Cheat day?

hotasfire36

I use to have a free day on Saturdays, but stopped. Im now tracking my calories everyday, but eatting maintenance on Saturdays and counting every calorie.

rontafoya

Cheat days are, for the most part, a bad idea. Regardless of your goal. Individual cheat meals are a good thing in my opinion, and if you budget for them, they don't hurt you. What I mean is, if you anticipate a big heavy dinner with friends, just go into that meal having eaten a bit of protein (like hard boiled eggs, and/or some turkey) and very low calories and fat, so that you can pig out on carbs and fat at dinner (which is where people binge) and still not blow your diet. What's the point of eating at a caloric deficit all week, then blowing most of your progress in a "cheat day".? Cheat days add a huge element of inefficiency to whatever goals you have. If you are having difficulty with cravings, the better way to address it is to have go-to foods that are nutrient dense and satiating. For example, if I crave fat and sugar, I have 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter topped with a drizzle of honey. If I crave potato chips I'll have a baked potato instead. If I want pizza, I have rice pasta with parmesan and turkey meatballs. Whatever it takes to smash the cravings (nip it in the bud) as you go, and still not over eat. The truth is, if weight loss followed by maintenance is your goal, a caloric deficit is required. Nothing else works. If you are doing cardio, and having a cheat day, you just un-did your cardio by eating it back on. You were better off not exercising and not having your cheat day and just eating less.