Well, I think I have discovered the secret to stop cheating. This is just based on my own experiences, but I am going to be using this "strategy" from now on, because enough is enough.

Since January, I had been tracking my calories in excel and all that good stuff. I started by aiming for 1850 calories and then dropped it to 1750 calories by mid February. I lost some initial fat I put on over winter very fast, but then after 3-4 weeks, the losing stopped. Well, even though I had been tracking 1700-1800 calories/day, I was really usually consuming 2000-2200 during the week and on the weekends, forget about it, 2500-3000+.

March 30 I decided to buckle down and said I am going to get down to my goal of 8% body fat, no matter what it takes. With the help of Jeremy, I chose to go with a daily decreasing calorie diet. Sunday through Saturday would look like 2100, 2100, 2000, 2000, 1900, 1900, 1800 and each week, each day would decrease by 100 calories. Well, my first 2 weeks were awesome, I HARDLY cheated, if at all (never felt the need to, I was eating enough) and I lost like 4-5 pounds. Well, this was week 3. 1900, 1900, 1800, 1800, 1700, 1700, 1600. The week started out alright and then once I got down to the 1700 days, it was over. The little "ohh just a bite won't kill me" turned into a whole extra meal 2-3 times the past 3 days. Today was the worst! I just absoltuely lost it. I was so overhungry, I ate EVERYTHING in sight for like 2 hrs straight. I still sit here stuffed beyond belief where it actually hurts from OVEREATING so much. (I'd guess 2500-3000 calories within the last 2 hours)

What's my point in this drawn out boring story? Well, every day I see a post by someone else saying how they keep cheating and don't know how to stop. Well, I believe the key to stopping is simple:

EAT MORE!

Crazy? Not at all. We have all (I say 'all' very loosely, but it's a very common concept around here) conformed to this 10x your body weight or you won't lose weight theory. I say, if 10x's your body weight is going to make you cheat by 3000-4000 calories more per week (and let's face it, letting loose even twice can add up that quickly with no problem), then every day, you need to eat MORE!

The first two weeks of this "final cut" for me I felt better than I had in months. I was almost never hungry, I was full of energy and never had urges to cheat because each meal had just enough food to hold me over until the next. It seemed like the perfect amount of food for the day. This week, as my calories really got into the lower numbers, I just couldn't handle it and ended up doing 5x MORE DAMAGE than had I just eaten an extra 150-250 calories each day.

So, all I am trying to say, if you disregarded the rest of my post or are eagerly waiting my mind-blowing conclusion is... if you find yourself cheating in between meals and binging once or twice a week where you amass 1000s of extra calories, try adding 200-300 calories a day. If that means 2, 150 calorie snacks, fine. If it's easier to add another meal and shorten the length between meals, that's not a bad idea either. But try it, and trust me your urges to cheat will soon fade.

And for those of you saying "DUH, I already know that", well good, you're already 1 step ahead of the rest. But I know many feel they MUST stay in these extremely low calorie ranges and I think it is better to add more healthy calories than binge, feel like crap and hinder your progress. You'd be surprised how adding 200-300 calories to these low calorie diets can actually HELP fat loss. It did for me the first two weeks, I don't even know why I kept going down, I was doing great. Anyways, that is all...

Now excuse me, I have a Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard waiting for me :eat: so I can get it out of my system and get back on track to healthy eating!

I can't let anything outside of my regular diet in or it will mess up the whole thing. one thing that messes me up is missed meals. I try to make up for a missed meal (protein shake) with something (carrot muffin) and then thats the end for me(junk food). I like your idea but I hate messing up my protein/carb/fat ratios. but i'm starting a food log tomorrow with a spreadsheet so we'll see how that helps me.

I was so good on my diet up until spring break. Then I went to europe and it was pizza, gelato, wine and chocolate. I have found myself cheating more since I got back, but I am doing my best to buckle down and stay healthy.

15.1%BF in Jan to 11.2% BF right now and I'm only 5 pounds lighter, so Ive actually put on muscle while losing fat. :D I just gotta stop cheating, but its so hard when youre a college kid!

I just gotta stop cheating, but its so hard when youre a college kid!

That was my problem, being a Junior at a huge university, not cheating on the weekends for the last 2 months has been hell. I think I have realized that as important as eating clean is too me, being 21 is more important so I'm going to have to go back to a happy medium, just less cheating than I used to.

I can't let anything outside of my regular diet in or it will mess up the whole thing.

What makes you think your diet is so perfect?

And I'm not saying EVERYONE should add more food. Only those who find they are constantly cheating.

What makes you think your diet is so perfect?

And I'm not saying EVERYONE should add more food. Only those who find they are constantly cheating.


I don't know. I guess I use the 10x bw in cal and 40/40/20 ratios to a T and something that adds to it messes it up.

I don't know. I guess I use the 10x bw in cal and 40/40/20 ratios to a T and something that adds to it messes it up.

I'm trying to be as objective as possible here, but I just skimmed your journal, and you apparently have decided to begin eating "clean" today. Therefore, you don't know what it is like to eat far less, and only healthy foods, compared to what you're used to. I wish you the best of luck, but believe me, 10x your body weight is NOT a golden rule for cutting. It works for some, but it doesn't for many others. And if and when you find that you're always hungry in between meals, perhaps give this post a reread and reconsider my idea. It's just a thought.

And the Chris Rock special was hysterical, enjoy! :tu:

I'm trying to be as objective as possible here, but I just skimmed your journal, and you apparently have decided to begin eating "clean" today.

actually i've been trying for a couple weeks. so today isn't the real first day, that was like early this month. there were some weeks where I went days eating perfectly then something will mess me up. I'm still in the learning process part of it. the hardest is in the middle of the week. I might try your idea if this way is too hard. another thing is i'm learning to bring in other foods to the foods i'm already eating.

Now excuse me, I have a Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard waiting for me :eat: so I can get it out of my system and get back on track to healthy eating!

Mmmmmmm. Everytime I see that damn commercial my mouth waters :drool:. It was on about 4 times while I was working out tonight. Was it every bit as delicious as it looks on TV?

Mmmmmmm. Everytime I see that damn commercial my mouth waters :drool:. It was on about 4 times while I was working out tonight. Was it every bit as delicious as it looks on TV?

Oh it was awesome! But let me tell you, eating as much as I did tonight made me feel like complete shit, physically. It's literally been about 4 hours since I stopped and my stomach STILL hurts. You can't even enjoy it when you binge like that. Hell, it kept me in tonight and that was NOT part of the plan! Although I did get to see that Chris Rock special which was great.

I might try your idea if this way is too hard.

I just want to make sure we understand that I'm not touting some miraculous diet plan I claim to have come up with. All I was trying to say was that for those who are always hungry between meals and find themselves constantly picking at foods they shouldn't be, simply try adding some more food to some meals. Like you, so many people seem to be afraid to increase daily calories, and I was too, trust me. But there's a good chance that the "deficit" will end up being greater than had they aimed for a lower amount of calories but cheated constantly throughout the day.

Let's just put it this way. I increased my calories from March 19-April 12 (yes, I was very reluctant at first) anywhere from 300-500 per day compared to what I had tried to consume for the 2 months prior and I lost more fat in those 3 weeks than I had the whole month prior where I was consuming LESS calories (but again, with the cheating I did here and there, I can't swear by the numbers). Again, it's different for everyone, but I'm just trying to stress the point that sometimes, more is more. :tucool:

if you feel hungry or feel like cheating.. this is what i do

have some celery, i dip it in my special sauce.. water

and if i want to be really full, i'll scoop some physillium husk with my celery and pound alot of water

What is "physillium husk"?

You find celery fills you up?

'whole psyllium husks'

its a natural plant fibre imported from india.. its basically a fibre supplement

1 tbsp (5g of the seed) yields:

dietary fibre 2.7g
calcium 15mg
iron 90 mcg

it's pretty much like the best fibre supplement you can get.. taking this stuff straight up with water is NASTY.. i repeat absolutly NASTY.. i've tried mixing it with oatmeal, its not bad than.. i find if i scoop it with celery.. i can get myself like 8-12g of fibre using 2-3 sticks of celery and this stuff..

celery, aided with water is filling.

when i goto bed, since i refuse to consume dairy products and dont have any cassin protein.. i'll have celery and physillum husks before my protien shake with flax.. slow digestion alot

I'm not trying to sound preachy, but I will say what works for me: perfection. If I eat one potato chip, or one chocolate, I am reminded of how tasty they can be. It's better off that I don't ever let the armor crack.

Funny that I should come across this post this morning.
I have been really keeping to my diet plan VERY well for a good couple of months now, but last night it was my father-in-laws 80th Birthday party.
I had one or two wee nibbles from the buffet, which I wasnt overly bothered about.
But as the night went on & I drank more, I TOTALLY lost control !
I had 1 bit of birthday cake, and thought to myself " not too bad I guess, could have been worse".
But when I got home, I just about emptied the house of food !
I ate pretty much everything I could get my hands on.Stuff that I knew I shouldn't be eating, chocolate, the LOT !
I woke up this morning physically ill with over eating :(
I feel so bad today, like I have let myself down and really set myself back.
I really dont EVER want to feel like this again.
I dont know whether I should drop my cals for the coming week to try and compensate for my "night of madness".
Up until today, I never knew you could feel so bad , almost like contaminted, from eating too much !

I think thats KTs point... its a way to NOT cheat and eat potato chips (or blizzards!), but to keep eating clean
instead of shooting for 1600 cals a day and feeling hungry, eat 1800 space it right and you should be golden!
my problem is on the other side, I eat too little, but I"m never hungry (well, not never - just hungry in the morning before I work out)
I understand his point completly, and it makes a ton of sense. Why risk your great progress b/c you feel hungry, when you can slow it down ever so slightly OR even speed it up like he said happen to him - by eating MORE!
I think "more is more" is incorrect - sometimes "More is LESS!"
Good job KT.

Stanzo, right now I"m just going to regurgitate things I've read b/c I'm far from doing things right - but
A) you proabally went nuts b/c the cake spiked your blood sugar, and when it dropped, you NEEDED to eat - thats why so many diets are focused on low GI foods.
B) no, accept your binge and move on, don't try to (over)compensate for one night of badness. Use it as motivation!

Great Post!! I'm with you Karatetricker. I was reserving Saturdays as being my "cheat day", but it was really a gorge fest eating things like Taco Bell, ice cream, sweets, etc... that also carried over into Sunday. This just won't cut it. My weight loss has been slow thanks to this. I still designate Saturday as a cheat day, but still with moderation and GREAT recipe's from my cook book, Stella's Kitchen (http://www.stellaskitchen.com). I normally could do good during the week with my strict diet except at night. Nightime, for some reason, I get really hungry and want to munch constantly, but I refrain from doing so. I guess this "refraining" is what led to my gorging out on Saturday's and part of Sunday. I dunno, maybe because I needed more food in the first place and it was like my body was/is gonna get it someway even if it meant getting it from junk foods which inevitably fell on my "cheat day". Now, I add a little more to my evening meals to help with the night time hunger. I just re-adjusted my proportion's in my diet log.

Either way, the weekend gorging has stopped and I've since replaced it with moderate cheating. I make this awesome lazagna from the Stella's Kitchen cookbook that is just one of many of my cheat meals, yet it's still low fat, moderate carbs and a decent amount of protein. I still have my Chinese meal every Saturday night though. I'm severly addicted to General Tso's chicken..lol! I've also started doing cardio on the weekends, both Saturday and Sunday which helps.

I dont know whether I should drop my cals for the coming week to try and compensate for my "night of madness".

No, do NOT try and do that. All you will do is further slow your progress. One cheat day won't kill you. If anything, it helps.

My comments were not for those cheating with sweets even. My "cheating" used to be all healthy foods. In between meals I'd snack on Nat PB, Kashi, Granola, Almonds, whatever I had in my kitchen that was healthy. But by the time the day was over, I would have "snacked" on an extra 500+ calories quite often. If I had just added a 200 calorie meal in there somewhere, this constant snacking could have been prevented and if it happened each day of the week, 2100 calories could have been saved.

karatetricker, that was a good post. See, when I cheat I don't eat MORE calories, necesarily, but more unhealthy foods. Like Pizza, or cheese curls, Hot Pockets. And I only do it on Saturdays. So I dont really crave more food, but worse food. What do you think I could do about that. :confused:


P.S. - I ageee being a college student and cutting is hard. At the student union they have all these specials with burgers and fries, and pizza, and Chic Fil A and Burger King. :(

HAHAHA man,.. reading everyone's cheat meal is just AWESOMELY FUNNY, because it relates SO MUCH to me and everyone who cheats,. i know how it feels to sneer at that snack,.. and dive in and RAPE that food during the weekends MUAHAHAHhahahahHA

But for me, i cheat once in 3 weeks,(Used to cheat weekly) and my CHEAT meals are only proteins (Black pepper lamb, steak, turkey ham ommelette WHOA AWESOME) n stuff,.. so, i cheat smart so to speak.. but my cheat meals are becoming far more less satisfactory,.. because once ure used to eating clean, ull feel that all other things taste like trash,.. i cant even drink a can of coke now or even a sip !!!!,.. it tastes awful.., that includes cakces, sweets, chocs.. UGHH..psychological i guess...

ANyway, ive since revamped my diet to eating 4-5 times a day, balanced meals... so i hardly feel the need to cheat these days,.. owh well.. hope this helps someone.. :)

Black pepper lamb, steak, turkey ham ommelette

Sorry if this is sidetracking, but why is this "cheating?" I see no reason why this food can't be worked into a clean eating regiment. I have an omelette with sausage like 3 or 4 times a week for breakfast.


I think there are different kinds of "cheaters." Myself, I don't cheat because I'm hungry (hunger never really bothers me) but because I want something tasty. In that case, eating an extra couple hundred cals or celery and water ain't gonna fix it.

However, I can totally see how KT's suggestion is awesome for the other kind of cheats: the hungry snacker.