Obsessing over this week-end's cheat meals..

Honestly, I stay away from McDonalds. If someone in my family insists on going there, I'll get a diet coke and a salad and eat something else when I get home that's more healthy. There isn't much, including their salads, at McDonalds that's good for you. You can choose to eat the healthier versions of fast food (the word 'healthier' is sort of a moronic word to use when we're talking about fast food anyway) if that is what you feel will help you reach your goals, but you're going to spend your time on this weight loss journey wishing you hadn't. I'm not saying you can't eat it occasionally, I do, however make it an occasion and practice self control. A milk shake can easily be several HUNDRED or even a THOUSAND calories. It'll blow your entire budget for calories for the day most of the time when there are much lower calorie options you can have at home. Don't get me wrong, I eat ice cream almost every day. I simply buy the 'no sugar added' or 'frozen yogurt' versions to have at home which average about 100ish calories for a half cup. It helps me keep my fiber goals in check and I get a nice treat at the end of the day.

My wife and I eat out at fast food restaurants maybe once a month, and usually it's Subway or Applebee's for it's low cal menu. There's the occasional burger at Hardees or Arby's but we go for the added protein at those places and budget the calories accordingly when we go.

My favorite meal at McDonalds, I'm not kidding here, used to be a two cheeseburger meal, an extra cheeseburger or even a quarter pounder, with a super size fries and drink. Every time I went there I could rarely stop myself from eating 3 or 4 of their cheeseburgers. I loved those damn things. I'd even skip the fries and drink to eat more of them. That's one of the reasons I stay far away if I can. Now that I've worked on my self control and learned to eat better things, it's not as much of an issue, but I simply don't put the temptation in front of myself often.

Before anyone starts with the "all you need is CICO and you can eat what you want", I agree wholeheartedly. CICO works, and you CAN eat what you want as long as you stay within your goals. But nutrition and my macros have helped me to re-shape my body over the last year into something I'm not quite as disgusted to look at in the mirror each day, so yes you can eat what you want, but should you? I don't plan cheat meals, that's like planning sabotage. I eat what I want for the most part, I simply choose better ingredients and make it myself most of the time. I don't deny myself treats, I just practice self control and keep within my calorie budget.

I had a really rough patch this past summer where I kept binging, and every time I kept trying to learn from what I did.

Employ the same strategy here.

Think what you can do to avoid the same pitfall next time.

One of the strategies I used to find most helpful when I started dieting was prelogging my foods. When I did that, it sort of set my calorie allotment in stone and I found it quite easy to say to myself that if it wasn't logged, I wasn't going to eat it.

If you feel you must do cheat days, perhaps prelogging the next one might work for you?

We do have frappes here in the US. Don't look back, just look forward. Saturday I ate a whole tray (*" in diameter) of a seafood dip (cream cheese, cocktail sauce, shrimp, crab meat & cheese) by myself. Stress eating while watching the Huskers & the Cubs. Gained over 2 pounds. Got back at it yesterday & lost over 3 pounds. You'll be OK as long as you don't get down on yourself, because guess what? You're human.

zazamania59 wrote: »

To be a little bit more precise here, Those milkshakes are called "Frappés" in my country. I just dont know if such a dessert exists in America thus I called it a Milkshake. Must be around 210 calories each according to McDonald's Website.

Yea, a milkshake is different and 3-4x the calories.

I had a bad weekend too. My older kid had a sleepover and I ate the pizza and chips with the kids. Bummer! But it's just one day and this is about the long run, not one day or one weekend. Be like Dory the fish: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. Don't worry about little blips on the radar here and there.

zazamania59 wrote: »

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

Ah I see.

Here's a tip that helps- try to just do 1 cheat day if you can, and on cheat days only eat up to your maintenance calories. That way you won't gain any weight, you just won't lose any that day. I do 1 maintenance/cheat day a week and I feel like it not only keeps me sane but also boosts my metabolism a bit.

Hmmm. I think your "strategy" is interesting and could we worth trying.
Do you manage to lose a decent amount of weight each week ?

Yeah I lose every week and the single eating at maintenance day doesn't seem to affect my overall loss. I do tend to plan a good intense workout for the day after though since I have extra the energy anyways and want to put those calories to good use.

I'm on kind of a slow weight loss rate though, intentionally- I'm not trying to lose the most weight I can as quickly as possible, I'm trying to lose slowly so I maximize fat loss and minimize muscle loss. I also come from a past of anorexia so if I do too deep a deficit I feel deprived and it reminds me of that restricting feeling. I lose an average of 3 pounds per month.

The "strategy" is actually based on something body builders and physique competitors do- I didn't just make it up. They call it "refeed days", it helps them stay in a caloric deficit longer when cutting (losing body fat to reveal their muscles) without damaging/slowing their metabolism as much as a constant caloric deficit would.

It's funny I looked to the weight loss community for tips on how to lose weight for a long time with little success- lost of conflicting information, "lose weight quick" stuff, crazy diets... it wasn't til I started lifting weights and started researching that and discovered the fitness community that I actually found weight loss techniques that really work! That's how I found myfitnesspal - they all use it to track their macros & calories.

If I do a cheat day, what I do is instead of eating the MFP weight loss calorie goal, I give myself the benefit of being able to eat at Maintenance for the day. This gives me a little extra wiggle room to have a dessert/alcoholic beverage and not lose any progress.