Do you guys do "cheat" meals?

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Blooperss
Blooperss Posts: 42 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I know some are going to say they don't cheat, yadada, but seriously, anyone in here do an actual cheat where you just eat whatever you want every now and then? I used to cheat once a week and I would go HARD. I'm talking pastas, chocolate, pizza, burgers, fries, just everything. In my experience, how is it that this one day of cheating and the weight gain ALWAYS falls off within 2-3 days when I'm back to my calorie limit? If I didn't "cheat" beyond that one day, my weight loss stayed at a consistent downward trend too.

I don't do cheat days anymore, but rather, cheat meals and I try to accomodate so that they fit into my goals. I realized after many many years that this is a healthier way of thinking since it's a lifestyle change that I'm going after and not a one time fix. Having 2-3 "bad" meals each week has been more sustainable for me.
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Replies

  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
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    I have noticed for myself that when I felt like "cheating" my daily macros did not give my body what it needed. I made small macros adjustments and that was that. My macros requirements do change from season to season a little bit and I do take this into consideration.
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
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    There are some things that, if I can't eat a lot of, I'd rather not have them at all. Chicken wings are the first things that come to mind. Dipped in plenty of ranch!

    Rather than cheat to have them, though, I bank calories over the week so I'm still not over my weekly calorie goal. I prefer to look at my calories as a weekly average, instead of daily. Some days I'm not as hungry, others I wasn't what I want.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    When I'm in a deficit, on weekends I usually eat anything I want (which is typically reasonable) to use up any banked calories from the week While I don't track, I have a pretty good idea what I'm working with. To me I consider it more a refeed although I do add some extra fat vs. just carbs. This allows me to eat carefree at restaurants, functions, weddings, parties, wine tastings, family dinners, etc.

    I do have a lot of calories to work with so I am able to remain flexible about it and not have to worry about wiping out my deficit.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    I flex cals and have higher cal days, sure. I also eat meals (or even have days) that are not nutritionally similar to my usual preferences. I don't find it useful to think of them as "cheat" days or meals, since there's no cheating about it, and I wouldn't find it helpful to decide that I just eat whatever, since that sounds like encouraging a binge. I'm more likely to decide that it's a rare special event so I'll have the menu for the day (but not overeat to the point that I feel overly stuffed, as I hate that, although I might well be over maintenance cals) -- this is, say, Thanksgiving -- or that I want to have takeout pizza for dinner (last night Super Bowl watch party) or go out for Indian or something else high cal, and then I usually work in the cals.

    I don't think occasional higher cal days are going to be a problem, even without careful planning for them, but obviously the way to know is to weigh yourself consistently and see (and I don't mean the day after).
  • Onedaywriter
    Onedaywriter Posts: 324 Member
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    I do cheat meals but not at regular intervals. More depends on circumstances. So I try not to do them until I want or need them.
    For example, yesterday was the super bowl. So I had a couple of beers and bunch extra food and most of it had no nutritional value. I was really careful earlier in the day but still ended up over.
    For me, it makes this journey more manageable and keeps it fun. Today I’m back in my groove and hopefully didn’t set myself back too badly. I won’t weigh myself for a few days because I get frustrated when the scale rises (which I think it would due to salt)!
  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
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    Once a month I go to the Chinese buffet. But even then, I try to focus on the lower calorie soups and sushi. I doubt that I eat more than 5-600 calories over my normal daily calorie goal. Like @MikePfirrman said, it's a slippery slope that has led me to "backslide" more than once.
  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 498 Member
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    Once a week I eat about 500 calories above maintenance. Still allows me to remain in an overall deficit for the week, and is more of a refeed than a "cheat".
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I don't. I don't see the point in my case. When I want something high in calories I just skip a meal and have it. When I want something very high in calories I just bank some calories and have it. When I can't be bothered to save calories or skip a meal, I decide I don't want it enough so I don't really mind not having it. A cheat meal has no real purpose for me other than routinely scheduled overeating. Why would I want to schedule overeating whether I need it or not when I can just eat whatever I want whenever it's worth it? No waiting for the end of the week when I really want it, no overeating when I don't really want it enough.
  • vggb
    vggb Posts: 132 Member
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    My cheat meals have to do with macro-nutrients instead of calories. So on those days I don't worry about salt/sugar content and fat to a lesser extent. Doctor is fine with it as long as it's once or twice a month. Weight gain is not permanent.
  • willboywonder
    willboywonder Posts: 132 Member
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    I do, after I reach milestones, either after losing a certain amount of weight or after following my plan for 30 days or so. Then I reward myself.
  • drmwc
    drmwc Posts: 982 Member
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    I try to avoid them - it feels like a slippery slope. I do this both with specific foods and calorific/macro targets.

    The longer I've eaten well, the less and less I miss rubbish foods. I hope it is like giving up cigarettes, and one day the cravings will be a thing of the past.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    NovusDies wrote: »
    I don't want anymore days like that. Even if I choose to eat over maintenance it will almost always be with a degree of mindfulness involved.

    I agree with this, although for me that may not mean logging (I go through periods where I don't log, so I don't equate not logging with not caring about cals or not being mindful). (Note: not saying you do, just clarifying.)

    I always wonder if what people who use the term "cheat day" and those who do not, but have higher cal or less nutritious days are the same. For me, there is absolutely no reason one a-typical higher cal or less nutritious day should lead to a weekend of only that or a week of it or so on. Since it's planned in or accounted for or done mindfully, if anything it makes me happier knowing anything is available should I want it, so other days are felt as part of my overall enjoyable, chosen way of eating.

    This weekend was kind of atypical in that I had a high cal work lunch on Friday (for some reason we always have this hot dog and brats and Italian beef meal with cake on the Friday before the Super Bowl and I like brats and wanted cake so planned to have such a meal). I also knew I'd go out to dinner on Saturday and it is restaurant week here, so there'd be a tasting menu with dessert, and that I was going to a SB watch party on Sunday where we would have pizza). Based on this, I ate with a focus on nutrition and a bit lower cal than usual the rest of the week, had a more significant workout on Sunday than usual (Saturday had already been my longer workout day), and then had a very low cal salad (largely green veg both cooked and not) on Friday evening, only a small snack for lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and accepted that my overall nutrition was not as high as usual. I also made sure to eat only a small portion of cake, not too much pizza (and that my pizza had some veg on it), and ordered fish and veg from the restaurant week menu, and kept an eye on portions.

    Today everything is back to normal. If I felt like I'd overdone it, I'd likely make the next couple days a little lighter, but not go overboard.

    What I worry would happen to me with a cheat approach is that it would feed into my all or nothing tendency such that I'd figure if I were off plan anyway I should take full advantage, since who knows when I would have any of these foods again, and both not be mindful at all or have trouble stopping and then feel badly afterwards.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I don't want anymore days like that. Even if I choose to eat over maintenance it will almost always be with a degree of mindfulness involved.

    I agree with this, although for me that may not mean logging (I go through periods where I don't log, so I don't equate not logging with not caring about cals or not being mindful). (Note: not saying you do, just clarifying.)

    I always wonder if what people who use the term "cheat day" and those who do not, but have higher cal or less nutritious days are the same. For me, there is absolutely no reason one a-typical higher cal or less nutritious day should lead to a weekend of only that or a week of it or so on. Since it's planned in or accounted for or done mindfully, if anything it makes me happier knowing anything is available should I want it, so other days are felt as part of my overall enjoyable, chosen way of eating.

    This weekend was kind of atypical in that I had a high cal work lunch on Friday (for some reason we always have this hot dog and brats and Italian beef meal with cake on the Friday before the Super Bowl and I like brats and wanted cake so planned to have such a meal). I also knew I'd go out to dinner on Saturday and it is restaurant week here, so there'd be a tasting menu with dessert, and that I was going to a SB watch party on Sunday where we would have pizza). Based on this, I ate with a focus on nutrition and a bit lower cal than usual the rest of the week, had a more significant workout on Sunday than usual (Saturday had already been my longer workout day), and then had a very low cal salad (largely green veg both cooked and not) on Friday evening, only a small snack for lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and accepted that my overall nutrition was not as high as usual. I also made sure to eat only a small portion of cake, not too much pizza (and that my pizza had some veg on it), and ordered fish and veg from the restaurant week menu, and kept an eye on portions.

    Today everything is back to normal. If I felt like I'd overdone it, I'd likely make the next couple days a little lighter, but not go overboard.

    What I worry would happen to me with a cheat approach is that it would feed into my all or nothing tendency such that I'd figure if I were off plan anyway I should take full advantage, since who knows when I would have any of these foods again, and both not be mindful at all or have trouble stopping and then feel badly afterwards.

    My definition of mindful is making decisions for which I have awareness. Right now that includes logging all meals even if guesses. I am not sure what will happen when I am comfortably in maintenance for awhile.

    I am okay with occasionally eating more than I need as long as I know it is happening. I gained weight by being ignorant, probably intentionally ignorant, to the calories I consumed.

    What concerns me most are my routine days. I don't care if I have an oddball day of getting most of my nutrition from a drive thru. I do care if my normal days do not meet my criteria of balanced and multi-sourced. I will be the first to admit that my criteria may or may not be actually necessary for health it seems like common sense and I don't eat anything I dislike.
  • pancakerunner
    pancakerunner Posts: 6,137 Member
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    Yes and no. I try to allow myself one day a week (usually Sundays) to wake up with no alarm, take it slow getting up and out of bed, do a light workout and then eat at a slower pace, being mindful of what I'm eating but eating foods that are more "fun" and "flexible." Not punishing myself if I eat over my calorie limit... These are TREAT days not CHEAT days.

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