It depends. :D On your age, goals, excercise program, and tolerance with how you look in the mirror.

im not talking large amounts, just "dirty" foods. theres plenty of professional body builders that do it when there not cutting for a show. but i agree with you on the age and exercise factor. as long as your steadily exercising and your metabolism is kicked into high gear and you eat that cheat meal at the proper times of the day it should be fine, that is unless your goal is to always live at say 5% body fat! (or trying to cut weight)

while were on the subject , i had my first cheat meal today since last Thursday and i tried five guys burgers n fries...


damn that was good!!!! i then lifted weights for about 45min right after though...

Ran 17.5 today in 2:46. Burned over 2000 calories. I totaled 40 miles this week. A big deal for me. But I gotta turn around and run 20 next sat. I am going to pig out today!

wow!:yes:

Weighed in at an even 207 this morning. I’m down 24.8lbs from my starting point and on track for meeting my initial weight goal.

I had a sobering thought pass through my head today. I don’t have an exercise regimen in place so I try to get it in where I can. We just stocked up on softener salt so I decided to carry the bags to the basement one at a time. I put our 18lb 6mo old in one arm and a 40lb bag of salt in the other. This was an extra 58lbs on me. I carried the weight fine but it dawned on me that the combined weight was my all-time high of 265. I can’t imagine having that weight on me again. Thoughts like these really remind me of why this needs to be a lifetime change.

Since I was so heavy when I was young I got a lot of compliments when I first got down into the 220-30 range. It was pretty easy to accept that as good normal. I carry my weight all over so it took loosing 15lbs this time around for many people to see it on me. It feels good to be getting positive reinforcement again but I’m not stopping this time. My current goal is to hit 199. After that I’ll revaluate things and make a new plan.

Thanks to all of you for contributing great info! :lateral:

That's awesome Ed. I've been enjoying the same fruits of my labor. I've had more compliments on my physique in the last 30 days than I've had in a long time. I like your talk of a lifestyle change. That's really the key.

Over the last couple months I've seen my broker walk in with fast food for breakfast multiple days. I kept telling him the same thing, " We need to talk". He came in my office last week and wanted to go to lunch and talk. I put together a document going over the basics of getting him on the road to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. I named the document, "Tim's health plan that rivals his business plan". He's a great business man that makes plenty of money. I looked him right in the face and told him that I felt he was a great business man but he's taking care of everything BUT himself. He's mid 40's, 5'9" and 238 lbs! I later found out he's diabetic. Anyway, he set a goal of losing 13 lbs in 6 weeks at lunch. I sent an email out to the entire company stating his desire and to keep him accountable. I've outlined a winning game plan for him. I hope he takes the bait and chooses to make the postive changes to his life.

One of my favorite changes in my philosophy is the joy of investing life into life. Six months ago I wouldn't have tried to change his life. Whether it works out or not, I tried....

yeah^^^^ for me whats mad it so much easier to eat better and exercise often is the results im see in the mirror and feeling, and my family and others see the change and mention it!!! and as the results progress and you see the "fruits" its get easier and i even get excited about eating clean and exercising!!! its crazy to see pics of me when i was nearing 230 and at the time i just thought i was average size now when i see them i think "damn i was fat, why didn't anyone say anything to me!" lol

Todd, I read a statistic somewhere (i cant remember the number) where if you have somebody "Encouraging" you, your chances of success are way more higher.

I do the same thing at my company, try to get everybody to eat well, including myself. We have seven employees and everyone is in their target zone for height/weight, But still, eating is what fuels us.

Remember guys, "If you've got your health, you've got your wealth", now lets build upon that...

the 5 small meals thing makes NO DIFFERENCE to your metabolism. What makes a difference is your total food consumed during the day.

It's really the difference between how much you eat versus how much you use!