10 Ideas for Your Next Treat or Cheat Meal (2024)

FAQs

10 Ideas for Your Next Treat or Cheat Meal? ›

While a good diet is crucial for health, bending the rules on occasion probably won't hurt. A tip you can try is the 90-10 rule. "Eat a healthy diet 90% of the time and splurge 10% of the time," McManus says. "Eating three meals a day for a week means 21 total meals: avoid splurging for more than two of those meals."

While a good diet is crucial for health, bending the rules on occasion probably won't hurt. A tip you can try is the 90-10 rule. "Eat a healthy diet 90% of the time and splurge 10% of the time," McManus says. "Eating three meals a day for a week means 21 total meals: avoid splurging for more than two of those meals."

“Cheat meals” are meals that contain foods that aren't on your current diet plan or are considered indulgent with a calorie count that would throw off your plan. But the idea that a cheat meal includes unhealthy foods (like a fast-food burger or milkshake) isn't always the case. It's about what's on your health plan.

If you plan to consume a larger amount of calories, try to do it on a day you can burn them off. Nutritionists agree that you should indulge in your cravings, but if you do, do it on the day of an intense workout. Even better, choose a meal that's high in protein to rebuild muscle mass and satiate hunger.

A: An occasional cheat meal or cheat day probably won't have a detrimental impact on overall health in the long run, but when they become frequent or more "binge-like," there are undoubted consequences.

It basically means that you eat clean, whole foods 90 per cent of the time and splurge on the remaining 10 per cent. It's an eating plan that many celebrities, nutritionists and weight-loss experts rave about because, when done right, it can help you feel and look amazing without ever being denied the good stuff.

So how exactly can you use the 90/10 principle to find success in healthy eating? The 90/10 principle is when 90% of the time you follow your healthy meal plan guidelines closely, while 10% of the time you are free to loosen up and eat what you truly enjoy. Think of the 10% meals as your cheat or free meals.

According to Kersch, moderation is key with the 80-20 rule. “The goal is to eat 'healthy' foods — think nutrient-dense, high fiber, and high protein — about 80% of the time, and then allow for 'cheat meals' and treats like high fat, high sugar, high calorie the other 20% of the time,” she says.

Cheat days mean you can have pizza for breakfast, ice cream for lunch and burgers and fries for dinner! On a cheat day, you are allowed to eat whatever you want. It is possible that you may not count the calories as on a normal day.

This depends on the individual and what a regimen is, but it can vary. Some people can have cheat days once a week, others can do so once a month, while others should limit them even further. Lowe suggests once a year is good, because each day, people don't realize how many calories they are consuming.

How big should a cheat meal be? ›

As everyone's calorie intake and dietary requirements are different, there's no exact number for calorie consumption on a cheat day. However, it's recommended that you shouldn't exceed 150% of your usual calorie intake for the day.

Many people choose a weekend day to indulge in a cheat meal or cheat day because these days tend to be less structured. Dr. Sean Kandel, a board-certified internal medicine doctor, recommends one or two cheat meals per week for healthy individuals.

Cheat meals follow a similar concept but restrict you to just one meal outside of your prescribed daily diet. You could have pizza for breakfast, for example, but you'd need to eat like a regular human being the rest of the day.

Worst choice cheat day meals

Aim to avoid foods such as pizza, burger and chips from a fast food chain or Chinese takeaway. These meals are often easy to overeat and will most likely take you well over your recommended calories.

Cheat meals can be useful for fulfilling any cravings you may have during your restricted dieting and sometimes help to boost metabolism. However, don't cheat yourself by letting cheat meals get out of hand, as they can seriously undo any hard work very quickly.

In order to gain a pound of fat, you would need to add about 500 calories a day on top of your normal diet, every day, for about 7 days. This makes gaining any significant amount of fat from even the craziest all-out cheat days extremely unlikely.