Cheat Day?

Rurufit

Hello..
do you ever have a cheat day? If so, how often and what regulations do you have when it comes to "cheating" your diet?
How to make sure that you dont over do it? Any calorie intake limit?

shadow2soul

Cheat days - no
To me that term implies I'm doing something wrong and I don't feel that I am. I have days were I eat to maintenance or slightly over. I either plan them in or accept the fact that my rate of loss that week will be slightly slower than planned.
I don't have any foods that are considered off limits, so the only thing different about these days is that I'm eating to maintain instead of eating to lose weight.

Bshmerlie

If I go over I go over. Life goes on. You can't cheat yourself. It's up to your dedication to your diet that will determine the rate of loss. Perhaps a better idea would be to include your favorite foods into your plan so you don't need to cheat.

incisron

Yes. I started trying to lose weight around March this year with the help of a much older friend who introduced me to MyFitnesspal. The fact that I loved candies and pizza too much to let them go caused problems, as I couldnt really fit them into my plan to lose 2 lbs a week, with really low sugar and fat limits. So my friend suggested a cheat day. I think that saved my diet.
I do it every Sunday, though recently I skipped a Sunday to punish myself for slipping up on another day.
I try to keep within my maintenance calories and I keep from overdoing it by delaying my treat till evening time.

sinbadfxdl

Every Sunday during football. I just don't go overboard.

Unknown

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MarcyKirkton

I really don't see how one can cheat. This is calories in/calories burned deal. So you can certainly take a break from dieting and let yourself eat more, so long as you're at ease with the consequences.

ailenebowtique

Pizza Friday Nights for me!! I eat clean during the day so i can have my delicious cheat meal at night. The following day i continue my clean eating. Clean eating is not that bad at all if you cook the right food. Sooner or later you wont crave the junk food!! And if you do... so let it be it!!

Valtishia

I follow EM2WL, so if I want to have something out of the ordinary.. I just make sure it fits into my macros

FrankWhite27330

EAT DO IT its only one day right

then hit the gym hard or ride the bike/walk the next day or two works out also it may be BRO science but I really think eating heavy one day every so often sparks your metabolism drink lots of water after your heavy eating High Calorie day to flush your body.. it will be OK every day is a New day with a new goal... ENJOY LIFE be active count calories

eatzntravel

I guess the question is are you dieting or are you changing your lifestyle? If this is a change to the way your future is going to be then it isn't cheating, its eating. But if you are looking to scheduled meals or days for cheat meals, then you are planning around meals vs a lifestyle. To change your habits you need to accept that good food happens to good people. So its not cheating, its eating if you end up going over your calories once in a while. you can drive yourself mad trying to diet vs changing your eating habits and lifestyle.

iambelkys

Yes, to cheat day. It keeps me sane. My husband and I are in this weight loss journey together and this time we really want to stick with it. So we started doing 1 cheat day a week (Sundays) and it's working out.

Let's say I have a craving for

daniwilford

Since I have been accurately tracking I have never eaten more than 100 calories over my TDEE and have only done this two days. I have always been at a deficit when averaged over a week. The exception to this was when I purposefully planned to eat at maintenance for the last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of August. If I have a special occasion, vacation, holiday, birthday, I shoot for maintenance. I don't call it cheating, to me cheating implies a binge or eating at a surplus when I am still overweight or obese.

rankinsect

I also don't think it's "cheating", but I have certain days (maybe 6 per year or so) where I don't require myself to log or stick to a particular calorie limit. Typically, these are holidays I spend with others, so Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. My rule is to eat sensibly - and to try to eat an average amount relative to my, well, relatives. Most of the time I end up below maintenance anyway just because my TDEE is pretty high.

sunandmoons

No..just no. I take pride in being accountable for everything I eat. The only one your cheating is yourself. So you eat good watch your intake and then blow it with cheating? Thats a setback and a way to get into bad eating habits to send you on a down ward spiral of cravings all over again. Eat what you like as long as its within your allotted calorie intake.

quiltlovinlisa

As someone whose binged on large amounts of food in the past, cheat meals or cheat days would be a recipe for disaster for me, since that opens the door for binge behavior and I don't want that door opened!

I'm really trying to work treats and foods I love into my day. I'm practicing portion control, two slices of pizza, not three (or four!), one portion of chocolate, not the whole bag. Some days I feel a bit out of control but overall, I've been successful eating small amounts of extras, and working on enjoying and not eating on automatic.

Of course, this is whats working for me.

jessicarobinson00

I never have cheat days...if I want a treat: I fit it in or I save up calories from previous days to use for it. 1 cheat day could undo everything I have worked for all week. So no. Rewards: yes. Cheats: no.

blossomingbutterfly

I don't believe in "cheat days".

You should be able to eat what you want, within your calorie allowance (or at maintenance level at least), within reason. I have take out, I make it work. I have what I want, I make it work. This is a lifestyle change. You eat as you will at maintenance so you can realistically live and keep weight off later on.

scolaris

I don't really do cheat days, but sometimes I do go over. Guess it's all how you frame it. On vacation I try to eat all my workout calories, which feels sort of like cheating.

mommarnurse

shadow2soul wrote: »

Cheat days - no
To me that term implies I'm doing something wrong and I don't feel that I am. I have days were I eat to maintenance or slightly over. I either plan them in or accept the fact that my rate of loss that week will be slightly slower than planned.
I don't have any foods that are considered off limits, so the only thing different about these days is that I'm eating to maintain instead of eating to lose weight.

This and the vast majority of the time I will have for example half of a cupcake or just a few fries to not feel like I'm depriving myself.

Rurufit

I have been having one cheat day per week and when i do i usually overeat so its been making my weight loss rate really slow.. after reading all your posts i have decided that if i had a cheat day my calorie intake wouldnt exceed my maintenance level. Thank you everyone!