Cheat meals

alicer4182
alicer4182 Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How do you guys do your cheat meals, if at all? Lately I go to have one cheat meal after a week of hard work and spiral out of control all weekend which leaves me with minimal to no loss for the entire week! What do you do that works? Please!!!

Replies

  • cmclairer
    cmclairer Posts: 4 Member
    For every pound I lose, I plan one 'off-plan' meal. I don't even see them as 'cheat meals', more as 'treat meals' - one where I spend a little more on ingredients, take a beat off from weighing everything, and add a few more calorific factors (cheese, cream, steak, etc). I find this gives me one every week or so, and avoids me going nuts - it's one meal! I also sometimes save them for when I know I'll be dining out at a favourite spot and have a larger meal than my usual rations. Good luck!
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    I log it in my food diary
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    I log everything, no exceptions. Even when I can't be sure that what I am choosing that is similar is accurate. I just don't want to ever get into the habit of not logging. Usually I roll overage forward, logging some items as if eaten the next day and then cut back on what I actually eat to make up for it. Sometimes I just let it be over and if my weight starts to creep back up (I am in maintenance), I will go back to a deficit goal for a little while. While I was losing, I never had a big overage that I didn't average out.

    Anyway, discipline is what works for me. I always log and try to make overages average out. Even if they don't, i know how much they are and how they will impact the week.
  • Ainadan
    Ainadan Posts: 158 Member
    No "cheat" meals because you really can't cheat science. However, there are days when I eat less so that I can eat more later and fit everything into my calories, and some days I eat more, just knowing that it will slow my weight loss a little bit.
  • Clobern80
    Clobern80 Posts: 714 Member
    Yep. You could technically say that I do cheat meals on Saturday, but I really don't. I eat food I enjoy but still do my best to keep them in my caloric range. Changing your mindset about food will make the biggest difference. Think of it less as a punishment or a reward, as something you "really want to taste and have" but more as a fuel. Food is fuel, it is meant to keep you alive. That doesn't mean it can't taste good, but don't eat that cookie just because it tastes good. Eat it if you need the fuel and it fits in your calories.

    Log it anyway and maybe find the pattern that is triggering you. Perhaps you need to stop having cheat meals or cheat days and just add those foods throughout the week so you get the foods you enjoy without sabotaging yourself.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I save up calories during the week to eat more on weekends. Now that doesn't mean go all out and not pay attention to calories, but it does allow more flexibility if I want 3 bowls of pasta or something. And if you are depriving yourself all week that you feel like you need a cheat on weekends, it might be time to reevaluate if your daily calorie goal is too low, or if you are cutting out too many foods you enjoy.
  • HeyJudii
    HeyJudii Posts: 264 Member
    I don't have cheat meals. I have days when I eat many of my exercise calories (Fri-Sun) and days when I don't eat any of them. (Mon-Thurs)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,176 Member
    Who or what would you be cheating here, anyway? I don't believe in "cheat meals", in pretty much the same way I don't believe in Santa Claus.

    While losing weight, I stuck to my calorie goal the majority of the time. Once in a while, I would make a choice to eat more than my calorie goal, occasionally even more than my maintenance calories. Usually, this was some kind of special occasion (birthday, holiday, out of town friends visiting) but not always.

    No matter what it was, I logged it, even if I had to eyeball the portions and roughly estimate the calories. I wanted to have some idea of the calorie impact so I wouldn't be one of those people who comes back and posts "Help! Not Losing and Don't Know Why!!" then you discover they've been doing unlogged regular cheat meals and don't really have any idea whether they should be losing or not, other than a vague sense of deprivation and sacrifice, plus some wishful thinking. Don't be that person: Log what you eat.

    If you log accurately, you can make informed choices, and learn from them. "Hmm, I ate 500 calories over maintenance today. Since I've been losing a pound a week - average 500 calorie daily deficit - that means I wiped out today's deficit and tomorrow's, so I'll reach goal weight 2 days later. Was this worth it?" (Sometimes it was worth it, sometimes it wasn't. But I learned from it.)

    I did bank calories in advance sometimes while losing, in order to fit in a special-occasion splurge. I still do that now, in maintenance. For planned events, you can also eat extra lightly for other meals on that day, or fit in some extra workout time. I think it's usually a bad idea to cut back calories after a splurge to make up for it, as that can set up a restrict/binge cycle. When you cut back in advance, the splurge stands in for the binge, and gets things back even up.

    These ideas may not work for you, but they worked for me.
  • Dee_D33
    Dee_D33 Posts: 106 Member
    Easy. Cheat every day, but keep it within your calorie goal. I eat what others would consider cheat foods almost every day whether it be wine, sweets, quick meals, etc., but fit it in my calorie goals. When you allow yourself to eat what you enjoy every day and don’t limit yourself being able to enjoy those things one day a week you’re much much much less likely to go overboard and wipe out your progress.
  • TannerBoyl
    TannerBoyl Posts: 55 Member
    For me, a cheat meal or cheat day is a psychological aid in weight loss. If I had to change my life and looked at the long term of never eating my favorite foods again, I would most certainly fail. On the other hand, if I only have to wait a few days for the food that I want, it makes it easier for me to make the healthier decision.

    I tend to log all of my food regardless of if it my cheat day or not. I also weight myself daily to see the impact of different foods on my weight. I find that after about three days, the weight that I gained from my cheat day will come off. That is how my body works, your mileage may vary.
  • DomesticKat
    DomesticKat Posts: 565 Member
    I don't have cheat meals. If I have a special occasion where I know I'll be eating more, I'll save calories for it or eat at maintenance for the day. Either way, I plan for it and log it.
  • snemberton
    snemberton Posts: 175 Member
    I must cheat a lot. Yesterday, I had avocado toast with goat cheese, cheese tortellini with Alfredo sauce and 3 chocolate chip cookies during the day. But despite all that, I was about 600 calories deficit for the day. I also was pretty darn close to my macros. On Saturday, I had steak and mashed potatoes at Outback, and a few small bites of my husbands dessert, and stayed in my deficit of around 500. I have pizza, burgers and gelato too. And I have almost hit my first 10 lbs lost (since end of April).

    Smaller portions, exercise, balanced meals and snacks, fruits and veggies, and the cookies were sugar free, so lower calorie. All this enables me to eat what I like, stay full and still meet my goals. With a little planning, there is no need to cheat.
  • ljashley1952
    ljashley1952 Posts: 275 Member
    I try to keep my caloric intake to about 1400-1500 for the day. I really don't know how people can eat pizza, steak, and potatoes...etc and not go over, unless they are eating in excess of 2000 calories a day. If I'm extremely vigilant, I can splurge on something, but it really doesn't take much to push it over the allotted amount. For example, if I were to have a cheeseburger, I'm probably looking at 700-1000 calories. That would pretty much be my intake for the entire day! My 'cheat day' seems to be either Saturday or Sunday, and it's worse during the nice weather. On weekends we are invited to parties, barbeques, and other celebrations. I was weighing myself on Sundays until I realized that was the worst day to weigh. I'm just trying to keep well under my limit during the weekdays and that allows me to eat a little more on the weekends. Also, try adding just enough extra exercise during the weekdays to give you some leeway for the weekend.

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