cheat/treat/free day(s)

rieann84

Whenever I let myself have a day off the books, it seems to morph into 2 days. Like, for example..if we get a pizza I'll end up having breakfast (and maybe even lunch) pizza the next day. I know..the logical solution is to throw the crap out at the end of the day. But the penny pincher in me finds that hard to do.

I think part of it is that when I know I'm going to have a free day...I still try and adhere to a somewhat healthy breakfast and lunch and then have an indulgent dinner. I guess my question is, when you all have one of these days..do you go all out for each meal..or just have one indulgent meal and call it a day?

Pearsquared

I have pizza every Saturday with the parents (homemade, but still pretty high calorie), and that thing definitely spreads throughout the week. It's hard, because the pieces are teeny, but one slice is enough calories for what I would normally have for lunch. I prefer it when there are no leftovers, but I suppose it's unavoidable sometimes.

tquill

I definitely wouldn't drag it out a whole day. Consider the fact that a popular caloric deficit is 500 calories per day. I'm guessing a full cheat day could easily be 1000 calories over your daily maintenance. Assuming those numbers are correct, a cheat day could undo 2 or more days of "being good." It's not worth it IMO. I would stick to one cheat meal a week, if that... and don't make it an absolutely horrible one either.

enitsirhck

Have something just a little "bad" every day, and let "cheats" happen naturally rather than planning them. I don't feel super guilty about having a square of dark chocolate or a glass of chocolate soy milk as a treat, but it satisfies the craving for something "naughty". Then if something big comes up - a family dinner, a birthday at work, or a meal out at a restaurant, you can eat a little outside your range (but still try to stay healthy as you can!) and it won't work against you in the long run.

jacksonpt

first, what exactly does cheat mean to you? going over your calorie goals? ignoring macro goals? eating "non-clean" foods?

cwolfman13

You need to develop a healthy, sustainable dietary lifestyle...this is what I do...

I eat a lot of this...



and quite a bit of this...



and much less of this (but that doesn't mean none)...



while occasionally indulging in some of this...



All the while, doing a lot of this...



and this....



and less of this...



Done over a period of weeks, months, and years....MAGIC happens. When you have a healthy, sustainable diet, there is no such thing as "cheating"

asciiqwerty

log it. eat it. love it.

don't go off hte books, you can indulge but you should log it too, otherwise you're just cheating yourself