Cheat meals!

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MachineGun72
MachineGun72 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so yesterday was my weigh in day and dependent upon how the week goes I allow myself 1 cheat meal per week usually after my weigh in. So we go to a local steakhouse and grill and I got the prime rib, tater, and salad. Well needless to say when I put everything in the tracker I almost croaked at the amount of calories in that 1 meal. I was so freaked out by it that I worked extra hard at the gym last night. Here is my question: when doing a cheat meal is there certain guidelines that should be followed? Cause honestly that 1 meal made me feel like I undone a whole weeks worth of progress.

Replies

  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
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    One cheat meal can wipe out a weeks deficit depending on what you eat and what your weekly deficit was.
    Mike Matthews has a few articles on this issue in his site, www.muscleforlife.com
    You can try doing refeeds, which is higher carb days to boost leptin levels.
  • jenniferanderson3888
    jenniferanderson3888 Posts: 53 Member
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    Do a cheat meal after you have lost weight for the week. Then restart the next day. I wait till u see a loss before I cheat and it’s only one meal
  • MachineGun72
    MachineGun72 Posts: 3 Member
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    You all had great info. I'm just going to have to be a little more sensible in my selections.
  • NaturalGainsRecned
    NaturalGainsRecned Posts: 86 Member
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    MachineGun72 wrote: »
    Ok so yesterday was my weigh in day and dependent upon how the week goes I allow myself 1 cheat meal per week usually after my weigh in. So we go to a local steakhouse and grill and I got the prime rib, tater, and salad. Well needless to say when I put everything in the tracker I almost croaked at the amount of calories in that 1 meal. I was so freaked out by it that I worked extra hard at the gym last night. Here is my question: when doing a cheat meal is there certain guidelines that should be followed? Cause honestly that 1 meal made me feel like I undone a whole weeks worth of progress.

    Better off sticking to your diet and having a refeed twice a month. A refeed is just consuming more carbs. Protein and fats stay the same, you could go a tad higher in fat, but try and keep fats and protein the same. For example: Protein 200g Fats 85g Carbs 250g 2565 calories. Caloric deficit, on refeed days add 400 calories, which would be 100g of carbs. So you’d sit at 2965 calories for your refeed. Like I said this is just an example; I don’t know your numbers, but with refeeds you want to consume more carbs and eat at about maintenance, little over won’t kill ya. Good luck!
  • allieeveryday
    allieeveryday Posts: 85 Member
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    I'm a big fan of eating what I want - within reason. I personally don't do "cheat" meals because I don't deprive myself of what I want in the first place, I just eat small enough portions of whatever "it" is so that it fits within my goals, and if it's a little over, I just try to do better next time. MikePTY has good suggestions though.
  • rsj7799
    rsj7799 Posts: 74 Member
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    Most restaurant entrees are somewhere around 1200-2000 calories. Then you have appetizers, desert, drinks, salad dressing etc. If you want to go out and eat whatever you want at a restaurant once a week you will probably need to cut out about an additional 250 calories a day from the other days of the week (giving you 1500 extra calories to burn plus whatever you would normally use for dinner.)
    I find this a pretty achievable strategy as I am in maintenance (I am male 6'2 180lbs) and I get decent calories from exercise. When I was losing weight I tried to avoid eating out too frequently, and if I wanted a restaurant burger or steak I'd skip the fries/potatoes/desert etc.
  • MsBaz2018
    MsBaz2018 Posts: 384 Member
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    If you are going to cheat at least know who you are going to cheat with. Don't wake up the following next to somebody and scream. ie if possible prelog what you plan to eat and plan around like @MikePTY suggested
  • Amwa77
    Amwa77 Posts: 71 Member
    edited March 2019
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    NaturalGainsRecned wrote: »
    MachineGun72 wrote: »
    Ok so yesterday was my weigh in day and dependent upon how the week goes I allow myself 1 cheat meal per week usually after my weigh in. So we go to a local steakhouse and grill and I got the prime rib, tater, and salad. Well needless to say when I put everything in the tracker I almost croaked at the amount of calories in that 1 meal. I was so freaked out by it that I worked extra hard at the gym last night. Here is my question: when doing a cheat meal is there certain guidelines that should be followed? Cause honestly that 1 meal made me feel like I undone a whole weeks worth of progress.

    Better off sticking to your diet and having a refeed twice a month. A refeed is just consuming more carbs. Protein and fats stay the same, you could go a tad higher in fat, but try and keep fats and protein the same. For example: Protein 200g Fats 85g Carbs 250g 2565 calories. Caloric deficit, on refeed days add 400 calories, which would be 100g of carbs. So you’d sit at 2965 calories for your refeed. Like I said this is just an example; I don’t know your numbers, but with refeeds you want to consume more carbs and eat at about maintenance, little over won’t kill ya. Good luck!

    Thanks for the great info!!! I've been wondering how refeeds worked. I'm going to try to implement them into my diet.
  • NaturalGainsRecned
    NaturalGainsRecned Posts: 86 Member
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    Amwa77 wrote: »


    NaturalGainsRecned wrote: »
    MachineGun72 wrote: »
    Ok so yesterday was my weigh in day and dependent upon how the week goes I allow myself 1 cheat meal per week usually after my weigh in. So we go to a local steakhouse and grill and I got the prime rib, tater, and salad. Well needless to say when I put everything in the tracker I almost croaked at the amount of calories in that 1 meal. I was so freaked out by it that I worked extra hard at the gym last night. Here is my question: when doing a cheat meal is there certain guidelines that should be followed? Cause honestly that 1 meal made me feel like I undone a whole weeks worth of progress.

    Better off sticking to your diet and having a refeed twice a month. A refeed is just consuming more carbs. Protein and fats stay the same, you could go a tad higher in fat, but try and keep fats and protein the same. For example: Protein 200g Fats 85g Carbs 250g 2565 calories. Caloric deficit, on refeed days add 400 calories, which would be 100g of carbs. So you’d sit at 2965 calories for your refeed. Like I said this is just an example; I don’t know your numbers, but with refeeds you want to consume more carbs and eat at about maintenance, little over won’t kill ya. Good luck!

    Thanks for the great info!!! I've been wondering how refeeds worked. I'm going to try to implement them into my diet.

    Yes, they work great for people who need a bit of a diet break. You could do one a week if you’d like, whatever you choose. Just don’t go over your maintenance calories and you’ll be fine. Good luck!
  • merekins
    merekins Posts: 228 Member
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    I hate the term “cheat meal.” What is it anyway? A meal you go over normal calories? Lets call it what it is, a feast. Food for pleasure, celebration, enjoyment for whatever reason. Words matter and when you call something special “cheating,” it implies negativity. Enjoy your feast but know that too many, too often will not lead to weight loss. Not allowing that pleasure now and then probably won’t either as deprivation leads to rebellion. Balance and grace, my friend. We all deserve that.
  • BattyKnitter
    BattyKnitter Posts: 503 Member
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    I don't have cheat meals but once in a while I will have a maintenance day, where I eat what would be my maintenance calories for that day. I tend to save these for special occasions where I know there will be foods I would like to indulge in. This way I don't wipe out my deficit but I also feel like I can let loose a tiny bit.one day at maintenance or slightly above is not going to stop my progress just slow it down a tiny bit.

    People tend to treat cheat meals or days as free-for-alls and destroy their progress, calories don't care if this is your day/meal off from your diet, they still do their thing.

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