Cheat days and fast days? Anyone use them to really good effect? What good effects? How do you know?

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  • joolieb1
    joolieb1 Posts: 140 Member
    I do not have cheat days at all and consistently lose - 15 lbs so far at about 1 lb a week. I don't need to cheat as I have a filling and tasty diet every day. If I had a day where chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks and takeaways were ok, I would fail for the whole week. I want to be healthy, y put rubbish into my body, I have years of that already and look where it led me
  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
    I loosen up a little bit on the weekends and do 16/8 fasting by skipping breakfast most days of the week. I have found it to be pretty effective. Never just do a full blown cheat day.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    My "cheat days" were eating Tex-Mex at maintenance. It worked just fine.
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  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    edited August 2015
    shell1005 wrote: »
    I basically take any advice from Dr. Oz and put it right into the recycling bin. Dude will sell or promote anything as long as he gets a cut.

    All that is needed for weight loss is to consistently maintain a caloric deficit. These fad diets, I have no interest in them.

    Dr. Oz can get in the bin.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    What exactly am I cheating on?

    I fit the foods I love into my calories/macros. It's worked fine for me.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I don't like the concept of cheating. I exercise more on the weekends so I can eat more then. Others use a weekly deficit and bank calories for the weekend.

    I like the idea of fasting even less.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    What exactly am I cheating on?

    I fit the foods I love into my calories/macros. It's worked fine for me.
    I don't know about you, but I was cheating on my deficit goal for that day.

  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I don't use WebMD or Dr. Oz and didn't read the links.

    I don't stick to daily numbers. I tried it and it just didn't work. It's just not for me. I overeat and undereat a lot...because I'm more and less hungry a lot. I follow my hunger, not numbers generated by computers. It works for me. I do not plan to be weighing or logging every bite of food I take for the rest of my life, so it's good for me to learn to eat as a person who won't be weighing/logging will, by following my hunger.

    I've often noticed a drop in weight after a big day. I don't get it. I don't pretend to get it. But I can chart my daily weights and daily calories on the same chart and it's obvious that very often, a high-calorie spike day is followed by a weight drop the next morning.

    Since I don't understand it, I don't even try to use it to my benefit. Clearly, eating more food is not the secret to losing weight. But I see that it happens. Can't deny that.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    Intermittent fasting has a lot of evidence for it (can't link on mobile). Sadly what you've linked to is nothing like that and look like a good way to fail.
  • eric2light
    eric2light Posts: 113 Member
    I did meet a body builder who had a very strict diet and expertize schedule and one day off each week.

    I'm not pitching anything... just asking...
  • wkd_lil_law
    wkd_lil_law Posts: 2 Member
    Michael mosely of the BBC strongly follows the 5:2 plan and it's worked for a lot of people.
    Basically 2 days ago week u eat only 500 cals.

    I struggle with the idea of fasting.
    I have a lot of cheat weekends in the summer when I'm camping but I just do more exercise to make up for it.
  • eric2light
    eric2light Posts: 113 Member
    wkd_lil_law wrote: »
    Michael mosely of the BBC strongly follows the 5:2 plan and it's worked for a lot of people.
    Basically 2 days ago week u eat only 500 cals.

    I think I might find it easier to do a couple 500 cal days per week then to be totally consistently not over eating the rest of the time, near fasting for 24 hours is pretty easy.

    What's Michael Mosely's logic?
  • itsafatrose
    itsafatrose Posts: 34 Member
    I eat at or under goal Mon-Fri and don't touch my exercise calories (around 500 a day). That way on the weekend I have a couple thousand calories saved up to "cheat" with. MFP lets you look at your weekly calorie levels, which makes it easy to make sure I'm still on track to lose. It's been working for me every week so far. (Losing 1-2 lbs a week)
  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
    shell1005 wrote: »
    All that is needed for weight loss is to consistently maintain a caloric deficit. These fad diets, I have no interest in them.

    Meh. I didn't click on the link, but fasting isn't really a fad diet.

    If you "fast" for a day or two and eat at maintenance the rest of the week or if you eat during a certain time frame during the day (IF) whether to follow a program or just because that's how you naturally eat (not really liking to eat breakfast, for example), you can still have a calorie deficit. Timing of calorie intake doesn't matter.

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