What are your cheat day 'rules'?
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NotQuiteNorm wrote: »hsmith0930 wrote: »NotQuiteNorm wrote: »hsmith0930 wrote: »There is no such thing as a cheat day. I can't "cheat" on life. I'm in it until I'm dead, there is no winning or losing and I'm not competing against anyone. If I consciously choose to eat more calories some days, then I do it.
Cheat day is just the most familiar term I know for "eating a little more than usual". Sorry if you misunderstood
No, I understood, I'm just saying that there isn't such a thing. There are no "rules". This isn't some kind of game that you play to win and then stop playing. You can't cheat on a lifestyle change. It doesn't make any sense to me to say "every Saturday I'm going to eat like I used to eat". Why not NOT do that? Why not just be conscious of what you're eating and making the choice to indulge in a treat and either fit it into your calorie budget or be fine with letting it push you over some? That makes way more sense to me than trying to deprive yourself of treats for most of the week and cramming all your cravings into one day.
Wow. That was a bit harsh, as I do eat much better but to me it's a less healthy outlook on life to say "I am never going to touch fast food again even though I love it" because it's not healthy. Personal choice - neither of us are 100% right as lifestyles are all our own
What I do do is have a half-rack of the full racks I used to sometimes eat 3-4 times a week as my cheat day sometimes. Sometimes I get a bakery cake. The bolded part of what you're saying is exactly what I'm describing, I just have boundaries as to what.
I'm sorry if I sound at all rude, but I'm just asking the people who -like me- find 'cheat' or if you like 'treat' days helpful, how the go about doing it and find your answer a bit condescending like you're trying to say I'm wrong... I do get a bit defensive so excuse me, I am sorry if you are only expressing opinion
BTW life does have rules. Whether it's the time you go to work or the subconscious time you tend to go to bed most people tend to run on some kind of schedule. I can get into the psychology of human behaviour if you're going to further argue, but really you do you, me and the 'cheaters' will do us
Of course life has rules! What I'm saying is what makes eating some fast food a "cheat"? I absolutely would never say a person should cut something out of their diet entirely unless they 1) didn't like it anymore or 2) had a medical necessity not to eat it anymore. Eat the McDonald's fries (for example) if they sound good to you. But either get a small and let that be a snack and let it fit in with the rest of your calories, or get the large and be okay that you might go over a few calories that day after you eat dinner. Why does there need to be a rule set up that "I can't eat McDonald's any day except on Saturdays," or "I can only eat extra calories on this one specific day"? Why can't it just be "Hmm, I want some fries today I'll grab a small and log it." or "hmm, I was under a couple days last week, I can probably afford an extra 200 calories today"? Like why do we have to demonize eating over calories sometimes or eating indulgent treats sometimes so much that we have to call it "cheating" or say that we're eating "bad" foods, or whatever.0 -
It's a "cheat" because it's something that couldn't fit into my normal, daily calorie limit. "Cheating" is a metaphor for doing something outside of the typical realm of day-to-day eating. I feel certain you grasp the concept, so I'm not certain what benefit's to be gained from semantical arguments about the concept.hsmith0930 wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
Because I don't want it to push me over some and if I have to give up three ounces of grilled chicken and an ice cream sandwich for four days so that I can have as much Mexican food as I want and not have it push me over some, that's a trade I'm willing to make now and again.hsmith0930 wrote: »Why not just be conscious of what you're eating and making the choice to indulge in a treat and either fit it into your calorie budget or be fine with letting it push you over some? That makes way more sense to me than trying to deprive yourself of treats for most of the week and cramming all your cravings into one day.
But how is that a "cheat"? You are making a conscious decision to keep your calorie counts low because you know you want to eat a lot of Mexican food on a certain day. What are you cheating at? Like are you cheating on grilled chicken and ice cream sandwiches for Mexican food? Are you in a committed relationship to those foods? No, you're a human. You eat like a human, by being conscious of what you eat and how many calories you're willing to eat of any given food. Sometimes the Mexican is a priority, sometimes it's not.
If you don't want to call doubling, or whatever, a typical day's caloric limit a cheat, then don't. It's a commonly understood shorthand phrase that was never designed to be parsed as if it were some crucial bit of a contract.
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hsmith0930 wrote: »NotQuiteNorm wrote: »hsmith0930 wrote: »NotQuiteNorm wrote: »hsmith0930 wrote: »There is no such thing as a cheat day. I can't "cheat" on life. I'm in it until I'm dead, there is no winning or losing and I'm not competing against anyone. If I consciously choose to eat more calories some days, then I do it.
Cheat day is just the most familiar term I know for "eating a little more than usual". Sorry if you misunderstood
No, I understood, I'm just saying that there isn't such a thing. There are no "rules". This isn't some kind of game that you play to win and then stop playing. You can't cheat on a lifestyle change. It doesn't make any sense to me to say "every Saturday I'm going to eat like I used to eat". Why not NOT do that? Why not just be conscious of what you're eating and making the choice to indulge in a treat and either fit it into your calorie budget or be fine with letting it push you over some? That makes way more sense to me than trying to deprive yourself of treats for most of the week and cramming all your cravings into one day.
Wow. That was a bit harsh, as I do eat much better but to me it's a less healthy outlook on life to say "I am never going to touch fast food again even though I love it" because it's not healthy. Personal choice - neither of us are 100% right as lifestyles are all our own What I do do is have a half-rack of the full racks I used to sometimes eat 3-4 times a week as my cheat day sometimes. Sometimes I get a bakery cake. The bolded part of what you're saying is exactly what I'm describing, I just have boundaries as to what.
I'm sorry if I sound at all rude, but I'm just asking the people who -like me- find 'cheat' or if you like 'treat' days helpful, how the go about doing it and find your answer a bit condescending like you're trying to say I'm wrong... I do get a bit defensive so excuse me, I am sorry if you are only expressing opinion
BTW life does have rules. Whether it's the time you go to work or the subconscious time you tend to go to bed most people tend to run on some kind of schedule. I can get into the psychology of human behaviour if you're going to further argue, but really you do you, me and the 'cheaters' will do us
Of course life has rules! What I'm saying is what makes eating some fast food a "cheat"? I absolutely would never say a person should cut something out of their diet entirely unless they 1) didn't like it anymore or 2) had a medical necessity not to eat it anymore. Eat the McDonald's fries (for example) if they sound good to you. But either get a small and let that be a snack and let it fit in with the rest of your calories, or get the large and be okay that you might go over a few calories that day after you eat dinner. Why does there need to be a rule set up that "I can't eat McDonald's any day except on Saturdays," or "I can only eat extra calories on this one specific day"? Why can't it just be "Hmm, I want some fries today I'll grab a small and log it." or "hmm, I was under a couple days last week, I can probably afford an extra 200 calories today"? Like why do we have to demonize eating over calories sometimes or eating indulgent treats sometimes so much that we have to call it "cheating" or say that we're eating "bad" foods, or whatever.
I already answered both, but to repeat "cheat" is a term word.
I can't just do it willy-nilly because I am trying to correct a binge eating disorder. Do you have a better way for me to stop food "controlling" me than for me to learn to be able to control it? Or are you just going to try to tell me that binge eating disorder doesn't include food literally controlling you even though it's an accepted description of how a binge feels to many.0 -
hsmith0930 wrote: »NotQuiteNorm wrote: »hsmith0930 wrote: »NotQuiteNorm wrote: »hsmith0930 wrote: »There is no such thing as a cheat day. I can't "cheat" on life. I'm in it until I'm dead, there is no winning or losing and I'm not competing against anyone. If I consciously choose to eat more calories some days, then I do it.
Cheat day is just the most familiar term I know for "eating a little more than usual". Sorry if you misunderstood
No, I understood, I'm just saying that there isn't such a thing. There are no "rules". This isn't some kind of game that you play to win and then stop playing. You can't cheat on a lifestyle change. It doesn't make any sense to me to say "every Saturday I'm going to eat like I used to eat". Why not NOT do that? Why not just be conscious of what you're eating and making the choice to indulge in a treat and either fit it into your calorie budget or be fine with letting it push you over some? That makes way more sense to me than trying to deprive yourself of treats for most of the week and cramming all your cravings into one day.
Wow. That was a bit harsh, as I do eat much better but to me it's a less healthy outlook on life to say "I am never going to touch fast food again even though I love it" because it's not healthy. Personal choice - neither of us are 100% right as lifestyles are all our own What I do do is have a half-rack of the full racks I used to sometimes eat 3-4 times a week as my cheat day sometimes. Sometimes I get a bakery cake. The bolded part of what you're saying is exactly what I'm describing, I just have boundaries as to what.
I'm sorry if I sound at all rude, but I'm just asking the people who -like me- find 'cheat' or if you like 'treat' days helpful, how the go about doing it and find your answer a bit condescending like you're trying to say I'm wrong... I do get a bit defensive so excuse me, I am sorry if you are only expressing opinion
BTW life does have rules. Whether it's the time you go to work or the subconscious time you tend to go to bed most people tend to run on some kind of schedule. I can get into the psychology of human behaviour if you're going to further argue, but really you do you, me and the 'cheaters' will do us
Of course life has rules! What I'm saying is what makes eating some fast food a "cheat"? I absolutely would never say a person should cut something out of their diet entirely unless they 1) didn't like it anymore or 2) had a medical necessity not to eat it anymore. Eat the McDonald's fries (for example) if they sound good to you. But either get a small and let that be a snack and let it fit in with the rest of your calories, or get the large and be okay that you might go over a few calories that day after you eat dinner. Why does there need to be a rule set up that "I can't eat McDonald's any day except on Saturdays," or "I can only eat extra calories on this one specific day"? Why can't it just be "Hmm, I want some fries today I'll grab a small and log it." or "hmm, I was under a couple days last week, I can probably afford an extra 200 calories today"? Like why do we have to demonize eating over calories sometimes or eating indulgent treats sometimes so much that we have to call it "cheating" or say that we're eating "bad" foods, or whatever.
Some people like rules. We like boxes and numbers and checkmarks and all that jazz, but at the same time we acknowledge that being unbending isn't healthy so we give ourselves permission to break the rules but still we are who we are so we have rules about breaking the rules. Clearly this freaks you out but you're not doing a very good job of explaining why.
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I don't cheat. If I want something, I work it into my calories. If I go over by going out to eat, I'll cut a bit off the next couple days. Cheating implies that I'm doing something I shouldn't.0
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I don't have a cheat day that I have chosen say once a week. I just go day by day and if I cheat I cheat and then get back on track. Seems the cheat day is a pressure breaker.0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »It's a "cheat" because it's something that couldn't fit into my normal, daily calorie limit. "Cheating" is a metaphor for doing something outside of the typical realm of day-to-day eating. I feel certain you grasp the concept, so I'm not certain what benefit's to be gained from semantical arguments about the concept.
If you don't want to call doubling, or whatever, a typical day's caloric limit a cheat, then don't. It's a commonly understood shorthand phrase that was never designed to be parsed as if it were some crucial bit of a contract.
I think if you look at her diary you can see why. I went 10 days all with her going over her goal before I got tired of it - I am not criticising because if this is still letting you lose weight, @hsmith0930 I envy you! Keep doing what you're doing however I am less than 5ft tall and can't actually make my 500 calorie deficit without either exercising or going below 1200 calories (I set mine to 1000 to make sure I do the exercise as I don't know how to log exercise without it putting more calories on, but eat about 1300 most days once I've burnt off 500 or so).
You may have it easy - some of us don't!0 -
Does having goosebumps also imply that you're a goose? Or is it just a term used to describe a commonly understood phenomenon in a shorthand rather than literal way?I don't cheat. If I want something, I work it into my calories. If I go over by going out to eat, I'll cut a bit off the next couple days. Cheating implies that I'm doing something I shouldn't.
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@svbrand It's all about how you wanna do it! I'm just curious and was dumb enough to think it would be fun to ask everyone for their personal version of it
clearly not 0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »
Does having goosebumps also imply that you're a goose? Or is it just a term used to describe a commonly understood phenomenon in a shorthand rather than literal way?I don't cheat. If I want something, I work it into my calories. If I go over by going out to eat, I'll cut a bit off the next couple days. Cheating implies that I'm doing something I shouldn't.
That's such a good one! I was trying to think of an example, but my brain is busy thinking about how yummy my dinner (and a dessert) was! Well worth losing a little slower in my opinion - though if these days didn't exist I think I'd have thrown in the towel around Easter!0 -
I think it's fun, so at least there's that.NotQuiteNorm wrote: »@svbrand It's all about how you wanna do it! I'm just curious and was dumb enough to think it would be fun to ask everyone for their personal version of it clearly not
I can picture some of these people responding to a kid who says a cloud is a whale: "Why are you calling that a whale? That implies that it's a marine mammal. No. No. It's a mass of water vapor droplets condensed around seeds of some sort, typically dust particles."
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
Does having goosebumps also imply that you're a goose? Or is it just a term used to describe a commonly understood phenomenon in a shorthand rather than literal way?I don't cheat. If I want something, I work it into my calories. If I go over by going out to eat, I'll cut a bit off the next couple days. Cheating implies that I'm doing something I shouldn't.
If I want a burger, why should I tell myself "oh, no, you have to wait until cheat day" to have it? If I have the calories, I'll eat it. Granted, except fast food burgers, I rarely consume hamburgers anymore, but I'm not going to limit myself.0 -
I call it a refeed day, but I eat to maintenance. I usually eat 1650-1700 calories per day (currently cutting), but on Saturdays I eat 2000-2200. My rules are 1) hit at least 100 g protein and 250 g carbs, and 2) don't eat a single meal at home. Then on Sundays I'm back to my original macro goals (170c/57f/128p).
I don't call it a "cheat day" because I've always eaten more on weekends because I prefer it that way. I go by weekly goals rather that daily goals when it comes to calories, so I typically eat a little less during the work week so I can enjoy myself and eat out with my husband on weekends. It's worked for me so far - I've been under my original goal weight of 125 lbs since November.
While maintaining, I'll occasionally have a cheat weekend and there are no rules - IHOP and Outback are hard to fit into daily and/or weekly goals unless I plan to eat nothing else the whole weekend or order something off the "light" menu, and that isn't how I roll. Again, I've never gained weight from one of these weekends.
Oh, and calories don't count on holidays unless I'm doing a strict cut. Thanksgiving and Christmas are epic calorie intake days.0 -
Rules? Screw that. It's a cheat day dam it! (smile)0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
Does having goosebumps also imply that you're a goose? Or is it just a term used to describe a commonly understood phenomenon in a shorthand rather than literal way?I don't cheat. If I want something, I work it into my calories. If I go over by going out to eat, I'll cut a bit off the next couple days. Cheating implies that I'm doing something I shouldn't.
If I want a burger, why should I tell myself "oh, no, you have to wait until cheat day" to have it? If I have the calories, I'll eat it. Granted, except fast food burgers, I rarely consume hamburgers anymore, but I'm not going to limit myself.
Call me crazy, but I find burgers fairly easy to fit into my calories. I'd never wait for a cheat day for a burger. A huge milkshake is much harder to squeeze in.0 -
I never claimed you should tell yourself that. Besides which, you beg the question with your "if I have the calories" caveat. I'd never have the calories for the kind of meals I'm talking about because that meal alone is more than my daily calorie total.DeguelloTex wrote: »
Does having goosebumps also imply that you're a goose? Or is it just a term used to describe a commonly understood phenomenon in a shorthand rather than literal way?I don't cheat. If I want something, I work it into my calories. If I go over by going out to eat, I'll cut a bit off the next couple days. Cheating implies that I'm doing something I shouldn't.
If I want a burger, why should I tell myself "oh, no, you have to wait until cheat day" to have it? If I have the calories, I'll eat it. Granted, except fast food burgers, I rarely consume hamburgers anymore, but I'm not going to limit myself.
However, since you bring it up, one reason I could think of would be that it would foster better planning of such meals and make it less likely to go careening off course with more spontaneous overeating. Another reason might be that planning and looking forward to a meal such as that might be part of the enjoyment of actually having it. Another might be that you determine that it just isn't worth the effort to try to fit in those extra calories, so you forego such meals.
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NotQuiteNorm wrote: »Jesus4Mayor wrote: »The guidelines I have for myself are to stay within my calorie goals and to have reasonable portion sizes. I eat whatever I feel like eating. I'm just reasonable about it.
Not having cheat day is fair enough if you like it that way
I decided on cheat days as I like to be able to eat 1/2 a rack of BBQ ribs in one sitting every once in a while without guilting myself about it, rather than having either 2 ribs and feel moreish or having the rack and possibly going hungry later! I have a binge problem too which I control better with little things. Like once a week I consciously let myself have a certain boundary of bigger portions or higher calorie foods that usually aren't worth it. This way I eat 500 or so extra calories rather than 2000!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees it that way. I feel like I'm the crazy one reading threads where people swear they have ice cream daily only to look at their diaries and see it's a few tablespoons. Give me a pint or get the F off my obstacle!!!!!
I can't have one of some things. Nevermind chocolate - even on my cheat/treat/refeeds I try to have a 'chocolate covered biscuit' or something or it's just too morish and whoops! I eat the whole pack of bars!DeguelloTex wrote: »
Does having goosebumps also imply that you're a goose? Or is it just a term used to describe a commonly understood phenomenon in a shorthand rather than literal way?I don't cheat. If I want something, I work it into my calories. If I go over by going out to eat, I'll cut a bit off the next couple days. Cheating implies that I'm doing something I shouldn't.
If I want a burger, why should I tell myself "oh, no, you have to wait until cheat day" to have it? If I have the calories, I'll eat it. Granted, except fast food burgers, I rarely consume hamburgers anymore, but I'm not going to limit myself.
Cheat/treat/refeed days don't have to be scheduled really, I personally do as I have a problem controlling my binges! It's all about how you wanna do it!0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »
I never claimed you should tell yourself that. Besides which, you beg the question with your "if I have the calories" caveat. I'd never have the calories for the kind of meals I'm talking about because that meal alone is more than my daily calorie total.DeguelloTex wrote: »
Does having goosebumps also imply that you're a goose? Or is it just a term used to describe a commonly understood phenomenon in a shorthand rather than literal way?I don't cheat. If I want something, I work it into my calories. If I go over by going out to eat, I'll cut a bit off the next couple days. Cheating implies that I'm doing something I shouldn't.
If I want a burger, why should I tell myself "oh, no, you have to wait until cheat day" to have it? If I have the calories, I'll eat it. Granted, except fast food burgers, I rarely consume hamburgers anymore, but I'm not going to limit myself.
However, since you bring it up, one reason I could think of would be that it would foster better planning of such meals and make it less likely to go careening off course with more spontaneous overeating. Another reason might be that planning and looking forward to a meal such as that might be part of the enjoyment of actually having it. Another might be that you determine that it just isn't worth the effort to try to fit in those extra calories, so you forego such meals.
These. You and I are on a wavelength.0 -
Everything in moderation0
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