Cheat meals? What are the boundaries?

I am part of an active bicycling group. That doesn't mean that everyone is perfectly satisfied with their weight/fitness. However, exercise does give you an additional "lever" to manage things.
A couple of the guys in the group are experimenting with intermittent fasting. Their interpretation of that is to eat whatever they want for a six hour window each day, and nothing outside that window. I am going to keep an eye on their progress.
I mention this because it seems a variation on "cheat days/meals." You use a clock instead of a nutritional log.

A lot depends on what your goals and calorie levels are. Be aware that your body counts calories just the same during a "cheat" meal as it does a regular meal. For me, my daily goal (TDEE) is 2250. That leaves me a lot of room to eat what most people would traditionally consider "cheats" from time to time and still hit my goal if I plan my day. I have a big McDonald's burger (no judging) and fries coming for lunch today. I'll still likely be under or close to under my calorie goal today. If you have lower limits, obviously that is harder, but you can still find ways to work it in. One way is by banking some calories for the week. Say you eat 100 calories per day under your goal for 6 days, that frees up 600 calories extra for a 7th day you can use on your cheat meal. You can also decide one day you just want to eat at maintenance and not worry so much about your goal, but try to stay within a limit of what your maintenance calories are *take your goal and add 250 calories for each half a pound you told MFP you wanted to lose)

Those are a couple of strategies you can use to do a so called "cheat" but actually still stay within your goals. I wouldn't recommend just completely off the rails eating whatever you want, as that can stunt your progress. But having a heavier day now and again can actually help with weight loss as it keeps you on track and feeling like you can enjoy things.

EDIT: I realize this is in the maintain section, so the part about "eating at maintenance for a day" probably doesn't apply. But it does make it easier to bank some calories during the week for a heavier day, or just plan your "cheat" meal within your day and eat lighter the rest of the day.

I dont know for sure, but I feel like if you have like one day occasionally where you eat one really bad meal as long as the meal dont really go over 1000 calories or something you wont really gain weight from it. You might a small bit but only from the sodium and water retention. Like I said though... maybe once every two weeks or something or once a month if you have that much control.

You'll notice a fat gain if you consistently overshoot your maintenance calories. What I have noticed is that my 2-3 pound normal weight variation begins to have a higher floor after a couple of weeks of overshooting a few days a week so that my weekly intake is 1000 calories above maintenance needs. However, I have noticed no ongoing gain from exceeding maintenance every now and then. The other thing I have noticed is that the day following a larger-than-usual calorie intake I am not really hungry, and tend to eat at a bit of a deficit.

rodrig462 wrote: »

I am part of an active bicycling group. That doesn't mean that everyone is perfectly satisfied with their weight/fitness. However, exercise does give you an additional "lever" to manage things.
A couple of the guys in the group are experimenting with intermittent fasting. Their interpretation of that is to eat whatever they want for a six hour window each day, and nothing outside that window. I am going to keep an eye on their progress.
I mention this because it seems a variation on "cheat days/meals." You use a clock instead of a nutritional log.

Their interpretation is incredibly wrong in terms of weight loss. Eating 50000 calories in 6 hours is just as damaging as 50000 calories in 18 hrs. There is no magic window where eating counts for more or less. IF is simply a means of calorie intake control as it is harder to overeat if you only have a small amount of time to eat.

As far as maintenance and cheat meals/days go, it totally depends on definition of cheat. As with anything (gain/maintain/lose), as long as you are hitting your numbers, you will do what your numbers say you will do.

kami3006 wrote: »

I balance higher calorie days with lower ones and have what I like within my calories. Following a weekly calorie goal made loss and maintenance much simpler and less stressful for me.

Ditto.

My wife and I have been using a "Free" day for about 4 years, ever since we reached goal. We eat whatever we want and don't track. The rest of the week, we track macros. We're also usually training for something, so we exercise regularly. Our weight can fluctuate, but we adjust as needed during the week. The "Free" (I won't use cheat), day basically let's us indulge whatever we've been craving during the week. I like it.