Can someone explain a cheat day

terar21

Timorous_Beastie wrote: »

triciab79 wrote: »

You just reinforce your body's association of food = happiness.

Everything I eat makes me happy. I'm not putting a damn thing in my mouth that doesn't bring me enjoyment. (Take that however you want.)

That doesn't mean I eat nothing but cookies and ice cream, but I'm not going to never eat cookies and ice cream again, either.

This so much. Meals are indeed a happy time for me. I enjoy eating and everything I eat tastes good (unless I failed miserably at cooking it). I understand why people prefer to have the "food is fuel" attitude, but I've certainly seen a person that truly looks at food as fuel and it doesn't stop them from being overweight...because they over-fuel lol. Having positive associations with food didn't make me gain weight, stuffing myself full because I swore I was still hungry and needed it made me gain weight.

Someone that uses food as a means to create happiness because they can't get it other ways is a different issue.

SammyBlz1

This is terrible but every saturday I have a cheat day where I eat whatever i want, I still log it, and I hit my maintenance. The next day I workout a lot though and sweat like I've never sweat before.

vchan000

I admit I don't like the term 'cheat day' I have days where I'm not as strict about what I eat, or about my logging but I certainly don't view them as cheating. Of course, I don't go out and eat everything either. When that happens, I log those days so I know what the damage was.

In my case, I spent the last twenty years of adult life proving that eating healthily doesn't come naturally to me. The weight crept up over that time until I reached my highest, and then started looking to peel it back off. Since twenty years proved that magically hoping I'll somehow spontaneously move to healthy eating didn't work, I started logging food.

Joined WW, started writing down everything I ate, and started measuring portions, and lo and behold the weight started coming off. I'm learning to eat properly, and realize I have to use tools to do it, notably the kitchen scale, a food log and measuring cups.

My cheat days are the 'tests' for what I learned. If I take a day and not use the tools, am I still eating well? I may not be eating in a deficit, but I didn't sign up on this to never have a cookie again in my life either.

Ultimately this will be the rest of my life if I want to keep my weight down. I will need to be mindful and likely log the majority of my food. But it'd be nice if I didn't have to do it every single day for the next 50 years.

lizzocat

I have free meals usually when there's some kind of event or holiday, and even then i attempt to log. The only thing that I refer to as a 'cheat meal' is when I lapse and binge and it's completely unplanned. I try to stay away from those as much as possible because they completely mess with my head and willpower.

dbmata

I think Biz Markie once described the concept of a cheat day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aofoBrFNdg

RockstarWilson

KBurkhardt08 wrote: »

I think it just depends on the person and their lifestyle. Sometimes I want a brownie, but thats like 500 calories. Cant have that on a regular basis. I'm 23 and I like to drink. Cant have a bottle of wine on a normal day cause thats about 700 calories. Or if I wanted Panda Express...thats also 700. Those things are saved for cheat days or meals because I cant afford to do that all the time if I want to lose weight.

Just 700 calories? You must not be doing takeout right! :-) a plate of Panda for me is up in the 2k range

HeySwoleSister

dbmata wrote: »

I think Biz Markie once described the concept of a cheat day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aofoBrFNdg

Oh, 90s. Your hair, your accessories. You amuse me.

Marianna93637

I allow myself a 'cheat day' about once a week. I don't necessarily plan exactly what day it is, but it's usually a Friday or Saturday. That doesn't mean I eat like Miss Piggie and that I don't log - I'm not undoing days of hard work. It just means that instead of 1400 calories, I probably have 1800 or rarely 2000. I still log everything.
This cheat day allows me to not feel restricted and think I can never eat out (eating out is usually at least 800 calories) or have cake, or have a couple of drinks, etc. That means I can have these things once a week, which is plenty.
I have actually been losing more steadily since I've been doing this, I think it helped jump over those 3 weeks when the scale didn't move.

This past weekend I was out of town. I stayed at a friend's house, brought my food scale, and weighed and logged everything as usual. But we went out Friday and Saturday night, I had 2 Martinis each night, and Saturday night I got really hungry, and I ended up eating a large carne asada fries. I enjoyed every bite of it, knowing it would be about 6-800 calories, but that it was ok.
Earlier that day I had 2 slices of pizza, I guess I was just hungry that day. Yes I did go way over my calories, but we also went on a bike ride, so overall it wasn't ridiculously too much. The next day i took a long yoga class, didn't really eat a lot, because I wasn't that hungry, but that night i had a banana split (half size), which still kept me under my goals.

What I'm trying to say is that this past weekend I ate more junk and high calorie food than I ate in the past 6 months, but I also worked out or did some exercise (salsa dancing counts, right?) and only went over my calories 1 day.
I still feel great, I know I didn't undo anything, in fact my skinny jeans are now loose. And i got any cravings out of my system. I might not want a cheat day this week, but if I do, it will be one day and it will fit into my plans.

chouflour

Merkavar wrote: »

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.

Clearly, cheat days mean different things to different people. My goal is moderation (for the purposes of this conversation - moderation means that my habits support my goals - so if I act completely out of habit I have a balanced diet with about the right number of calories).

I have days that are "eat without consideration for what you're eating, with no guilt or remorse" - I'm not undoing the past 2-4 days of eating more/less. I'm testing my habits, and sometimes that comes at a cost.

I wouldn't call them cheat days, but I also don't call them anything in particular. For me, they're a useful tool. If they aren't helpful for you, I'm hardly going to insist you implement them.

Wiseandcurious

I don't understand the concept of "cheating" or calling it that, I am not on a diet per se so how can I cheat on something I am not doing?

I do go over goal, in fact quite regularly, that's why I have my goal in the diary set lower than what I really need as a sort of anchor. I lose on average 2- 2.5 lb a week. I am not scared of seeing red in my diary, so I log everything to the best of my information regardless of what I ate and how much of it. The way I figure it, no food is off limits, I can eat as much as I choose to, as long as I am aware of it and of the consequences of my choice. It works for me.

ETA: I aim to eat at the sedentary level for my goal weight, so basically I'll eat like this all my life if things go normally. So learning to eat at this level without feeling restricted is a huge part of this for me, to set up for successful maintenance.

KBurkhardt08

RockstarWilson wrote: »

KBurkhardt08 wrote: »

I think it just depends on the person and their lifestyle. Sometimes I want a brownie, but thats like 500 calories. Cant have that on a regular basis. I'm 23 and I like to drink. Cant have a bottle of wine on a normal day cause thats about 700 calories. Or if I wanted Panda Express...thats also 700. Those things are saved for cheat days or meals because I cant afford to do that all the time if I want to lose weight.

Just 700 calories? You must not be doing takeout right! :-) a plate of Panda for me is up in the 2k range

Hahaha I'm usually pretty close to 700..maybe to 900. I just tend to like the healthier things. I dont really like the breaded stuff...or the chow mein.

AskTracyAnnK28

EWJLang wrote: »

dbmata wrote: »

I think Biz Markie once described the concept of a cheat day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aofoBrFNdg

Oh, 90s. Your hair, your accessories. You amuse me.

Makes me want to bust out with a fanny pack....

kismea

I agree with you - I am not a cheat day kinda gal. Why undo all that I worked hard for all week. Nope. I make sure if I want to eat more, I exercise more so that I can still run the deficit to lose weight. I also think for me, cheat days would have the potential to be mentally unhealthy, like previous poster said - you are allowing yourself to get off the wagon and then the battle to get back on becomes difficult. Facing that every week? No thanks.

THAT being said, I am not perfect and when celebrations are food based I do often go over my allowance but I don't consider it a cheat day so much as a day I lost the battle on LOL I go in with the thought of doing my best to stay on target.

I agree also, that it just is all about what works for you though. We are all different

Angierae75

We went out to Benihana last night. It was delicious. I haven't finished logging it all, but I'm sure I went over. So the rest of this week, I'll make sure I leave about 200-250 calories a day on the table, as it were, and it'll all balance out. A nice meal with my daughter was worth it.

kailyw05

I suppose I have cheat days, but I don't plan them. I don't go out of my way to eat over my goal, but when life happens, I'm not hard on myself. If co-workers go for a beer after work on Friday, I'll go have a beer even if it doesn't really fit in my calories for the day. If we get invited to a party, I'll log and exercise until say, 6:00, and then I let the night pan out without stressing. That doesn't mean I stand by the chip bowl stuffing my face, but if someone hands out some homemade nacho dip they made, I'm having some. If we're sitting around at home with no plans, I don't really feel the need to "cheat".

That said, we went out for pizza last night, I had 2 pieces and they fit within my calorie goal. Maybe that's a cheat meal? But I don't call it that because it's part of my life. I will always eat pizza. No need to deprive yourself if you really want it. Everything in moderation, as they say.

Even one night last month I went out for a friends birthday, drank about a pint of vodka (1000+ cals), ate pizza and garlic fingers for supper, chips and cheese and crackers mid-evening, and a small poutine at 2 am. Consumed 3500 calories that night. I still lost weight the week after that. 1 day will not ruin anything [in my experience].

Cazzy34

There are days when I go over cals (sometimes a lot).... but I don't think of it as a cheat day! I see it more like a day when i've been socialising with friends and enjoying life!

I mean, long term I know I will never be able to completely give up alcohol or meals out so i just log as best I can even if its over. Yeah, chances are I probably won't lose weight that week, but that's the choice I make. Going over the odd day doesn't send me completely off track, I just keep logging as usual like any other day.

honeybee_kisses

For me 'cheat day' is Saturday evening when we always have a takeaway. I'm still as careful as I can be about it though. I tend to have noodles from our local Chinese, boil my own rice at home and do some Iceland mini vegetable spring rolls (44 calls each) and I'm always super careful at breakfast and lunch so I'm still within my allowance. If I allowed myself a day of actually eating whatever I wanted I would definitely undo a whole weeks work! I have no self control lol

sfbaumgarten

Cheating can mean different things to different people. Also remember that what works for some people doesn't necessarily work for others. If you "cheat" and you're still reaching your weight loss/fitness goals, then rock on.

All of that said, I don't have a designated cheat meal or day. There are times that I overeat or under log, but I don't do it on any kind of schedule or with much thought ahead of time.

deaniac83

I don't like the term 'cheat day'. You can't cheat your body. Period. You can, however, reward yourself. So have a Reward Day - or more specifically, a Reward Meal. Very few of us, given a mix of foods rather than the most calorie loaded drink you can find at Starbucks or drinking chocolate syrup out of the container - can actually eat much more than our daily maintenance in a single meal. So even if you indulge, you have no reason to feel bad.