Cheat meals, how do you feel about them??
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Well I've done them the past 2 weeks and my weight loss has actually increased
Even last saturday I thought I went overboard and thought I would even gain, but I lost a lb at the end of the week
I think if you're going to implement a cheat meal, then you have to be REALLY good with your logging and sticking to your goals the rest of the time.1 -
I'm pretty new to MFP, but I'm really clenching down on my nutrition to make sure that I'm being mindful when I eat and catering to my sweet tooth. If you're an emotional eater, like I am, and turn to food for literally everything, then I wouldn't recommend a "cheat" meal, especially since you feel guilty afterwards. My sweet tooth craving is *slowly* transitioning from cookies and donuts to Werthers hard candies (23 cal per candy, I think), herbal tea (Chocolate Macaroon from David's Tea is amazing with some honey and a splash of whole milk), and Muscle Milk. I drink Muscle Milk as a meal replacement for dinner when my boyfriend and I are working late and don't have the time to cook and it's like drinking a milkshake. Plus, it is perfect for a post-workout drink.
How about for your cheat meal, instead of getting fast food, you home-cook a meal? Whatever you get at a fast food place can be easily replicated and much more nutritionally substantial. You can have the experience of creating a great dish while "cheating", which can make you love it more. For example, when I really want a burger it's easy to stop at fast-food place, but when I make one at home on my Foreman grill it's a million times tastier and I can customize it how I please. If you don't have time to cook, how about going to Whole Foods or a more "upscale" grocery store that cooks items to-go?2 -
Teemo_sucks wrote: »Well I've done them the past 2 weeks and my weight loss has actually increased
Even last saturday I thought I went overboard and thought I would even gain, but I lost a lb at the end of the week
I think if you're going to implement a cheat meal, then you have to be REALLY good with your logging and sticking to your goals the rest of the time.
Exactly. If you have a tight rein and stick to goals and can go low enough to compensate the rest of the week that is good for you. It only makes me hungrier when I splurge, unfortunately.
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flatcoatedR wrote: »ElizabethOakes2 wrote: »I don't call it cheating. It's a splurge, or a treat. I just got back from two weeks of dealing with a family emergency, followed by a weeklong emergency. I ate well, and a bit too much, and that's okay. I know that now that I'm home and back in my comfort zone, I'll get back on track. And I can look back at that awesome burger and microbrew, and the blueberry pancake breakfast, and remember how good they tasted, and how much I enjoyed them, and not stress about how many calories were in them, or how much saturated fat.
The trick, I think, is to accept that there will be times when you'll want to eat something that's not on your plan, and you eat it, enjoy it, remember it as something you really enjoyed, but not let it get you off track or beat yourself up over it.
Amen to that! It took me years of losing and gaining to learn this truth. There are certain foods I don't eat on a regular basis. Ones that I love too much and consider trigger foods. But, when I do eat them and go off my program (sometimes a bit and sometimes too much) I've learn to enjoy them, let go of any quilt, and just get right back on program and go forward
Same here. I don't leave highly desirable trigger foods in my environment and don't eat them regularly. But on occasion I enjoy them at a meal and move back right onto my normal schedule. I don't have "cheat days" or that throws me into a tailspin. These are treats for me "once in a while" not daily.0 -
If you want the fast food, then have the fast food. But log it too.
If you go over your calories for the day by having the fast food, then look to the rest of the week to see if you can balance it out by eating less calories on other days. For example, yesterday I grazed on a pack of tuc crackers while watching a movie. I went over my calorie goal. Today and tomorrow I'm going to try and eat a couple hundred under my calorie goal.1 -
BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »I lost most of my weight eating fast food.. as long as it fits in your calories and you still have a deficit, who cares?
Why not eat what best fuels you? Personally I feel more "alive" when I eat real food. Fast food has it's place but I don't see the benefit of it taking up the majority of your macros.
Because there's no point in restricting yourself and not eating what you like - it's the best way of assuring that you'll give up entirely.
The point is to find a diet that you can stick to.
For what it's worth, I can't really stand fast food anymore because it doesn't fill me up for the calories, and it just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore... but if someone can fit it in their calories, there's nothing wrong with that. They still get plenty of nutrition from it.
I'm not against restaurant cooked food. Not at all. I just don't use it as a staple for a variety of reasons 1) it doesn't fill you up like you said 2) I'm spending more money 3) I like cooking my own food. Not making fast food my main food source doesn't mean I don't indulge in it. What kind of life would that bb? At the end of the day one should do what makes them happy.
Who said that fast food would be a staple though? I thought we were talking about a once in a while thing.1 -
I try to plan ahead instead of trying to constantly cut back afterward to make up for overages. I'd rather run under a bit under than over and then deprive myself and be bloated and miserable for a few days. Which is fine. Everyone is different in their approaches!0
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BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »BarbellzNBrotein wrote: »I lost most of my weight eating fast food.. as long as it fits in your calories and you still have a deficit, who cares?
Why not eat what best fuels you? Personally I feel more "alive" when I eat real food. Fast food has it's place but I don't see the benefit of it taking up the majority of your macros.
Because there's no point in restricting yourself and not eating what you like - it's the best way of assuring that you'll give up entirely.
The point is to find a diet that you can stick to.
For what it's worth, I can't really stand fast food anymore because it doesn't fill me up for the calories, and it just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore... but if someone can fit it in their calories, there's nothing wrong with that. They still get plenty of nutrition from it.
I'm not against restaurant cooked food. Not at all. I just don't use it as a staple for a variety of reasons 1) it doesn't fill you up like you said 2) I'm spending more money 3) I like cooking my own food. Not making fast food my main food source doesn't mean I don't indulge in it. What kind of life would that bb? At the end of the day one should do what makes them happy.
Who said that fast food would be a staple though? I thought we were talking about a once in a while thing.
We are. I'm expanding on any grey areas on my point.0 -
I typically have some form of take out on Friday nights. It's been my routine for years and cutting it out would make me sad. So now I just plan for it. I log that meal 1st thing and work the rest of my day around it. I don't make up for it in the next few days by eating less or punishing myself with extra exercise. If I go over calories a bit, so be it. I had Arby's, including curly fries, last night. I enjoyed every last salty, crispy, simple carb laden bite. And today I'll eat and go for my walk as normal. I will try to get in some extra water because all extra salt makes me more thirsty anyway. No guilt, no negative self talk. Just eating yummy food and moving my butt.2
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I don't care for the concept of "cheat meals" because I think they can induce feelings of guilt much like what you are indicating OP. I work foods I love to eat on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis depending on what it is. For example, I have wine and something sweet like dark chocolate or a serving of gelato or some Oreos pretty much every day. I have fast casual food like Chipotle about once a week, same with pizza. About once a month I will have a date night or girls night out where I know I will be having a more indulgent meal. I often bank calories during the week for higher calorie meals and events on the weekends. But I don't view it as a cheat meal, it's just the way my lifestyle is so I plan for it and accommodate it.
Back to your specific situation and feelings of guilt OP, did you log the meal? Did it put you over your calories for the day? By how much? Your weight loss goal has a deficit built into t already. Depending on what you have your goal set at, if it is to lose 1 lb/week that means you would have to exceed your calories by 3500 in order to just "not lose" and you'd have to exceed them by 7000 in order to gain a pound. It's all about perspective. Eat the fast food if you want it, log it and move on. No guilt.3 -
Hi, I love cheat meals, it keeps me sane, but I try to go for something not too "unhealthy" , it's a bit easier for me since I don't eat meat, so no fast food, and if I am having,say, fries, I make them at home, from scratch. Things like that I don't drink soda but once a year I do, I like this one with 15% real juice, It still has a ton of sugar, but it's literally once a year so it's ok hehe.
of course sometimes something pops out that wasn't included in my original eating plan, I let it be, more than calories, I am keeping an eye on carbs and protein.0 -
I have something outside of the norm and exciting every Friday night and I don't feel remotely guilty. I bank calories from the rest of the week to spend on that Friday night meal. Last night my dinner and dessert came out to 1600 calories, and I loved every bit of it
I seldom do hyperpalatable foods because they seem to cause ridiculous carvings in the following days so I do healthier variants of them that don't trigger the desire to over consume or wanting more.1 -
My personal opinion on cheat meals is they are rather highly correlated with the possibility of developing an eating disorder overtime. She males often start off as that over time they turn into disguises for a binge. This Benz consist of all the foods that you don't allow yourself to eat on your diet because you believe that your diet needs to be 100% perfect to achieve results. That your diet needs to be all clean foods meal prepped and what have you. In reality we all know that consistency is the key to success just asked LeBron James Michael Jordan or Bill Gates they were not perfect one or two days out of the week but they were consistent day after day year after year and that's why they got the success that they got. Back to cheat meals though overtime these meals turn into cheat days.
There is no such thing as good food, bad food. Placing labels on food, leads us to ban them from our intake. We say, “No, No, No, No, No…” We push for the perfect diet, once we eat this food that does not fall into this neat diet box; we throw our hands up, saying we failed so now is the time to eat everything we can. This leads to punishment. Which leads to more restrictions. This is the vicious cycle we as binge eaters face. I used to believe it myself, that there was clean food and bad food. It simply is this manifested idea. If you ask a vegan, he/she will say animal based foods are not clean. Someone who is a vegetarian will disagree, and say it is just animal products that are not clean. Then a paleo guy runs in screaming about how meat is clean, but grains aren’t. So someone has to be right? They are all wrong. Instead, adopt my grandmother’s wise old adage of “everything in moderation.” AKA IIFYM1 -
I treat myself to fast food occasionally but fit it into my calories so I never feel guilty about it.2
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I don't eat cheat meals very often, but when I do, they are typically fast food items and then feel extremely guilty afterwards.
I pretty much feel that I still have quite a few more lbs to go about 45lbs and I have already lost a Total of 40lbs.
I went from weighing 220 to 178 in four months.
Should I be feeling extremely guilty after having a cheat meal?? For example today I ate super well, then I had a spicy chicken sandwich with a Mr pibb and french fries!! I rarely ever do this and yet I feel terrible for doing it!!!
I guess I feel Iike I'm going to gain some weight over night.
Any thoughts??!?
I think it's rather disordered to think of an occasional meal which might be less than "perfect" as a cheat meal.
I had a bad fall, yesterday and felt rather ill and shaky afterwards. I sent my husband out for fish and chips and enjoyed every bloody mouthful. Felt a lot better for it. It's hit home how badly I hurt myself, today, so no it definitely was not a form of "cheat"
The thing is you're aiming for eating better for the rest of your life, so you want to have a diet and way of eating that is better, overall. That is going to include days when you really have to say sod it, I need pure calories and I'm not up to cooking and I'm feeling too ill to care how I get them and it's going to include days when you're more relaxed just because. Part of the change you are making is learning how to deal with ordinary everyday fluctuations in your diet without the less than exemplary aspects being a daily habit.0 -
I am on an intense weight training cycle bulking to 90kg. I could eat the less than desirable foods as I am consuming 4000 calories per day but I feel full all day due to the amount I am eating so it cancels itself out and I don't feel like eating my favourite foods (pizza mmmm). Don't feel guilty although it is natural. As long as you are in it for the long term and you maintain discipline then every now and then a comfort food serving is fine. As Warren Zevon once quoted, "Enjoy every sandwich". 0
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womanofgod4893 wrote: »I don't really have cheat meals. It's not planned anyways. I took off Independence day and my fiances birthday on the 7th. I enjoyed myself. And whenever I feel like I'm going to binge (I am a binge eater) I will have something delicious but not overdo it.
I'd love to see a day of yours when you're not living off pop tarts and hot dogs. Do you normally eat better than that?0 -
I feel very good about them. I eat the food, log and then go on to the next day.1
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I have been eating 1200-1250 calories every day for the last two weeks. Last night I had an entire BBQ chicken pizza and four beers and I felt amazing about it. Today I picked right back up on the lower calorie lifestyle and still feel great. I only ate 450 calories over what my body burned yesterday, which isn't even half a pound. Sometimes it feels good to let go and enjoy anything you want, as long as you plan it out and get right back on track afterward. I plan to have another night like that in a week or two, and I won't feel badly about it then either!6
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I think it's ok to have a treat as long as it doesn't send you off track. Only you know whether that will be the effect or not, some people have to stick to a plan ridigly and others can handle a little wobble now and again.
I had a pizza the other night but because I am back on my plan now, I think it's fine. As long as it's not too often and doesn't throw you off, I don't see a problem 1 -
Or heck, its a "Maintenance day." Still track, still acknowledge and accept it without shame.
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The best thing you can do it stop calling it a cheat. Eat it, log it and work it into your daily or weekly calories.
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womanofgod4893 wrote: »womanofgod4893 wrote: »I don't really have cheat meals. It's not planned anyways. I took off Independence day and my fiances birthday on the 7th. I enjoyed myself. And whenever I feel like I'm going to binge (I am a binge eater) I will have something delicious but not overdo it.
I'd love to see a day of yours when you're not living off pop tarts and hot dogs. Do you normally eat better than that?
What's wrong with poptarts and hotdogs? Lol.
I remember those days. I was skinny.2
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