Free meal/cheat meal once a week

I was wondering if anyone else does this with success? I have a personal trainer/dietician and he suggested I do this. How it would work in my case is one meal a week I would eat a normal sized portion of anything I want and not track it. 20/21 meals during the week I weigh and track everything. My trainer suggested this to help me with the mental stress of logging, not so much to help with macros. I hit my macros everyday and don’t have a hard time sticking to them at all. This would just be for the mental break one time a week, and he thinks it would also be highly motivational and keep me going and keep me from overdoing it later on.

Also, I already include everything I want to eat in my macros. I can make almost anything fit them :)
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Replies

  • Bioluminescentbeachh
    Bioluminescentbeachh Posts: 25 Member
    How it would work in my case is one meal a week I would eat a normal sized portion

    Aren’t you eating normal sized portions? Logging becomes habit. It not tedious or stressful for me. Everyone has to do what works best for each of us.

    Yes of course I am. Example, instead of chicken and vegetables like usual I could have a couple slices of pizza for dinner. That kind of switch up. And I personally hate logging but I still do it because right now it’s necessary.
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,154 Member
    It's way too easy for that to end in disaster for me. The closest I come is on my long run days. I tend to do those on Saturday mornings, giving me an extra 1000+ calories for the day, which I can then save for the evening so that I can be a little freer when going out with friends or having a few beers or whatever indulgence I'm in the mood for, but even then, I try to track everything to make sure I don't blow passed my goal.
  • ketsuban25
    ketsuban25 Posts: 17 Member
    I went into this intending to have a cheat day/meal or a non-tracking day, but I found after a couple of weeks that I was eating more than enough to satisfy my appetite at a 500 cal deficit, so didn't bother. Maybe you could have a day where you eat at maintenance instead? That way it doesn't impact too much on your deficit. OR, you could do some exercise then bank those calories for your cheat day?
  • Bioluminescentbeachh
    Bioluminescentbeachh Posts: 25 Member
    ketsuban25 wrote: »
    I went into this intending to have a cheat day/meal or a non-tracking day, but I found after a couple of weeks that I was eating more than enough to satisfy my appetite at a 500 cal deficit, so didn't bother. Maybe you could have a day where you eat at maintenance instead? That way it doesn't impact too much on your deficit. OR, you could do some exercise then bank those calories for your cheat day?

    That’s unfortunate it didn’t work for you. I have no issue with overeating. I just need the break from tracking. I think one meal per week should be a minimal effect on my loss.
  • kds10
    kds10 Posts: 450 Member
    LyndaBSS wrote: »
    I don't believe in cheat days or meals. I eat the foods I love, stay in a calorie defecit, and actually like logging everything. It keeps me accountable and on track.

    Eat it. Enjoy it. Log it. <3

    Yes I do this if eating something higher calorie etc just eat less of it...we went to McDonald's last week just had the junior mcchicken and small fries. To me way easier to eat what I want just less of it.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    I was wondering if anyone else does this with success? I have a personal trainer/dietician and he suggested I do this. How it would work in my case is one meal a week I would eat a normal sized portion of anything I want and not track it. 20/21 meals during the week I weigh and track everything. My trainer suggested this to help me with the mental stress of logging, not so much to help with macros. I hit my macros everyday and don’t have a hard time sticking to them at all. This would just be for the mental break one time a week, and he thinks it would also be highly motivational and keep me going and keep me from overdoing it later on.

    Also, I already include everything I want to eat in my macros. I can make almost anything fit them :)

    I think you should try it for 3-4 weeks and see if it affects your weight loss and logging fatigue. If you are still losing and feeling some relief from the tedium of constant logging, why not? At the worst you won’t lose or maybe go up a pound or two, in which case you can go back to logging everything.
  • koalathebear
    koalathebear Posts: 236 Member
    I don't do cheat days. I log everything and factor in chocolate, biscuits, cake, ice cream and other yummies into my calorie budget. Weekends I can do more exercise so I let myself eat more, but even during the week if I want a brownie/blondie/tim tam/chocolate - I just walk the dogs for longer or do a session of Just Dance on the PS4. For me, a cheat day wouldn't work because whether I log it or not, it and the calories are going to end up in my system and affect my body. I'd rather factor it in so at least I have a vague idea what's going on.