How to approach cheat meals?

[comp85t]

Hello, maybe someone can help me with my cheat meal dilemma.

I'm 5'5, 20% bf, trying to cut down to 145-150 lbs.
I'm about to hit 160lbs in a few days. I lift and do lots of cardio.

I finally found a diet that works for me... 5 days out of the week I eat to "perform" and eat clean and hit my macros. If I have a strong urge for something "bad", I'll eat it in a small portion and tell myself to wait for the weekend.

I don't even really feel hunger urges really during the week because I tell myself I'm eating to perform and be healthy.

Then, 2 days out of the week, usually Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, I'll have 2 cheat meals or something like that.. i haven't figured it out yet and I'm not sure what to do.

Having a cheatmeal at the end of the week is a big motivator to keep me eating clean during the week but how many calories over should I eat over the weekend?

I've also entertained the thought of a cheat day once a month instead of cheat meals every weekend.

this weekend I had cheat meals but I kept it within my caloric limit, then I took a nap today and woke up with a strong desire for something bad(which always happens after waking from a nap).

I think a part of this is I mentally knew I didn't actually cheat besides not worrying about macros....so is it important to actually cheat on your cheat day?

How should I approach cheating??!

[boo99]

Stop thinking of individual foods as "bad" "good" and look at the overall diet and allow yourself these so called "bad" foods daily into your macros/calories with common sense/moderation and you will likely not have to "cheat" to have these so called "bad" foods on the weekend

I have pizza, raviolis almost daily and Im cutting but I make sure I get my macro/micro/fiber needs in from a variety of other foods besides those listed that I like and have no urge to "cheat" and havent at all since the start of my cut (10 weeks or so)

Why? Cause I am allowing myself, in moderation, to eat what I want and enjoy therefore theres no urge to "cheat"

[VIsland]

Cheat days are stupid. Fit a few of your cheat type foods into your regular eating.

[comp85t]

Can you guys give me an example of moderation? I eat this way throughout the week on some days.

Like sometimes I'll eat clean and then my mom will order pizza last minute so I'll eat two or 3 usually or whatever fits into my macros/calories.

And you guys never get the urge to overindulge? When I eat clean Monday-Friday I don't really have the urge because I tell myself wait till the weekend.

[stoverbruce]

Like the others have said, I do my best to fit it in my macros. I follow a 6 day plan where I eat the same macros each day (225p 225c 55f). On the seventh day I up my carbs by about 75g (300g) and the eighth day by 25g (250g). Today was my 300g day so I ate some delicious sushi and chinese food. I found this works for me and keeps me sane. I do something different each refeed day.

[ErikTheElectric]

The best way to approach "cheat meals" is to not have them and incorporate these so called "Cheat foods" into your daily diet.

[Jherewhoisdere]

The best way to approach "cheat meals" is to not have them and incorporate these so called "Cheat foods" into your daily diet.

So why do you have cheat day "challenges" and consume absurd amounts of food?

[Bravoiswhiskey]

The only time I ever really have cheat meals is if I'm going out, in which case I just eat sensibly like a normal person and don't worry all that much about it. I don't even consider them cheat days, I just think of it as a day where I'm not bothering to track x meal(s). Whatever it is I want during the week is easy enough to fit into my day to day. You shouldn't have too many issues with that, honestly. I think the hard part is if you're not the one doing the grocery shopping and you don't have full control of what's being brought into the house -- but if you're a teenager and this is happening because your mom is getting delivery only every now and then -- it's not that big of a deal.

[EjnarKolinkar]

IDK OP. It's up to you how you prefer to eat your calories for the week I suppose. Why are you doing this, I mean why are you so focused on 'cheating'

I think life is to short not to find a way to eat enjoyably more often, and 'cheating' weekly or monthly burns through quite a few calories that could have gone to just enjoying a lot more meals all week long. YMMV.

How much you eat on a weekly basis would have to do with your goals which aren't really addressed in the OP so no real way to comment on how many calories you should go over on a high calorie day. Be sensible and moderate and you won't go too far wrong.

[ErikTheElectric]

So why do you have cheat day "challenges" and consume absurd amounts of food?

Maybe you're unaware, but I do not actually believe in "cheat days".

[Jherewhoisdere]

Maybe you're unaware, but I do not actually believe in "cheat days".

Whatever you call them or justify them as, doesn't really matter.

It is so sad to see a person dwell so deep into delusion, I really hope you get it sorted out eventually. Best of luck (srs).

[ErikTheElectric]

Whatever you call them or justify them as, doesn't really matter.

It is so sad to see a person dwell so deep into delusion, I really hope you get it sorted out eventually. Best of luck (srs).

Have things pretty sorted for now, best of luck to you as well!

[DBZ1]

Would eating 2 slices of pizza daily (from Domino's, Pizza Hut, etc.) have any negative impact when it comes to body composition? Not saying that I would do it but I am curious to know if by eating for instances 2 slices of puzza a day would still allow you to reach your micros, vitamins, and fiber throughout the day.

[gbullock32]

Would eating 2 slices of pizza daily (from Domino's, Pizza Hut, etc.) have any negative impact when it comes to body composition? Not saying that I would do it but I am curious to know if by eating for instances 2 slices of puzza a day would still allow you to reach your micros, vitamins, and fiber throughout the day.

Would be no problem, pizza has micros too you know.

[Bravoiswhiskey]

Would eating 2 slices of pizza daily (from Domino's, Pizza Hut, etc.) have any negative impact when it comes to body composition? Not saying that I would do it but I am curious to know if by eating for instances 2 slices of puzza a day would still allow you to reach your micros, vitamins, and fiber throughout the day.

Just because you have some pizza that doesn't negate everything you eat for that entire day. Unless you're a sedentary, lightweight female you'd probably still have at least a thousand calories to work with.

[comp85t]

Would eating two slices of pizza everyday be healthy for the heart/arteries? One thing I like about clean eating is the insides are healthy, would eating some bad food everyday be okay for the insides?

[Heisman2]

Would eating two slices of pizza everyday be healthy for the heart/arteries? One thing I like about clean eating is the insides are healthy, would eating some bad food everyday be okay for the insides?

You have to place everything in context of your full diet.

Trans fat is bad for your cardiovascular health. Many people here say there are no "good" or "bad" foods, but I'd be cautious about any foods with trans fat as that adds up quite quickly.

Other than that, you need to consider the whole diet. Too much saturated fat can increase your cardiovascular risk as well as likely contribute to insulin resistance, for example. If throughout the entire day you get too much, that may not be good. But, if you don't get too much even with the pizza, then that aspect is not a concern.

When you think about it like that, you can then consider all the various components. If everything fits your total calories, your macros (protein (with an emphasis on leucine for bodybuilding purposes)/carbs (without too much added sugar)/fats (with the desired amounts and/or ratios of the subtypes of fats (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated (with omega 3 and omega 6 as well), trans)), you get in a good amount of micronutrients (which you can evaluate with cronometer.com), you get in good fruit/vegetable intake (helps with the micronutrients and additionally phytonutrients are likely beneficial to some degree), and a good amount of fiber, then it does not matter much how you get to that point. *

* Possible exceptions would be concerns about other things that are not listed above, such as pesticides (particularly organophosphates if pregnant or a young child; otherwise the vast majority of pesticides are considered safe at typical levels of exposure), preservatives (I haven't read up on this; not sure how important this is honestly), etc. However, I don't think any of this would be a particular concern specific to pizza.

Also, for cardiovascular health, I recommend doing cardio. This is the nutrition forum so it makes sense we talk about the health aspects of nutrition, but we frequently mention training routines for body composition without pushing cardiovascular training for heart health. Cardio can be built in to any routine if one has the time to do it. That said, if someone has excess fat then losing that fat will certainly be a big benefit from a cardioavascular health perspective.

[ironwill2008]

Would eating two slices of pizza everyday be healthy for the heart/arteries? One thing I like about clean eating is the insides are healthy, would eating some bad food everyday be okay for the insides?

Exactly what do you see here that could be considered to be "unhealthy?"


Typical Pizza Ingredients:














But to get back on-topic, to answer your original question, OP, the best way to 'approach' "cheat meals" is to back away from them slowly, altogether.