Do any of you guys use cheat meals when you’re dieting?
I gained ~30 lbs in college my first semester and a few weeks, and i was eating EVERYTHING- cookies, brownies, fried foods, pizza, etc. Definitely not healthy.
For a little more than 2 weeks I turned my life around- woke up early, work out twice a day, eat only egg whites, Metabolic Drive (a life saver), salad with beans, apples, and turkey/ham (and chicken/fish when they have it). I’m on spring break now, so I’ve added fat-free greek yogurt into my diet. I’ve had tons more energy, been in a WAY better mood, and really am NOT hungry/feeling deprived at all.
I’ve lost like 10-12 pounds all ready, which doesn’t seem abnormal considering the life style changes I’ve made.
My question is if I should introduce a cheat meal eventually, and when? Again, I’m really NOT having a hard time at all doing this diet thing, but I want to keep my metabolism up, so is it beneficial to eat a dirty meal? If so, when? How often? And what do you guys think a smart cheat meal is (for example, am I better off eating a pizza, or something sweet, or it really doesn’t matter?)
Doesn’t have to be a “dirty” meal, rather just a meal to replenish your glycogen stores. However without knowing your specific diet, you may or may not require carbing up.
However the psychological benefit for many to have a cheat meal once every two weeks or so can be great. For some it helps them stay on track rather than going completely cold turkey for a very long period of time.
[quote]Rocky2 wrote:
Doesn’t have to be a “dirty” meal, rather just a meal to replenish your glycogen stores. However without knowing your specific diet, you may or may not require carbing up.
However the psychological benefit for many to have a cheat meal once every two weeks or so can be great. For some it helps them stay on track rather than going completely cold turkey for a very long period of time.[/quote]
I was just about to type this, but can’t really say it any better, so I wont try.
I will throw in my 2 cents to say that, as Rocky mentioned, there is a strong psychological component to the refeeds I do (note its not the same as a cheat meal). I generally eat clean foods but the refeeds keep me from missing or craving any one particular maconutrient (in my case sarbs, as I carb cycle)
Maybe post a dietary breakdown and then people will be better able to advise on cheat/refeed meal frequency?
I have one cheat meal once a week, and on rough weeks, I really look forward to it. I eat whatever I want for that meal but it’s not a full meal just one food. So, if I’ve been wanting a cheeseburger all week then I eat a cheeseburger for my cheat meal but I don’t order fries with it.
If I want pancakes then I go ahead and get those but I don’t order the rest of the country boy breakfast that comes with them. I still eat my normal meals for that day, I just add the one cheat item.
Before someone gives me shit about considering a cheeseburger a cheat, please keep in mind that I’m a 130 pound woman so I have to be a little stricter than a 200+ pound man.
I’d like to point out one that. You listed off your food intake and I didnt see anything with fat in it.
Dont cut fat out completely. Your body can get away with almost no carbs but fat is actually needed by your body.
I personally will lose focus if I have cheat meals or refeed windows/days/weekends. I diet very strictly. My day’s calories and macronutrients are very regimented by my activity level. I’ve experimented with refeeds and cheat meals before but I believe they were unnecessary. Very lean individuals who are trying to get leaner would probably benefit from refeeds to reduce the risk of losing too much LBM. I’m still around 12% so it’s not hurting with a consistent caloric deficit. My metabolism hasn’t stalled and the fat is still coming off so until I stall I’ll continue with my militaristic approach.
I have recently been cutting, and I’m now down to approx 202 from 224, with very little loss in strength. To start I had a cheat meal once every two weeks, and now as I am leaner, I have a cheat meal or two every week. I just couldn’t take deep dish pizza out of my life and there definitely is a psychological benefit to it.
[quote]phatkins187 wrote:
I personally will lose focus if I have cheat meals or refeed windows/days/weekends. I diet very strictly. My day’s calories and macronutrients are very regimented by my activity level. I’ve experimented with refeeds and cheat meals before but I believe they were unnecessary. Very lean individuals who are trying to get leaner would probably benefit from refeeds to reduce the risk of losing too much LBM. I’m still around 12% so it’s not hurting with a consistent caloric deficit. My metabolism hasn’t stalled and the fat is still coming off so until I stall I’ll continue with my militaristic approach.[/quote]
Reasonable cheat meals (aka meals that don’t involve eating everything in sight, like at a Chinese buffet) don’t bother me, but refeed days are practically dead days for me because I cannot get shit done after all those carbs.
[quote]Rocky2 wrote:
Doesn’t have to be a “dirty” meal, rather just a meal to replenish your glycogen stores. However without knowing your specific diet, you may or may not require carbing up.
[/quote]
How can you “tell” if your glycogen stores are low?
I used to do a lot of endurance events, so if I “bonked” I knew it.
Now that I’m focusing on size and strength, my internal gauges aren’t quite adapted, and I’m not as self-aware I should be.
On the days I do squats/dead-lifts, I’m fried afterwords, but it feels different that “bonking”.
Because of my work schedule, I lift five days straight (alternating body parts), by the end of my lifting week (when I take two days off), I’m pretty wasted/tired.
Is there way to distinguish a good sense of fatigue vs. needing to “carb-up” and replace glycogen stores? (On lifting days I’m getting “around” 100g of carbs, around half that on my off days).
Life is too short not to enjoy fucking awesome food every once and awhile. A few slices, or fuck even a whole pizza, isn’t going to kill you if it only happens every once and awhile.
I just give myself a meal on Sundays to keep me sane. I find it funny because when I go out to get my meal, the people I’m with eat this stuff on a normal basis. I forget people still only eat 3 meals a day.