Best way to have a cheat day?
Hummingbird914
Posts: 76 Member
Whats the best way to have a cheat day? I've eaten clean for the past 3 weeks and want to eat whatever I want tomorrow. Should I workout prior? What should I avoid? I'm not sure how to do this without ruining the progress I've made.
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Replies
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Do everything you would do on a normal day. Like any normal day, make sure whatever you're eating fits in your calorie goals, and if it doesn't fit then decide for yourself if it's worth it to you to go over your goal for the day/week.
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Orrr....
Get rid of the clean eating fat stuff and just do IIFYM...
I'm pretty sure there's 1 billion threads on this lol0 -
I don't have a cheat day....rather a cheat meal and normally at dinner. If I have it earlier in the day, I seem to think it doesn't matter if I eat more that doesn't fit in my calories as I've already ruined it! I weigh in on a Saturday morning so, if I do have a cheat meal, it tends to be on a Saturday night0
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What is this cheat day or cheat meal thing? Are you cheating on your spouse or significant other while eating?
Why call it that? You just want permission to eat more than your calorie restricted diet? Ok, you have permission.0 -
I eat at 1500 calories per day. Sometimes I am under that by 50 (and sometimes even 100!).
I occasionally unintentionally have a week that looks like this:
Sunday: 1500 Cals
Monday: 1400 Cals
Tuesday: 1500 Cals
Wednesday: 1300 Cals
Thursday: 1450 Cals
Friday: 1300 Cals
Come Saturday morning, I count back how many calories I was 'under' my daily 1500. So in this case it would be 550 cals under. I would then allow myself an extra 550 cals on the Saturday
So total calories for Saturday would be 2050. I choose Saturday because that's my 'wanting lots of food' day. I get a good 2050 to play with which is more than enough for me to get a treat in
And I'm still not going over my deficit.0 -
I don't do cheat days.
But the best way to do one would be in such a way that your weekly amount is still at or around your weekly goal.
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hummingbirdx505 wrote: »Whats the best way to have a cheat day? I've eaten clean for the past 3 weeks and want to eat whatever I want tomorrow. Should I workout prior? What should I avoid? I'm not sure how to do this without ruining the progress I've made.
You can still eat anything you want while losing weight. There is no reason to force your self to eat "clean", especially since there really is no agreeable definition.0 -
I've lost 27lbs now and although I have restricted my calorie intake on a daily basis.. I never denied myself a day of eating what I want. Sure, I felt so much better about it if I went to a spin class in the morning or something, but I'm a true believer that if you don't have days like tomorrow it will eventually put you off. Even better, I've had a couple of months off now and have just got back into it but gained NO WEIGHT. I think this is because although I have been dieting, I still allowed myself to have my treat days every so often. Go have fun and don't worry!0
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I eat whatever I want ... just so long as it is at or slightly under the max calories MFP has given me. And fortunately there are some really delicious low-cal choices out there. I'm actually eating a wider variety of food than I was before I started here.
If I want something that might be a bit higher in calories, I exercise for it. As it happens, I love to exercise.
So there's no cheating involved.
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Hi
I feel one of the best ways to have a cheat day is to follow it up with a 24 hour fast, there's many good reasons for this.
1) Increase fat loss
2) Increase growth hormone
3) Proven to help live longer
4) Average weekly calorie intake from cheat day is lowered
Also, try and have the cheat day ( I assume it's high in carbs) after a weights workout and later in the day. The reason for this is that most of the sugars will go to your muscles for glycogen and it will help you sleep better
Hope this helps0 -
mannerstalk wrote: »Hi
I feel one of the best ways to have a cheat day is to follow it up with a 24 hour fast, there's many good reasons for this.
1) Increase fat loss
2) Increase growth hormone
3) Proven to help live longer
4) Average weekly calorie intake from cheat day is lowered
Also, try and have the cheat day ( I assume it's high in carbs) after a weights workout and later in the day. The reason for this is that most of the sugars will go to your muscles for glycogen and it will help you sleep better
Hope this helps
No! Fasting because you when over calorie goal (which is what I am assuming the op defines as "cheating"), is not a healthy mind set and can be a very slippery slope to develop and eating disorder.0 -
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PinkPixiexox wrote: »I eat at 1500 calories per day. Sometimes I am under that by 50 (and sometimes even 100!).
I occasionally unintentionally have a week that looks like this:
Sunday: 1500 Cals
Monday: 1400 Cals
Tuesday: 1500 Cals
Wednesday: 1300 Cals
Thursday: 1450 Cals
Friday: 1300 Cals
Come Saturday morning, I count back how many calories I was 'under' my daily 1500. So in this case it would be 550 cals under. I would then allow myself an extra 550 cals on the Saturday So total calories for Saturday would be 2050. I choose Saturday because that's my 'wanting lots of food' day. I get a good 2050 to play with which is more than enough for me to get a treat in
And I'm still not going over my deficit.
Love this! Never thought about doing it this way but it makes sense.0 -
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As with every "cheat" thread....
All that matters is your calorie deficit.
Remain in a calorie deficit, you'll lose.
Take you calories to maintenance, you'll maintain.
Go in to a calorie surplus, you'll gain.
There's nothing magical about what you are planning to do, it's just food, food that contains calories and macronutrients, how you use it is up to you.
You aren't cheating anything, as the above is un-cheatable.0 -
If i decide saturday i am going to eat one big meal at dinner that is going to be 1000 calories over my calories for that day, I will eat 500 below my allowed calories friday, and burn an extra 500 calories either friday or saturday before that big meal. That way i can enjoy that big meal and not have to worry about burning it off sunday.0
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No! Fasting because you when over calorie goal (which is what I am assuming the op defines as "cheating"), is not a healthy mind set and can be a very slippery slope to develop and eating disorder.
"Can be" being the crucial phrase here, and generally its recommended not to fast if you've experienced an eating disorder for that reason. The general consensus is to eat "normally" (ie, your TDEE( on non-fast days, and you're still averaging out at a respectable calorie deficit.
I get what you mean, by the way. Excusing yourself to eat more one day and saying "oh, well, I can starve myself before/ after" isn't probably the best mentality. But the appeal of say 5:2 is of course you can eat/ cheat/ whatever you want to call it on "up" days and get your deficit in on down days.
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IsaackGMOON wrote: »Orrr....
Get rid of the clean eating fat stuff and just do IIFYM...
I'm pretty sure there's 1 billion threads on this lol
+1...0 -
PinkPixiexox wrote: »I eat at 1500 calories per day. Sometimes I am under that by 50 (and sometimes even 100!).
I occasionally unintentionally have a week that looks like this:
Sunday: 1500 Cals
Monday: 1400 Cals
Tuesday: 1500 Cals
Wednesday: 1300 Cals
Thursday: 1450 Cals
Friday: 1300 Cals
Come Saturday morning, I count back how many calories I was 'under' my daily 1500. So in this case it would be 550 cals under. I would then allow myself an extra 550 cals on the Saturday So total calories for Saturday would be 2050. I choose Saturday because that's my 'wanting lots of food' day. I get a good 2050 to play with which is more than enough for me to get a treat in
And I'm still not going over my deficit.
Just wondering if you know you don't have to manually count back the calories to do this - you can do it just as easily by making the week start on Sunday, therefore end on Saturday, and the app will tell you how many calories you have left for the week.
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I think 3 weeks between treats sounds like a nice plan! Enjoy! I did treat meals, too. Or a big dessert I'd been wanting. A whole day of it wouldn't feel right for me, unless it were a holiday or something. Be careful about cravings the next day. That was the only downside I found. I wanted more the next day, too
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I plan my cheat meal not day in advance. I prefer my cheat meal to be at dinner and it doesn't mean I will go over calories either. I work out what I want and the calories then eat light or not at all until that meal.
If I do eat over calories then I go lower the next couple of days.0 -
I don't time my cheat days, but I try to not have more than 1-2 per week.0
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I had a wonderfull three course dinner at a restaurant yesterday evening, drank the wine and ate the Bread too. I planned for it by drinking only homemade soup for the entire day. It was worth it, only 200 gram weight gain this morning, which I am sure has more to do with water retention than actual gain. Not sure whether I stayed in deficit though0
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mrsmlkp248 wrote: »I plan my cheat meal not day in advance. I prefer my cheat meal to be at dinner and it doesn't mean I will go over calories either. I work out what I want and the calories then eat light or not at all until that meal.
If I do eat over calories then I go lower the next couple of days.
Where is the 'cheat'?
What did you cheat at and how?
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mrsmlkp248 wrote: »I plan my cheat meal not day in advance. I prefer my cheat meal to be at dinner and it doesn't mean I will go over calories either. I work out what I want and the calories then eat light or not at all until that meal.
If I do eat over calories then I go lower the next couple of days.
Where is the 'cheat'?
What did you cheat at and how?
I get that you're making a point about the psychological connection with the term "cheat" and food etc etc, but it's pretty clear that the term "cheat" is used here to easily describe a planned/intentional calorie surplus within a meal or a day.
I don't think it's necessary to be condescending about it, you know what she means, I know what she means, we all understand the concept. It doesn't matter if we agree or not with a "planned/intentional calorie surplus/cheat", we are all here to support each other.0 -
RebelDiamond wrote: »mrsmlkp248 wrote: »I plan my cheat meal not day in advance. I prefer my cheat meal to be at dinner and it doesn't mean I will go over calories either. I work out what I want and the calories then eat light or not at all until that meal.
If I do eat over calories then I go lower the next couple of days.
Where is the 'cheat'?
What did you cheat at and how?
I get that you're making a point about the psychological connection with the term "cheat" and food etc etc, but it's pretty clear that the term "cheat" is used here to easily describe a planned/intentional calorie surplus within a meal or a day.
I don't think it's necessary to be condescending about it, you know what she means, I know what she means, we all understand the concept. It doesn't matter if we agree or not with a "planned/intentional calorie surplus/cheat", we are all here to support each other.
She stated she didn't go in to a calorie surplus.
I do not understand the concept, as no one ever defines it, that's why I'm asking for clarification.
I see people talking about a flexibility in their approaches to weight loss, I'm yet to see anyone cheat anything.0 -
RebelDiamond wrote: »mrsmlkp248 wrote: »I plan my cheat meal not day in advance. I prefer my cheat meal to be at dinner and it doesn't mean I will go over calories either. I work out what I want and the calories then eat light or not at all until that meal.
If I do eat over calories then I go lower the next couple of days.
Where is the 'cheat'?
What did you cheat at and how?
I get that you're making a point about the psychological connection with the term "cheat" and food etc etc, but it's pretty clear that the term "cheat" is used here to easily describe a planned/intentional calorie surplus within a meal or a day.
I don't think it's necessary to be condescending about it, you know what she means, I know what she means, we all understand the concept. It doesn't matter if we agree or not with a "planned/intentional calorie surplus/cheat", we are all here to support each other.
She stated she didn't go in to a calorie surplus.
I do not understand the concept, as no one ever defines it, that's why I'm asking for clarification.
I see people talking about a flexibility in their approaches to weight loss, I'm yet to see anyone cheat anything.
Hey its Thursday...
OH THAT MEANS CHEAT DAY RIGHT
Lol it's not a great mind set.0 -
I see 'cheating' as going over my weekly deficit. I pre-log the week ahead so I can see how many cals I have left over for chocolate and ice cream etc, which I usually try to save for Sunday evenings. IMO if you don't go over your weekly allowance there's no cheating involved.0
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I don't do a "clean eating" diet. I don't do "cheat days." So, I imagine I am not much help to you. What I did do is lose right about 60 lbs eating at a consistent caloric deficit with the help of CICO.
Exactly. You can eat anything you want as long as you stay at a caloric deficit. Doesn't have to be "clean" (whatever that is) and you don't have to "cheat" (whatever that is).0 -
paperpudding wrote: »PinkPixiexox wrote: »I eat at 1500 calories per day. Sometimes I am under that by 50 (and sometimes even 100!).
I occasionally unintentionally have a week that looks like this:
Sunday: 1500 Cals
Monday: 1400 Cals
Tuesday: 1500 Cals
Wednesday: 1300 Cals
Thursday: 1450 Cals
Friday: 1300 Cals
Come Saturday morning, I count back how many calories I was 'under' my daily 1500. So in this case it would be 550 cals under. I would then allow myself an extra 550 cals on the Saturday So total calories for Saturday would be 2050. I choose Saturday because that's my 'wanting lots of food' day. I get a good 2050 to play with which is more than enough for me to get a treat in
And I'm still not going over my deficit.
Just wondering if you know you don't have to manually count back the calories to do this - you can do it just as easily by making the week start on Sunday, therefore end on Saturday, and the app will tell you how many calories you have left for the week.
Hi
I know it adds up my weekly 'under' calories.
I prefer to wake up Saturday morning and then count back 7 days and add up the amount - I tend to round the number down to allow for any inaccurate measurements during the week. For example, if one day I was down 86, i'll take it down to 80 banked. Etc!0
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