Cheat meal once a month?

Is that a normal day? I'd be increasing vegies and variety personally...

It's OK to cheat once a month or even more IF u have saved enough calories to do so. For weight loss purpose, only calories count, good or bad food is not really a factor. If u have 6.5kg in 40 days that means u r banking enough calories to cheat one meal a month

I do have 2 suggestions that might be useful to u after looking at ur food dairy.
1. U can save tons of calories if u use unsweetened almond milk or rice milk or cashew milk coz they r at 30 to 50 cal a cup
2. I don't think u need to take protein powder unless ur doctor or ur trainer told u to coz u don't need it even if u r exercising. Even the program is telling u that u r way over on ur protein comsumption. U might as well save yourself another 372 calories.

Great job so far!

Don't consider it cheating works for me, I just consider it a different food than I normally eat.
I eat the exact same thing every single day. So once a month I have a chicken sandwich from Chick Fil. My everyday lunch is 320 calories, the chicken sandwich is 440. I could skip my snack that day and come out still under my calorie goal. But 120 calories once a month is not going to make much of a impact.

If you are going to "cheat" on a meal once a month, try and keep it in a reasonable limit. Don't do something crazy like go eat a 2000 calorie pizza alone. Have a whopper from BK but skip the mayo and cheese. Think that clocks in around 450 calories. Skip the cornflakes you would normally eat or whatever works for you. Keep it a reasonable overage and it will not be cheating.

What about adding vegies to your eggs - mushrooms, onions, Peppers. Add some avo or cheese

Eat less cornflakes. Add some yoghurt and fruit and nuts. Add a little protein powder for taste, but use the extra cals for more vegies at dinner. Eat less chicken breast. Swap it for salmon or beef on occasion ...

6.5kg loss in that time frame is phenomenal. I'd kill to have that sort of progress, but I'm already pretty small and just trying to get to the body type I consider "perfect", so it's a different story over here. Congratulations on making it this far.

So, what you're actually asking about is your cravings, right? I have no solid answers for you.

For some people, a cheat meal every now and again keeps them sane and gives them something to look forward to (and it's pretty good for calorie cycling... otherwise your body can adapt too much). For some people it makes them fall off the wagon and uproots everything completely.

Basically, if your self-control is good and you're not at any risk of throwing in the towel completely, you should be allowing yourself a cheat meal. "Once a month" is pretty strict, most people do one a week or one a fortnight.

I'm just going to echo what people in this thread have said: you might have fewer cravings with more variety in your diet, but this is also a highly personal thing. I don't eat the exact same things every day but I have a pretty narrow range of foods I eat because I'm extremely lazy when it comes to cooking, and I can tolerate that without my tastebuds becoming too "bored".

Also, cornflakes haters in the thread to the left, please. Cornflakes (and breakfast cereals that aren't the more sugary types, like Weet-Bix) are a staple of mine due to the hating cooking thing.

43501 wrote: »

6.5kg loss in that time frame is phenomenal. I'd kill to have that sort of progress, but I'm already pretty small and just trying to get to the body type I consider "perfect", so it's a different story over here. Congratulations on making it this far.

So, what you're actually asking about is your cravings, right? I have no solid answers for you.

For some people, a cheat meal every now and again keeps them sane and gives them something to look forward to (and it's pretty good for calorie cycling... otherwise your body can adapt too much). For some people it makes them fall off the wagon and uproots everything completely.

Basically, if your self-control is good and you're not at any risk of throwing in the towel completely, you should be allowing yourself a cheat meal. "Once a month" is pretty strict, most people do one a week or one a fortnight.

I'm just going to echo what people in this thread have said: you might have fewer cravings with more variety in your diet, but this is also a highly personal thing. I don't eat the exact same things every day but I have a pretty narrow range of foods I eat because I'm extremely lazy when it comes to cooking, and I can tolerate that without my tastebuds becoming too "bored".

Also, cornflakes haters in the thread to the left, please. Cornflakes (and breakfast cereals that aren't the more sugary types, like Weet-Bix) are a staple of mine due to the hating cooking thing.

Not hating cornflakes... Just suggesting reducing them (and adding other foods that require no prep) as a way to increase variety, add more nutrients, and give room for more food in other areas without reducing volume (probably increasing volume instead)

Looking at your foods, I'd be cheating every other day I'm afraid.

I don't do cheat meals or cheat days myself.

If I'm bored with what I eat I change it. Right now my goals are 70% carbs, and 15% 15% and I like it. Very satisfying and no urges to go over my calories or 'cheat'.

So I suggest to you that you find foods you like and see how to meet your calorie requirements in a way you enjoy.

With respect, the cornflakes and eggs diet is not nutritionally complete and no wonder you are having cravings. Instead of takeout, how about a nice big balanced meal? My experience is that cravings for junky foods happen because we have trained our bodies not to know what they want - for example I used to crave sour lemon drops when I really wanted vitamin c from citrus fruit. It sounds like you are craving fats, and maybe iron rich red meat. You can have takeout, or you can have healthy fats such as nuts or avocado or olive oil, and you can eat a nice lean piece of beef or a hamburger.