Cheat meal/day???

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Replies

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,961 Member
    cdegler1 wrote: »
    Hi, I wanted to know what people think of cheat meals/days? What about only one cheat day per month max? Will this derail my progress?

    I want to eat 1200 cal per day to lose weight, but I also want to enjoy certain holidays, like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

    Will having one cheat day per month max to accommodate those holidays derail my progress? Thanks

    I agree with most of the comments above.

    If you want a more specific, direct answer, you need to tell us what your maintenance calorie level is (or your height, weight, gender, age, and activity level so we can figure it out), and what you mean by "derail my progress". Do you mean will it send you back to where you started? (Unlikely, unless it leads to many unplanned "cheat" meals.) Do you mean will it stop you from losing any more weight? (See previous answer.) Do you mean will it slow your weight loss substantially? (It depends on your maintenance level and how much you eat on your cheat day, and what you think is substantially slow.)
  • Satisfiedwithbetter
    Satisfiedwithbetter Posts: 970 Member
    People lose weight all the time and have cheat days. The choice is yours. “My choices either get me closer to or farther from my goals.” It’s that simple. Learn to love the process, and make sure your plan is realistic and sustainable, and deprivation isn’t a factor and you will be successful.
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    Like some others above, I think mindset is really important here, so I don’t call anything a “cheat day.” I am trying to create a way-of-eating that is INCLUSIVE of the wonderful treats that life offers you (during holidays, special occasions, and opportunities to try new things). If I made a way-of-eating that dictates “no treats! If you have a treat, you are CHEATING and doing the wrong thing, but once in a while is okay I guess,” then that’s not setting me up to feel good about my eating habits, and it’s not realistic because life should be full of celebration, yes, sometimes celebration with food!

    My mindset is more like “let’s create a way-of-eating for my Ho-hum regular day-to-day life that is reasonable and sustainable and lets me hit my goals, and when super special occasions come around, I’m going to enjoy them without guilt.” If I am eating to my calorie target on 350 out of 365 days a year, I am going to make awesome progress (a tiny bit slower than if I stuck to it for 365, but eating to one calorie target for 365 days a year is super unsustainable and unrealistic). And I don’t have to miss out on enjoying celebrations with food once in a while, so I won’t get burnt out/depressed/fed-up with over-restricting.

    Some days that I consider super special? Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, my birthday, a friend’s wedding, vacation days, and rarely, a random day where I might just need a big bowl of mac n cheese.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,992 Member
    my ultimate "cheat day" is coming up. Thanksgiving, or should I say CHEAT WEEKEND! I will bank many calories a few days before and then just enjoy a sampling of all my sister's delicious homemade food and desserts. It will be the first time since I started in April that I will do something like this. Come the following Monday, back to strictness :)
  • cdegler1
    cdegler1 Posts: 3 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    cdegler1 wrote: »
    Hi, I wanted to know what people think of cheat meals/days? What about only one cheat day per month max? Will this derail my progress?

    I want to eat 1200 cal per day to lose weight, but I also want to enjoy certain holidays, like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

    Will having one cheat day per month max to accommodate those holidays derail my progress? Thanks

    I agree with most of the comments above.

    If you want a more specific, direct answer, you need to tell us what your maintenance calorie level is (or your height, weight, gender, age, and activity level so we can figure it out), and what you mean by "derail my progress". Do you mean will it send you back to where you started? (Unlikely, unless it leads to many unplanned "cheat" meals.) Do you mean will it stop you from losing any more weight? (See previous answer.) Do you mean will it slow your weight loss substantially? (It depends on your maintenance level and how much you eat on your cheat day, and what you think is substantially slow.)

    My stats are:
    Height: 67inches
    Weight: 160lbs
    Female
    30 years old
    Lightly active: 30 min cardio 3-5x per week

    I only want to have one cheat meal per month, usually on a holiday. Take Thanksgiving for example. I would eat healthy and very little all day, but then not worry about what I eat at Thanksgiving dinner. I wouldnt stuff just because I could, but I also wouldnt worry about it either. After the meal, I would be done eating and return to weight loss calories the next day.

    If I had to guess, I would take in no more than 3000 calories on that day, more lokely 2000 or 2500.

    So im wondering if 12 days a year like that could halt my progress? Would I expect too not lose that week? Would I gain that week?
  • cdegler1
    cdegler1 Posts: 3 Member
    gallicinvasion wrote: »
    Like some others above, I think mindset is really important here, so I don’t call anything a “cheat day.” I am trying to create a way-of-eating that is INCLUSIVE of the wonderful treats that life offers you (during holidays, special occasions, and opportunities to try new things). If I made a way-of-eating that dictates “no treats! If you have a treat, you are CHEATING and doing the wrong thing, but once in a while is okay I guess,” then that’s not setting me up to feel good about my eating habits, and it’s not realistic because life should be full of celebration, yes, sometimes celebration with food!

    My mindset is more like “let’s create a way-of-eating for my Ho-hum regular day-to-day life that is reasonable and sustainable and lets me hit my goals, and when super special occasions come around, I’m going to enjoy them without guilt.” If I am eating to my calorie target on 350 out of 365 days a year, I am going to make awesome progress (a tiny bit slower than if I stuck to it for 365, but eating to one calorie target for 365 days a year is super unsustainable and unrealistic). And I don’t have to miss out on enjoying celebrations with food once in a while, so I won’t get burnt out/depressed/fed-up with over-restricting.

    Some days that I consider super special? Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, my birthday, a friend’s wedding, vacation days, and rarely, a random day where I might just need a big bowl of mac n cheese.

    Thank you! This answers my question perfectly! I didnt want to feel deprived on special occasions, and ive always tried to diet on those days in the past, which has become very frustrating. I just want to enjoy a holiday once in a while without worry. I just haven't done that before so I wanted to know how it could affect my progress.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    cdegler1 wrote: »
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    cdegler1 wrote: »
    Hi, I wanted to know what people think of cheat meals/days? What about only one cheat day per month max? Will this derail my progress?

    I want to eat 1200 cal per day to lose weight, but I also want to enjoy certain holidays, like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

    Will having one cheat day per month max to accommodate those holidays derail my progress? Thanks

    I agree with most of the comments above.

    If you want a more specific, direct answer, you need to tell us what your maintenance calorie level is (or your height, weight, gender, age, and activity level so we can figure it out), and what you mean by "derail my progress". Do you mean will it send you back to where you started? (Unlikely, unless it leads to many unplanned "cheat" meals.) Do you mean will it stop you from losing any more weight? (See previous answer.) Do you mean will it slow your weight loss substantially? (It depends on your maintenance level and how much you eat on your cheat day, and what you think is substantially slow.)

    My stats are:
    Height: 67inches
    Weight: 160lbs
    Female
    30 years old
    Lightly active: 30 min cardio 3-5x per week

    I only want to have one cheat meal per month, usually on a holiday. Take Thanksgiving for example. I would eat healthy and very little all day, but then not worry about what I eat at Thanksgiving dinner. I wouldnt stuff just because I could, but I also wouldnt worry about it either. After the meal, I would be done eating and return to weight loss calories the next day.

    If I had to guess, I would take in no more than 3000 calories on that day, more lokely 2000 or 2500.

    So im wondering if 12 days a year like that could halt my progress? Would I expect too not lose that week? Would I gain that week?

    I'd calculate your cals factoring that day in every 4 weeks. So if your normal cals are 1600 and you want 3000 every 4 weeks and not to change rate of loss, you could do the math as follows:

    28 days at 1600 cals = 44,800 cals. Subtract one 1600 day and add a 3000 day and you have 46,200 cals. Average that over the 28 days and you have 1650/day, so it's not going to really affect your loss at all.

    But if you want to still average ay 1600, you can eat about 1550 on the other days and you will. 27x1550=41,850 + 3000 = 44,850.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,961 Member
    You say you're taking in 1200 cals a day on non-cheat days, which based on your stats must be at least a 500 calorie deficit (MFP doesn't use exercise in determining activity level). Having 3000 calories in one day would likely wipe out deficits for 2 to 2 and a half days, so maybe you only lose a half pound for that week, and depending on how close the cheat day is to your next weigh-in, you might actually see a temporary gain on the scales due to water retention and extra food in digestive system.

    You can't expect that eating hundreds of extra calories will have zero effect, especially in the short term, even if it's extremely minor viewed over the entire month or year. Heck, it was the "extra" days that I got fat from. My normal days were at or even below maintenance; there were just too many occasions that I could justify to myself were "special."

    That's not to say that there's anything wrong with having 3000 calories once a month. I would even say it's good to find a way to enjoy celebrations, have a social life, etc. Most people will not stick with a weight management approach that makes them miserable.

    You just need to realize that those calories count in the same way that the calories you eat on other days count. Considering the "cheat" day and the days whose deficits are needed to counterbalance the "cheat," you're roughly slowing your monthly progress by 10%, based on the most pessimistic interpretation of the numbers you provide. It's up to you to decide whether that's a big deal, but for me, I wouldn't consider it to be.
  • windra06
    windra06 Posts: 50 Member
    'cheating' is part of life, if you ever want to maintain you will always have times you need to go out and enjoy yourself. To do that you just need to ensure you balance it out. That means that if your on 1200 cal, if you want to splurge go ahead but you need to ensure you eat down for a few days to balance it out. For example I fast every Saturday so I can eat a big dinner, glass of wine and some pudding. I'm still under my 1200 daily goal. When I need to eat out I try and ensure my weekly average is still on track. I went to a food festival last week and ate approx 2000 cal, so I skipped a few breakfasts and did a fast the day before.
    Just be sure you know truthfully how many cal you need to eat to lose weight as everyone is different.
  • rwehly2018
    rwehly2018 Posts: 0 Member
    GO AHEAD AND CHEAT YOURSELF TO MOTIVATE UR BODY WEEKLY BY REWARD MEAL
  • DarrFitness1
    DarrFitness1 Posts: 1 Member
    The "cheat" mentality has to die. If you want to make this sustainable and a lifestyle, you must make the mindshift. I used to make a game out of how many calories I could eat on a "cheat" day. It was almost like bragging rights. But, once I made the mind shift, my fitness went to a whole different level. I was able to sustain this a lot easier. I HIGHLY recommend reading "The Guide To Flexible Dieting" by Lyle Mcdonald. GAME CHANGER!
  • ThinnerLiz
    ThinnerLiz Posts: 55 Member
    I’ve lost successfully and consistently by incorporating treats and variations along the way.

    I agree with what gallicinvasion said above.
    Finding a routine that works 90% of the time, with built-in opportunities to enjoy what life has to offer—why not?
    If you’re one who slips a little with a slice of cake and ends up eating the whole thing, then this approach is not for you.
    I understand that a lot of us have unhealthy relationships with food and eating which make sticking to one slice difficult!
    You have to know what you can handle, and you need to plan ahead.

    I’m taking a trip to Japan in ten days and you can bet I’m going to try all the goodies!
    I’m not going to go crazy; I’m still going to be mindful and make sure I stay active. But I want to enjoy the experience on all levels, culturally and socially. And food it part of that.

    So I have a plan (avoid fried/fatty foods and sweets, have small amounts of rice/fruit for carbs, and stick with fish and veg mostly. Easy on the alcohol; maybe one drink a night if at all.
    And I expect to gain a pound or two—even if it’s just water/bloat. Once I get home, it’s back on the wagon where I’m very strict and exercise more than usual. A couple of weeks and that weight will be gone.

    It’s a matter of sticking to a long range, overall plan that’s sustainable for you. I couldn’t do it if I never enjoyed any of my favorite things.
  • koalathebear
    koalathebear Posts: 236 Member
    I think the nomenclature is irrelevant - call it a cheat day, extra food day, maintenance day etc ... The issue is, whether or not on the day you're not actively tracking, you are able to have enough restraint to not eat so many calories in excess of your allowance that it could derail a week of careful eating. If that's the case, then I'm all in favour of cutting loose with caution for a day especially if it goes people a psychological boost.

    The better approach is probably to save the 'extra food' days for when you know you can do more exercise - either on those days themselves or on either side of those days.

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