how bad is this cheat meal

[kokings]

So once a week for my cheat meal I'll eat a pint of ben and jerrys oatmeal cookie crunch ice cream.

I think the pint has around 1100 cals.

I have gone from about 230 lbs to 198 (I'm 5'10) in the last 4 months or so.

Do you guys think this cheat is hurting my results a lot, and as far a weekly cheat does it seem excessive? Also on the day that I cheat I try to make all my other meals a bit smaller so to keep my daily cal total around 2500. Normal days I eat around 2100 cals.

[Dont Want None]

as you look around more, you will notice the difference in peoples cheats, is amazing. Cheats span from restaraunt food, to a different type of protein shake, etc. If YOU think it's cutting your goals, then cut it. Try a few weeks without eating it, see if it makes a difference. Here's the key though, it's better the eat it once a week and feel better, than to not eat it for 2 weeks, and then get a huge craving and eat 2 gallons or whatever.

Just my 2 cents.

[Kohanz]

That's a lot of saturated fat, I would guess. Just on a health basis, rather than a weight-loss basis, I wouldn't recommend it.

[Azuras]

wow. icecream for a cheat meal. each to his own i guess but i would rather have an actuall food myself.
just remember that if your calories are below your BMR your gonna lose weight. so if you can do that while having the ice cream it aint too bad.

[tremors]

wow. icecream for a cheat meal. each to his own i guess but i would rather have an actuall food myself.
just remember that if your calories are below your BMR your gonna lose weight. so if you can do that while having the ice cream it aint too bad.

Mind if I steal that quote?

[Azuras]

Mind if I steal that quote?

sure go ahead but dont forget to add the "- (who said it)" at the end

[NoTimeLikeNow]

Honestly, I think that is a great cheat meal man. You could be doing a LOT worse, in fact I usually do lol.

[i_bleed_texan]

Meh. I say go for it. If you're seeing results, and you're happy with that as your cheat, I say it's all good. Other than those two factors, what else matters?

[The Director]

wow..how much is a pint?

I'm more of quantity than quality guy, so Id rather buy fat free/sugar free ice cream, boxes of em, and just eat them until satisfied, and not worry about those 'bad' excess calories.

[Azuras]

wow..how much is a pint?

im thinking that its about 500-600mls seeing as 500gms of butter is a pound of butter. silly americans go ahead adopt the metric system :P

[Finnegan Bell]

im thinking that its about 500-600mls seeing as 500gms of butter is a pound of butter. silly americans go ahead adopt the metric system :P

Have food instead icecream,I dont even eat sugars at my cheat meal,and thats why:



Avoid fat-producing food combinations
In addition to certain individual foods being more “fattening,” certain food
combinations are doubly disastrous when you’re trying to lose body fat. The worst of all possible food combinations is fat combined with sugar because it elevates your blood levels of fat, sugar and insulin simultaneously.

The one food combination that you should never, ever eat if you want to get lean
Even though it’s a wise idea to allow yourself a cheat meal once a week, some foods or food combinations should be avoided as much as possible. The fat and sugar combination is undoubtedly the worst of all. It’s a sure-fire way to gain body fat so fast you won’t even know what hit you. Low quality fats and refined sugars, eaten together, are also contributing factors in the development of nearly every major disease. A few obvious examples of the fat + processed carb combination include ice cream, doughnuts,
peanut butter cups, and fettuccini Alfredo.

[ScottC]

Also on the day that I cheat I try to make all my other meals a bit smaller so to keep my daily cal total around 2500. Normal days I eat around 2100 cals.

Bad idea. You should eat the days meals on plan. Eating smaller meals prior to your cheat could make you feel hungrier than you normally would be and chances are good you will eat more at your cheat...thus consuming even more calories.

[TheNewestGuy]

That's a pretty bad cheat meal.

And that one poster is right, it's amazing how different people's cheat meals are. My cheat meal this week is whole wheat pancakes with no-sugar syrup.

[matthor]

its YOUR cheat - do what you want. Also im not 'against' making other meals smaller to fit in the calories, or reduce the damage, but do make sure your getting in enough protein - the rest is kinda trivial if your under maintenance

[ScottC]

its YOUR cheat - do what you want. Also im not 'against' making other meals smaller to fit in the calories, or reduce the damage, but do make sure your getting in enough protein - the rest is kinda trivial if your under maintenance

I have read enough (or too many), "OMG, I gorged myself" cheat meal threads. The main reason seemed to be they cut out, or reduced their meals prior and were pretty hungry at the start of their cheat meal. Not reducing meals is what was recommended, both on the boards, and to me by my trainer. I respect your opinion, matthor, but wanted to explain the reasoning of my post.

[matthor]

I have read enough (or too many), "OMG, I gorged myself" cheat meal threads. The main reason seemed to be they cut out, or reduced their meals prior and were pretty hungry at the start of their cheat meal. Not reducing meals is what was recommended, both on the boards, and to me by my trainer. I respect your opinion, matthor, but wanted to explain the reasoning of my post.

if one goes into their cheat completely starving then yes i agree - but you can cut calories and keep protein adequate without going hungry. Think 5oz lean meat + a crapload of broccoli.

Also i think alot of the 'omg cheats' went waaaay past being full or content anyways, so prior hunger may not be such an influence on those types of binges.

but yes, being overly hungry before a cheat isnt a great option if you arent good at stoppign when you know/feel you should

[solstice]

...IMO the specifics of cheating in regard to ones diet is alot like the specifics of cheating in regard to ones spouse... While one couple might consider flirting to be cheating, another may not consider it cheating until intercourse is involved. There are so many nuances and variables and it is totally dependant upon the idividual and their perceptions and preferences. SO- if you're happy with and comfortable with your cheat- go for it. Your body will let you know if it agrees with you or not

[kokings]

The responses have been interesting. I realize its not the best way to go about things but it is a lot better than I used to eat. I mean I would regularly have 1000 cals at every meal and would eat fast food, ice cream, etc several times throughout the week.

I literally don't eat anything like that throughout the week besides my weekly cheat, and I have been doing this for the past 5 months or so. And I don't ever really have an urge to eat these foods since I have gotten so used to eating the way I do now.

The one poster who mentioned that it is high in saturated fats and is probably not the wisest decision health-wise, regardless of its weight-loss hindering effects, seems to be right.

Anyways the general consensus seems that it is a bit excessive as a cheat so I am gonna replace it with something a little less drastic for the next month or so and see how that goes.

[ScottC]

Anyways the general consensus seems that it is a bit excessive as a cheat so I am gonna replace it with something a little less drastic for the next month or so and see how that goes.

My trainer told me pizza, or other higher fat foods rather than cake, ice cream or other sweets are preferrable, if one cheats.

[fatman7]

I think cheat meal is actually good for casual over-weight people some reason.

# burned out, tired of take tuna chickenbreast salad whateva all the time.
# not healthy for mental, I will get mental diesease

If I am prohibited cheat meal, Im gonna be die

Even my progress is pretty slow, Im satisfied.

[i_bleed_texan]

Have food instead icecream,I dont even eat sugars at my cheat meal,and thats why:



Avoid fat-producing food combinations
In addition to certain individual foods being more ?fattening,? certain food
combinations are doubly disastrous when you?re trying to lose body fat. The worst of all possible food combinations is fat combined with sugar because it elevates your blood levels of fat, sugar and insulin simultaneously.

The one food combination that you should never, ever eat if you want to get lean
Even though it?s a wise idea to allow yourself a cheat meal once a week, some foods or food combinations should be avoided as much as possible. The fat and sugar combination is undoubtedly the worst of all. It?s a sure-fire way to gain body fat so fast you won?t even know what hit you. Low quality fats and refined sugars, eaten together, are also contributing factors in the development of nearly every major disease. A few obvious examples of the fat + processed carb combination include ice cream, doughnuts,
peanut butter cups, and fettuccini Alfredo.

I understand the logic, but then that pretty much eliminates all cheats, because a cheat is pretty much referring to a high-fat, high-carb food.

Also, if this is the case, then consider this: say you have a typical PWO shake consisting of whey isolate and 60g of dex/malto (VERY high GI carbs)...why is it that people don't even ask, it's just understood NOT to have any considerable amount of fat under any circumstances with that shake? Because fat slows absorption of carbohydrate. So does fiber.

Here's an interesting read over at T-Nation...a roundtable discussing this very thing. I tend to agree most with TC. Berardi knows his **** but he seem like such an extremist when it comes to diet...he believes what he believes and that's IT.

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=461947

[i_bleed_texan]

That's a pretty bad cheat meal.

And that one poster is right, it's amazing how different people's cheat meals are. My cheat meal this week is whole wheat pancakes with no-sugar syrup.

Please tell me you're cutting (if so that's a refeed), because if you're bulking, add some eggs to that and you couldn't get a better breakfast...

[RaferAlston26]

Who cares how much you ate on your cheat meal. Enjoy it. 90% of the people who don't cheat or restrict how much they ate on a cheat meal end up quitting the diet. If it's going to keep you losing weight then do it. You should have seen my old cheat day (this is when I was really athletic and exercised A TON). It was absolutely horrible but it was nice. I had a really strict diet and hey I was getting lean and I looked damn good.

Thing is, that cheat day kept me sane and I ended up going from 174 last year in Jan to 148 in May. Right now i'm at 164, but that's for mistakes I made during a fasting period in an islamic holiday. Then I kept it on because I became a video game junky. Awesome part is though I'm leaning out pretty quick and maintaining a stable weight.

One thing I saw though someone mention saturated fats and stuff. One day isn't going to make a difference and kill his/her body.

[Azuras]

My trainer told me pizza, or other higher fat foods rather than cake, ice cream or other sweets are preferrable, if one cheats.

YES! pizza is good. and it usually contains more that one food group in it lol, you can also customise it to be a little more healthy too while still maintaining the fact that its a pizza :P. its what i eat for my cheat meal

[JiP]

i think it's a bit over the top, 1100 cals isn't so bad i suppose if you stay under 2500 on your cheat.

[i_bleed_texan]

My trainer told me pizza, or other higher fat foods rather than cake, ice cream or other sweets are preferrable, if one cheats.

Hm...depending on how much we're talking of each, I'd say the fat content of full-fat ice cream (Ben and Jerry's) and pizza are pretty similar...both are notoriously fatty foods. On a cheat I could give a ****, though.

[SeanDon]

Hm...depending on how much we're talking of each, I'd say the fat content of full-fat ice cream (Ben and Jerry's) and pizza are pretty similar...both are notoriously fatty foods. On a cheat I could give a ****, though.

I read and re-read that last sentence 50 times, and i coulda sworn you had said "on a cheat i could have a **** though" as in....anything you want and you won't care. Which is ultimately what you were saying. But i also thought you meant you like to eat feces

[mexiFRO]

you will be fine. i used to cheat on ocassion as well (never a pint of icre-cream) like a pineapple chicken burger from Red Robin. You are not preparing for a contest are you?

[TheNewestGuy]

Please tell me you're cutting (if so that's a refeed), because if you're bulking, add some eggs to that and you couldn't get a better breakfast...

I am cutting, and it counts as a cheat meal. Big pancakes, about 60g of carbs in one sitting.

[martina92685]

Holy crap, 1100 calories for a pint of ice cream!! Geez, Ben and Jerrys is expensive in dollars and calories!