I try to stick to healthy/good eating during the week, but when I eat that not so healthy meal on the weekend, just one meal, one day, it seems I spend the rest of the week taking off the calories. The meal usually consists of a cheeseburger and fries with a diet coke. It also seems as though I am bloated, like I am carrying a lot of water. Has this happened to anyone else? Maybe I need to create more of a calorie deficit before I eat that one meal. What do you think?
One Cheat/Indulgent Meal on the weekend
- Thread starter Ivy
- Start date
First, don't make more of caloric deficit throughout the week to make up for your cheat meal. The whole purpose of a cheat meal is to boost your metabolism through extra cals and to keep you sane. I made this mistake and then it slowly evolved into a week of deprivation and then my cheat meal turned into a binge because I felt so restricted. Cheat meals make me feel yucky as well but thats the other point of having them. It reminds you how that type of food makes you feel physically. I'm a avid hamburger and french fry girl for my cheats. What I do is I eat REALLY slow savoring each bite and the second I feel slightly full I stop. After doing this, I realized I only need half of the meal to get full. Then I just resume my normal eating habits. I don't feel bloated or yucky after when I only eat half which tells me this is enough food for my body. Drink lots of water after your meal as to counteract the excess salt. I hope this helps.
kathryn
Cathlete
IMO, saying that one is going to have a cheat meal, as in scheduling a weekly cheat meal, instead of allowing yourself a cheat meal IF you really want one, seems counterproductive in some ways, reinforcing the desire for the not-as-good food, and creating a habit based on that food that never allows you enough time to lose the desire for that food. You eat healthfully all week, then once a week eat really badly (ingesting a day's worth of calories, and possibly several days' worth of saturated fat, and lots of transfats, in one meal).
Insted of creating a calorie deficit "so you can eat that one meal" (here, it seems like you're defining your diet based around the 'bad' meal, instead of seeing the cheat as a momentary blip in an otherwise healthful way of eating) I'd focus on the rest of your eating, and perhaps add some fat calories and/or some carbs (whatever that 'cheat' meal is giving you that you feel is missing from the rest of your diet: what would make you feel satisfied enough to not want the cheat meal?) to the rest of your diet, and forgo the cheat meal, at least as a weekly habit.
I hope this is clear, as I know how I feel about this, but for some reason today it's hard to put it into words, ya know?
Insted of creating a calorie deficit "so you can eat that one meal" (here, it seems like you're defining your diet based around the 'bad' meal, instead of seeing the cheat as a momentary blip in an otherwise healthful way of eating) I'd focus on the rest of your eating, and perhaps add some fat calories and/or some carbs (whatever that 'cheat' meal is giving you that you feel is missing from the rest of your diet: what would make you feel satisfied enough to not want the cheat meal?) to the rest of your diet, and forgo the cheat meal, at least as a weekly habit.
I hope this is clear, as I know how I feel about this, but for some reason today it's hard to put it into words, ya know?
RapidBreath
Cathlete
It is probably water, try using salt sub (potassium) on your food with your regular salt. Also, some commercial beef (most) has antibiotics in it and those do not break down in the cooking process, so its like taking antibiotics. I don't think its the calories really. A higher calorie day is a good thing.
RapidBreath
Cathlete
Great idea!
I am sorry, I am just now thanking all of you for your responses. I really appreciate all of the information, I will try to look at food in a more reasonable light, except on the days when I am really wanting something junk food like. I will also consider the extra workout and the potassium supplement, due to all the salt in the foods. Thanks to everyone.
LauraMax
Cathlete
I have a scheduled cheat meal each week (pizza every Friday night), and I enjoy it completely without guilt. Yep I usually weigh a pound or 2 more the next day, but it is water weight & it's gone by Sunday.
We all diet & restrict our lives so much, we need something to look forward to. I would never be able to stick to my diet unless I had that Fri night pizza light at the end of the tunnel.
Stick to your diet & routine, & enjoy that cheat meal! An extra pound here & there isn't gonna be noticed anyway. Constant deprivation is bad for your mental health!
We all diet & restrict our lives so much, we need something to look forward to. I would never be able to stick to my diet unless I had that Fri night pizza light at the end of the tunnel.
Stick to your diet & routine, & enjoy that cheat meal! An extra pound here & there isn't gonna be noticed anyway. Constant deprivation is bad for your mental health!
Fit_mommy
Cathlete
I have my cheat meals but I do not plan ahead for them unless I know I've been invited some where ahead of time because that takes the fun out of it for me. Depending on what I eat and how much of it I eat, I will inevitabley suffer some type of weight gain/bloating from it for atleast the next day or so. I am very careful to go back to healthy eating for several days afterwards. I fight tooth and nail against back to back cheat days b/c they kill me but thoroughly enjoy them when they are spaced out enough not to do any long lasting damage.