Does cheating help or hinder?

sunglasses_and_ocean_waves

Cheat days are for those who haven't figured out how to lose weight while eating what they like in moderation. Till they do, they'll always cheat.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

How is that response helpful in any way? That makes it sound like you are bragging. Good for you? I am not sure how I can eat the things I love (like bagels, kitkat bars, donuts) in moderation without going over my calories. They are amazing, but not filling at all. I find responses like this to be unhelpful

Ninerbuff is one of the most knowledgeable & (surprising for this place) one of a small handful of gentlemen. You really needn't attack him or make accusations when you're advocating some diet trick. You asked for opinions. Don't get insulted when people (especially knowledgeable people) offer theirs

I was more irritated by the tone. If he had said "I am more an advocate of changing your lifestyle completely and recommend balance. So if you want to eat "cheat" foods balance that with as many calories burned in exercise" I wouldn't have been upset. The tone came across to me as "Well you aren't smart enough or don't have enough will power to eat only in moderation". It seemed rather patronizing to me, he didn't offer advice on HOW to learn to eat in moderation, or balance them, just said that if you cheat you are less evolved than him. That is what I took issue with, was the lack of helpful usable advice, he just dropped in and said "You only cheat if you aren't good enough" essentially and left. Not helpful to me. In fact people defending him were more helpful in explaining what he meant, and giving me better ideas on how to balance that latte I want with an extra 15 minutes on the treadmill than he was!

Also going to add I am sensitive to that as I have heard it way too often before, and it never ever helped me. People who didn't judge me, didn't tell me that my slip ups were related somehow to me not trying hard enough to balance things or whatever other stupid stuff are the ones who finally made me feel like I could lose weight. If I only ever had people like ninerbuff who said "You want that muffin, spend an hour on the treadmill and have a spinach leaf for dinner" I would have NEVER started dieting. It seems too extreme, and frankly never worked in the past for me, I always broke down over the constant strain of resisting what I wanted for months and regained it all plus 10 lbs.

Honey, it's the internet. If you want free advice, you gotta put up with someone else's personality. Sometimes people are gruff. Sometimes is just your perception. Toughen up, and you'll learn a lot.

RunningRichelle

TL;DR Does anyone else notice cheating on your diet seems to payoff with bigger faster losses when you get back on track?

I'm sure someone else has posted this already, but here's what I do: I don't have 'cheat' days. I aim to be at or under my allowed calories every day. If I slip up, the most I will be over is 100-300 above my TDEE, and that happens rarely to never.

Instead, I follow an 80/20 every day. I make sure about 80% of my calories come from the healthiest food I can get my hands on. The other 20% of my calories, I spend on 'treat food.' I don't call it 'cheat food.' Something about the word Cheat messes with my psychology.

So since I eat about 2000 cals a day, that equals out to about 400 cals of treats every day. Nom!

Best wishes.

MrsSpindler

You're not supposed to cheat. You're supposed to eat less of the bad and more of the good. You can have a slice of pizza, which is considered bad instead of 5 slices of pizza. You can eat what you want, but you have to learn portion control and then it wouldn't be considered a cheat.

Right now, I cannot have anything bad because I have an eating disorder. The very first attempt to eat something unhealthy and I'll go overboard. When I'm ready to go back to a normal diet I will be in control so I can have the foods I like.

You shouldn't have to give up anything, but eat within your limits. You know you can't eat the whole pack of oreos. It doesn't mean you need to cut them out of your life. Just have 2. At least you're still getting to eat them. You know?

mattschwartz01

"Tricking" your body is a medical myth. Overcoming a plateau can sometimes be as simple as eating a little bit more, increasing physical activity, or both. The folks at my weigh management program through the University of Pennsylvania Health System pretty much dispelled this "tricking" as nonsense.

55in13

"Tricking" your body is a medical myth. Overcoming a plateau can sometimes be as simple as eating a little bit more, increasing physical activity, or both. The folks at my weigh management program through the University of Pennsylvania Health System pretty much dispelled this "tricking" as nonsense.

I am having trouble making sense of your second sentence in the context of your first. I agree that tricking the body is a myth. But eating more to try to get past a perceived plateau is an attempt to do just that. Even the article the OP linked to says that studies show that the small bump in metabolism is short lived and doesn't even offset the extra calories eaten to trigger it.

jezahb

Its not so much metabolism, though it is a bump and a bump is better than nothing. Cheats or treats help more with leptin production, which lowers cravings and raises dopamine making you feel better. Therefore more motivated and happier, I would give up if I could never have a day to relax and enjoy eating without mentally calculating the calories in every bite that crosses my lips

55in13

Its not so much metabolism, though it is a bump and a bump is better than nothing. Cheats or treats help more with leptin production, which lowers cravings and raises dopamine making you feel better. Therefore more motivated and happier, I would give up if I could never have a day to relax and enjoy eating without mentally calculating the calories in every bite that crosses my lips

This is a reason that I can agree with. So much of MFP seems to revolve around coming up with stuff that clashes with science as justification for doing something and spurs debate, when really it is about what makes you more likely to stick with it.

Mcgrawhaha

this is how I have been doing it since September. I have lost 80 pounds since September, having a crazy binge day every other Saturday. I plan all my fun family events and parties around these days, so, it works out awesome having a family who wants to go out and do things.

hmg90

I wouldn't call it "cheating", but I have a neutral day now and then. It's the only way I can keep it up without having low energy or collapsing (and yes, i eat healthy and plenty of protein).
So for example, I will eat 1300 calories Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then 1800 calories Thursday. 1300 calories Friday and Saturday, then 1800 calories Sunday.
Losing weight won't go by as quickly, but it is the most feasible way for me.

volume77

I 'cheat' all the time, so long as it adds up in the total budget (both kcal and macro) in the end I really couldn't care less.

totally this

sklebar

The rest of the week I eat completely clean (veg, plain porridge, lean meats and fish) and then every Thursday I have three chocolate digestive biscuits (cookies to others) and within my calorie goal still. I usually have them in the afternoon around 1pm and then exercise after work for an hour.

Once a month, I go over my calorie goal by 800 calories with a pizza or a burger, but that day is surrounded by serious calorie-deficit days, so for instance, I will exercise two hours on a Thursday and have a deficit of 300 calories in my diary and then my cheat meal on Friday, where I go 800 calories over and then go for a 3 hour workout on Saturday and have another deficit of 400 calories, so thus, I really only went 100 calories over my diary limit.

jezahb

True to me too, speaking of calorie deficient other days, I may go over my cals for the day on a cheat day but most days I finish with 200 calories left to go....so it may even out.

witchieboo

Work the cheats into your eat plan. If you have a lot to loss it is at to stay totally away from cheats for a year or two.

BaackOnIt

There is not a yes or no answer to that, because its different for everyone.

THIS!

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HugeBum

I used to have "cheat" days, but I've come to learn that for me personally, it doesn't encourage a healthy attitude. If I restrict myself all week and then have a blow out day, I binge on crap and it becomes counter- productive. I was falling into a restrict- binge cycle and it wasn't healthy. Now I've learnt everything in moderation. You want chocolate, you have that chocolate, just don't a massive block. Enough to satisfy the cravings. If I'm craving something really badly I'll eat it, but fix it into my daily allowance. Then there's no way I can eat a whole tub of pringles in 20 minutes.