Free meal/cheat meal once a week
Replies
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What not everybody understands is that depending on how many calories you get per day, you can’t always just work chocolate, cake, cookies, pizza and ice cream into your daily or even weekly calorie budget. I challenge you to eat at 1300 calories a day and see how that works out for you. Hence the desire for a “cheat” meal or day for some people.
Surely you could have some chocolate for about 70 cals, biscuits for about the same amount, ice cream for about 150? Not all together on the same day obviously
Cake admittedly is a bit harder sometimes its not even worth for me having such a small amount that is a sensible calorie amount because it leaves me feeling deprived.
Im a massive pizza fan, so I find that making my own version means I can fit it in. So a mini flat bread of some description, toppings with tomato sauce and veg on top, some cheese and thats a dinner with some salad.9 -
I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.7
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I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.
Hey thanks for your response! Yes I’m definitely talking about one meal and NOT a whole day. I am not having trouble sticking within my calories at all. Once I got on a roll it’s easy. The issue is tracking is exhausting and I want a night off tracking once a week. I also find it VERY hard to fit normal pizza or cake into my macros and trying to is exhausting. I refuse to eat diet food, I don’t eat halo top or skinny cow or anything like that. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some lean meat. When I have icecream I have full fat dairy icecream. When I have a candy bar it’s an actual candy bar, not a protein bar. To expect myself to replace these things or cut them out entirely the rest of my life is unrealistic. I have cut out soda completely because I actually dislike it now that I switched to water. That’s about it for things I have eliminated completely though. I think it’s much more realistic to plan for eating these things which I will always have at some point since I love them. My way of planning is one meal a week of a single portion of something that I want. One thing whatever that is. I think it’s crazy someone could think one meal would wipe out a deficit of 7000+ calories. If someone is eating 5000+ calories at once they have a binge eating disorder. If I ate that much at once, even in one day I would be physically ill. My deficit is about 7-8000 calories a week. I’m not ever gonna undo that with one 1000 calorie meal a week. I appreciate the flexible and rational people in the comments. It’s good to weigh other opinions if they make sense. That being said, I never understood the all or nothing mentality. People didn’t get fat for no reason. People will eat what they like and if you try to restrict too much you will binge. I’d rather have what I want without becoming obsessive counting every gram, every second of my life. For a few weeks I plan to track everything except one meal a week. Then after I get better at learning portion sizes etc. I will probably repeat a lot of meals for which I already know the macros and be more lax on tracking. Lots of people have lost without being an obsessive train wreck XD I’m going to be one of them.
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This is why I love being active. I am cutting on 3k a day so I can have 1k in "cheat" calories every day while getting leaner. I don't call it cheating.8
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Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.
Hey thanks for your response! Yes I’m definitely talking about one meal and NOT a whole day. I am not having trouble sticking within my calories at all. Once I got on a roll it’s easy. The issue is tracking is exhausting and I want a night off tracking once a week. I also find it VERY hard to fit normal pizza or cake into my macros and trying to is exhausting. I refuse to eat diet food, I don’t eat halo top or skinny cow or anything like that. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some lean meat. When I have icecream I have full fat dairy icecream. When I have a candy bar it’s an actual candy bar, not a protein bar. To expect myself to replace these things or cut them out entirely the rest of my life is unrealistic. I have cut out soda completely because I actually dislike it now that I switched to water. That’s about it for things I have eliminated completely though. I think it’s much more realistic to plan for eating these things which I will always have at some point since I love them. My way of planning is one meal a week of a single portion of something that I want. One thing whatever that is. I think it’s crazy someone could think one meal would wipe out a deficit of 7000+ calories. If someone is eating 5000+ calories at once they have a binge eating disorder. If I ate that much at once, even in one day I would be physically ill. My deficit is about 7-8000 calories a week. I’m not ever gonna undo that with one 1000 calorie meal a week. I appreciate the flexible and rational people in the comments. It’s good to weigh other opinions if they make sense. That being said, I never understood the all or nothing mentality. People didn’t get fat for no reason. People will eat what they like and if you try to restrict too much you will binge. I’d rather have what I want without becoming obsessive counting every gram, every second of my life. For a few weeks I plan to track everything except one meal a week. Then after I get better at learning portion sizes etc. I will probably repeat a lot of meals for which I already know the macros and be more lax on tracking. Lots of people have lost without being an obsessive train wreck XD I’m going to be one of them.
It’s ironic you are talking about people being so extreme, taking an all or nothing approach, because to be honest that’s what your posts read to me. Your approach sounds excessively restrictive as do your comments about your attention to your macros. Macros don’t determine success or failure. They can help with satiety and ensuring a minimum consumption of protein can be important for some fitness goals. But many people (myself Included) don’t even look at macros and still find success.
How much weight are you trying to lose?a deficit of 7-8,000 cals per week is appropriate for someone with around 100 lbs to lose. Is that your goal?
Eating only chicken and vegetables also sounds unnecessarily restrictive, no wonder you feel you need a day off.
You’re talking about people obsessively counting but your approach seems borderline obsessive. Depending on your goals, such an extreme approach may not be warranted. What many are trying to tell you is it’s possible to eat pizza, ice cream, etc without it having to be a cheat or a special one day/week allowance. You can eat these foods, logging them, AND hit your macros and calorie goals if you choose.
Also plenty of us gained weight without it having to be a binge eating situation. Eating just a little too much of too many foods, while having a mostly Sedentary lifestyle is exactly how I found myself in the position of needing to lose weight. But I did so while continuing to eat pizza and ice cream without feeling like I was cheating. So for many of us, logging all meals regardless of what we are eating doesn’t feel obsessive, it feels liberating. It gives us the knowledge we need to ensure we hit our goals without stressing about things like scale fluctuations, plateaus, etc.
At the end of the day you asked if people can be successful while loosening up a bit on a regular cadence and the answer is sure, of course. You just need to figure out a balance between attention to important indicators and the kpi’s that matter to you. What those are, and what balance you feel comfortable with, is very individualized.8 -
What not everybody understands is that depending on how many calories you get per day, you can’t always just work chocolate, cake, cookies, pizza and ice cream into your daily or even weekly calorie budget. I challenge you to eat at 1300 calories a day and see how that works out for you. Hence the desire for a “cheat” meal or day for some people.
Surely you could have some chocolate for about 70 cals, biscuits for about the same amount, ice cream for about 150? Not all together on the same day obviously
Cake admittedly is a bit harder sometimes its not even worth for me having such a small amount that is a sensible calorie amount because it leaves me feeling deprived.
Im a massive pizza fan, so I find that making my own version means I can fit it in. So a mini flat bread of some description, toppings with tomato sauce and veg on top, some cheese and thats a dinner with some salad.
Not unless I’ve done a good hike that day. Much of my exercise is from lifting, which doesn’t net you that many additional calories. With three regular meals in the 350-400 calorie range plus one mid-afternoon and one after-dinner snack of 100-150 calories each, I’m at my calorie limit. And ice cream or candy for a snack does nothing to fill me up, satisfy me, or contribute to my protein macro, so they are empty/wasted calories unless I’ve done a good hike or sometimes a spin class (which are difficult to come by where I live).
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What not everybody understands is that depending on how many calories you get per day, you can’t always just work chocolate, cake, cookies, pizza and ice cream into your daily or even weekly calorie budget. I challenge you to eat at 1300 calories a day and see how that works out for you. Hence the desire for a “cheat” meal or day for some people.
Surely you could have some chocolate for about 70 cals, biscuits for about the same amount, ice cream for about 150? Not all together on the same day obviously
Cake admittedly is a bit harder sometimes its not even worth for me having such a small amount that is a sensible calorie amount because it leaves me feeling deprived.
Im a massive pizza fan, so I find that making my own version means I can fit it in. So a mini flat bread of some description, toppings with tomato sauce and veg on top, some cheese and thats a dinner with some salad.
Not unless I’ve done a good hike that day. Much of my exercise is from lifting, which doesn’t net you that many additional calories. With three regular meals in the 350-400 calorie range plus one mid-afternoon and one after-dinner snack of 100-150 calories each, I’m at my calorie limit. And ice cream or candy for a snack does nothing to fill me up, satisfy me, or contribute to my protein macro, so they are empty/wasted calories unless I’ve done a good hike or sometimes a spin class (which are difficult to come by where I live).
Yes I suppose so. I found a chocolate coin left over from xmas yesterday so I had a bit of chocolate for quite small calories. I also had for my tea last night greek yoghurt and fruit which could have been ice cream I suppose. It was very hot here so I didnt fancy a proper dinner. As I said I would have done a pizza for a dinner, you could make one for about 400 cals I think?1 -
Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.
Hey thanks for your response! Yes I’m definitely talking about one meal and NOT a whole day. I am not having trouble sticking within my calories at all. Once I got on a roll it’s easy. The issue is tracking is exhausting and I want a night off tracking once a week. I also find it VERY hard to fit normal pizza or cake into my macros and trying to is exhausting. I refuse to eat diet food, I don’t eat halo top or skinny cow or anything like that. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some lean meat. When I have icecream I have full fat dairy icecream. When I have a candy bar it’s an actual candy bar, not a protein bar. To expect myself to replace these things or cut them out entirely the rest of my life is unrealistic. I have cut out soda completely because I actually dislike it now that I switched to water. That’s about it for things I have eliminated completely though. I think it’s much more realistic to plan for eating these things which I will always have at some point since I love them. My way of planning is one meal a week of a single portion of something that I want. One thing whatever that is. I think it’s crazy someone could think one meal would wipe out a deficit of 7000+ calories. If someone is eating 5000+ calories at once they have a binge eating disorder. If I ate that much at once, even in one day I would be physically ill. My deficit is about 7-8000 calories a week. I’m not ever gonna undo that with one 1000 calorie meal a week. I appreciate the flexible and rational people in the comments. It’s good to weigh other opinions if they make sense. That being said, I never understood the all or nothing mentality. People didn’t get fat for no reason. People will eat what they like and if you try to restrict too much you will binge. I’d rather have what I want without becoming obsessive counting every gram, every second of my life. For a few weeks I plan to track everything except one meal a week. Then after I get better at learning portion sizes etc. I will probably repeat a lot of meals for which I already know the macros and be more lax on tracking. Lots of people have lost without being an obsessive train wreck XD I’m going to be one of them.
I'd get very sick of logging and tracking too if I were so anal about getting my macros spot on and would be yearning for a break from it. The great thing about weight loss is that it is much more about your calorie deficit than it is about hitting particular macros. As long as you are meeting the minimum requirements for fat and protein macros are mostly important for satiety and adherence.3 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »I remember asking this early in my journey and similar to the responses on this post, people talked about not believing in cheat days etc. But to honestly answer your question- YES. Occasionally I have more of a cheat meal than a day. For me it helps me with my mental game. I look forward to that date night meal or that trip to the buffet I’ve been craving. In my opinion, if I didn’t do this twice a month or so I would give up counting calories altogether.
Hey thanks for your response! Yes I’m definitely talking about one meal and NOT a whole day. I am not having trouble sticking within my calories at all. Once I got on a roll it’s easy. The issue is tracking is exhausting and I want a night off tracking once a week. I also find it VERY hard to fit normal pizza or cake into my macros and trying to is exhausting. I refuse to eat diet food, I don’t eat halo top or skinny cow or anything like that. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some lean meat. When I have icecream I have full fat dairy icecream. When I have a candy bar it’s an actual candy bar, not a protein bar. To expect myself to replace these things or cut them out entirely the rest of my life is unrealistic. I have cut out soda completely because I actually dislike it now that I switched to water. That’s about it for things I have eliminated completely though. I think it’s much more realistic to plan for eating these things which I will always have at some point since I love them. My way of planning is one meal a week of a single portion of something that I want. One thing whatever that is. I think it’s crazy someone could think one meal would wipe out a deficit of 7000+ calories. If someone is eating 5000+ calories at once they have a binge eating disorder. If I ate that much at once, even in one day I would be physically ill. My deficit is about 7-8000 calories a week. I’m not ever gonna undo that with one 1000 calorie meal a week. I appreciate the flexible and rational people in the comments. It’s good to weigh other opinions if they make sense. That being said, I never understood the all or nothing mentality. People didn’t get fat for no reason. People will eat what they like and if you try to restrict too much you will binge. I’d rather have what I want without becoming obsessive counting every gram, every second of my life. For a few weeks I plan to track everything except one meal a week. Then after I get better at learning portion sizes etc. I will probably repeat a lot of meals for which I already know the macros and be more lax on tracking. Lots of people have lost without being an obsessive train wreck XD I’m going to be one of them.
I'd get very sick of logging and tracking too if I were so anal about getting my macros spot on and would be yearning for a break from it. The great thing about weight loss is that it is much more about your calorie deficit than it is about hitting particular macros. As long as you are meeting the minimum requirements for fat and protein macros are mostly important for satiety and adherence.
Thanks! I know the calories are more important for weight loss than macros. Sometimes I focus too much on macros just because I enjoy hitting those as well. It’s nice to be reminded though
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This is why I love being active. I am cutting on 3k a day so I can have 1k in "cheat" calories every day while getting leaner. I don't call it cheating.
That is amazing! I’m fairly active NOW. I was a potato all winter. As of the last month I run for an hour everyday. On top of my hour of running, I also lift weights a couple times a week, hike every weekend and in general live a much more active life since the summer began. I’m hoping over time I will get my metabolism up to that level. I am currently losing 2lb a week on 1600 NET calories a day I’m not even technically overweight by BMI, but I am overweight by body fat percentage. I started using happy scale to track my weight when I found the MFP estimates to be way too low for me. I do not typically log my weight on MFP. I also found the predicted weight loss way slower on MFP than I am actually losing. I also love not calling it cheating! Eating what I want and just being healthier overall is part of my new life.
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Since you are not overweight and want to work on body composition, I would highly recommend you lower your deficit. 2lbs a week is fairly aggressive and can lead to more muscle loss which will do the opposite of improving body composition.8
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I used to worry about the cheat meal or cheat day. Now in my note section of my meal page, at the end of the day I post if I was over or under my goal calories for the day. The I add or subtract it to the next day. If I am in the green (beating my daily calorie goal) then I have those in the bank to use. I use those for weekend date night with my wife. So it is no longer a splurge or cheat meal, or day, it is simply staying within my weekly calorie goal. This keeps me motivated from Mon-Fri to keep my plan in place so that I can enjoy the spoils on the weekend.1
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donjtomasco wrote: »I used to worry about the cheat meal or cheat day. Now in my note section of my meal page, at the end of the day I post if I was over or under my goal calories for the day. The I add or subtract it to the next day. If I am in the green (beating my daily calorie goal) then I have those in the bank to use. I use those for weekend date night with my wife. So it is no longer a splurge or cheat meal, or day, it is simply staying within my weekly calorie goal. This keeps me motivated from Mon-Fri to keep my plan in place so that I can enjoy the spoils on the weekend.
Yes this is my strategy at the moment. Im allowed 1790 to lose 1lb per week. In the week I try to stick to 1290, sometimes this happens sometimes its around the 1400 or 1500s.
Then at the weekend I can stick to 1790, plus my exercise calories (the only time I exercise at the moment, need to improve that) and dont need to worry if I go over that a bit. Over time it will all even out.1 -
I've stopped logging on the weekends and I don't log on holidays, since most of it is guessing. I've been in maintenance since October, so I feel like it's fine for me to start loosening up a bit. I still don't go wild on my weekends, but I probably eat 500-800 calories over maintenance on at least one of the weekends, just because I'm going out to eat or whatever. I don't think it'll impact much as during the week I usually bank calories. Just started that yesterday and it was freeing to know I went over a bit but not have to see the bright reg negative number on MFP.2
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Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »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
Is this a trainer pretending to be a nutritionist or an actual registered dietician?5 -
Bioluminescentbeachh wrote: »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
Is this a trainer pretending to be a nutritionist or an actual registered dietician?
His registered dietitian degree is available on his website. As I said he is both a dietitian and now he is a personal trainer.
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Since you are not overweight and want to work on body composition, I would highly recommend you lower your deficit. 2lbs a week is fairly aggressive and can lead to more muscle loss which will do the opposite of improving body composition.
I am eating 1600 NET I am eating enough thanks!
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My husband and I dine out once per week. That meal is free and we make an attempt to track it as best we can. We do not worry about that meal bc we know in the long run it will not effect out deficit by much. We also try really hard to bank 50-100 calories daily if we know we hare going to have something like pizza. 1 meal once a week should not throw you off a regular deficit.5
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