ok so it been 3 months since start of my journey, i hav lost 36lbs and gone down to 195 lbs, i havent had a cheat meal yet as i was waiting to approach a plateau and then maybe introduce a cheat meal every fortnight or so, so it look like ii may have come to a plateau and feel guitly to have a cheat am i wrong to have a cheat meal, i am not calorie counting, but aware of calories content and average about 1600-1800 calories depending if am training( weight training x 2 a week), for exanple i woyld probaby gave half a gilled chicken burger and maybe a habdful of fies, i dont like dessert and i will not eat a 300 cal snack to compensate, so kust asking for ppl opinion on cheat meals and how they dealt with plateaus. thank in advance fpr responses
I don't like the concept of a "cheat" meal as I feel that feeds into the idea that you are, well, cheating if you don't strictly follow a diet for a time. That said, I don't feel you have to necessarily fall within a rigid calorie range every day and I think that to occasionally eat something that you wouldn't ordinarily eat is OK. I prefer to think of it as learning how to eat in the real world but consider doing so part of an overall eating plan rather than as cheating.
thanks for replies, personally i think treat is better cheat, i cook all my own food and found the food ie take away/ resturants are and will remain a very occasional treat, i love my own copked food, i wouldnt say am strict i just eat a very balanced diet, just needed a kick to get the scale moving faster, well i had it and it was nice, a nice change,
I am doing Jackie Warner's program, and her whole concept is around eating super clean 5 days and allowing yourself 2 cheat meals that don't exceed 1500 calories each. Eating clean 5 days a week is to remove all refined carbs, especially sugars, no food with sugars with a higher content of 5 gms. There are other things, but since the focus of this thread is cheat meals I wanted to let you know.
I have only been doing this a few weeks, have not weighed myself but feel better and my cravings have totally stopped. The cheat meals are actually not becoming a big deal, 1) because I can have it, 2) because eating clean is making me wanting to eat less crap (sorry)
This program is also much more pro weights vs tons of cardio. Her concept is 20 minutes of interval cardio is ideal with 30 minutes of intense weights, on the heavier side instead of a ton of reps with light weights.
Take care,
Claudia
Last edited by calmeida5018; 07-23-2011 at 02:51 PM.
Take a look at her book Jackie Warner "This is why you're fat" It's full of great nutrition information in the front and exercises in the back. I am in the medical field and know a lot about biochemistry and it all makes perfect sense.
If you choose to do it we can compare notes and support each other via PM.
I have a "cheat" meal (though I agree with others that it does us no good to call them that) once a month. What this means for me is that it's one meal a month where I allow myself to splurge, usually to eat out at a restaurant without counting the calories. This is key for me because when I had my first cheat/treat meal on this diet I added up the calories when I got home, and it made me feel like crap for eating what I did. (I had two side salads, a little bread, and a steak from Outback Steakhouse, fwiw.) I haven't had a cheat/treat meal since, but the next time I do (planned for late August), I'll record the food I ate but not the calories. (Unfortunately - or fortunately depending on how you look at it - I've been on these restaurant nutrition sites enough to have a pretty good idea of the calories in these meals anyway. So, even though I'm not going to record them, I'll still know what I ate.)
Find meals that are delicious that still fit within your plan. I am not a great cook, so eating out and still within my plan is a treat for me. Trust me....grilled chicken or shrimp and veggies taste about 100% better when I dine out :-)...and I'm still on plan! Just modify your favorite meal at your favorite place!
Mainly, I wanted to say congrats on a very steady and obviously dedicated weight-loss. Wish I could be that dedicated to a diet plan!
Used to diet Mon-Fri then relax Sat & Sun but I made the mistake of telling my boyfriend this. Treats became counter-productive weekend-long splurges = bad times!
Now that I'm at my goal weight, I will sometimes have a very fattening meal on Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. I pay for it however, and I always feel guilty. It makes me want to "do it again" and I have to force myself back to discipline for several days after. If I would have done this during the losing stage I can't honesty say it would have been any different, but I do have a feeeling I might not have ever made it to goal if I'd planned to eat crap. LOL
I do not do cheat meals. I eat clean most of the time and calorie cycle. I allow myself to eat anything I want as long as my calories will not go over my high cal limit of 1800. I have grown to prefer healthy choices.
Something mentioned earlier in this thread has really helped me alot. I love sweets, but have found the first 2 bites are the best. After that, I have not found any dessert that can give me the same burst of flavor, excitement, umph, after the first few bites....and I have tried...I continued to eat some brownie one day and cake another, yet when I concentrated on the flavor it was not as good after the first 2 bites. Now when I want something, it is so much easier to decide if it is worth the cals, because I know it is only the first 2 bites that are worth it. Sometimes I have a few bites, sometimes I pass. This 1 tip has given me such power over my weekness for sweets.
Something mentioned earlier in this thread has really helped me alot. I love sweets, but have found the first 2 bites are the best. After that, I have not found any dessert that can give me the same burst of flavor, excitement, umph, after the first few bites....and I have tried...I continued to eat some brownie one day and cake another, yet when I concentrated on the flavor it was not as good after the first 2 bites. Now when I want something, it is so much easier to decide if it is worth the cals, because I know it is only the first 2 bites that are worth it. Sometimes I have a few bites, sometimes I pass. This 1 tip has given me such power over my weekness for sweets.
When people say this I always want to ask this question...What in the heck do you do with the brownie/cake or other sweet goodie after you take the 2 bites? Do you buy a cake, take 2 bites and throw the rest away? Do you have a pan of brownies sitting around and eat 2 bites/day for weeks? Do you buy a candy bar and take 2 bites and just lay it on the counter? How does a person actually do this?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lori Bell
When people say this I always want to ask this question...What in the heck do you do with the brownie/cake or other sweet goodie after you take the 2 bites? Do you buy a cake, take 2 bites and throw the rest away? Do you have a pan of brownies sitting around and eat 2 bites/day for weeks? Do you buy a candy bar and take 2 bites and just lay it on the counter? How does a person actually do this?
With a candy bar, I have eaten one or two bites and wrapped it up and put it away for another day. Since it's not something I do every day, I've been known to forget that it's there.
With baked goods, my DH loves baked goods and every time we go to the supermarket he stops by the bakery department and buys something. I go to the case where they sell individual sweet rolls, brownies, etc. Every once in a while, like maybe once a month, I will pick out something for myself from the case, and just buy 1. Then when I get it home, I make it last 2 days. So yes, it can be done. It takes control.
cheat meals
