Hey,

I had my first cheat meal in five weeks....i.e. I'm feeling pretty guilty :o . I just wanted to know if 1600 cals of completely innutritious food is too much for a cheat meal...(Buddy of mine came over, and well, you know the rest...)

Thanks,

Stats:

M, 22, 6' 1", 182 lbs, workout 3x/wk, cardio, 5-7x/wk ~ 30 min.

in 5 weeks, 1 cheat meal? I would think that's excellent! I would imagine some have trouble going a week without having one

Be prepared for about a 5 lb weight gain over the next few days. No, it's not fat, it's water gain.

agreed, i doubt you'll see any longterm negative effects, your weight may be up a few lbs. for the next few days though...the thing to really concern yourself with here is that 1600 calories comes very close to binging...

too many binge cheats like this also means more storing of fat...your body cant handle 1600 calories in one shot...

I had my first cheat day in two weeks yesterday, my weight is up 3 lbs. but i feel great! Back on track today...

Okay, so I should expect an increase in water weight over the next couple of days.

What would you say the max. cal intake should be for a cheat meal? I did feel kinda gross afterwards, bleech :p

Guess i should be more vigilant :db: ...darn chocolate covered almonds...the bane of my existence!!!!

Chocolate covered almonds are good for you, man! Antioxidants ... good oils ... a little protein ... ;)

Seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. A cheat meal should be a cheat meal. I usually try not to eat so much that I'm uncomfortable, since after all the point is to feel good.

But even if I completely overdo it, hey, that's what it's there for. Just go back to your plan and the water weight will be gone within a week, if not sooner.

And half the time, my fat loss accelerates after a good cheat meal (or, um, meals :o ), so there's even less reason to worry.

I now allow myself one cheat day a month. On this day, I eat what I want; however, I limit my caloric intake to under 3,000 calories. This works for me and it has had no negative impact on my progress.

My weakesses are chocolate chip cookies (my wife makes the best!), blackberry pie, blueberry pie, mexican food (love the chimis!) and my greatest weakness is ice cream. On my cheat day, I always have a Gota Have It dish of french vanilla ice cream w/chocolate chips from the Cold Stone Creamery (anyone familiar with this ice cream store franchise?). We are talking 1,070 calories and 61 grams of fat in this big dish of ice cream...but it is soooooo gooooood!

Don't beat yourself up over your cheat meal. Enjoy your cheat meal.

Agreed...the amount of food that you would have to eat in one cheat meal to have a significant and lasting effect on your "diet" would probably kill you or make you violently ill. Basically, i wouldnt worry about it!

3k calories sounds like a good deal...my maintenance calories are around 3150 so it really wouldnt have an effect!

My cheat meals are around 1200 calories easy and my Omron keeps going down :) . So I wouldn't sweat it. If your progress stalls, cut back on em!

Thanks everyone!

I hit the gym pretty hard because of the cheat meal, but I guess either extreme is unnecessary. ;)