Do you have your cheat day?

dinia07

I already lose 2.5 lbs in 11 days. I aim for 1200 cal thrice a week and 1500 cal for the remaining days. And now i feel so deprived of food. I miss eating anything I want but so afraid of gaining back the weight again.

Orphia

4 months and no cheating so far. Eating everything I feel like in moderation within my calorie limit.

How tall are you? How much do you need to lose? You might have too severe goals.

DemoraFairy

Once I got close enough to a weight that I was happy with, I decided I wouldn't try to count calories for special occasions - birthdays, celebration meals, things like that. It's nice to have the odd meal without worrying about counting or limiting what I eat.

If you feel deprived all the time maybe you should up your calories a bit and have a slower rate of loss.

Bruery

When you have done the calorie counting long enough and are in tune with your body, you can follow a intuitive approach. Listen to your body and eat what it directs you, it's okay - you have trained it to steer clear of the processed refined crap.

Sued0nim

If you need to cheat you're doing it wrong

Work your calories over the week, set an attainable goal, exercise more to earn more calories and work all foods you love into your diet

Sued0nim

Luv2Chillax wrote: »

When you have done the calorie counting long enough and are in tune with your body, you can follow a intuitive approach. Listen to your body and eat what it directs you, it's okay - you have trained it to steer clear of the processed refined crap.

Nope

Might be true for you ..not true for me

But then again I don't believe any food is crap ...it's all made up of macro and micro nutrients ...I like knowing I'm getting the right balance by logging

Patttience

If you are missing food, then maybe you need to work on improving the taste of the food you are eating. And is it possible that your calorie intake is unnecessarily low?

AllyCat76

I never have a cheat day...only a cheat "meal". And sometimes it's only the dessert part that is actually exceeding my daily calorie limit.

Whitezombiegirl

To me a cheat day is one where you dont control portions or log food. Why would anyone strive for accuracy and then do this? I understand having the odd planned high calorie day -but logging it. I do this regularly -it's essential at least once a month to help with my pms cravings. I dont call it cheating, I call it management.

Machka9

No cheat days.

However, the more I exercise, the more I can eat ... so I rarely feel deprived.

mommyvudu

I give myself a cheat MEAL once in a while. I aim for only twice a month. Never more than once a week. And I still don't binge...I stay within my calorie range... I just eat garbage like butter and sour cream on a baked potato.

rjan91

No I do not.

thankyou4thevenom

How about working in a maintenance day? So you eat everything you burn for that day including exercise calories but don't go over. Depending on the day that can be a lot of calories for me. It might be the same for you.

JillianRN527

An entire cheat day would be a disaster for me. I have a cheat meal every other Saturday and I log it. I eat maybe half what I used to. I weigh myself Saturday morning so seeing a loss helps from overdoing my progress. I went out for dinner with my family and stayed within my calorie goal this week so my meal didn't even put me over.

Pinnacle_IAO

dinia07 wrote: »

I already lose 2.5 lbs in 11 days. I aim for 1200 cal thrice a week and 1500 cal for the remaining days. And now i feel so deprived of food. I miss eating anything I want but so afraid of gaining back the weight again.

During my weight loss and part of weight maintenance, yes!

I had a weekly cheat day and loved it. It kept me on track. I could push away from bad eating habits during the week, knowing my binge was just days away. I lost 100 pounds this way.


At some point I had to cease this, because in weight maintenance doing body recomposition, I found a whole cheat day inhibited my goals relating to fat loss. Also, I am just NOT that guy any longer and do not desire to binge on foods ever. That's a very unhealthy relationship with food, but in the past, I was just in a different place in this journey.

We are all a work in progress, so just go with your heart and judge your decisions by the results you produce.
At day's end results are all that matter. GOOD LUCK

Becca_250

I don't have a cheat day as I find it easier to allow myself small treats throughout the day and just fit these into my goals, this makes it easier for me long term as I don't feel like I'm deprived of anything. For me, I think one cheat day would get hand out of hand and before I know it, I've had a whole cheat week, especially if the cheat foods had leftovers! Everyone has different methods though, you just need to work out what works best for you.

kcn2bluesky

I don't cheat, because I find that to be counter-intuitive to what I'm trying to accomplish: Life style changes that I can sustain. If I want cake or a brownie, I eat those on a day where I have worked out and I have the spare calories to do it. Same with meals...I fit my meals into my daily allowance. That could mean a smaller portion (1 piece of pizza, instead of 3. Add a salad to round out the meal). Or I substitute a portion of the meal to something lower in calories (collard greens instead of corn or peas on the side).

nordlead2005

I've never gone over my net weekly goal (10 weeks so far). I'm also yet to eat over my average maintenance level. I intend to eat AT maintenance all next week while on vacation. So, I would classify that as a no.

So, while I've had days where I went over my net daily goal, it is always compensated for sometime in the week. The closest I've gotten to my net weekly goal is roughly 200 calories, or off by ~30 calories/day from my goal.

Based on your weight loss (assuming it is all fat), you could go to 1500 and 1800 days and lose at 1lb/week. However, 11 days isn't long enough to determine a trend.

Francl27

I have higher calorie days that fit fine in my weekly calories. Last week I had a 2800 calorie day and I still had a 1600-1800 deficit for the week.

abatonfan

Nope. I try to fit everything I want into my daily calorie goals, or I try to fit it into tomorrow's calories if I don't have enough today. The only "cheats" I have is when I'm on vacation and don't pay a ton of attention to making sure my macros are perfect, though I log to make sure that I'm hitting between 1200 and maintenance (but that's because I have issues with not being hungry while on vacation and often struggle to net at least 1200).

clariemoo

I'm trying to lose part of the weight i regained, and will wait at least after the first month to indulge in a cheat meal

MelissaPhippsFeagins

Orphia wrote: »

4 months and no cheating so far. Eating everything I feel like in moderation within my calorie limit.

How tall are you? How much do you need to lose? You might have too severe goals.

This. I lost from 197 to 157 in just over 5 months. I didn't stop eating anything that I didn't want to stop eating forever. I have maintained my loss with 5 pounds or so for 19 months. Some days I eat more than others and I am sure that my Saturday diary would look like a cheat day, but a) cheat has negative connotations that I don't apply to my food and b) I planned to eat that way that day so it may have been unusually indulgent but it isn't something I needed to feel guilty over. it's all about finding the balance that will work for you for the rest of your life. Good luck!

Unknown

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Liftng4Lis

I don't do "cheat", I make what I want fit, or sometimes I go over.

kshama2001

dinia07 wrote: »

I already lose 2.5 lbs in 11 days. I aim for 1200 cal thrice a week and 1500 cal for the remaining days. And now i feel so deprived of food. I miss eating anything I want but so afraid of gaining back the weight again.

With only 24 pounds to lose according to your ticker, your weekly weight loss goals are too aggressive, which is why you feel deprived. Try changing your goals to lose 0.5 pounds per week and see if you feel better with the additional calories.

I eat more on the weekends but also up my exercise so I get more calories. (Because calorie burn from exercise tends to be inflated, many people suggest not eating more than 50% of the calories you earn from exercise back.)

strong_curves

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

I don't do "cheat", I make what I want fit, or sometimes I go over.

This.

I pre-plan the majority of my meals and I think that helps.

AspenDan

I have cheat meals, where I know it might be 1500 calories or whatever..but I don't typically have cheat days. I try to work the big meal into my plans by filling up on lown calorie volume, like lots of veggies and water, to stay full until that big meal.

becalee26

After 35 days of perfect logging (12.5 lbs gone) I went camping and decided to "cheat" for two days. Needed my wine and s'mores and didn't care how much. Now it's Monday, back to perfectly logging and not feeling quilty about my weekend activity. Won't happen again until I go away for Labor Day weekend. I did make sure to stick to my 12000 (5 miles) steps everyday. I won't give that up for any day.

dinsfamily

DemoraFairy wrote: »

Once I got close enough to a weight that I was happy with, I decided I wouldn't try to count calories for special occasions - birthdays, celebration meals, things like that. It's nice to have the odd meal without worrying about counting or limiting what I eat.

This is my goal. Right now, I'm planning my calories around events and learning not to go overboard. It's tough since restaurant food is so calorie-dense, but I've been able to do it with decent food choices, working out, and planning. So much easier to eat at home, though. When I get to maintenance, I'm hoping that it will be easier or at least I can bleed those fun calories off over the course of a week.

This is actually the first time I haven't planned any "cheating" in to my weightloss plan. If I want something bad enough, I just work-in those calories. Seems way easier this way and I feel more satisfied.

esorcel

Francl27 wrote: »

I have higher calorie days that fit fine in my weekly calories. Last week I had a 2800 calorie day and I still had a 1600-1800 deficit for the week.

That might account for how I don't gain weight during the weekend. I tend to be extremely busy with limited times to track my caloric intake on the weekends. I still maintain portion control because I am afraid of ruining all of my efforts, and it seems to work out for me. I call the weekend my cheat days only because I am not recording my caloric intake, but I don't overindulge on anything, or feel deprived.

esorcel

dinsfamily wrote: »

DemoraFairy wrote: »

Once I got close enough to a weight that I was happy with, I decided I wouldn't try to count calories for special occasions - birthdays, celebration meals, things like that. It's nice to have the odd meal without worrying about counting or limiting what I eat.

This is my goal. Right now, I'm planning my calories around events and learning not to go overboard. It's tough since restaurant food is so calorie-dense, but I've been able to do it with decent food choices, working out, and planning. So much easier to eat at home, though. When I get to maintenance, I'm hoping that it will be easier or at least I can bleed those fun calories off over the course of a week.

This is actually the first time I haven't planned any "cheating" in to my weightloss plan. If I want something bad enough, I just work-in those calories. Seems way easier this way and I feel more satisfied.

Restaurant foods are also loaded with sodium!! Water retention can put a damper on your weight loss plans. I try to stick with home-cooked foods, too. It's so much easier to maintain your goals that way.