Opinions/stats on single cheat meal per week?

[DDM]

This is at odds with my "let's kick diabetes in the balls" stance as a recent diagnosee, I admit. I've completely overhauled my diet to cut out all soda, fruit juice, biscuits, cakes, sweets, chocolates, practically all processed food and general junk. My meals rotate between omelettes, smoked mackerel or fishcakes & steamed veg, lean beef & veg, mozzarella/tomato/olives, and fresh fruit - about 1600cal a day. But...
How badly does a burger mess this all up? A proper, unhealthy, takeaway cheeseburger with chips and coke. Once a week. Is it wishful thinking to try and reverse type 2/lose weight whilst having a weekly burger, or is it fine if my diet and activity is otherwise healthy?
If I wasn't diabetic I wouldn't think twice about it, because I've lost weight before whilst having a weekly takeaway, but now I'm more paranoid.

 

[Leadinglights]

This is where having a home blood glucose monitor comes into its own as you can test the effect of various meals on your blood glucose and decide whether it is worth it or not. The Diet Coke, burger and the cheese will be OK but it is the bun and the chips which may be too much, but some people have half the bun and the chips and be OK.
Many people allow themselves occasional treats as long as they are just that.
Blood glucose monitors can be bought on line the GlucoNavii or TEE 2 are ones with the cheapest test strips.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

This is at odds with my "let's kick diabetes in the balls" stance as a recent diagnosee, I admit. I've completely overhauled my diet to cut out all soda, fruit juice, biscuits, cakes, sweets, chocolates, practically all processed food and general junk. My meals rotate between omelettes, smoked mackerel or fishcakes & steamed veg, lean beef & veg, mozzarella/tomato/olives, and fresh fruit - about 1600cal a day. But...
How badly does a burger mess this all up? A proper, unhealthy, takeaway cheeseburger with chips and coke. Once a week. Is it wishful thinking to try and reverse type 2/lose weight whilst having a weekly burger, or is it fine if my diet and activity is otherwise healthy?
If I wasn't diabetic I wouldn't think twice about it, because I've lost weight before whilst having a weekly takeaway, but now I'm more paranoid.

I didn't think exclusively in terms of BG.
The real question to me was, would it affect my mindset?
My diet wasn't a short term weight loss, it was a p!an to reset and find a way to eat that addressed my entire lifestyle.
So I cut out everything, no cheats, as I didn't have anything to cheat on.
When I achieved my goals, I reassessed it then, and yes, as all I really need to do now it keep my weight stable, so Big Macs are back in.
Having said that, the burger and the cheese are high saturated fats, so they push my cholesterol up, so not an ideal choice.

 

[42istheanswer]

I had a standard Big Tasty yesterday lunchtime but a chaotic afternoon so forgot to do 2 hours post meal BG. It was fine 8 hours later pre-tea though . I didn't risk the fries yet.

When I went to a BBQ and had a cheeseburger with bun, plus a pork steak and some salad, my BG 2 hours after was fine. The protein and fat delay starch digestion.

I will note that I felt hungry fairly quickly after the Big Tasty considering there have been days I've had that many calories over 3 meals and not felt particularly hungry after any of them. (I'm varying between 800-1300 calories at the moment with most days being in the 1000-1100 range).

 

[DDM]

I didn't think exclusively in terms of BG.
The real question to me was, would it affect my mindset?
My diet wasn't a short term weight loss, it was a p!an to reset and find a way to eat that addressed my entire lifestyle.
So I cut out everything, no cheats, as I didn't have anything to cheat on.
When I achieved my goals, I reassessed it then, and yes, as all I really need to do now it keep my weight stable, so Big Macs are back in.
Having said that, the burger and the cheese are high saturated fats, so they push my cholesterol up, so not an ideal choice.

Oh, for sure. As far as I'm concerned my diet change is permanent, not just to get weight down and try to put things into remission then coast on that. I'd be back to square one in a year. I guess I'm really just saying "someone tell me this is ok" when I feel that it probably is, in extreme moderation. Nice work on the reversal btw.

 

[notmez]

I had a takeaway not long ago. I didn't order the usual but just attempted to get the same satisfaction but with a better meal. I think I'll try and stick to once a month or less if I can which should be easy but I'll make sure I get something I want and will satisfy the "want" for the takeaway without causing a problem.

eg. I skipped the noodles so the takeaway was not so bad, and was much lower in carbs.

If you fancy a burger and chips do it and test and see if it's worth it. If you don't want to go all out maybe skip half the bun. Have the smallest amount of chips you can to satisfy you and not leave you wanting or craving more. Went to nandos a couple of weekends ago and asked for no bread on my burger. They still brought it so I left it on the plate and ate everything else with garlic veg and salad side instead of chips.