Are cheat meals necessary?

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  • midlomel1971
    midlomel1971 Posts: 1,283 Member
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    I totally agree w/ letting yourself eat whatever "cheat" foods you want, just in a smaller proportion. I have found that the longer I go with eating healthy most of the time, the less I crave "cheat" foods. And the more satisfied I am with just having a taste of something. In fact, I do a lot of "just let me have a bite" of cheat foods and I don't find myself craving anymore than just that one bite.
  • aggiepringle6665
    aggiepringle6665 Posts: 68 Member
    edited September 2017
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    I save up calories if I know there is a special occasion coming. For instance, a wedding where I'd like to have a piece of the cake. I don't consider any food or activity cheating. This is my new normal.
  • ptcampgymokc
    ptcampgymokc Posts: 318 Member
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    They are not necessary but it is good mentally from time to time to indulge in something you enjoy eating just don't over do it. If you like ice-cream have a one scoop of your favorite flavor. Things like that. Beyond cheat meals I would recommend raising your calorie intake one day of the week. For example if you are strictly consuming about 2,500 calories a day on your cheat meal day allow your self to eat an entire additional meal or about 600 calories. You can make it a delicious but sensible option like spaghetti but replace the spaghetti with squash. Yum!!! :smiley:
    Seriously though portion control and moderation will allow you to eat something you enjoy once every 7 to 10 days.
    One thing to note, if you have a serious problem with nutrition adherence then I would not recommend cheating until you get a handle on that. Mainly because it is too easy to quit your meal plan completely over a cheat meal that turns into a cheat day then a cheat week with no end in sight.
    Best of luck.
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
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    Try it, see how you feel. Not everyone needs them but I certainly do. When a craving hits I can usually power through but when I have a real deep taste for something, I have to have it or I'm going to have everything else til I do and that ends up being way worse.
  • dfavela1988
    dfavela1988 Posts: 892 Member
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    Personally i have tried both methods on having a cheat meal once a week or not having a cheat meal at all. For me it came down to having a thirst for sweets. If it was my cheat meal per say, it would make me want it even more later on and keep adding more and more cheat meals through out the week. I recently just started justing coconut oil through out the day and seems to take away the urge for any sweets for me. Thus for me no cheat meal and i seem to have more success with that.
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
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    My father had a “cheat day.” He loved taking Sunday’s off. He said he felt like if he knew he could make it to Sunday, he could have all the ice cream he wanted, and found that he would have less that he might have otherwise had if he had fallen off the wagon earlier in the week. That never worked for me. I’d take that day off then, the next day and next day - then I’m totally off the wagon.

    There will be days that I fall off the wagon or say, “You know what - Today’s just going to be a hard day, let’s just do what we can to minimize the damage with dinner and then get right back on track.” There are just some times that I get a real strong taste for something, and have to have it. I can either “eat the house down” and end up eating it anyway, or just go ahead and have it before digging the hole eating the house down.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
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    If a cheat meal were necessary then it wouldn't be cheating.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
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    ptcampgymokc wrote: »
    If you like ice-cream have a one scoop of your favorite flavor.
    It's worth mentioning that if you do this you should absolutely measure out your ice cream by weight. Unlike some foods, I find that the apparent volume of a serving tends to be less than the stated equivalent weight -- and the nutrient label is based on the weight, not the volume. This was the case with my preferred brand in any event. I expect it will be generally true as well, since ice cream is hard to pack solidly into a scoop. So you can actually have more ice cream than you think!
  • ptcampgymokc
    ptcampgymokc Posts: 318 Member
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    Good point. Once I read your point to weight the ice-cream it completely made sense. Brought back memories of when I used to work in Basking Robins and weighing the buckets of ice cream was the way we made sure we were not serving too much or too little based on company policy. Back to the point of cheat meals as you well stated if they were necessary they would not be cheats. So true, fact is that cheat meals not necessary in the pure biological sense. There are folks out there that strict "clean" eaters with no adverse effects on metabolism and mood. For the rest of us mere mortals portion control and intermittent fasting might be a way to counter act our cheating desires... lol :D
  • CaydensMommy
    CaydensMommy Posts: 315 Member
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    I do allow myself a cheat day. It is on my weekly weigh day. But if i feel I don't lose what I should the previous week, then I won't have one. To me, it breaks the monotony. This is mainly at the beginning of my journey. Maybe eventually I'll just do it every other week.
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
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    cebreisch wrote: »
    There are just some times that I get a real strong taste for something, and have to have it. I can either “eat the house down” and end up eating it anyway, or just go ahead and have it before digging the hole eating the house down.

    Yep... :)

    ot6mi1i2271f.png


    Don't "cheat" - just have a smaller portion of whatever it is you're craving. Or, if you lose control around said food and can't cope with a smaller portion just yet, you may need to cut out that food completely until you can manage it. But learning to just eat less of the things you love is a good way to set yourself up for success in maintaining your new weight. :)
  • lisa_swims
    lisa_swims Posts: 37 Member
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    ptcampgymokc wrote: »
    They are not necessary but it is good mentally from time to time to indulge in something you enjoy eating just don't over do it. If you like ice-cream have a one scoop of your favorite flavor. Things like that. Beyond cheat meals I would recommend raising your calorie intake one day of the week. For example if you are strictly consuming about 2,500 calories a day on your cheat meal day allow your self to eat an entire additional meal or about 600 calories. You can make it a delicious but sensible option like spaghetti but replace the spaghetti with squash. Yum!!! :smiley:
    Seriously though portion control and moderation will allow you to eat something you enjoy once every 7 to 10 days.
    One thing to note, if you have a serious problem with nutrition adherence then I would not recommend cheating until you get a handle on that. Mainly because it is too easy to quit your meal plan completely over a cheat meal that turns into a cheat day then a cheat week with no end in sight.
    Best of luck.


    Seriously you should be paid for this post!
  • ptcampgymokc
    ptcampgymokc Posts: 318 Member
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    Seriously you should be paid for this post!
    [/quote]

    LOL What can I say, I like ice-cream.

    ... and squash too.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    JasonOnceAgain wrote: »
    Cheat meals are for the weak.... it's one thing to go over, it's another to plan to fail. :p:p:p

    It's one thing to eat what you plan to, even if what you plan to eat is more than your goal on a "normal" day. It's another not be able to stick to a plan, agonize in guilt over, label yourself "weak," and decide there's no point in trying.
  • JasonOnceAgain
    JasonOnceAgain Posts: 27 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    JasonOnceAgain wrote: »
    Cheat meals are for the weak.... it's one thing to go over, it's another to plan to fail. :p:p:p

    It's one thing to eat what you plan to, even if what you plan to eat is more than your goal on a "normal" day. It's another not be able to stick to a plan, agonize in guilt over, label yourself "weak," and decide there's no point in trying.

    Well, which is it? If it's not a weakness, is it a reward? Are we like dogs rewarding ourselves with food?
    Keep in mind, we're talking about planned cheats, not slip ups.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    JasonOnceAgain wrote: »
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    JasonOnceAgain wrote: »
    Cheat meals are for the weak.... it's one thing to go over, it's another to plan to fail. :p:p:p

    It's one thing to eat what you plan to, even if what you plan to eat is more than your goal on a "normal" day. It's another not be able to stick to a plan, agonize in guilt over, label yourself "weak," and decide there's no point in trying.

    Well, which is it? If it's not a weakness, is it a reward? Are we like dogs rewarding ourselves with food?
    Keep in mind, we're talking about planned cheats, not slip ups.

    It's a decision. Plans are decisions.
    Are we dogs, that we our lives according to a set routine that we don't have the autonomy to alter, because the doors and leashes and cans and closed bags are made for hands and not paws?
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,849 Member
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    hdf315 wrote: »
    Are cheat meals necessary in your opinion?
    Do you have a weekly cheat meal?

    Nope and Nope.

    When I decided to lose weight, I stuck with it like glue for 16 weeks. I never went over my calories in that time. Not even once. Not even by a tiny little bit.

    I lost 15 kg in those 16 weeks.

    Then I took a 1-month diet break while deciding what I wanted to do next. I decided to stick with it for another 16 weeks but to up my calories slightly, and I lost 10 more kg in that time.


    That said, I exercise lots, and one of the benefits of that is that I can eat more. I was still having things like ice cream occasionally, and pizza once a month. I just put in the work for it.

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