Controlled Cheating

[gbone]

I have been on my lifestyle change for 3 weeks now. I had a birthday in between there and have had 1 " Cheat" meal.

Correct me if i am wrong. If i'm maintaining between 1000-1500 calorie a day diet, and one day i decided to eat a meal that maybe a bit high in calories, saturated fat, and what not. As long as i don't exceed my caloric intake by to much am i really hurting myself?

Is a month of eating right thrown off by 1 #6 from wendys? (Spicy chicken sandwich and fries)

Firstly at your weight why are you eating so few calories? and secondly at 395lbs a good calorie deficit and exercise will produce fat loss "healthy" foods or not, no need to be too anal on food choices eat well where you can but dont sweat it.

Its a long way down from 300+lbs .If you are too hardcore straight away its hard to maintain,dont let a few good meals bother you keep your eye on the long term,if you eat well 80% of the time you'll do alright.

Just looked at your blog good luck man.Seriously I would up the calories though,no need to starve yourself at your weight,and personally try to add a bit of protein to your breakfast maybe something like eggs with oats.Foods dont have to be "diet" or "low fat" or "lite" to fit in,.I mean seriously if you can keep up with your diet you are a better man than me,there is just not enough food for a big guy

.Ive lost nearly 100 pounds in 5 months and all I do is weight train and eat around 2000 cals per day not extreme food choices either.

 

[ejaffe]

Hahaha, for some reason I found this so goddamn funny.

I know, something about the word "HoHo" is hilarious - I once read someone say they became "a ho for HoHos", I had a nice chuckle at that

I agree with all the posts suggesting it's the amount of calories consumed that determine weight gain/loss - while I believe there are plentiful benefits to healthful eating, weight-wise, your body is only responding to the amount of calories consumed and expended. To lose: eat less, move more. It's simple, but not necessarily easy ;-) This is why I love the 90/20 fuel to joy eat rule and the accompanying caveat that you just eat until full or pleasure subsides. Creme Brulee is one of my faves - I'd so take that over Hohos anyday!

 

[Yoga RD]

Why do you believe that? Not suggesting I disagree, I'm simply interested in why.

Thanks.

I believe this for two reasons:

1. Personal experience:
In the past, I have lived with a strict diet, which included "cheat meals". My happiness and relationship with food has greatly improved since having the paradigm shift from "diet" to "lifestyle". The idea of cheating is not congruent with the lifestyle attitude of healthy eating.

2.Professional experience:
With most of my patients, I see a negative relationship between extreme of diet and adherence of diet. Therefore, the more someone views nutritional change as a "diet", the more likely that they are to revert back to the old habits.

By emphasizing lifestyle (which includes the occasional cookie, hamburger etc.), weight loss success is much more likely to occur.

Brian Dean MS,RD
Collaboration Coordinator, NutriYoga LLC
NutriYoga.com

 

[BiggZ]

Well basically last night i have a cheat night ,,, i ate conservative most of the day, then had a nice cheat dinner ,, i was kinda scared to check the scale this morning, but to my dis-beleif the results didnt show a gain, reselts were just the same as if i were eating light..

 

[ohdiamonds]

I'm still slightly in that guily phase. The other day I ate just one of those peanut butter granola bars named Chewy's and I felt guilty. The next day realized that I only had one. If this were before my diet, I would have easily eaten at least 4 of them. I'm so proud of myself for just eating one and being satisfied with it.

Annnyways, I've come to the conclusion I "cheat" when I feel the need to "cheat". Whether that be after one day, one week, two weeks, whenever. However I do kind of set goals for myself, kind of like motivation saying "I wont cheat for this many days/weeks".

 

[mejane]

I'm not sure I understand you.My point is I consider going over my calories for the day cheating not the actual food I eat.If I had a cheese quarter pounder for lunch and hot dogs for tea but stayed around 2000 cals for the day that is not a cheat.But if I ate "clean foods" all day and got to 3000 cals that is cheating.

Um, I guess that's kind of what i meant. I've never done the calorie counting thing so I guess it's more exact than what i was thinking. I meant, you might say "I will have my slice of cake for morning tea, but I will only have a salad for lunch."
Would you say though, that if you did opt for the hotdog option, that you would still be hungry once you had used up all your calories for the day, like maybe these foods use them up too quickly?

 

[mejane]

I would look at your "cheat eat" as a "joy eat", "cheating" has such a negative connotation and suggests some wrong-doing on your part.

So true!

 

[gbone]

Um, I guess that's kind of what i meant. I've never done the calorie counting thing so I guess it's more exact than what i was thinking. I meant, you might say "I will have my slice of cake for morning tea, but I will only have a salad for lunch."
Would you say though, that if you did opt for the hotdog option, that you would still be hungry once you had used up all your calories for the day, like maybe these foods use them up too quickly?

Thats the problem of eating crap calorie dense foods on diets.I probably would be hungry but thats where the diet becomes difficult and the old cliche willpower comes into play .you've got 3 options and 2 involve willpower, either turn down the food in the first place then fill your cals better,eat the hotdogs then put up with the hunger,or say sod it and have more cals than you have allowed and worry about it another day.

I stick to my cals regardless as It is easier to do than make it up with days more exercise.I like the rigidity of having x amount of cals and thats that,if I make bad choices that leave me hungry thats my fault,its the way I have found to work for me,I dont like just trying to "eat healthy" and not counting calories.

"You cant have your cake and eat it too" almost poignant when counting calories

 

[shae]

80% of the time I eat super healthy. And this way whenever I want something naughty I just eat it. I never feel guilty. And weekends I eat just about whatever I want.

However, I have been raised so what I categorize as naughty isn't really. A pig out for me is macadamia nuts, bread, avocados, creamy sauces on salads that sort of thing in larger quantites.

You are entitled to treat yourself if you are working hard at your nutrition.