Gaining weight on 1400 calories!

Ho much do you "cheat" on your cheat days?

Daydreamangel wrote: »

I could eat anywhere between 1500 to 2000 on my cheat days (once a week). I don't have a scale.

Are the "cheat" calories enough to wipe out any progress you may have made?

How do you measure your calories in if you don't have a food scale?

For one thing, your body weight isn't static...it's always in flux up or down for a myriad of reasons. Secondly, you don't gain weight (fat) overnight from the calories you ate the previous day...your body doesn't work that way...if you ate more than normal, you have inherently more waste moving through your system...also additional calories could result in water weight, particularly if you ate more carbs than usual.

Beyond that, regular cheat days have the potential to substantially remove any deficit you may have for a week depending on how big they are calorie wise...also, how accurate is your logging? Do you vet your entries from the database for accuracy...do you use a food scale to weigh out portions or at least measuring devices (not as accurate) or are you just eyeballing and logging whatever and guessing?

If you've only lost 1 Lb since April, you are eating more than you think you are and aren't in any kind of consistent deficit or you need to go see the doctor.

I think calories are calories, no matter what time you eat them. My biggest concern would be eating a large amount of food late at night, which can raise your heart rate and make it harder to fall asleep, plus you risk acid reflux from eating and then lying down. But I think an apple for an evening snack is totally fine.