Cheat Day: the dieter’s day off from their healthy, active lifestyle. The dieter may indulge in one or more ‘cheat meals,’ defined by one study as “very large quantities of calorie-dense foods rated to qualify as an objective binge episode.”
Cheat days have become an Instagram phenomenon, thanks to the golden combination of food photography and celebrity endorsement. But are celebrity cheat meals the real deal or just a humble brag to draw attention to an impressive physique?
Rave Reviews decided to put these well-stacked dishes to the test. The team analyzed the cheat meals of more than 80 celebrities for calories, fat, carbs, sugar, and protein.
Curious to see what celebrities scoff when they truly eat what they can? Rave Reviews created a ‘cheat sheet’ of celebrity indulgences – as well as separate lists to show the cheat meals of your favorite Avengers, athletes, and calorific strongmen.
Here’s a preview of the top 3 celebrities in this study, in terms of calorie intake:
The RAVE Reviews team is constantly trying to find out what’s the best, what’s the worst, what’s the most expensive, what’s the cheapest, and so on. That's why they partnered with NeoMam Studios, to take the fact- finding to the next level and create engaging content that readers will want to share.
TOP 10 Findings:
The biggest ‘cheat dayer’ of all is four-times World’s Strongest Man Brian Shaw. He maintains his 440lb frame with 12,000 calories per day, even when not binging. Shaw’s 3,879-calorie cheat meal includes a Pizza Hut Large Pizza and 3 tubs of Ben & Jerry ice cream, putting Emily Ratajkowski’s naughty 305-calorie ‘cupcake or a croissant’ to shame.
There are three women in the top ten, with actress and former WWE wrestler Natalie Eva Marie at number six. Eva Marie sinks a Homer Simpsons-esque 20 banana pancakes with a bacon waffle chaser for a 2,180 calorie boost. Seventh-placed Serena Williams out-proteins Brian Shaw with her sneak treat of Pizza, tacos, fried chicken, and Moon Pies. Kylie Jenner comes in tenth place, after gorging on a platter of international food on her cheat day, from sushi to Mexican – all washed down with orange juice
Methodology
To make these infographics, we researched celebrity cheat meals using lifestyle publications such as Men’s Health, Vogue, Yahoo Life, and others. Then we used the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Nutritionix to find out the nutritional information for each meal.
Where servings or quantities of food were not specified, single servings were assumed for side dishes and garnishes, while double servings were assumed for main courses and desserts. Where it was impossible to ascertain the exact type of products or brands like cookies, pizza, cheese, nutritional values of generic product types were assumed.
