How often do you "indulge/cheat"??

patrikc333

never, cause it will be the first step to disaster for me. I know myself, and if I don't count or let it go once I will go back where I was.

instead, I plan in advance and I eat in moderation, or exercise a lot and eat a lot, but up to my daily suggested intake

In the end it's a simple decision, that must work on an individual base:

for me, it's either

- eat as much as I want, going back to be over weighted

or

- plan, log, control, enjoy what i can eat, and if i want more i exercise more, but never go over

Noelv1976

You shouldn't feel guilty if you go on the red at least once or twice a week. Like one of them said, should see somebody or reevaluate your eating habits. Having one cookie today, then another two days later won't kill you, nor will it destroy your goal. Unless you're competing in a Bodybuilding competition, you should be able to enjoy some sweets every now and then.

urloved33

sjadev1108 wrote: »

I know what everyone says, one day/one meal won't hurt etc etc. However, I find it very shaming and feel very guilty if I'm in the red. I feel like I am starting over after one bad day or one bad meal. I wish I could throw down a cookie, or a couple pieces of pizza once a week, or once a month, but I just CAN'T. I'm terrified the scale will go up....I'm terrified I'll have to get the fat girl pants back out.....I'm terrified it will start a huge downward spiral. So, I guess my question is, how often do you that are having success indulge? And how did you get past this feeling of shame and guilt when you do?

Well I am not terrified but just don;'t want to lose all my gains. I have cut out fast food almost completely...soda is gone too....I do eat in a nice restaurant every other week with my daughter but stay within my allowed calorie intake for the most part. I know people say...there is no good or bad food and you can eat whatever but I want the result of my fitness efforts to be 'FITNESS' not skinny as the result of eating less but still poorly. I am very disciplined with my gym time too. So to the question...how often do I cheat.indulge...not very often at all.

mulecanter

I think of it as tension release. Diet control is stressful, sometimes you need relief. Get the relief and get back on the wagon immediately. I also try to experiment with smaller "binges" to see if I can minimize the damage while still relieving the stress.

mandychowx

I don't call my cheat meal "cheat meal" and often women go overboard with what they eat and it turns into a cheat DAY!

I call mine a refeed. Where I increase my calories by about 300 calories and increasing my carbs by 80%.

The purpose of a re-feed day his is to help boost your metabolism and help restore your Leptin hormone levels. (Leptin is the king of all fat burning hormones!) When dieting and on a low calorie diet, your metabolism will drop (meaning you will be burning less calories) plus your leptin hormone levels will drop in attempt by the body to spare body fat. (safety mechanism for the human body).

The body does not want to lose fat, the body just wants to survive, and when you change your calorie intake to less calories than your TDEE your body is going to adjust, your metabolic rate and metabolism will slow down and soon your TDEE will be a lot lower than what it originally was, resulting in you needing a lower calorie intake to continue to burn body fat.

With a slow metabolism and low leptin levels it becomes much harder to burn body fat. So including a re-feed day into your cutting diet will be really beneficial and allow you to continue to burn body fat at an optimal rate. A re-feed is basically taking 1 step back, but 2 steps forward.

00figg

i dont "cheat" but i do "indulge." i prelog and as a result i eat what i want and have dessert every day. if i am going out to eat, i will try to fit the meal into my daily calories, if i go over, then i will exercise a bit more. i just started maintenance so this seems to work for me. i will say that my eating habits have changed. i still eat high fat/calorie items like pizza and pasta, but i watch portion sizes and balance with fruit and veggies.

johnsonGA15

Once in awhile, I'll do so. Then I get back up and exercise and eat far less.