Can someone explain a cheat day

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.

amsnew

sgthaggard wrote: »

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.

I think if you're working on a tight margin between maintenance and a deficit (short people holla!) this one really holds true.

I try not to do cheat days or meals too frequently because something like a slice of pizza and 2 craft beers really chews into my weekly deficit. Eating out is really hard to negotiate when your meals need to stay around 400 calories.

For instance one thing I really enjoy are creme-filled long john donuts from a local bakery. Sometimes people bring them into work. Based on calorie counts for commercial donuts of a similar size, they probably have around 400-450 calories. So basically if I want one (and it's hard for me to stop at a bite or a half or whatever because they're delicious). And it is wearing to have to constantly do that mental math. Like where can I cut those calories or burn them off?

Still, life happens sometimes and if you have any semblance of a social life you can't always be on point with your macros and calories. So yeah. There has to be a balance somewhere. I tend to just eat the thing if I really want it (and do I really want it or am I eating it because it's there?) and cut something else out later to make up for it. I just try to be conscious about the choices I make in the long run over time to make those decisions.

Either I'm going to do an extra couple workouts, or skip a meal somewhere to fit that donut in occasionally. But I don't tend to do things like eat the donut and then eat up to maintenance or over without taking something away to compensate.

cabird101

I have cheat days, and I plan them on days that I do a lot of exercise. Last weekend I went for a three hour hike and I had a burrito, beer and a few chips and salsa for dinner.

Is it the food I should be eating all the time? No. But the extra exercise allows me to eat the food I don't normally do and not feel bad - which is a good compromise for me

adamitri

cabird101 wrote: »

I have cheat days, and I plan them on days that I do a lot of exercise. Last weekend I went for a three hour hike and I had a burrito, beer and a few chips and salsa for dinner.

Is it the food I should be eating all the time? No. But the extra exercise allows me to eat the food I don't normally do and not feel bad - which is a good compromise for me

This is also what I do. My cheat days are on my exercise days, and still I try not to get excessive.

SwankyTomato

I personally do not like the mindset of "cheat days". I look at it this way, some days I am over my calories and it is what it is.

Zedeff

sheldonklein wrote: »

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.

I love this analogy!

Zedeff

The way that some people do cheat days wrong (in my opinion - you are entitled to do whatever you like with your body!) is to have their cheat day and have unlimited portions.

Many of us like to say that there are no good or bad foods, but this ignores the practical side of things. For example, a pound of chicken wings that are fried and sauced often clocks in at 900+ calories. If you crave chicken wings, it's hard to fit that in to a restricted diet - you can't typically order 4 wings, and if you do, it's not going to satisfy your craving. Another example would be a milkshake. If you're dying for a thick, creamy shake, you could try to fit it into your daily calories (no bad foods right?) but at 600-1200 calories for something with zero nutritional value, that's pretty hard to rationalize.

So you eat wings and get a milkshake on your cheat day.

The thing is, you can still have reasonable portions. Just because I'm allowing myself to go over my limit and have wings and a shake, doesn't mean that I need to eat until I'm sick. You can eat a pound of wings and get a small shake and be at 1500 calories, or you could eat three pounds of wings and a large shake and be at 4000 calories. How much damage your cheat day does depends on whether you eat a normal portion of abnormal foods, or an abnormal portion of abnormal foods. When folks announce that they have a scheduled "eat until I want to vomit" cheat day, well THAT I can't understand.

HeySwoleSister

SwankyTomato wrote: »

I personally do not like the mindset of "cheat days". I look at it this way, some days I am over my calories and it is what it is.

Holy heck, someone's talking sense in here!

There are no "cheats" or "days off," your body logs it all. The problem is when you fall into that "I'm on a diet, poor me, it's awful" mindset, you are setting yourself to fail.

Just look at your calories and exercise on a weekly timeframe. Some days you're higher than others. Just aim to make your weekly calorie count a deficit if you are trying to lose, in the ballpark of your TDEE if you are maintaining, and a bit over if you're bulking. Have fun. Like your food. The end.

Liftng4Lis

sheldonklein wrote: »

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.

QFT!