tell me it’s ok to have a cheat meal without feeling guilty
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Might help to call it a large meal instead of a cheat meal. Calling it cheat has a moral implication, and there's tendency to carry that moral implication to yourself.
If instead, you just think you're having a large meal right now because you feel like that is more beneficial than the little day or two longer it might take to reach some loss, there isn't a moral implication - it is just a choice between desires. You can't be guilty of having the wrong preference of what you want for your self at a given moment.13 -
If I want a higher calorie meal I eat a light lunch and breakfast and save about 1,000 calories for dinner about 200 for breakfast and 300 for lunch. 200 for snack. But if it was me I'd get the pizza or wings. Tonight I spent 900 calories on dinner but didnt go over due to eating light all day!1
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Once you have sufficient nutrition you don’t get extra credit for more broccoli. Unless you have a health condition which says you shouldn’t eat it, enjoy your food. If you go outside your calorie budget, log it and move on. A little extra exercise to offset the extra calories is fine, but don’t punish yourself. You made a decision to eat something you are craving within moderation instead of blowing your diet on a binge. That’s great!
Reserve feeling guilty for actions which hurt people. Life is too short to feel guilty over food.9 -
Binges happen. Your brain is telling you (pretty loudly) that it wants a break. Better to listen to it than to fight it. Powerful hormones and neurotransmitters are demanding a time-out, and the tiny inhibition center in your 3mm thick neocortex cannot win that battle. So go enjoy your pizza and wings. Then get up tomorrow and weigh in, eat right, log everything, and work out. It's what happens the day after the binge that matters.2
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It is 100% okay. Thanks for sharing. I too have been dealing with the same issues. But like nost have already said, fitness is about a lifestyle and mindset change.
Are you making smart/healthy food decisions 7-8-9 out of 10 times?
If so than a cheat/treat meal is okay. We have to learn not to be so hard on ourselves.
P.S. pizza is too good to avoid for long periods of time.2 -
Ever since I first read this post, I've been wanting to buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's.
But I know what will happen if I indulge in ice cream. 
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Ever since I first read this post, I've been wanting to buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's. But I know what will happen if I indulge in ice cream.
I know it's not Ben & Jerry's, but Enlightened Ice Cream is a pretty good lower calorie option. I love the Salted Caramel. The whole pint is 320 calories. (yes, I ate THE WHOLE PINT as a treat the other day)
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I don't think it's ever ok to feel guilty. About anything. Guilt is a worthless and negative emotion.
It's much healthier to feel regret, then move on. Regret is somewhat more positive and it jelps you to not repeat what causes it.
Guilt just drains you.2 -
Totally fine to eat the pizza. As others have said, you are changing your eating habits, but this is a life long change. So how will you fit pizza into your overall diet?
Many people find it stressful to eat “perfectly” (however they define it) and eventually they crack, leading to a binge. If that seems like how you’re looking at things, maybe reconsider how to incorporate your favorite higher calorie foods.
My personal strategy is eat a big salad and 1-2 pieces of pizza. I get pizza, I get full, but I haven’t eaten 5 pieces and a big cheesy bread. And I generally (physically) feel better later....too much cheese and grease wreak havoc on my insides.
Maybe save the wings for another night, when you can pair them with some high volume veggies or something to help fill you up without a big additional calorie hit?1 -
Perhaps if you didn’t view pizza as some forbidden food to feel guilty about, you wouldn’t even need to eat a medium pizza in order to feel satiated. I often eat 2-3 pieces, with a salad, and some wine, and still stay within my calories for the week.5
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nighthawk584 wrote: »Ever since I first read this post, I've been wanting to buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's. But I know what will happen if I indulge in ice cream.
I know it's not Ben & Jerry's, but Enlightened Ice Cream is a pretty good lower calorie option. I love the Salted Caramel. The whole pint is 320 calories. (yes, I ate THE WHOLE PINT as a treat the other day)
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trulyhealy wrote: »basically i’m craving a dominoes and if i don’t have a thing i’m craving for the most part i eat a lot until i get it. but my plan is to get a small pizza instead of a bigger one they i normally get and then chicken wings.
that including other food the total is like 1,500 calories. and i plan to do a workout dvd as i wait for the food to arrive because it’s fun and i might as well burn off some calories and then go to the gym as normal later
i know this isn’t a healthy mindset but what can i do to not feel guilty about eating a fatty meal like that?
Formally, when I was premenstrual, I used to crave a 1200 or so calorie pint of Ben & Jerry's, and eat a whole one in a day, and maybe another one the next day. I eventually realized I just need a few hundred more calories at this time, and if I just ate a little more of regular food, that would do the trick.
Sadly, I am not able to moderate any Ben & Jerry's but the 1 C cups, which do not come in my favorite flavors.3 -
Here's my concern (for me) about cheat meals. Am I having one cheat meal or am I slipping overall and this is simply a sign of it? If it's the first, it all depends on the level. Does it simply mean I'm not at as big of a deficit for today? Maybe it just takes me to maintenance (so today I'm simply breaking even). And even if above maintenance, its probably small in the grant scheme of things. Remember, it takes 3500 calories OVER MAINTENANCE to gain one pound. So again, is this one cheat meal or the beginning of a pattern.4
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richardgavel wrote: »Here's my concern (for me) about cheat meals. Am I having one cheat meal or am I slipping overall and this is simply a sign of it? If it's the first, it all depends on the level. Does it simply mean I'm not at as big of a deficit for today? Maybe it just takes me to maintenance (so today I'm simply breaking even). And even if above maintenance, its probably small in the grant scheme of things. Remember, it takes 3500 calories OVER MAINTENANCE to gain one pound. So again, is this one cheat meal or the beginning of a pattern.
Yep! This is my biggest fear when my mind starts going to that place of treating myself which is why I try to avoid it.
But if you're not that person, then a treat is fine, should be included and enjoyed. I just know me and how easily I succumb to temptation. That's why as tempted as I am to buy a pint of ice cream(Halo's or otherwise) I can see myself falling off track so easily. What can I say, I'm pathetically weak. It took me a lot of self-talk and time to climb back out of the over eating I did during the holidays. 1 -
richardgavel wrote: »Here's my concern (for me) about cheat meals. Am I having one cheat meal or am I slipping overall and this is simply a sign of it? If it's the first, it all depends on the level. Does it simply mean I'm not at as big of a deficit for today? Maybe it just takes me to maintenance (so today I'm simply breaking even). And even if above maintenance, its probably small in the grant scheme of things. Remember, it takes 3500 calories OVER MAINTENANCE to gain one pound. So again, is this one cheat meal or the beginning of a pattern.
Yep! This is my biggest fear when my mind starts going to that place of treating myself which is why I try to avoid it. But if you're not that person, then a treat is fine, should be included and enjoyed. I just know me and how easily I succumb to temptation. That's why as tempted as I am to buy a pint of ice cream(Halo's or otherwise) I can see myself falling off track so easily. What can I say, I'm pathetically weak. It took me a lot of self-talk and time to climb back out of the over eating I did during the holidays.
Don't buy a pint, then. Buy a single-serve cup, or a cone, eat it, enjoy it, log it, and go on with life.
My feeling is that if I'm not willing to give up foods I enjoy forever (which, as a solid-core hedonist I most emphatically am not), I need to figure out how to fit them in at a frequency and serving-size that works to let me be happy, but maintain a healthy weight.** Alternatives, like the Halo Top (which I find curiously unsatisfying, though not bad tasting, really) do not work for me.
This is year 4+ of maintenance, for me. Those years have included (at times) a whole pizza all for myself at dinner, whole baskets of deep-fried mushrooms plus plenty of ketchup/ranch, serious craft beer, whole pints of Haagen-Dazs Stout Chocolate Pretzel Crunch iced cream (yes, in one sitting sometimes), giant slices of carrot cake, and more . . . and no frantic exercise or deep calorie cuts to "make up for them". If that were not possible, either I wouldn't be as happy, or I wouldn't still be at BMI 22-point-something (as I was this morning).
OP, the occasional over-goal day won't ruin things. It can't be often and well over maintenance calories; or even slightly over maintenance calories and done the majority of days. Big overage but very rarely, smaller overage but not at all routinely - those can work out fine.
Balance, over time, in calories and nutrition and exercise: That's all that's required, IMO. Eat your pizza (and/or wings) and enjoy it. It's just food, not sin.
(** I'm still working on buying old-school Taco Doritos and moderating them. I'm improving with practice, but I still want to eat the whole bag, and they don't come in single-serve, so I don't buy them often. ). 8 -
most times I plan a cheat meal, and I include my exercise in my calories, I enter it and I barely go over0
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Denying yourself will create a degree of angst or unhappiness which will negatively affect your efforts. If you avoid deviating from everything else you do, then have the meal, enjoy it then move on.2
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Please don't place moral value on food. Food is neither good or bad...it's just food. This is what fueled my eating disorder for over 15 years. Eat whatever you like, but in moderation. Fit it into your day the best that you can, but please don't feel guilty or beat yourself up for eating any kind of food.
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Free yourself. Self-induced food prisons contain words like cheat, cringe, guilt, regret. Assigning moral judgments to food is the process that leads to self-recrimination. Food rules and regulations are not food freedom but a self-induced food prison.2
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The IDEAL way to sustain a decent weight and lifestyle is to be able to eat what you want. JUST DON'T GO OVERBOARD. Anyone can lose weight on ANY DIET PLAN if they follow it. Problem is most people diet just to lose weight and don't WANT TO STAY ON THAT PROGRAM once they meet their goals. Meet your goal by just learning how much you need to eat each day.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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