Can I lose weight even if I cheat once a week?

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Replies

  • kristinhull1
    kristinhull1 Posts: 294 Member
    I ate around 2500 calories today. Im just hoping I didnt screw myself from this day. I think I need to cut out cheat days all together except for once a month.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    You will be fine considering you normally under eat. I wouldn't recommend stepping on the scale tomorrow though (extra food and water retention from sodium will show as a temp gain).

    Another app you might want to try is sparkpeople. They have a calorie differential report that will show you your approximate deficit for the day and show you what you burned. Maybe that will work on your phone.
  • kristinhull1
    kristinhull1 Posts: 294 Member
    I am going to try that out.
  • kristinhull1
    kristinhull1 Posts: 294 Member
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    You will be fine considering you normally under eat. I wouldn't recommend stepping on the scale tomorrow though (extra food and water retention from sodium will show as a temp gain).

    Another app you might want to try is sparkpeople. They have a calorie differential report that will show you your approximate deficit for the day and show you what you burned. Maybe that will work on your phone.

    That app doesnt work on my iphone 4 either. Says I need ios8. I need a new phone.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    kristinhull1 wrote: »
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    You will be fine considering you normally under eat. I wouldn't recommend stepping on the scale tomorrow though (extra food and water retention from sodium will show as a temp gain).

    Another app you might want to try is sparkpeople. They have a calorie differential report that will show you your approximate deficit for the day and show you what you burned. Maybe that will work on your phone.

    That app doesnt work on my iphone 4 either. Says I need ios8. I need a new phone.

    Yes, yes you do. It will make your life so much easier.
    Sorry if i missed it, but do you log your food here on your computer?

  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
    Just make sure you burn more calories than you consume and hit your daily macros. No need to restrict foods. Restricting/limiting can lead to binges. Example: I get some of my fats from ice cream almost every day and it does no damage because I stay under my calories and within my macros.
  • kristinhull1
    kristinhull1 Posts: 294 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    kristinhull1 wrote: »
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    You will be fine considering you normally under eat. I wouldn't recommend stepping on the scale tomorrow though (extra food and water retention from sodium will show as a temp gain).

    Another app you might want to try is sparkpeople. They have a calorie differential report that will show you your approximate deficit for the day and show you what you burned. Maybe that will work on your phone.

    That app doesnt work on my iphone 4 either. Says I need ios8. I need a new phone.

    Yes, yes you do. It will make your life so much easier.
    Sorry if i missed it, but do you log your food here on your computer?

    Yes. I use my laptop to log here.
  • ricsmit68
    ricsmit68 Posts: 2 Member
    It's possible to cheat once a week just go to the gym routinely and burn the calories.
  • kristinhull1
    kristinhull1 Posts: 294 Member
    I workout at home. Usually doing myfitnessblender workouts 5 times a week. Today I ate 2700 calories and today was my "No exercise day" Im just hoping I didnt screw myself for the week
  • kronin23
    kronin23 Posts: 59 Member
    I keep 6/1 - one day eat what I want
  • jigsawdad43
    jigsawdad43 Posts: 3 Member
    just remember that it matters how your calories are made up not just the number of calories.....the ratio of protein to carbs and fats etc is highly important.....as is the amount of fibre you intake and the amount of sugar that your carbs are made up of......personally I follow a system called the macrolife program from sniperfitness where I get to eat whatever foods I like as long as my macros balance at the end of the day....as for a cheat day well personally mine are about 1 every 5 weeks but we call them refeed days where you hit the body's reset button and avoid weight loss plateaus... I lost 10kg in my first month and am currently down 33kg weight loss (72pounds)....im never hungry and don't feel restricted...makes it super sustainable....
  • kristinhull1
    kristinhull1 Posts: 294 Member
    Thats what I want something sustainable.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited July 2016
    kristinhull1 wrote: »
    Thats what I want something sustainable.

    Try this calculator. It's a TDEE calulator and will take into account your daily activity plus how often you exercise to give you a reasonable calorie goal to average or eat daily if you want for weight loss.
    http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
    If you give them your email address, it will also break your calorie goal down into suggested macros to aim for.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,486 Member
    kristinhull1 wrote: »
    I thought in order to gain 1lb you have to eat 3500 calories over your BMR everyday of the week. I write down my calories in a notebook. I dont understand how to do the math to understand if I ate too much or too little or how to see how many calories I am able to have after I hoard my calories all week
    You gain weight if you exceed your TDEE. BMR is say sitting on the couch for 24 hours just watching TV.

    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

  • Mentiri
    Mentiri Posts: 1,356 Member
    Don't think of it as cheating - just make it part of your overall plan to achieve a reasonable weekly deficit. Cheating implies guilt and wrongdoing, and those are bad ideas to associate with food. So plan for it and enjoy it and call it your feast day!
  • kristinhull1
    kristinhull1 Posts: 294 Member
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    kristinhull1 wrote: »
    Thats what I want something sustainable.

    Try this calculator. It's a TDEE calulator and will take into account your daily activity plus how often you exercise to give you a reasonable calorie goal to average or eat daily if you want for weight loss.
    http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
    If you give them your email address, it will also break your calorie goal down into suggested macros to aim for.

    Says 1690 for cutting weight. So that means I can eat 1680x7=11760 calories to lose weight. But if I eat above that ill gain.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,883 Member
    rosecropper wrote: »
    I don't starve myself just to gorge later. Sounds like an unhealthy relationship with food.
    But if I'm full after 800 calories for a day- I stop eating. Other days I eat way over my goal. I don't worry about it as long as the whole week averages out to 1200-1500 calories per day.
    Even the days when I go crazy eating, I still log it so I will know how far I've set myself back. Highly recommend you log every day, especially your high calorie days!

    Ya, this would be unhealthy for me as well.

    I log everything, and learn to make healthier choices from this information.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited July 2016
    kristinhull1 wrote: »
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    kristinhull1 wrote: »
    Thats what I want something sustainable.

    Try this calculator. It's a TDEE calulator and will take into account your daily activity plus how often you exercise to give you a reasonable calorie goal to average or eat daily if you want for weight loss.
    http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
    If you give them your email address, it will also break your calorie goal down into suggested macros to aim for.

    Says 1690 for cutting weight. So that means I can eat 1680x7=11760 calories to lose weight. But if I eat above that ill gain.

    Nope.
    If that's a 20% cut, then you have to eat over 2112 to gain weight on average. In other words if your total weekly calories exceed 14,784 you will gain weight. If you eat between 11,760 for the week and 14,784 you will just lose at a slower rate or maintain.
    If that's a 25% cut, then you have to eat over 2253 to gain weight on average. In other words if your total weekly calories exceed 15,771 you will gain weight. If you eat between 11,760 for the week and 15,771 you will just lose at a slower rate or maintain.

    Eat around 11,760 calories for the week (however you decide to split that up is up to you, you can do 1680 everyday or have high/low days) and you will lose weight. At that calorie level you should be able to have a small portion of something you love every day (cookies, icecream, chocolate, whatever) and still be within calories.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    Using the word "cheat" with reference to eating implies there's a moral dimension to the choices we make. There isn't. Food is food, and deciding to not follow our plan for a particular day is not a moral decision. There's no food devil, or food hell.

    The danger of using this kind of language is cognitive: it reflects and reinforces negative beliefs we have regarding food. These express themselves in negative self talk: "I was bad today, I have to do better tomorrow" or "I failed today, I'll never get it right".

    The words we use have power and if we are looking for permanent success, we need to keep that in mind.

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