carbs. Carbs, in turn, takes more calories to digest than fat. There are also the variables associated with carb intake dealing with increases glycogen and water retention (carbo"hydrate") that will add weight to the body. At the end of the day (the proverbial saying and not literally), after taking all things/variables into account (which is nigh impossible to do), it does boil down to balancing the equation of CICO. And the widely available tool we have to measure such a complex process, is the lowly scale.
  • piperdown44
    piperdown44 Posts: 958 Member
    Overall, as others have stated above is the CICO. One or two cheat meals over the course of a couple weeks is not a big deal.
    However, I will say, that when I do a refeed (taking my cals up to maintenance if on a cut) day, it usually has a higher percentage of carbs. When it has the higher percentage of carbs my weight will go up due to water weight (carbs like water). But that weight is temporary, lasting at most 2 days before it goes back down.
    For example, I had a spaghetti dinner a couple weeks ago on a Sunday. My starting weight that morning was around 198, the next day my weight was around 202 but by Wed morning (back on cal deficit on Mon) my weight was down to 197 (finished the week down around 196 on the following Mon).
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 790 Member
    Yesterday's cheat meal was 1,300 cal over, and the one last week was 1,150 over. Remove 500 each for what is my formula for 1#/week weight loss goal. So I was 800 and 750 over my maintain weight calories. But like a poster said, my green numbers on my other days keep me in the gradually declining in weight column. There will be a big work out today after the crawfish boil and blueberry pie desert. But this is what makes all the others days hard work worth while.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    donjtomasco wrote: »
    Yesterday's cheat meal was 1,300 cal over, and the one last week was 1,150 over. Remove 500 each for what is my formula for 1#/week weight loss goal. So I was 800 and 750 over my maintain weight calories. But like a poster said, my green numbers on my other days keep me in the gradually declining in weight column. There will be a big work out today after the crawfish boil and blueberry pie desert. But this is what makes all the others days hard work worth while.

    So you ate at maintenance or just under for a week...? If you're happy with that then it's all good.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    As long as you are losing weight, your plan is working.
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    Good answers here, but I'd like to throw in...remember you've got to maintain when you're done losing. If you're in the habit of big cheat meals when you're eating at maintenance level, there will be gains.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    donjtomasco wrote: »
    Yesterday's cheat meal was 1,300 cal over, and the one last week was 1,150 over. Remove 500 each for what is my formula for 1#/week weight loss goal. So I was 800 and 750 over my maintain weight calories. But like a poster said, my green numbers on my other days keep me in the gradually declining in weight column. There will be a big work out today after the crawfish boil and blueberry pie desert. But this is what makes all the others days hard work worth while.

    So you ate at maintenance or just under for a week...? If you're happy with that then it's all good.

    No he still had a deficit, just 2700 instead of 3500. Not a big deal at all.
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 790 Member
    Thanks Franci! :)
  • PlumpKitten
    PlumpKitten Posts: 112 Member
    If you're eating quite a light diet in general, and then you suddenly eat a pile of carbs & sugar, you might be taking on temporary water weight. That's maybe why it seems like carb cheat meals make you heavier than protein ones. I know that's what happens to me - it I have a huge plate of pasta with cream sauce and then dessert, I'm visibly bloated for the rest of the night!

    But in the long term, I think it's just calories in / calories out. BTW, great job!
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    40% of the available calories in meat are burned by the body digesting the meat. You may have consumed 4000 calories of rib-eye, but your body gets to keep only 2400 of them. On the other hand, every calorie in a pile of pasta (enriched semolina style) is quickly available for energy to be burned anywhere you need, be it the brain, muscles, whatever. So, 4000 calories of pasta is 4000 calories you get to keep. There's your explanation.
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 790 Member
    Sounds like pasta is a smarter choice for calories.
  • joncooper1980
    joncooper1980 Posts: 96 Member
    All great answers in here. I'd just like to add that what you eat for your cheat meal can make a difference to your lifts in the gym. If you are trying to maintain muscle whilst losing fat your diet should already be relatively high protein. I.E 1 - 1.5g per lb of bodyweight so adding more protein during your cheat meal will have no benefit in the gym. However, adding carbs to your cheat meal can replenish glycogen stores which will help you lift more and get stronger in the gym. Research "refeed", which is a very common method of "cheating" for weight lifters.

Categories