a cheat meal is a food you love once a week or less: one serving without counting calories, and your normal plan the next morning. It won't stall weight loss if it fits into your weekly deficit: at 500 calories a day, that's 3,500 calories a week. Two slices of a 12-inch (30 cm) pizza, a quarter of the pie, come to about 460 calories, close to an ordinary dinner. A whole pizza with a cola adds 1,500 calories on top of a normal dinner and takes 43% of the weekly deficit: too much. Our guideline is no more than a third: about 1,700 calories for the whole dinner.
Cheat meal benefits for weight loss and why a diet is easier to stick to
The main benefit of a cheat meal is psychological: fat loss comes from your weekly deficit, and an off-plan dinner, planned in advance, can help you stay on the diet.
In 2016 Rita Coelho do Vale and colleagues from Portugal and the Netherlands tested this on 36 dieting university students and staff. For two weeks, one group ate the same way every day; the other had one planned day a week when they could eat more, at the same weekly calorie total. Both groups lost the same weight, but only the second kept its self-control and drive to continue.
In Davoodi's 2014 study from Iran, 74 women with excess weight spent six weeks either on an "11 days of restriction, 3 days of free eating" schedule or simply cutting calories, and lost weight equally. Hunger eased by weeks 3–4, and satisfaction with the diet rose in both groups, with no difference between them. 15.7% of the women with free days dropped out versus 36.8% on strict restriction, but their calories were also cut less: 1,365 a day against 1,186. The authors admit this may be why.
Westenhoefer's 1999 analysis of questionnaires from 54,517 people in a weight-loss program points the same way, though it didn't study cheat meals. Strict bans went with frequent binges; flexible control, with rare binges and successful weight loss over a year. A cheat meal can add flexibility if it's planned ahead. If it stays a "permitted forbidden food", it's closer to rigid rules.
Is a cheat meal bad: metabolism myths and the risk of bingeing
Most of the debate over cheat meal pros and cons is about metabolism and the mind. You'll often hear that a cheat meal revs up metabolism and suits everyone. Research supports neither claim.
The metabolism myth. The usual reference is Dirlewanger's 2000 experiment. Ten lean women overate carbs for three days: daily energy expenditure rose by 7%, and leptin, a hormone made by fat tissue, by 28%. Resting metabolism didn't change, and overeating fat changed nothing. If you burn 2,000 calories a day, 7% is about 140 calories. The most common cheat meal among young Canadians in Ganson's 2022 survey is 1,000–1,499 calories, 7–10 times more.
The risk of overeating. That survey covered 2,717 people aged 16–30. In the past year 60.9% of men and 53.7% of women had cheat meals, on average more than once a week, and more often showed signs of eating disorders, including binge eating.
Tsang's 2025 review of eight cheat meal studies draws the line here: planned as part of the diet, a cheat meal may reduce hunger, though data are scarce; framed as breaking the rules or a reward for a week of bans, it's linked to signs of eating disorders. The riskiest cheat meal is the one you wait for like a rescue.
How to do a cheat meal: 6 rules
- Plan it 2–3 days ahead. Pick the day and the dish in advance. Overeating on impulse and calling it a cheat meal later is a slip.
- One meal. Dinner over, cheat meal over. Eating freely all weekend turns it into two cheat days.
- Eat normally during the day, with protein. Go hungry to "save room" for the evening, and two slices of pizza become six.
- One plate. Serve your portion; put the rest away or share it.
- Eat slowly, phone away. A cheat meal is about the taste, so notice it.
- Next morning, a normal breakfast. An omelet, a slice of bread, vegetables and coffee, like any other day. No detox day, fasting or penalty workout: the extra water leaves on its own within a few normal days.
How often should you have a cheat meal when losing weight
With a moderate deficit of about 500 calories a day, once a week. With a small deficit, or only a few pounds left to lose, every two weeks or with a smaller portion. Our guideline: one cheat meal takes no more than a third of the weekly deficit (our calculation, not an official standard). Example: maintenance of 2,300 calories, an intake of 1,800 and a usual 550-calorie dinner.
| Cheat meal | Over plan, calories | Weekly deficit left, calories |
|---|---|---|
| No cheat meal | 0 | 3,500 (100%) |
| Once a week: half a 12-inch (30 cm) pizza | +370 | 3,130 (89%) |
| Once a week: a whole pizza and a 0.5 L (17 oz) cola | +1,510 | 1,990 (57%) |
| Once a week: a cheat day | +2,180 | 1,320 (38%) |
| Twice a week: a whole pizza and a cola | +3,020 | 480 (14%) |
Approximate values, calories per USDA FoodData Central. Cheat day: pancakes for breakfast, pizza with a cola and two slices of cake.
Half a pizza fits the guideline easily; a whole pizza with a cola doesn't. At a 300-calorie daily deficit, the same pizza and cola leave 590 of 2,100 calories, under a third of your result. And watch weekends: eating without counting every Saturday and Sunday makes two cheat days a week, whatever you call them.
Find your maintenance with the calorie calculator; choosing a deficit without constant bans is covered in a calorie deficit that works.
Weight gain after a cheat meal: why the scale goes up and when it comes back down
The next morning the scale shows 1–2 kg (2–4 lb) more, but only zero to 130 g (4.6 oz) of that is fat. The rest is water and undigested food:
- Glycogen. Carbs stored in your muscles and liver hold water. Muscle biopsies from 9 trained people (Fernández-Elías, 2015) show about 3 g of water per gram of glycogen: 100 g of glycogen is about 400 g (14 oz) on the scale.
- Salt. Until your kidneys clear the extra sodium, your body holds water: by our calculation, up to 0.12 L (about 4 fl oz) per extra gram of salt.
- Food in your gut. A big dinner has weight until it's digested.
Sushi shows this best. 24 pieces of salmon and California rolls with soy sauce come to about 730 calories: on a deficit that's close to a normal day, so no fat is stored. But they contain about 13.8 g of salt, nine times a normal dinner's 1.5 g, so next morning the scale can read up to 1.8 kg (4 lb) higher: up to 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) of water from salt and up to 0.3 kg (0.7 lb) from glycogen. After a whole pizza with a cola it's up to 1.9 kg (4.2 lb), of which no more than 130 g (4.6 oz) is fat.
The water goes within days. In Orsama's 2014 study, 80 adults weighed themselves at home 4,657 times: weight rose from Saturday, peaked on Sunday and Monday and fell from Tuesday, fastest in those losing weight. Judge your weight after 3–5 normal days. For other reasons the scale jumps, see why your weight fluctuates.
weigh yourself at the same time each morning on an empty stomach, and compare this week's average with last week's. If it's going down, the cheat meal isn't in your way.
Cheat meal vs cheat day: what's the difference
What is a cheat meal, and what is a cheat day? Tsang's 2025 review defines a cheat meal as one off-plan meal with no calorie target, and a cheat day as a whole day eaten that way. In our example, a cheat day of pancakes, pizza with a cola and cake adds 2,180 calories to the planned day and takes 62% of the weekly deficit; half a pizza for dinner takes 11%.
A refeed gets confused with both: 1–3 days at maintenance or slightly above, usually through carbs and to set numbers, used on a long cut.
Who shouldn't have a cheat meal: health conditions to check first
Check with your doctor first if you have:
- an eating disorder now or in the past, or binge episodes. An off-plan meal can set off a new episode. Warning signs: you count the days to your cheat meal, eat until you feel sick or eat in secret, then "punish" yourself with fasting or workouts. See a psychotherapist about this;
- diabetes, especially on insulin or glucose-lowering pills. A big carb-heavy dinner sharply raises blood sugar. Whether you can have one is your endocrinologist's call;
- high blood pressure, or kidney or heart disease with swelling. A salty dinner holds water: 24 pieces of sushi with soy sauce contain almost 14 g of salt;
- pancreatitis, gallstones, gastritis or an ulcer. A large fatty meal can trigger a flare-up, so clear such dinners with a gastroenterologist;
- pregnancy, or a therapeutic diet prescribed by a doctor. Discuss any departures with whoever prescribed it.
If you have severe abdominal pain after a big meal that doesn't go away, or you're vomiting, get urgent medical help.
Frequently asked questions
Can you have a cheat meal once a week?
Yes, if your deficit is about 500 calories a day and the cheat meal stays one dinner. Half a pizza once a week keeps 89% of the weekly deficit. A whole pizza with a cola leaves 57%, already past our guideline. At a 300-calorie deficit, go every two weeks or with a smaller portion.
Do you need a cheat meal to lose weight?
It isn't required. If your diet already has room for a little of your favorite food, there's nothing to make up for. A cheat meal may help those who find a strict plan hard.
What to eat on a cheat meal?
Whatever you really want, as one serving: pizza, a burger, sushi, dessert. The less sauce and salty food, the less water on the scale next morning. Alcohol counts too: it has calories, and after a drink it's harder to stop at one plate.
How many calories should a cheat meal be?
Our guideline is no more than a third of the weekly deficit on top of your usual dinner. At a 500-calorie daily deficit, that's about 1,150 calories, so with a usual 550-calorie dinner the whole cheat meal comes to about 1,700. Half a 12-inch pizza and a slice of chocolate cake are about 1,500 calories; a whole pizza with a cola, about 2,060, is over. At a 300-calorie deficit, it's about 700 above a normal dinner, roughly 1,250 in total.
Why do I weigh less after a cheat meal?
Research has no reliable explanation. Most likely it's water shifting against a deficit that's still there: in Orsama's study, people losing weight returned to their previous trend fastest after the weekend.
Can you have a cheat meal while cutting?
Yes, but when body fat is already low, people more often choose a refeed: carbs to set numbers and protein as usual. Tsang's review finds it unclear whether off-plan meals help keep muscle. More in cutting without losing muscle.
What does "cheat meal" mean?
The name says it: you "cheat" on your diet's rules for one meal, on purpose. Some people write it as one word, cheatmeal; it means the same thing.
The bottom line
A cheat meal is one off-plan dinner, planned in advance, then back to your plan. In a small experiment it helped keep motivation and self-control (Coelho do Vale, 2016), but it barely speeds up metabolism (Dirlewanger, 2000). At a 500-calorie daily deficit, our guideline is once a week and about 1,700 calories for the whole dinner, such as half a 12-inch pizza and a slice of cake; a whole pizza with a cola is more. The extra 1–2 kg (2–4 lb) next morning is mostly water and goes within days. If you wait for your cheat meal like a rescue or can't stop, ease your diet and talk to a doctor.
Sources
- Tsang J.H., Poon E.T., Trexler E.T., Wong S.H., Zheng C., Sun F. The Role of Cheat Meals in Dieting: A Scoping Review of Physiological and Psychological Responses. Nutrition Reviews, 2025, 83(11). — 8 studies on cheat meals up to October 2024; definitions of cheat meal, cheat day and refeed; weight still drops, data on muscle and metabolism are mixed; a cheat meal framed as breaking the rules or as a reward is linked to signs of eating disorders; in Davoodi's study, 15.7% versus 36.8% dropped out.
- Coelho do Vale R., Pieters R., Zeelenberg M. The benefits of behaving badly on occasion: Successful regulation by planned hedonic deviations. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2016, 26(1). — 36 university students and staff (Portugal) on a two-week diet: with a planned higher-calorie day once a week at the same weekly total, weight loss was the same, and self-control and motivation held up.
- Davoodi S.H., Ajami M., Ayatollahi S.A., Dowlatshahi K., Javedan G., Pazoki-Toroudi H.R. Calorie shifting diet versus calorie restriction diet: a comparative clinical trial study. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2014, 5(4). — 74 women aged 26–50 with a BMI of 25 or higher, 6 weeks: half on "11 days of restriction, 3 days of free eating", half on ordinary calorie restriction; weight fell equally, hunger eased and satisfaction rose in both groups with no difference between them; 15.7% versus 36.8% dropped out, but the first group's calories were cut less (1,365 versus 1,186 a day).
- Westenhoefer J., Stunkard A.J., Pudel V. Validation of the flexible and rigid control dimensions of dietary restraint. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 1999, 26(1). — 54,517 participants in a weight-loss program (cheat meals were not studied separately): rigid control is linked to more frequent and severe binge episodes, flexible control to successful weight loss over a year.
- Dirlewanger M., di Vetta V., Guenat E., Battilana P., Seematter G., Schneiter P., Jéquier E., Tappy L. Effects of short-term carbohydrate or fat overfeeding on energy expenditure and plasma leptin concentrations in healthy female subjects. International Journal of Obesity, 2000, 24(11). — 10 lean women, 3 days of overfeeding: with carbs, leptin +28% and daily energy expenditure +7%, resting metabolism unchanged; with fat, no change.
- Ganson K.T., Cunningham M.L., Pila E., Rodgers R.F., Murray S.B., Nagata J.M. Characterizing cheat meals among a national sample of Canadian adolescents and young adults. Journal of Eating Disorders, 2022, 10. — 2,717 people aged 16–30: a cheat meal in the past year for 60.9% of men and 53.7% of women, most often 1,000–1,499 calories, on average more than once a week; linked to signs of eating disorders and binge eating.
- Fernández-Elías V.E., Ortega J.F., Nelson R.K., Mora-Rodriguez R. Relationship between muscle water and glycogen recovery after prolonged exercise in the heat in humans. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2015, 115(9). — Muscle biopsies in 9 trained people: each gram of glycogen is stored with at least 3 g of water.
- Orsama A.-L., Mattila E., Ermes M., van Gils M., Wansink B., Korhonen I. Weight rhythms: weight increases during weekends and decreases during weekdays. Obesity Facts, 2014, 7(1). — 80 adults, 4,657 weigh-ins: weight rises from Saturday, is highest on Sunday and Monday and falls from Tuesday; people losing weight bounce back most strongly.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. If you've had an eating disorder, or you have diabetes, kidney, heart or digestive disease, or you're pregnant, talk to your doctor about off-plan meals ahead of time.
