Can someone explain a cheat day

Merkavar

My understanding is one day a week or month you just eat what you want as In not count calories etc.

From the sounds of it this seems like a gateway to undoing all your weeks work.

Are you meant to just relax a bit and maybe eat to maintenance or a bit over? Or is a cheat day all about eating as much as you like and not feeling guilt or remorse?

Say on a normal day your eating 1300 and maintence is 1800. On a cheat day would you tend to eat 1800ish or 2500+

For me a cheat day, going over would be like undoing the past 2-4 days of eating less/exercise.

I would prefer to lose an extra chunk of fat than eat enough to undo the previous day's work.

Seems like cheat days are popular but just reminds me of the song that goes one step forward two steps back you don't get very far like that.

Or maybe I just misunderstand what a cheat day is.

Cortneyrenee04

There's a ton of info here about cheat days and everyone has a different opinion. You just have to find what works for you.

I don't have cheat days. I eat what I want, every day.

Zedeff

You are framing the question wrong. Given a choice between losing more fat or undoing progress, everyone would obviously choose to lose fat.

Given the more realistic choice between quitting a rigid diet permanently or simply forgetting the diet temporarily, the net benefit is in the temporary lapse.

rajitabanerjee

Well, I like having a cheat meal once in a while. Like a pastry or a bar of chocolate in every four days, while keeping up with my calorie goal.
That way, the wait isn't too long. Sometimes, I do end up consuming around 200-300 kcal extra, but it isn't that harmful.

ZDLux

I agree with Zedeff... it's a way to stick with it for the long run. I've been doing it for a long time, and it's working for me. Just don't go overboard... and make it a cheat MEAL not a day. And never diet... diets fail. Make sure what you're doing is a lifestyle change, and that way you won't fail. Good luck.

Merkavar

Zedeff wrote: »

You are framing the question wrong. Given a choice between losing more fat or undoing progress, everyone would obviously choose to lose fat.

Given the more realistic choice between quitting a rigid diet permanently or simply forgetting the diet temporarily, the net benefit is in the temporary lapse.

For me if I have a planned cheat day then it is part of the diet, not a lapse. So I think my question is correct.

You plan to have a cheat day where, from what I heard here and other places, you could eat a lot of calories and essentially eliminate a few days or a weeks deficit.

So I still see it as a choice between weight loss and reversing progress.

I can understand if you were in the verge of quitting your diet all together taking a break would make sense, but not a planned break every week or month.

But again maybe I don't understand exactly what a cheat day is.

Zedeff

I agree with you. I think that a planned, recurring, calorie-unlimited cheat day is silly. It's a sign to me of poor commitment; you are basically bribing yourself.

When I cheat, I don't think I've ever exceeded maintenence +500. That's not really a catastrophe, and it essentially allows me to eat anything at all I could crave.

lemonlionheart

If I had a day where I didn't log and ate whatever I wanted, it would have to be like once every month or so otherwise it would definitely impact my weight loss. I'm 130 or so lbs but can eat a LOT if I'm not careful!

Other than I don't really plan cheat days (unplanned is a different story) though I might have days like this friday when I know I'm going out to dinner so I save up calories throughout the week. I incorporate treats and food I like on a daily basis too.

monikker

I think it's kinda like treating yourself or allowing yourself to have something because you want to and not because it fits in your diet 100%. But it doesn't have to be a whole meal...like, because of my workout this morning and not eating until 1:00 I had about 200-300 calories uneaten...so I just had half a cookie. And I'm going to bed next so unless I got my calorie count wrong I should still be in a deficit. Then again, I'm not cutting calories for very long or trying to lose much weight so it's not as big of a deal to me but I'm still trying to stay with my diet plan most of the time. It seems like "cheating" is what you make of it and what you want to do.

monikker

**those are really big cookies though so having part of one wasn't just a bite lol

starryphoenix

I have mine once a month. My last one was yesterday and my next is easter. I could never do it once a week because I always go all out and enjoy everything. I plan my cheat days months in advance now and I won't break the plans for anything.

Train4Foodz

I sometimes have a cheat 'meal' and sometimes if it's an occasion I have a cheat 'day'.
A cheat meal could easily be something that fits in with your calories but doesn't fit at all with your macros.
Then again it can easily be a meal that takes you 500+ over your usual daily calories.
I know that mine sometimes do!!

A cheat day is just that, a day that you 'let your hair down' and enjoy the foods you love without worrying about being too accurate with logging. That would be my definition.

Not everybody likes cheat days, some people prefer to just fit a little of what they enjoy in each day. Although I do have things I enjoy each day, things such as pizza I prefer to keep as a 'treat'. something I don't have all too often. On these occasions I personally have no qualms with polishing off a dominos pizza, etc.

This is a life long lifestyle commitment for me and if I coudln't just have days to let myself have the things I want, when I want.. I don't think it would be sustainable. When I want pizza, I like to be able to indulge. I'm perfectly happy to eat 'clean' (insert vague definition here) for the remaining 2 weeks until my next treat.

This said, when I'm 'cutting' I tend to have less treat days. It all depends on individual lifestyle.

I do a LOT of exercise and I believe myself to be in fairly good shape, so whatever I'm doing is obviously working well for my body.

With regards to two steps forward, one step back.. Not at all, going 500 or even 1000 calories over, once a fortnight isn't going to make an immense amount of difference to your overall progress and for some people, the small 'set back' enables them to keep on going with the lifestyle when otherwise they may have relapsed.

Have an awesome day!

Adam

RockstarWilson

A ketogenic diet (or...lifestyle change...that allows me to eat bacon all day) provides no cheat days. A true ketogenic state yields no cheat meals because there are already heavy food restrictions, and with good reason. Carbs are reduced to almost nil, and if I splurge on something with loads of carbs, it will kick me out of ketosis. I am not as sensitive as others with carbs, but if I eat too much, the previous sentence holds true.

Of course, when bacon, cheese, butter, eggs, and avocado are the five main things I eat everyday...who needs a cheat day? I actually dont even care for sweets when in a ketogenic state. How fast I can run each week is my sugar!

dinosaurparty

Merkavar wrote: »

Zedeff wrote: »

You are framing the question wrong. Given a choice between losing more fat or undoing progress, everyone would obviously choose to lose fat.

Given the more realistic choice between quitting a rigid diet permanently or simply forgetting the diet temporarily, the net benefit is in the temporary lapse.

For me if I have a planned cheat day then it is part of the diet, not a lapse. So I think my question is correct.

You plan to have a cheat day where, from what I heard here and other places, you could eat a lot of calories and essentially eliminate a few days or a weeks deficit.

So I still see it as a choice between weight loss and reversing progress.

I can understand if you were in the verge of quitting your diet all together taking a break would make sense, but not a planned break every week or month.

But again maybe I don't understand exactly what a cheat day is.

I think that's on the extreme end of things. Unless you're dieting for medical reasons are are risking your health if you have a bad day, they're not necessarily a bad thing to have every once in a while.

Like tomorrow, I'm going to go to my mom's house and stuff my face with her cooking, because it's awesome and I haven't seen her in ages, and she'd be sad if I just sat there and ate salad like I have for the last three days. It's probably going to be stew or something, so I can't really log it very well. Rather than feel bad, I'm going to work out and have a small lunch to minimize the calories I'll eat that day, and not really worry too much about it. Then it's back on the wagon. I like to plan mine around events where I'm probably going to have a hard time sticking to my 1200cal/day goal, so I don't feel like I'm missing out. I don't have very many cheat days because of this.

Odds are tomorrow I probably won't put myself over maintenance. If you're having cheat days every week and eating 4000 calories worth of doughnuts then yeah, you should probably reconsider, but for most people a cheat day isn't about going crazy and ruining all their hard work. It's just something to look forward to, like a reward for staying on track.

I think that taking a diet too seriously, and not allowing yourself a treat now and then can be just as bad as allowing yourself too many treats.

Smallc10

My cheat day is date night because we go out and it's usually to a local restaurant so I'm not sure how many calories are in each dish. It's more of a non-logging day than a real cheat day because I'm just not sure how to log it! It helps me stick to my long term goals though because I still get to go out, enjoy a night with my husband, and not worry about the diet that day

disneygirl626

I don't really do cheat days per say but if I'm at a special thing, ie a rare dinner with old friends I will happily go over my calories and not stress. I've done it a couple times and gone about 500 calories over my mfp recommended calories - still 500 calories under maintenance since I eat at 1000 defecit.

I don't think cheat days are usually extreme enough to be a setback. I think most people view it as a day to relax and maybe eat at maintenance or a little more. Most of us here are in this for a long haul, so one day of not being perfect is not devastating and being able to relax occasionally makes this lifestyle change we've all chosen a little bit easier.

Sued0nim

Personally, for me, I think the need to "cheat" is a bad sign for long term maintenance, it means that I haven't worked out how to be happy and satisfied with my general food choices across the week...I watch my calories on a rolling 7 days so for example this morning when I woke up my total calorie allowance is 2700 roughly ...which is my net goal for the day plus extras calories not eaten in the last 7 days ...eg I started today with an extra 1000 calories to use if I want ...or save for a night out later in the week

So I save up calories for nights out and special events ..but I don't think of it as a cheat ...I will still try to be careful and estimate calories to log them even on nights out

BruceHedtke

I have definite days set aside as cheat days and those are: Mothers Day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Years Eve and the Superbowl. There might be other cheat days that pop up throughout the year, but those are the six I plan for. Aside from Mothers Day (we go out to my mom's favorite restaurant), the other five occasions are when everyone gets together, makes a ton of food and desserts and we all have a merry old time. I'm committed to a healthy life but no way am I not partaking in all that delicious food on those days.

I also agree with the philosophy that letting your hair down a handful of times a year is beneficial. I get the idea of having a small treat say everyday or a few times a week and you won't need a cheat day/meal, but for me, those days when I can just let go are like gold and I don't feel as though they do anything but help my healthy lifestyle. I eat enormous amounts of calories on those days and the next day...I'm right back on the wagon and feeling pretty good.

Lissa_Kaye

I don't do cheat days because I feel it is going against the very thing I am striving for, getting healthy. I treat myself just a bit everyday. I may go over a little on special occasions
and holidays.

lisawinning4losing

It's true that if you pig out all weekend, it can ruin your calorie deficit for the week. Which means no weight loss that week. But going over your goal a little bit from time to time isn't going to kill your diet. It helps if "save" up a few calories throughout the week.

Amanda4change

For myself I don't really do cheat days. There are certain days like Thanksgiving, Christmas, my anniversary next month where I'm deliberately increasing my daily calories to maintanece plus exercise calories (though so far I haven't needed the exercise calories to stay on goal). If I have something else planned (like Saturday night hubby and I went to a nhl stadium series game and went out to dinner) I made sure to get my gym time in and we walked a lot that night, so using my exercise calories kept me on goal. I'm not going to undue all my hard work by rewarding that hard work with a day to pig out and not log

AmazonMayan

I don't think going all out on calories on a regular basis would be good for my long term goals. I'm ok with occasionally increasing calories up to maintenance, but not going hog wild and getting back to the overeating that got me here in the first place.

Overeating is cheating myself. If you have a day where it happens, fine, get back to counting and staying in the numbers the next day. But to plan it regularly and often seems disastrous.

I'm doing this to lose weight and teach myself how to live a healthy life again like I used to.

cincysweetheart

I don't know about everybody else… but this is how I do it.

Portion control! By practicing portion control… I've been able to fit just about anything into my daily calorie goal without going over. This includes breads, pastas, cereals, ice cream, brownies, chocolate candy, banana bread, dairy, soda, pizza, hamburgers, and restaurants. I rarely feel the need for a "cheat" because I have treats everyday. I'm never deprived.

That being said… when I do have a "cheat," it's a meal, not a day. Therefore it never ends up "undoing" anything. And this is what a cheat meal is like for me... I do not count calories or measure out portions. I eat whatever I want… IN MODERATION. It is not a license to go hog wild. It is a license to be able to enjoy the meal without worrying about calories/macros, etc. And essentially, since I've been doing this… (270 days today) I can count my cheat meals on one hand. Thanksgiving, New Years Eve snacks (I still logged all my meals), and my birthday. And since it's one meal… it doesn't give me license to skip the workout that day either. I'm certainly not perfect… I have had days where I was over my calorie goal and they usually don't correspond with my cheat meal days. But I can probably count those on one hand too.

Liftng4Lis

No such thing. I don't care for the word, as it implies I'm doing something wrong.

sheldonklein

I don't have cheat days as others seem to use the term, but OP's view of losing weight as some sort of monomaniacal pursuit that's compromised by any indulgence is not healthy. It's like viewing a day off work as compromising your career goals.

Timorous_Beastie

I don't call them "cheat" days. I call them "maintenance practice," and it's every weekend. For me, it's more about giving myself a break from counting calories and thinking about food so obsessively than an all-out feeding frenzy. I don't eat much differently, except that there's some snacks/treats I'll only have on weekends.

Even at my worst (severe depression and injuries), my eating habits weren't that bad. I never got more than 10 pounds above a healthy BMI, or 20-25 above my ideal weight. I calculated that when I gain, I'm probably only eating 100-200 calories above maintenance, on average. And that's when I was self-medicating with Butterfingers and not exercising. As long as I continue to exercise, I know I can eat pretty much what I want. If I can't or don't, then I have to be more careful.

jennifer_417

There's no one definition of a cheat day, it's kinda whatever you want it to be. I personally would never do over weekly, as I could easily undo a week's work in 1 day of eating whatever I want, but that's me.

joolsmd

My opinion is that I haven't worked hard all this time just to knock it all out on a 'cheat day'. However, I have been known to have a cheat meal that is higher in carbs than I would nomrally eat, but not as a regular occurance. Its usually to fit in with social plans. For example I knew last week that I was due out Saturday night at an Italian Restaurant, so I checked out rhe menu and picked an option which I felt would be yummy without being over my calorie intake by miles. I was still in a deficit over all that week (amazingly) so I felt it was a risk I could take.

Now I just have to work out how to spend 4 days in Barcelona and stick within my goals.

DawnieB1977

I like to have a 'treat day' sometimes which just involves me baking a cake or cookies or something and having a slice/a couple of cookies. I don't usually eat back exercise calories, but I will do when I do this.

Very occasionally I don't log at all...my birthday, Xmas etc and even then I doubt I go over maintenance.

sgthaggard

rabbitjb wrote: »

Personally, for me, I think the need to "cheat" is a bad sign for long term maintenance, it means that I haven't worked out how to be happy and satisfied with my general food choices across the week...

Probably because I'm not satisfied eating at a constant deficit. I have to make sacrifices and constant sacrifices wear on a person. I certainly have no plans to do it for the rest of my life.

When I'm on maintenance, I'm going to have to get used to eating in the real world. Sometimes, occasionally, that means I get to indulge a bit. That doesn't mean that I'm off the rails on long-term maintenance. It just means I learn to look at incorporating those little luxuries in my overall health plan.

Timorous_beastie put it well - 'maintenance practice'.

maillemaker

I don't have cheat days. I eat what I want, every day.

I assume you are ignoring quantity here.

Cheat days sap willpower. You're basically allowing yourself to get off the wagon. You better hope you have enough willpower to get back on it. I find that once I get off the wagon it's hard to get back on it.