"Cheat" Meals/Days

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MissTetts
MissTetts Posts: 16 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I don't like the word cheat and aim not to splurge for a day. However if I have a cheeseburger and chips but remain within my daily calorie limit or still with a deficit is this OK?

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  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited March 2021
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    I didn't go over my calories once this week.

    Within the past 7 days I've had: a hawiaan burger from a local place, chicken tenders from dairy queen, and arby's - roast chicken sandwich and a milkshake.

    Lost half a pound, which is what I have my goals set for.
  • TNoire
    TNoire Posts: 642 Member
    edited March 2021
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    Don't give up on those good foods, just eat them in moderation and stay within your calorie goal!


    What my doc says,

    "you deprive yourself is it really worth it?
    are you enjoying and loving life as much as you can at that point?
    does it make you feel better?
    maybe for a day or two but then you will start hating yourself and overindulge later!"

    Just give yourself that ONE day a week to have a meal of something you really want/enjoy!

    My husband and I usually do Chinese or sushi!
    Because of COVID, the places we used to go to have been doing contactless delivery.
    Pizza I actually got myself to learn a good homemade recipe for the dough & do turkey pepperoni or keep it healthy by doing chicken and veggies or taco pizza but using low sodium seasoning and ground turkey.
    We do tacos too just ground turkey and hard shells because we noticed they are better than soft!
    Burgers we used to love Red Robin & their all you can eat fries and rootbeer floats.
    But again COVID we haven't been so when we do burgers at home we get 90/10 or 93/7 ground beef and make our own fries in the air fryer using potatoes or baking them in the oven instead.

    It's hard in the beginning but once you get used to the small changes, and sticking to your meals and plans and doing what you need to do to keep in that "healthy" range, and sticking with healthy options, it becomes easier.
    But every once in a while we will splurge on a homemade club sub and kettle-cooked chips or chocolate chip cookies but we always make sure we try to stay within our counts for the day :wink:

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    all that matters is that you are within your calories. or at least, under maintenance, if you DO go over.

    my diary is public. I eat sweets, i eat out, etc.

    I've lost over 100 pounds, and still lose consistently.
  • gionrogado
    gionrogado Posts: 45 Member
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    i like the occasional burger too. so when i feel like it, i make it my pre workout meal. part of my daily calorie count. or if i go over for 1 day, i go below for the next few days to still hit the weekly goal. it's okay as long as it's not often, and you pull yourself back soon
  • Whatsthemotive
    Whatsthemotive Posts: 145 Member
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    I think you just have to look at your calorie budget and decide whether you want to spend your calories on that food. My calorie budget is 1290. If I spend a lot of calories on one food, I may be too hungry for the rest of the day. Also, a cheeseburger doesn’t have to be a big cheeseburger. A McDonald’s cheeseburger is 300 calories. A Big Mac is 550.
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
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    I'm not "dieting" so there's nothing to "cheat" on, and I think framing the idea of eating a damn cheeseburger as "getting away with something naughty" to be kind of problematic for my personal mental health. I don't talk to my friends like that, why should I talk to myself like that? If shame is a motivator for you, have at it, but it's not for me. If I want it that much, I fit whatever the treat in question is into my budget for the day or week as best I can.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited March 2021
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    Whatsthemotive wrote: »
    I think you just have to look at your calorie budget and decide whether you want to spend your calories on that food. My calorie budget is 1290. If I spend a lot of calories on one food, I may be too hungry for the rest of the day. Also, a cheeseburger doesn’t have to be a big cheeseburger. A McDonald’s cheeseburger is 300 calories. A Big Mac is 550.

    Fair thought process but it is not all that hard to add calories to your budget. You get paid for exercise in calories so just like life if you find/do extra work for money you can do extra exercise and add calories to that budget. I ate a lot of calorie dense food this week due to life. I also hiked 8 miles of challenging terrain. I didn't end up hungry because even being conservative with the calorie burn estimate I 'paid for' my 'treat' foods.
  • Poobah1972
    Poobah1972 Posts: 943 Member
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    A burger isn't a cheat in my book anyway... It's food, and it's good at that. :)

    I just make my patties a bit smaller then I use to.
  • Whatsthemotive
    Whatsthemotive Posts: 145 Member
    edited March 2021
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    No arguments that you can use calories and be able to eat more calories. Each person has to decide how much exercise he is able to do and whether it is possible to increase the calorie budget significantly through exercise. Every person is in a different place regarding physical ability, time constraints, etc.

    For example, I have had multiple surgeries on an ankle. I have found exercise that I can do, but it is unrealistic for me to think that I can buy a lot more calories with exercise. I will be able to improve my stamina and endurance by working my way through to more exercise. But I will never be able to run or hike long distances.

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