Cheat days

AldrinYeo
AldrinYeo Posts: 26 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
hey guys! How many cheat days should I have a week to maintain my weight? And how do I tackle a cheat day? Do I just not care and eat chips and sweets or should I still count calories? Thanks!!! Add me! Always ready to encourage and always in need for some =D

Replies

  • likehlikeo
    likehlikeo Posts: 185 Member
    If you work your chips and sweets into your weekly allowance, it's not cheating. I usually bank LOTS of calories (unintentionally) over the week and COULD technically eat 4-5k calories on sundays...but I rarelay do.
    And this would not be a cheat day, since I banked them. I would advise for counting, since not counting could lead to weight gain if you lose track and eat more than you should on one or two days and within your goal the other 5 or 6...
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    You shouldn't have any cheat days. Just eat the food you like, but account for it. No food is good or bad, but there's obviously benefit to eating more nutritious food most of the time.

    If you want to splurge (a few drinks, a meal out, decadent dessert etc), perhaps consider eating less cals on a couple of days and adding them to another day. Your weekly total won't be affected. I often have "low" days on non training days, but counterbalance this with a "high" day
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    You shouldn't have any cheat days - who or what are you cheating?

    You do realise you are allowed to enjoy your food 7 days a week?
  • TracyV125
    TracyV125 Posts: 100 Member
    I don't declare any days a cheat day.

    I allow myself the ice cream out with my family or a dinner out. I just plan for it before hand. Follow my normal breakfast and lunch and make sure to get my run or workout in during the day. It's all about finding balance.
  • hgycta
    hgycta Posts: 3,013 Member
    I always try to stay as close to my maintenance goal as I can, so I don't regularly have "cheat days."
    That being said, with maintenance I do have a weight range I like to fall between. If I end up weighing more than this amount, then I'll go back to really watching what I eat to make sure I'm accurately logging everything and fall back into this maintenance range.
    If I end up weighing less than this amount, then hallelujah I get to enjoy myself and eat more! I ended up being 0.2 lb under my range all last week (I waited it out to make sure it wasn't going to fluctuate back up), but when I saw it continue to fall I enjoyed a nice pint of Ben & Jerry's last night - their full fat Cinnamon Buns ice cream! I took out a little bit of it to share with my family and bring the calories of the pint to 1,100, and ate it when I would have originally enjoyed my 400 calorie dessert I save for myself every night (so I went over my goal by 700 calories). If 3,500 calories = 1 pound, then 350 calories = 0.1 pound, and to gain back that 0.2 pounds, I ate this 700 calorie surplus. And I loved it.
    Now, you don't have to get as scientific with this as I did (I over-complicate things when I get bored), but just give yourself a range, do whatever it takes to stay within it, and as long as you feel happy and healthy maintain this lifestyle - whether it includes cheat meals or not! Everyone is different and has different things that work for them :)
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    You shouldn't have any cheat days. Just eat the food you like, but account for it. No food is good or bad, but there's obviously benefit to eating more nutritious food most of the time.

    If you want to splurge (a few drinks, a meal out, decadent dessert etc), perhaps consider eating less cals on a couple of days and adding them to another day. Your weekly total won't be affected. I often have "low" days on non training days, but counterbalance this with a "high" day

    All of this.

    Why do you need a cheat day, OP? Is there an upcoming event? Do you chronically feel deprived or hate logging everything? Are you currently following some restrictive plan, like Paleo or "clean eating"?

    Weight maintenance is all about an energy balance. You can regularly have chips and stay the same weight. IME, it's better to occasionally work in junk food instead of ignoring those cravings and eventually binging.
  • tephanies1234
    tephanies1234 Posts: 299 Member
    I only have a "cheat" day where I eat more of what I want when I just can't stick to diet calories. But I track as much as possible and stay around maintenance and the day is usually unplanned. I try to get in as many diet days as possible until one of these days hit where I have uncontrollable appetite.
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
    tephanies1234 wrote: »
    I only have a "cheat" day where I eat more of what I want when I just can't stick to diet calories. But I track as much as possible and stay around maintenance and the day is usually unplanned. I try to get in as many diet days as possible until one of these days hit where I have uncontrollable appetite.

    Yeah but OP is already eating at maintenance and does not have calorie deficit days.
  • Bizurke51
    Bizurke51 Posts: 190 Member
    I'm working up to maintenance (actually lost half a pound since i started) and I typically do what I consider a cheat day every sunday or saturday. I just eat what i want and stay under budget. the other 6 days i eat what i want but i make sure i get enough protein in addition to staying under budget. Last weekend i ate a bunch of cookies and ice cream for breakfast, then pizza for lunch, followed by eggs and sausage for dinner.
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,585 Member
    you could eat slightly below maintenance during the week and then be more indulgent on the weekends

    you could work in treats to your calorie allowance everyday too

    aside from doing that I think having indulgent days once in a while is cool. i mean its life really and it happens. I know Canada Day coming up will be a very indulgent day for me and im looking forward to it
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Anytime you eat more than you burn, you'll have to make it up eventually or you'll gain weight. If you have a day when you know you'll eat more than you burn that day, eat fewer calories before and/or after that day to make up for it. And if you are counting calories you should keep counting, so you'll know how much you need to cut back on other days.
  • for_ever_young66
    for_ever_young66 Posts: 2,877 Member
    one per week for me
  • vicky1947mfp
    vicky1947mfp Posts: 1,523 Member
    There is no "cheating". Nothing is off limits for me I just work them into my calorie allowance.

    If I know I have an event coming up I just eat a little less leading up to it and also up my exercise.
  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
    Zero.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    I think you should cheat every day; just make sure you log it in so that you can calculate exactly how many pounds you have gained.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    You shouldn't have any cheat days - who or what are you cheating?

    You do realise you are allowed to enjoy your food 7 days a week?

    this...

    stop viewing food as cheats/bad/good/clean/unclean etc...

    Just make sure that you hit your macro/micro/calorie targets for the day and eat what you enjoy.
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  • faithyang
    faithyang Posts: 297 Member
    AldrinYeo wrote: »
    hey guys! How many cheat days should I have a week to maintain my weight? And how do I tackle a cheat day? Do I just not care and eat chips and sweets or should I still count calories? Thanks!!! Add me! Always ready to encourage and always in need for some =D

    I like the option of cheat days because they give me structure. Yes its great to organically eat whatever you want whenever as long as its reasonably portioned and you follow the calorie in and out system, but a cheat days gives you a great reason to plan and look forward to something you really enjoy and not have to worry about anything about the back of your head, it is as mechanical as you want it so you don't have to think about anything and just follow through - life outside of a diet / health and fitness change is already hectic enough, the last thing you want to have to really 'think' about is the whole balancing calorie aspect of things.

    I compensate quite simply by just eating healthy and exercising consistently during weekdays like how you don't go on a binge drinking fest during your weekdays as you're working/studying, and save that kind of enjoyment for the weekend. Weekends I enjoy a cheat meal.

    I don't go all out because those cheat meals can turn into weekends and slowly you will lose momentum. I may eat 1,200-1,500 all week and then weekends I'll have a cheat meal each day and a sweet item. But its a meal, meaning I won't suddenly inhale 50 cookies and a pint of ice cream. I'll have a serving or max two (rare) of ice cream for example and for example if I'm having an eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce and a caffe latte I'll have that, but I won't suddenly throw in 2 super fattening sides just because its my cheat day.

    Its all about realising you will have a cheat day EVERY WEEK indefinitely so you don't have to behave like every meal is your last meal.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    You shouldn't have any cheat days - who or what are you cheating?

    You do realise you are allowed to enjoy your food 7 days a week?

    this...

    stop viewing food as cheats/bad/good/clean/unclean etc...

    Just make sure that you hit your macro/micro/calorie targets for the day and eat what you enjoy.


    This is not the Protestant Work Ethic applied to food. It's healthy eating and enjoying your life.

    I eat anything I want. But I've also noticed that I really like a little, but eating a lot of them makes me feel worse, not better. Kind of like drinking. Some is fun. More is not.

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