Cheat Days

[IZWAR]

How often do you guys have cheat days. Right now i just had my first one in a month. My obsession with this new cut i have has made me feel super guilty with just this one cheat meal, at lunch i had a hamburger with an arepa with cheese on it. Was really the first bad meal in a whole month and thank god it was early in the day.

How much does it really show up on your body / set you back gains wise by having a cheat meal like this every so often, im just wondering the effects that it will have.

Thanks.

[Unreal]

Depends on your total diet, training, body fat, etc. If your doing an extreme diet like PSMF, or a very large caloric defecit, then a planned cheat every so often can be useful. If you are running a lower defecit of say 200-500 cals a day, and go thousands over on a cheat meal, it can really slow down progress. In the long run one bad meal will have very little effect.

[sCaRz*Of*PaiN]

What's wrong with cheat days? I'm waiting for you to say something productive.

[IZich]

How often do you guys have cheat days. Right now i just had my first one in a month. My obsession with this new cut i have has made me feel super guilty with just this one cheat meal, at lunch i had a hamburger with an arepa with cheese on it. Was really the first bad meal in a whole month and thank god it was early in the day.

How much does it really show up on your body / set you back gains wise by having a cheat meal like this every so often, im just wondering the effects that it will have.

Thanks.

Don't feel bad, IZWAR. 1 cheat day a month (and a single hamburger for a cheat meal? Trust me there's much worse to cheat with) will not set you back by much. The proportion to which you diet and cheat will be the approximate proportion of your cutting speed.

If all you had was a burger, and if you were telling the truth that it's been a month (I have no reason to doubt your credibility), then it's like barley 3 or 4% of your month's food.

No worries, just stay strong and plan ahead.

[IZWAR]

awesome responses thank you. Im not gonna stress it then at all. I just had my late night protein shake goin to bed. Im doing a full circuit tommorow and did 3 hours of jiu jitsu so im sure ill burn it off.

[piff]

If you're eating 6 meals a day, that's 42 meals a week and about 180 meals a month. A few cheat meals here and there are not going to kill your progress

[SaintGJR]

I used to eat clean 100% of the time - no cheats or anything - i realised that i was becoming a robot where i was simply sticking to eating clean foods all the time and not really enjoying anything else.

I soon realised that you have to enjoy life a little and actually live.

[Dizzee]

lol I can't believe you are stressing over one burger, I stress about alcohol but I drink like a litre of vodka when I drink. It makes me feel a but guilty for a day or two. I love my food but i've just been eating the same stuff trying to eat healthily and I am rather bored with it.

[SaintGJR]

Unless you are competing i think you just need to live a little.

It is a good job i realised this a few months back - i was just living on 100% clean foods all the time.

Having something to look forward to at the weekend is great motivation - and 2 or 3 meals out of 50 per week arent going to do too much damage.

[Rock]

Instead of doing cheatdays, wich I think is somewhat outdated.

Eat more slow carbs in a combination with something you think tastes good.

I dont think I ever will eat a hamburger again, its just such a nice feeling getting leaner, especially now that summer is coming.

[SaintGJR]

Yes that is sometimes what i do Rock.

Instead of eating junk i simply increase my cals from clean foods.

If i have been eating 3500 of clean foods during the week then i simply eat a bit more - maybe 4500-5000 just to curb my appetite.

[Dizzee]

Clean food doesn't tatse as good though.

[sCaRz*Of*PaiN]

^^

That's only if you're a crappy cook.

[Beast]

Once per week for me works well as long as I don't go to a buffet.

[Dizzee]

yeah I am a crappy cook, I bought a cookbook but it seemed to take ages for something which wasn't really filling. I love pizza but not had one since I started going the gym.

[Dizzee]

I haven't had cheese either, I love cheese on toast as well. I have done really well to avoid these. My dad is coming down next week offered to take em to a chinese all you can eat but I have had to decline. I can't wait until I am at the weight I want to be, then I can cheat sometimes like once a week.