How much damage ..?

Hi everyone,

About 3 months ago I started practicing being more health conscious - counting calories, avoiding too much fat, and increasing protein intake. I've been eating very clean except where I allow myself a cheat meal once a week (ie, ice cream, waffles, cake etc.) I also go to the gym every day, run for 15 mins (aiming to burn 200 kcal), and engage in heavy weightlifting. Recently my abs have started to become visible, and I would like them to be more defined. However, this week's cheat meal became 3 cheat meals, where I had belgian waffles on one day, cookies on a yesterday, and apple pie and cheesecake today. I feel really guilty about this. Normally on cheat days, I'd run for about an hour (hitting around 850 kcal - yesterday included). I was just wondering if that is O.K. or if I'm spiraling down a not-so-good path I know I may sound a little over dramatic, but will I lose my abs from these 3 consecutive cheat days and am I going to gain weight? In sum: How much damage have I done from these 3 naughty meals?

Sorry if this may be a silly question ... I'm really new to being a calorie counter and I would appreciate any responses :)

Thanks in advance!

(Mods: Sorry I posted this on 'Maintaining' section as well. I realized that the Weightloss boards may be more appropriate for this discussion.)

Well, there is no way 3 desserts are going to put a layer of fat over your abs instantly. If you are eating these cheat meals and then burning off calories you will not gain weight. maybe water weight but not fat. you have to choke down some major calories for an extended amount of time to gain any weight. and i doubt you will allow that to happen, just from reading this post.

Thanks for the speedy reply, Faith, and for reassuring me that I won't become an elephant tomorrow morning. I tend to be super neurotic and paranoid about all the things I engage in. Once in a while I need a reminder that I don't need to be so hard on myself to get where I want.

On a side note, I'd just like to comment on how supportive the community on calorie-count is.

you're spiraling down a not so good path in terms of your mentality about the entire thing, if you burned 850 calories running to account for the desserts that you ate you are completely fine and i wouldn't even consider that a "cheat day" because your caloric expenditure increased to accommodate the increased calories. regardless though, you have to be able to have the occassional treat or even a treat daily without freaking out.

a couple cookies hardly constitutes a "cheat meal" and can be incorporated into your diet every day if you wanted to have them daily. try not to use compensatory behaviors that are extreme when you feel bad about eating something. food is fuel and ultimately food is not inherently "good" or "bad" it becomes good and bad when we attach that label to it and deem them off limits.

3 cheat meals with the things you described probably totaled less than an additional 3500 calories total, way less in fact...unless you polished off 3 belgian waffles with tons of syrup and huge pieces of cake. so you "gained" less than a pound regardless of what the scale tells you, try not to weigh yourself and move on!! congrats on the abs!! many people can lose tons of weight and never achieve the stomach they want!!

I'd say that if it's an isolated, one-time-only thing, don't worry about it.  As you've discovered, just work harder to account for it.  But the most important thing is to not let yourself do that again! :)

I'm personally not a fan of "cheat meals," but everyone is at a different level with different goals.  The big concern is that if you tell yourself that three cheat meals is okay if you run just a bit more, you might relax and allow 4, then 5 every week.  The worry is that eventually, it gets to a point where your body simply can't exert the effort to account for all those extra calories and fat grams anymore.

An extra pound or two won't be noticeable anywhere but on the scale, so if you know that you've slipped during the week, stay off the scale and remind yourself to push yourself the following week.  That way, you don't get discouraged when you see the numbers wavering between a couple of pounds.  Get back on the scale when you feel that you've gotten yourself back on track.

Good luck!