to have a cheat day or not??

stargazgal

Hey all,
Just recently rejoined MFP and have been working out for past month and this past week really got serious about my diet. The question I have is..do i have a cheat day or not? I ate really healthy all week, cutting down my carbohydrate intake a bit, cutting out junk, wheat (I am sensitive). I stayed under my net calories all week. However, Saturday and Sunday, although I stayed under my calories, I didnt make as healthy choices. I still didnt eat wheat, or drink alcohol (which is amazing for me haahaha) but I had higher fat foods and more "junky" then I have been used too. Anyhow...what are your views??

Laurend224

I don't have cheat days. I don't need to. I eat the foods I like on a daily basis, account, for them and log them. Cheating implies I'm doing something 'naughty' and I don't give labels to food. It's all just food.

malibu927

Laurend224 wrote: »

I don't have cheat days. I don't need to. I eat the foods I like on a daily basis, account, for them and log them. Cheating implies I'm doing something 'naughty' and I don't give labels to food. It's all just food.

What she said

Codilee87

I personally am trying to avoid cheat days/meals because I always end up falling off track when I try it. Its easier for me to just be fairly strict and enjoy the treats that I work into my daily routine (a hot chocolate and a fiber 1 bar or something similar) rather than going completely off-track and then trying to reign it back in later.

girlviernes

Laurend224 wrote: »

I don't have cheat days. I don't need to. I eat the foods I like on a daily basis, account, for them and log them. Cheating implies I'm doing something 'naughty' and I don't give labels to food. It's all just food.

+1

When I was home for the holidays I raised my daily allowance by about 500 kcals which basically brought me to maintenance. That is a choice I'm happy to make since this is for the rest of my life so no I don't need to be in a rush.

KBurkhardt08

I swear by cheat days! Its not like I eat boring all week. I eat decent things. But one day during the weekend I allow myself whatever I want, whether that be a lot of alcohol or brownies or chips or something. Without it I would probably lose my mind. Plus all week I look forward to that day.

SergeantSausage

Not.

Just eat your normal, regular foods every day and you have no need to cheat.

The whole "junk foods need to be eliminated" gets too many folks in trouble. If you have to cheat, you're doin' it wrong.

RBXChas

I've talked about this in other similar posts, so anyone reading this who's read any of my past posts, please forgive my repetition.

About 8 years ago I was losing weight eating 1200 calories/day, and I decided to have one "cheat day" a week, on Saturdays. My husband and I would go out to dinner, think Outback or Red Robin, eat like crazy, eat dessert, think Coldstone, and/or sometimes go to the movies and either sneak in candy from Target or share a big tub of popcorn. I would eat until I literally felt sick.

I always felt horrible on Sunday, plus I had a hard time eating reasonable portions again. By Monday the scale would have caught up to me, showing a "gain," and it would take me until Thursday or Friday to lose that "excess," then I'd either lose nothing more or very little before starting the Saturday binge all over again.

Long story short, I was barely making any progress and realized that I spent the entire week depriving myself and dying for Saturday to arrive so that I could gorge myself. Not exactly a healthy relationship with food, was it?

What do I do now? I don't deprive myself. I eat within my goals, and if I want a treat, then I see if I can work it in. If I've been on-point with my eating for a while, I'll say F it and eat it anyway, allowing myself to go over.

You have to live your life. Occasions will come and go where you might overdo it. I accept those and move on. Basically my philosophy is to eat "well" (whatever that may mean to you) when I can control it - for example, when I can prepare my own food or when I can eat somewhere that provides "good" choices - and just deal with it when I can't. For example, a week and a half ago I went to a family member's birthday party at a nice restaurant. The food choices weren't awful for you, but they were limited. Also, there were cupcakes and pastries. I ate my meal, and I had a cupcake. It was delicious, and I didn't regret it one bit. I enjoyed myself at the party and didn't feel awkward trying to turn down cupcakes.

TL;DR For some people, cheat days or cheat meals might work, but for me it was a license to binge, and I was miserable all week depriving myself to "save up" for my binge meal/day. I much prefer enjoying "bad" foods in moderation from time to time and not hating the way I eat 6/7 of the time. It's a totally individual thing, and you may want to experiment with it and see how you do.

Bearbo27

Laurend224 wrote: »

I don't have cheat days. I don't need to. I eat the foods I like on a daily basis, account, for them and log them. Cheating implies I'm doing something 'naughty' and I don't give labels to food. It's all just food.

^^^This!
I lost 30 lbs in 2013 all while still eating cake, pizza, drinking soda and beer. I didn't eliminate anything and I made sure it fit in my calorie goal for the day. If it didn't, then I didn't eat it that day.
Fast forward to now, I am 3 weeks into my weight loss journey again and already lost 9.2 lbs. This past Friday I had a beer and yesterday I ate 6 girl scout cookies. I made sure I had enough calories to fit them in and enjoyed them. I haven't really felt deprived of anything.