View Full Version : Cheat Meals and Weight Loss.
Hi guys, I'd like to hear your opinions on cheat meals, when to use them and what to use (if anything?)
My dilemma is, I started my real first cut a week ago today, i've lost 3.5lbs in the first week. Is that normal?
Also, I was planning to have a cheat meal on saturday, is this counter productive to my progress?
Heres my diet, tell me what you guys think, all measurements of carbs are dry.
I take cuts 20 mins before my first meal.
1)75g oats, banana, protein shake, pak, EFA's, Omega-3
2)8 oz chicken, 150g sweet potato
3)8oz tuna, handful almonds
4)8oz lean beef, 150g sweet potato
5) PWO shake = 55g protein, 50g dextrose, 5g creatine
6)125g chicken, 125g beef, 75g brown rice
7)150g cottage cheese.
Im 205 lbs at around 12-13% bodyfat.
Any feedback/criticism is welcome, cheers guys.
Big Byrd
09-06-11, 7:54 pm
faqst and early rapid weight loss is usually due to water from lower carbs or sodium or processed foods. There is an article on the home page about cheat meals right now. I would not recomend a cheat meal for at least the first few weeks of a diet. ive been since my aug 14 without a cheat, and that was just a slice of my birthday cake. dont have any planned for next 6 weeks either
MRmichael.hooker
09-06-11, 8:21 pm
faqst and early rapid weight loss is usually due to water from lower carbs or sodium or processed foods. There is an article on the home page about cheat meals right now. I would not recomend a cheat meal for at least the first few weeks of a diet.
x2. Once you get rolling in your diet, then a cheat meal can be very benefical for your metabolism and mental state. But id give it a few weeks to get your cut in high gear first
pushin weight
09-07-11, 7:50 am
At first glance i would assume that was a bulking diet with the amount of carbs your consuming, seems like a lot of carbs for a cut.
At first glance i would assume that was a bulking diet with the amount of carbs your consuming, seems like a lot of carbs for a cut.
Thanks guys for all the good advice, ill be avoiding a cheat meal whilst watching the olympia on saturday!
Pushin Weight, this is nothing like the diet I used for bulking, it has a hell of a let carbs and I'm losing weight so its ok, right?
Aggression
09-07-11, 8:50 am
As long as you're losing weight right now, you're good. As far as cheat meals go, stay away for a while. I dieted for 18 straight weeks leading up to my show without a cheat meal. During my last diet, I had one every Sunday, but that wasn't until I was several weeks into the diet.
Just keep eating clean, bro.
As long as you're losing weight right now, you're good. As far as cheat meals go, stay away for a while. I dieted for 18 straight weeks leading up to my show without a cheat meal. During my last diet, I had one every Sunday, but that wasn't until I was several weeks into the diet.
Just keep eating clean, bro.
Cheerrs for the advice Aggression. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do to the diet if the resultts taper off?
Aggression
09-07-11, 9:55 am
Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do to the diet if the resultts taper off?
Tweak the diet. You won't be able to follow that EXACT diet all the way through. Its impossible. Just as you add calories to keep gaining, you need to remove calories to keep dropping. So if you stall out for 2-3 weeks where you lose only a pound or so in that time, then it means you need to drop some carbs. Or make other tweaks; lower carbs, remove red meat, cut out dairy, increase cardio (frequency and/or duration). Its all fair game, bro.
PORTERHOUSE
09-07-11, 11:38 am
I always wait until at least week two to have a cheat meal, then I have one every week, on saturday night. I am fortunate enough that I can eat whatever I want for these cheat meals and still drop weight, but not everyone can do that. I'll do shit like eat a lbs cheeseburger, fries, and a huge homemade sundae, stuff like that. It superfluous, really, but I can do it, so I do.
A lot of times on Saturdays I'll cheat the entire day, but clean, then finish off with my last meal being ridiculous.
Big Byrd
09-07-11, 12:15 pm
cheat meals are an excuse to eat like garbage and still be able to feel good about blowin all ur hard work. There are planned refeeds which help stimulate metabolism, but it is planned, not cheat, and its with quality food and nutrients, not shit. Everyone eventually succumbs to a bad meal, but dont use a refeed as an excuse to say eating like shit is ok or good for you.. my 2 cents for its worth.
pushin weight
09-07-11, 12:35 pm
cheat meals are an excuse to eat like garbage and still be able to feel good about blowin all ur hard work. There are planned refeeds which help stimulate metabolism, but it is planned, not cheat, and its with quality food and nutrients, not shit. Everyone eventually succumbs to a bad meal, but dont use a refeed as an excuse to say eating like shit is ok or good for you.. my 2 cents for its worth.
x2
C.Coronato
09-07-11, 2:01 pm
The diet looks like it is on track, but that will also depend from person to person. If you are losing weight, then your doing ok. As far as cheat meals, i believe i had two in the 18 weeks of my contest prep, while others have them every week. Some people can benefit from them, so can't. Are you cutting for a show? Or just to lose weight? If its for a show, and you have a set date in mind, I would be more strict. If it is just to lose weight, and be healthy, then enjoy some food once in a while. The latter is more of a lifestyle change, but at the same time you can not drive yourself crazy.
Hope that helps some bro.
violator
09-07-11, 2:03 pm
hey bro, others have given u some good advice...heres my few pennies...
1. first off, hows ur bowel movements? i ask, because i see very little fiber in your diet... either add in some fibrous veg, or supplement with something like psyllium husk
2. the reason cheat meals are used is because in a caloric deficit, the hormone leptin drops off sharply after around 2 weeks and continues to decline. the rate of its decline varies from person to person. A sudden caloric increase(cheat meal) restores this hormone, which is KEY to your fatloss progress...
3. there are various ways to cheat or refeed the key is to pick a method that works FOR YOU,,,, in other words, if you are a guy that needs to eat a whole meal of shit, fast food etc because thats what ur body craves, try it out that way.... if you can eat clean and prefer that, then eat a nice home cooked meal. you could consider this a 'cheat meal' eaither way, as long as its calorically dense and it will usually have all 3 macros in it, it is usually the last meal of the day & then u jump back on ur diet the next day.
4. refeeding is more of an art, once again, u can do it with trash, or with clean food... what ever you PREFER... to refeed, you start at the beginning of the day, rather than the end. for your first 2 meals you pick a certain amount of carbs(this varies again from person to person...if were u id start at 400gs of carbs) aim for no fat or as little as possible with these meals, dont be as concerned with protein either
check ur weight before the refeed and mark it down. then eat ur first & second meals 2 hours apart, then jump right back on ur diet & eat the remaining 4 meals or 5 of the day...
5. with both startegies you will notice your weight in the AM the next day gain, in some cases, cats gain up to 8lbs overnight...this is all water, dont worry about it.
6. during the week, ur weight must come back down under the baseline weight u took before ur cheat or refeed... if it doesnt, then u overdid the meal... if u feel super depleted or too tired by the end of the week, u didnt cheat enough.
7. as you get leaner, you will need to increase the size of the cheat meal, or extend the refeed window by another meal...
8. using either of these strategies will ramp up metabolisim, increase leptin output and provide you with greater energy for your workouts after the cheat/ refeed... so the day after ur cheat/ refeed, do a bodypart that is yourn strongest... like legs for example.... it would suck to get to the end of the week and do a leg workout with little to no energy right?
personally i find the refeed strategy works best for me, and i like the way it can be employed with any dieting strategy, keto, low carb, traditional etc....
if you wanna check out a cool seminar on refeeding by Ken 'skip' hill... u can download it here:
http://intensemuscle.com/showthread.php?t=43449 (its chapters 11 & 12...priceless info in it & for free!)
hope that helps bro. good luck with your diet!
The diet looks like it is on track, but that will also depend from person to person. If you are losing weight, then your doing ok. As far as cheat meals, i believe i had two in the 18 weeks of my contest prep, while others have them every week. Some people can benefit from them, so can't. Are you cutting for a show? Or just to lose weight? If its for a show, and you have a set date in mind, I would be more strict. If it is just to lose weight, and be healthy, then enjoy some food once in a while. The latter is more of a lifestyle change, but at the same time you can not drive yourself crazy.
Hope that helps some bro.
This isn't for a show bro, I'm actually planning to do my first show a year from now. On October 25th I'm having a personal training session with Dorian Yates, so I'm looking to gett down to 9% body fat again for that.
hey bro, others have given u some good advice...heres my few pennies...
1. first off, hows ur bowel movements? i ask, because i see very little fiber in your diet... either add in some fibrous veg, or supplement with something like psyllium husk
2. the reason cheat meals are used is because in a caloric deficit, the hormone leptin drops off sharply after around 2 weeks and continues to decline. the rate of its decline varies from person to person. A sudden caloric increase(cheat meal) restores this hormone, which is KEY to your fatloss progress...
3. there are various ways to cheat or refeed the key is to pick a method that works FOR YOU,,,, in other words, if you are a guy that needs to eat a whole meal of shit, fast food etc because thats what ur body craves, try it out that way.... if you can eat clean and prefer that, then eat a nice home cooked meal. you could consider this a 'cheat meal' eaither way, as long as its calorically dense and it will usually have all 3 macros in it, it is usually the last meal of the day & then u jump back on ur diet the next day.
4. refeeding is more of an art, once again, u can do it with trash, or with clean food... what ever you PREFER... to refeed, you start at the beginning of the day, rather than the end. for your first 2 meals you pick a certain amount of carbs(this varies again from person to person...if were u id start at 400gs of carbs) aim for no fat or as little as possible with these meals, dont be as concerned with protein either
check ur weight before the refeed and mark it down. then eat ur first & second meals 2 hours apart, then jump right back on ur diet & eat the remaining 4 meals or 5 of the day...
5. with both startegies you will notice your weight in the AM the next day gain, in some cases, cats gain up to 8lbs overnight...this is all water, dont worry about it.
6. during the week, ur weight must come back down under the baseline weight u took before ur cheat or refeed... if it doesnt, then u overdid the meal... if u feel super depleted or too tired by the end of the week, u didnt cheat enough.
7. as you get leaner, you will need to increase the size of the cheat meal, or extend the refeed window by another meal...
8. using either of these strategies will ramp up metabolisim, increase leptin output and provide you with greater energy for your workouts after the cheat/ refeed... so the day after ur cheat/ refeed, do a bodypart that is yourn strongest... like legs for example.... it would suck to get to the end of the week and do a leg workout with little to no energy right?
personally i find the refeed strategy works best for me, and i like the way it can be employed with any dieting strategy, keto, low carb, traditional etc....
if you wanna check out a cool seminar on refeeding by Ken 'skip' hill... u can download it here:
http://intensemuscle.com/showthread.php?t=43449 (its chapters 11 & 12...priceless info in it & for free!)
hope that helps bro. good luck with your diet!
This was extremely helpful bro thanks a lot. I forgot to mention in my diet that with each whole meal (not breakfast) I'm having 100g of green veggies.
PORTERHOUSE
09-07-11, 2:32 pm
cheat meals are an excuse to eat like garbage and still be able to feel good about blowin all ur hard work. There are planned refeeds which help stimulate metabolism, but it is planned, not cheat, and its with quality food and nutrients, not shit. Everyone eventually succumbs to a bad meal, but dont use a refeed as an excuse to say eating like shit is ok or good for you.. my 2 cents for its worth.
To each is own, but I have been able to get down in the 4-5% range cheating my nuts off. I am not of the belief that you can blow all your hard work on one meal a week, but everybody is different so I dunno. IMO, I feel sorry for the guys who don't cut loose.
Back To Basics
09-08-11, 5:56 am
All you need to do is listen to your body, if your cheat day comes and your still feeling awesome - You got good energy, weight is coming down, retaining strength. I see no reason to cheat, but if you just finished a hard ass session - you did your cardio, you ate another meal and you still be very depleted than it's time to eat up and eat well!
I don't like the idea of just cheating for the sake of eating junk food, if you feel fine keep going if your ass is depleted and depleted properly not just tired from dieting than you know what to do.
Big Byrd
09-08-11, 10:46 am
To each is own, but I have been able to get down in the 4-5% range cheating my nuts off. I am not of the belief that you can blow all your hard work on one meal a week, but everybody is different so I dunno. IMO, I feel sorry for the guys who don't cut loose.
i didnt say it couldnt be done. i said its used an excuse to eat like shit and that people mistakenly convince themselves its good for them. Will it blow your hard work cheating your nuts off? Maybe not if your satisfied w less than 100%. If cheating ur nuts off causes u to consume and thus store extra calories that have to be burnt off u r just creating more work for yourself and impeding ur results. Nor do i think its healthy to eat all that shit.
Big Byrd
09-08-11, 10:47 am
but dont get me wrong, i love my ice cream, but not when im dieting and only in moderation.
Thanks for all the advice guys.
I'm having a little cheat whilst watching the Olympia with my mates this saturday, but smashing out some cardio the next morning.
I'm currently down 5lbs 8 days into my cut. Is this normal because of water, sodium etc?
violator
09-08-11, 5:09 pm
I'm currently down 5lbs 8 days into my cut. Is this normal because of water, sodium etc?
yes.
yes.
Thanks for the peace of mind mate.
Big Byrd
09-09-11, 12:09 pm
yes.
yes... and good work.
Also remember, if u do the refeed like everyone is talking about, u will put on a boat load of water weight! not uncommon to gain 10 or more pounds. It all comes back off usually by the end of the week and u will weigh less than u did with cheat, but u will probably look worse for a few days right afterwards. if u are really lean, it doesnt mess w heads as much, but if u r over 10%, it may mess w ur mind and u might feel fatter than when u started. just a mental aspect noone mentioned to keep in mind when deciding to refeed w clean food or junk.
yes... and good work.
Also remember, if u do the refeed like everyone is talking about, u will put on a boat load of water weight! not uncommon to gain 10 or more pounds. It all comes back off usually by the end of the week and u will weigh less than u did with cheat, but u will probably look worse for a few days right afterwards. if u are really lean, it doesnt mess w heads as much, but if u r over 10%, it may mess w ur mind and u might feel fatter than when u started. just a mental aspect noone mentioned to keep in mind when deciding to refeed w clean food or junk.
Thanks for the info bro! Refeeding tomorrow night and then smashing the cardio the next morning, hopefully all will be well.
Cheers mate
I'm feeling seriously depleted, all I can think about is carbs and I've been dreaming that I'm eating pizza and ruining my diet, lol.
So definitely refeeding tonight, with some good old english extra large fish and chips.
PORTERHOUSE
09-10-11, 8:11 am
Im doing a cheat meal tonight, what do you guys think, eat an entire xl pizza, or a couple burgers and fries?? Ice cream? cookies? schwing!
Im doing a cheat meal tonight, what do you guys think, eat an entire xl pizza, or a couple burgers and fries?? Ice cream? cookies? schwing!
All of them, haha.
PORTERHOUSE
09-10-11, 1:09 pm
All of them, haha.
haha, honestly, I bet I could. I am capable of eating enormous quantities of food, to the point that I have considered being a competitive eater, if only it weren't so dumb.
PORTERHOUSE
09-10-11, 1:25 pm
i didnt say it couldnt be done. i said its used an excuse to eat like shit and that people mistakenly convince themselves its good for them. Will it blow your hard work cheating your nuts off? Maybe not if your satisfied w less than 100%. If cheating ur nuts off causes u to consume and thus store extra calories that have to be burnt off u r just creating more work for yourself and impeding ur results. Nor do i think its healthy to eat all that shit.
well see, I wouldn't say that I accept less than 100% because I eat junk food, at 4-5% heading into the offseason, I don't want anything else. I would say it more to the effect of that I have found a way of dieting down that works great for me, and allows some freedoms which are important to me. Saying people are accepting less than 100% because they don't see things your way, or don't follow your exact methods is a BS move, there's plenty of BB'ers out there that cheat worse than me, I was just talking about this with Vinny G on the other site, he cheats all day on Sundays. IMO, most guys can get away with more than they think they can, they're just too afraid to try.
And no, I don't think its "good" for me (it is mentally though!), but I get blood work done every couple months and all my numbers are fine, so until I set off some type of alarm, I'm going to be stuffing my face, being ripped and of course, enjoying my 100% commitment. Just as you should expect to work for a company that has a good work/life balance, you should be able to build a training/diet regimen that has a good bb/life balance. For me, that balance includes junk food, and If I can find a way to include it and still get where I want to go, then that's what I'm going to do. If adding an extra carrot to an 8oz piece of chicken is someone's idea of a cheat meal, than that's fine, and I'm not going to look down on them for it, but it's not for me.
It is refreshing to talk to a PL who gives a shit about diet though, I know too many dudes that call themselves PL's just so they can go to KFC post workout.
haha, honestly, I bet I could. I am capable of eating enormous quantities of food, to the point that I have considered being a competitive eater, if only it weren't so dumb.
That's pretty cool man, i'm not so good at eating, but go for it!
My cheat is around half an hour, going down to the local to get some fresh fish and chips, lovely! Can't wait haha.
PORTERHOUSE
09-10-11, 1:51 pm
That's pretty cool man, i'm not so good at eating, but go for it!
My cheat is around half an hour, going down to the local to get some fresh fish and chips, lovely! Can't wait haha.
haha thats funny, I was about to say my dad is still hooked on fish and chips from when we lived in England way back when, but then I saw you were from England.
haha thats funny, I was about to say my dad is still hooked on fish and chips from when we lived in England way back when, but then I saw you were from England.
Yes mate! Where abouts in England did you live?
PORTERHOUSE
09-10-11, 5:02 pm
Yes mate! Where abouts in England did you live?
I was really young at the time so unfortunately I don't remember it all too well. My dad lived there for 4 or 5 years and also in Ireland for 4 or 5 years, but me personally, I was there for only about a year, maybe 2. We lived outside of Birmingham, and I believe it was called Sutton Coldfield... I'll have to double check that, but it sounds right.
I still remember visiting Buckingham palace though, and the royal guards hats haha! That kind of thing sticks with an 4 year old American I guess.
I'de love to go back someday and tour Europe. I have been to all these places over there like Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Venice, etc... but I don't remember a damn thing about it, it's not fair. I still have a pair of wooden shoes from the Netherlands haha.
I was really young at the time so unfortunately I don't remember it all too well. My dad lived there for 4 or 5 years and also in Ireland for 4 or 5 years, but me personally, I was there for only about a year, maybe 2. We lived outside of Birmingham, and I believe it was called Sutton Coldfield... I'll have to double check that, but it sounds right.
I still remember visiting Buckingham palace though, and the royal guards hats haha! That kind of thing sticks with an 4 year old American I guess.
I'de love to go back someday and tour Europe. I have been to all these places over there like Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Venice, etc... but I don't remember a damn thing about it, it's not fair. I still have a pair of wooden shoes from the Netherlands haha.
I live just outside of Birmingham in a town called Northampton so can't have been far off! If you ever go back, definitely check out temple gym in birmingham!
And I've driven through Sutton Coldfield before, so you are correct, lol