cutting, cheat meals/days

[big_tone]

Say if we dieted 6 out of the 7 days in the week being in a deficit of about 1000 calories per day over those 6 days, our bodies seems to drop "EXACTLY" 1.5-2 lbs of fat per week as 2lbs= about 6-7000 calories. On the 7th day though, when we choose to have a cheat day where we probably eat about 2000-4000 calories "MORE" then our maitenance it seems we don't "EXACTLY" gain about an approximately 1lb fat gain as 1lb= 3500 calories...


Based on experience, I think on days when we eat a "deficit" of 1000 calories per day we lose exactly 1000 calories of FAT on that day but when we eat OVER 1000 calories on one day ONCE per week we don't store exactly 1000 calories as excess adispose tissue. strange huh??? hehe









if we calculate it like this way where 6 days of strict dieting +(-1 cheat day)= 5 dieting days, we are actually only dieting 5 out the 7 days in the week~ lol, its even less if the one CHEAT day is "real real" big..... BUT, since we don't store all the EXCESS or MOST of the calories as fat on our CHEAT days, that means it still looks like our 6 diet days still adds up to about 2lbs of fat in that week where as the 7th day we should just call it a maitenance day(no fat loss, no fat storage day) even though we eat "WAY WAY" over our maitenance.









6 days of strict dieting(-7000 calories, 2lb fat) - 1 cheat day(+3500 calories over MAITENANCE) should= only about 1lb of fat loss per week!!!

but since our body don't store most of those EXCESS 3500 calories of fat on cheat days, looks like we're still gonna lose 2lbs week from the 6 days of DIETING. Our body is a strange machine isn't it huh?



Someone asked the same question here:
http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/s...25635:scratch:

[Kärnfysikern]

I have noticed though that the longer you have been dieting. The more "harm" the cheat day does. Atleast for me. In the begining I can get away with them. But after 12-13 weeks it starts to slow my fatloss.

I look at it like this.

The body doesnt sit idle for 24 hours and then say "hmm we had this and this much of this and that" and burn or store after that point.

It checks the status of the body constantly. When there is a excess it tries to store it, when there is a deficit it burns stored kcal.
This storage ability is more limited than the ability to burn. So eating 4000kcal over break even on a cheat day will flood the body over the storage rate limit, so it cant possibly store it all. It will however store the max it can store during those hours eating.

The body burns stored energy whenever it has to. But storing excess energy is a more complicated process.

[big_tone]

I have noticed though that the longer you have been dieting. The more "harm" the cheat day does. Atleast for me. In the begining I can get away with them. But after 12-13 weeks it starts to slow my fatloss.

I look at it like this.

The body doesnt sit idle for 24 hours and then say "hmm we had this and this much of this and that" and burn or store after that point.

It checks the status of the body constantly. When there is a excess it tries to store it, when there is a deficit it burns stored kcal.
This storage ability is more limited than the ability to burn. So eating 4000kcal over break even on a cheat day will flood the body over the storage rate limit, so it cant possibly store it all. It will however store the max it can store during those hours eating.

The body burns stored energy whenever it has to. But storing excess energy is a more complicated process.

wow, great answer bro.


say if we ate 4000 calories over maitenance in ONE DAY though, how many calories do you think will go to fat-storage saying that you are a mesomorph to a endomorph physique at about 12-17% bodyfat? Heard the leaner you are, the body tends to store excess calories less as bodyfat.

[Kärnfysikern]

to be honest bro I dont have the slighest clue When you have been dieting for a few weeks dont do a cheat day one week and se how that effects your weightloss.

For me it can make one ib/week difference.

[yodaddy]

this is a great post but i have another question...on cheat days i eat maddd amounts.........do u thikn it would be better for the day after the cheat day which is monday for me...to eat less that day because sometiems i still feel full from sunday and i dont wana eat all day...?...

[Kärnfysikern]

no you should eat like any regular cutting day. Eating to little the day after a cheat day will just be catabolic and it wont make up for the cheat the day before.

I agree though that the day after a cheat day I wake upp still feeling full but the cardio usualy takes care of that.

[Giantz11]

I believe that the further you progress in a diet, the more cheating becomes a need. As you diet thyroid function will slowly taper down as well several other important hormones. It is immpearitve to have a cheat day the longer you have been dieting. Now Johan could be saying it sets him back because his cheats are an all out gorgr fest. But a cheat day should revolve around carbs and should basically be considered a carb up day. This does not mean go nuts on Pizza, Burgers, Ice Cream etc....

[novastepp]

I have noticed though that the longer you have been dieting. The more "harm" the cheat day does. Atleast for me. In the begining I can get away with them. But after 12-13 weeks it starts to slow my fatloss.

I look at it like this.

The body doesnt sit idle for 24 hours and then say "hmm we had this and this much of this and that" and burn or store after that point.

It checks the status of the body constantly. When there is a excess it tries to store it, when there is a deficit it burns stored kcal.
This storage ability is more limited than the ability to burn. So eating 4000kcal over break even on a cheat day will flood the body over the storage rate limit, so it cant possibly store it all. It will however store the max it can store during those hours eating.

The body burns stored energy whenever it has to. But storing excess energy is a more complicated process.

so based on your comment that a cheat day does more harm...do you think they are necessary at all? would it be a positive to never have one? i think i could go a few weeks at least...without a cheat day. maybe a meal every couple of weeks if i go out, but it's still relatively clean...so is it necessarily needed at all?

[Giantz11]

so based on your comment that a cheat day does more harm...do you think they are necessary at all? would it be a positive to never have one? i think i could go a few weeks at least...without a cheat day. maybe a meal every couple of weeks if i go out, but it's still relatively clean...so is it necessarily needed at all?

Yes it is. You need to stimulate your thyroid after a while. Constant Dieting is not what the body wants and it will fight you. Now if you are doing an 8-10 week cut, thne you won't need to more than say 1-3 times or so. Any longer and you will need to have a few.

[Kärnfysikern]

Now Johan could be saying it sets him back because his cheats are an all out gorgr fest. But a cheat day should revolve around carbs and should basically be considered a carb up day. This does not mean go nuts on Pizza, Burgers, Ice Cream etc....

Bingo. When I cheat I cheat all out. I stuff myself with so much candy, pizza, burgers and shit that I cant move

[Kärnfysikern]

I believe that the further you progress in a diet, the more cheating becomes a need. As you diet thyroid function will slowly taper down as well several other important hormones.

But does one cheat day realy make a difference in thyroid output over the entire week or is it just a transient peak in production? I have always been to lasy to look that up so Im hoping you know

[big_tone]

Bingo. When I cheat I cheat all out. I stuff myself with so much candy, pizza, burgers and shit that I cant move

I never really crave stuff like pizza, wings, and fatty stuff, etc. Just sometimes.


it's the pastries, white bread, and chinese buns that get me. When i cheat with these, I spread all these processed carbs all throughout my sunday cheat days with my regular 5-6 protein meals; i eat the protein to make me full. lol


My maitenance is 3300 calories and I eat about 4800 calories on my cheat days but i never seem to get any fatter the next morning. 1500 calories over maitence is 1/2 a POUND, but i know my body doesn't have the capability to store all that as fat! probably ONLY 2-500 calories on that day is stored as fat.




on cheat days, I still keep track of my calories while eating all the foods i crave.


For example:

breakfast: 6 slices of white-bread, 2 chinese buns(called bao), 2 cinnamon roll, 1 scoop of whey

calories:1200

snack 1: 6 slices of white-raisin bread or 2 cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs. SOMETIMES, a big MAC

calories: 800

lunch: (usually eat out) chinese food(dim sum or usually fried noodles and rice) or fast-food burgers

calories: 1200


snack 2: 3 donuts or 2 slices of pizza with a scoop of whey. and again, sometimes burgers or wings

calories: 700


dinner: steaks, fries, pasta or few slices of pizza

calories: 800



TOTALS: 4700 CALORIES!


I try to replace all my healthy carbs with the dirty yummy processed sugary that usually sometimes always contain the same or near the calorie value. I throw stuff like pizza, wings, fries, burgers in place of donuts, etc. ONLY when i crave it.

[Giantz11]

But does one cheat day realy make a difference in thyroid output over the entire week or is it just a transient peak in production? I have always been to lasy to look that up so Im hoping you know

Yes it does, I'll pull up a study of what carbs can do for your thyroid. But lets not forget insulin and Leptin. Leptin being the most important hormone during dieting, insulin acts much in the same way as Leptin in the CNS. So boostin Insulin is of great benefit.

[taiboxa]

Yes it does, I'll pull up a study of what carbs can do for your thyroid. But lets not forget insulin and Leptin. Leptin being the most important hormone during dieting, insulin acts much in the same way as Leptin in the CNS. So boostin Insulin is of great benefit.

yep so true right there.