Can one cheat meal affect your whole week?

donhuzayfa
donhuzayfa Posts: 13 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
ok so One chest meal of grilled chicken and grilled wings with sauce all over them, maybe a few fries, for one meal out of the week, would that cancel out my weeks weight loss effort?

Replies

  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    your MFP calorie goal is a certain number below maintenance (-500 to lose 1lb a week etc) - so as long as you don't exceed your maintenance goal for the week - then you'll be fine.

    that being said - wings/sauce and fries - are higher in sodium - so you may see some water weight over the next day or so
  • donhuzayfa
    donhuzayfa Posts: 13 Member
    problem is the sauces the take out uses isn't really on mfp hence it'll be guess work
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Depends on your weekly deficit. Depends on how many calories are in your meal/day.
  • MiViVe
    MiViVe Posts: 13 Member
    edited July 2017
    donhuzayfa wrote: »
    problem is the sauces the take out uses isn't really on mfp hence it'll be guess work

    Just use the generic version or another restaurant's version. If you want to be safe, add 20% extra to it to account for any added sugars or whatever. If nothing else it gives you peace of mind.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    you can probably come close - call it best estimate and yeah, made it a bit more than a serving

    for example - I bought a bagel together with cream cheese - normal serving size is an oz of cream cheese, but I'm probably going to log at 1.25 because I'm pretty sure there is more than an oz on it, but I don't have any way to actually weigh it
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    donhuzayfa wrote: »
    problem is the sauces the take out uses isn't really on mfp hence it'll be guess work

    Then I guess you won't know because you ate something without weighing and measuring. Not necessarily a big deal. I do it all the time.

    The scale will tell you in a dew few days once the water retention from the sodium had filtered out.
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    It would depend on how many calories your meal is, how close to your goal you've been all week, and how much of a deficit you have MFP set up for. A pound is 3500 calories, so a 3500 calorie cheat meal could cancel out a pound a week, 500 calorie a day, deficit. If you only went over a few hundred for that day it may only make a tenth of a pound difference. If you like having regular cheat meals you could always bank calories through the week towards the meal.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Even the sauces don't need to be a problem. If the sauce was sweet, log it as corn syrup. If it was spicy, log it as Sriracha, which is 50% corn syrup. You won't be far off.
  • taziarj
    taziarj Posts: 243 Member
    I would just estimate the chicken wings to be about 100 calories each (either the drummet or the flapper). Calorie counting is usually a close estimate anyway.
  • iceman1953
    iceman1953 Posts: 1 Member
    can someone help i have been under my goal for weeks but still having issues losing the last 5 lbs lost a total of 60 lbs in 14 months i eat about 1400 calories a day any work out 5 days a week
    i do 50 minutes of cardio a day an burn about 550 calories a day
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    donhuzayfa wrote: »
    ok so One chest meal of grilled chicken and grilled wings with sauce all over them, maybe a few fries, for one meal out of the week, would that cancel out my weeks weight loss effort?
    No it won't cancel out the whole week. Why do you think it would?

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    That would completely depend on the size of your deficit and how much grilled chicken, wings, and fries you eat.
  • ayuri17
    ayuri17 Posts: 21 Member
    It's only a "cheat meal" if you don't log it. Just work it into your calorie plan and you can treat it as any regular meal. For example eat a bit less the rest of the day or the rest of the week so that at the end of the week, you're still hitting your calorie goal.
  • mlsh1969
    mlsh1969 Posts: 138 Member
    I dont think it would cancel the whole week but log it just to be sure
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Not likely...do the math
  • Shoechick5
    Shoechick5 Posts: 221 Member
    I sadly find it can but will work itself out. It's not so much the calories it's the salt and retaining water that affects the scale for me for days after.
  • CathReese33
    CathReese33 Posts: 112 Member
    Depending how naughty my cheat meal is (I have one usually every Saturday) I can see an increase in my eight from the Sunday through till Tuesday/Wednesday. By the Wednesday I am then always lower than the previous Wednesday. Weight loss is averaging 1.2lb a week. I am happy with that
  • raeleigh26
    raeleigh26 Posts: 15 Member
    I doubt it. Just log it and get back on track with the next meal or snack you have. If you're eating healthy and measuring and weighing all your other food during the week then you should be fine. Its one meal out of how many this week you'll eat.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    CathReese33 wrote: »
    Depending how naughty my cheat meal is (I have one usually every Saturday) I can see an increase in my eight from the Sunday through till Tuesday/Wednesday. By the Wednesday I am then always lower than the previous Wednesday. Weight loss is averaging 1.2lb a week. I am happy with that

    That's water retention from the sodium, not fat gain from the extra calories.
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