Do you allow yourself a day off?

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  • radiosilents
    radiosilents Posts: 223 Member
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    Today I'm having "a day" – my body wants to eat ALL the food. I'm not going totally gonzo, but I have already eaten more cookies than I should have. Even on "off" days, I log everything. I feel I owe that to myself and the hard work I have done so far. It keeps me honest and gives me a little control on a day when I don't feel like I have much otherwise. :)
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    deksgrl wrote: »
    Sure. It's just life. But, I don't let the excuses or justifications begin like, "Oh, I've already blown it for today so might as well eat whatever I want", or "Well I've already blown it today and yesterday and the day before so might as well start back on it Monday".

    I'll also note that, I don't do this every week, just once in awhile. And I have been tracking long enough to have a general idea of how many calories I'm eating so it's not a total blowout to gain weight on.

  • jbee27
    jbee27 Posts: 356 Member
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    kristen6350 wrote: »
    I do it every once in a while - especially now that I KNOW what things "cost". I never go overboard but I just don't log it and that's ok. 1 day EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, won't hurt. Now, if 1 day leads into another, into another, then you have a problem.

    This!

    Now that I think I hopefully have a better handle on calories/nutrition, I think it is a healthy experiment to let myself not track for a day or two every once in awhile and see where I land. I think of it as baby steps into a true lifestyle change of healthy choices, as I certainly don't plan on meticulously calorie counting every day for the rest of my life.

    HOWEVER, I don't believe I was ever a true binger, in the sense that I see a lot of people on this site talking about binge eating, so I think that for those that find themselves with those tendencies allowing a day off, or a cheat meal/day, could be much more sabotaging of their efforts.
  • ljones27uk
    ljones27uk Posts: 177 Member
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    No. One day off could undo the wholes weeks calorie deficit, or more.. Some days I might take in more calories than target, but that's because something's going on (wedding, lads night out etc) but if not, I don't give myself one day off
  • GothyFaery
    GothyFaery Posts: 762 Member
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    I allow myself to go over, sort of, on Saturdays but I still count (I say sort of because I know I'm going to go over and make up for it every other day of the week and I'm almost always good for the week).

    Only times I don't log are:
    -On vacations because I want to enjoy myself and not think about food.
    -When I'm sick because I want to give my body everything it needs to get better
    -Holidays/birthdays because... foodz and CAKE
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
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    Sometimes I raise my calorie goal closer to maintenance, for example when I went home for the holidays I raised by goal from 1800 to 2300 per day. I also did this more recently when I had a very hungry day around my TOM. But I always log as best as I can.
  • Shellys_Start
    Shellys_Start Posts: 27 Member
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    I'm new, just a couple of weeks in, but I don't think I'll be doing any days off for a long time. For me personally I have realized that on my own I cannot manage to live anything close to a healthy lifestyle. I'm afraid if I cross the line of taking a day off it would be easier to take the next one and the next one and so on. I'd rather track everything I eat. If I go over my calories, have a slip-up, whatever, I'd rather see it there in my diary and know I made a bad choice but feel more accountable for it.
  • AmandaHugginkiss
    AmandaHugginkiss Posts: 486 Member
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    I try to live my life with a certain amount of flexibility, so yes. I allow myself breaks in diet and exercise. Getting set back by a week is not that significant in the grand scheme of things. So you reach your goal a couple weeks later than planned on some arbitrary schedule. Is it really that big a deal? I don't think so. I'm not willing to give up happy moderation in favor of neurosis.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
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    shadowofender wrote: »
    No. Even if I recognize that it's ok to go over sometimes, that in th normal course of living I can't be perfect every day, I still log those days that are over, to the best of my ability.


    Me too.
  • Alidecker
    Alidecker Posts: 1,262 Member
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    There are days I don't count, but it is really just one meal that is bad. If I have a fun night out planned, I try and eat really healthy for breakfast and lunch, get a good workout in and then I don't worry so much. I don't log those days or at least those meals, usually it ends up being snacks and I don't track every chip I eat and every tablespoon of dip or what kind of pizza and how much of it. I try and not go extremely crazy, but sometimes it happens.
  • Pirate_chick
    Pirate_chick Posts: 1,216 Member
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    Yes, but I log it.
  • fallingtrees
    fallingtrees Posts: 220 Member
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    There are some days where logging my food would just be impractical. I let those go. But not very often. My 80/20 plan is more like 93/7.
  • jpaulie
    jpaulie Posts: 917 Member
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    depends what I am doing. If I am cutting (working to lose fat and preserve muscle) then no. If I am bulking then sure.
  • JustinAnimal
    JustinAnimal Posts: 1,335 Member
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    I won't allow a cheat day or off day because those were my downfall. A week's worth of progress ruined with a day of beer-swilling and chicken wing munching. But that's a fairly new rule for me. My new "cheat days" are eating at or slightly under maintenance calories.
  • yestowellness
    yestowellness Posts: 98 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I count everything even if it's a cookie. I like to see what I'm eating even if it's not the best thing for me. It just makes me aware of my calories. When I'm craving a particular thing I generally eat it, but I don't go crazy. If I want something sweet I have individually packed cookies. I eat one and I'm done. When I go out and I want dessert I make sure I burn at least double my normal intake and eat small plates or and app. But at the end of the day just log it log it log it!!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited January 2015
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    It's interesting, because on threads about eliminating foods you get lots of people pointing out that it can be dangerous to eliminate foods since that can set up a dynamic where eating the food is a failure and you react by thinking what the heck and going nuts. Better to be accepting of the idea that anything is okay in moderation (or occasionally not moderation, if that's rare).

    However, whenever an "off day" thread starts, lots of people claim that taking an off day leads to going way overboard and thus must never occur. But OP specifically stated not going nuts on the day, just not logging. The idea that if you don't log you spent the day shoveling food in your mouth, that the alternative to not logging is gluttony, strikes me as the same dangerous dynamic warned of with eliminating foods or thinking of them as bad--that one either exercises perfect control or an extreme lack of control. Isn't it better to try to understand how to eat sensibly (if a bit more indulgently at times) without logging too, even if you think that for you logging most of the time will always (or for the time being) be an important check on letting the calories creep up?

    I'm not saying that some people won't, in fact, need to log, just as some struggle with moderation and so will need to eliminate trigger foods, but there seems a conflict between these two common positions.

    (For the record, as stated above, I also generally agree with the "I always log for the information" position many have presented.)
  • CarolPre
    CarolPre Posts: 1,846 Member
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    I go off my diet on special days, like my birthday next week. I'll be good all day and get my exercise in, but we'll go out for dinner that evening. I don't plan to overeat, but I will have a margarita or two and, unless I really plan for that, will blow my diet out that day. Then, I'll get back on track the next day.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Why would I want a day off? I don't deny myself anything, I make it work over the week

  • Happyme2009
    Happyme2009 Posts: 233 Member
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    Two days off for me.... Although I usually end up undoing all the good work from Mon to Fri. I can't help it, I'm human and food is a pleasure of life. For me it's necessary or I completely fall off the wagon when I fall.....
  • vgnfarmer
    vgnfarmer Posts: 108 Member
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    I have plenty of days where I go over in calories but I still log everything. I think in terms of "reducing" , "maintaining" and "gaining" days. My goal is for mostly reducing and maintaining days and if there are a few gaining days in there thats ok. Usually just eating @ maintence is good enough overage for me.

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