when is the best time to eat an unhealthy meal?

[Ronnie Coleman]

i've been dieting for the past 2 months or so. i've lost like 15 legitimate pounds of fat, through hard dieting, cardio and weight training.

my question is, if i wanted to have a small cheat meal, when is the best time to do it? when i say cheat meal, i'm not talking about a slice of cheese cake or a bowl of ice cream, i'm not really into those things. moreso, i like to have 2 slices of pizza from the place down the street every once in a while ( maybe 500 calories? ), or maybe a small order of potato wedges from KFC ( 200-300 calories i believe ). if i were to do this once or twice a week, when would be the best time to do so? i've heard that late at night is a good time, and also that post-workout is when you should eat something bad if you're going to.

also, assuming that i still have a solid calorie deficit, how negative to my overall weight loss is eating 2 pieces of pizza once or twice a week, providing that i'm working out, doing cardio and eating well 95% of the time? on one hand it's a real greasy, fatty food, but on the other hand, it fills me up like crazy and i probably won't feel hungry for another 3.5-4 hours.

any comments appreciated.

[KUJustin]

Now

[mjkidd]

The best time is probably when you're hungriest. I don't see how it really matters.

[Ronnie Coleman]

2 solid responses

[Klompy]

It's best to eat your unhealthy meals right before you go to bed. Your metabolism is the highest while you're asleep, which means you'll burn it all off and won't get fat.

[Valsuvious]

Without any statistical evidence, just from my observation, it seems that any bad meal should come at whatever point in your day after you workout. I mean, I say this because although you aren't getting the extra protein and stuff you would normally want to get at that point, you would be getting some type of food source, plus your body should be processing it faster like you mentioned.

But honestly, I have no clue. I work out often enough but do not have the desirability nor discipline to not eat crap.

[guids]

The absolute best time is right when you wake up, but who wants to eat that crap at 8am or whatever? The 2nd best would probably be an hour or two after a hard workout (specifically leg, or full body to deplete as much glycogen as possible). Honestly enough though, 500 cals isnt that huge of a cheat meal to make that much of a difference. Ie, if you eat 6 meals a day, substituting a meal or two for a couple slices of pie aint going to matter that much.

[pokerraja]

[ QUOTE ]
2 slices of pizza from the place down the street every once in a while ( maybe 500 calories? ), or maybe a small order of potato wedges from KFC

[/ QUOTE ]

if this is as bad as you get for an unhealhty meal, then you are going very good. i would just substitute this in for a meal. instead of dinner one night have the 2 slices of pizza. or have those potato wedges for a snack.

dieting is really about total calories in the long run. sure you can manipulate some calories by doing things like eating small frequent meals, or during the 'post workout window'. but overall it all comes down to how many cals you consume and how many you burn.

[snagglepuss]

stuff like this makes me dread when i will apparently start getting fat, and thankful that i do not care enough to be this healthy/work out so much.

[BreakfastBurrito]

Eat it whenever you're hungriest and want it the most. Are you trying to lose weight for a wedding or vacation or something or are you actually trying to build a healthy lifestyle? If the latter, you surely don't really believe that you're going to continue depriving yourself of your favorite foods forever. I imagine this is why 99% of dieters eventually gain it all back. Stop punishing yourself. Exercise regularly and eat well most of the time. You'll get to where you want to be eventually and enjoy the journey too.