Cheat days?

emilyrosebecker

Hi all. I've been doing really well along the way, especially this week! Yesterday I was fine until my parents invited me to dinner, obviously I said yes. I skipped the gym and went to dinner where I ate garlic knots, soup, and pumpkin ravioli . I have no desire to log these items ... Really don't wanna know how many calories I consumed over my daily goal. My question for you all is - how damaging was my one cheat night to my weight loss ? And do you all have cheat days? Lol thanks for the support!

PeiDub

As long as you've been doing well, don't sweat it.

Liftng4Lis

I don't do "cheat", because I'm not doing anything wrong. If I happen to go over, I go over. Log them, even if you don't want to and move on.

shadowfax_c11

I do allow myself some slack now and then to eat more than I should. I still log what I ate. Accountability n'at. Refusing to acknowledge, accept and take responsibility for how much I eat is what got me to 320 pounds. That can't continue if I want to get to my goal of 175.

Refusing to write it down won't change the truth. Writing it down will help you when you want to look at your overall eating trends and learn from them.

Simply_4_me

Write it down, own it, move on

emilyrosebecker

Thank you guys! I appreciate it

booksandchocolate12

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

I don't do "cheat", because I'm not doing anything wrong. If I happen to go over, I go over. Log them, even if you don't want to and move on.

+1

Eating delicious food is not cheating.

Whitezombiegirl

If your data is incomplete then its kinda useless imo. I go by weekly goals so not
logging one meal would throw off all the data. Plus if you dont log you will never learn the calorific value of things for maintenance.

arditarose

Why don't you log it and see? What's the point of not knowing...of logging only some foods and not another? If you log it you have data, and if you have data, you can understand your rate of loss and it can help you with your future goals (maintaining, gaining, fitness, macros/micros).

kshama2001

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

I don't do "cheat", because I'm not doing anything wrong. If I happen to go over, I go over. Log them, even if you don't want to and move on.

^

I just log the best I can.

I usually know when there is a high calorie meal coming up so I have time to get in some extra exercise.

MKEgal

How damaging was one delicious meal?
Dunno... go log it & see.
But even if you really gorged and had 3000 calories, that's only 1 lb.

What are you "cheating" on?
If you're on a diet, that's something temporary, and the gains you make will be too.
If you're changing your eating & exercise habits for good, for the rest of your life, then you need habits you can
live with. Eating delicious food is something I can live with. How 'bout you?
Just do it in reasonable portions.
Overdoing once in a while isn't going to be a problem. Doing it frequently will be, esp. if you don't increase exercise.

.

oolou

Log it! It won't be as bad as you imagine. Then look at your week as a whole.

rankinsect

I would log it the best I could and then get on with life. I expect those sorts of things to happen sometimes - for example, today some friends are coming over and they're bringing the food, so I couldn't do my normal routine of pre-logging and planning my meals.

But whatever happens today, happens today. One bad day won't make me fat anymore than one good day will make me thin. The trick isn't to never have bad days, it's to never allow bad days to stop you from trying for good days.

daniwilford

oolou wrote: »

Log it! It won't be as bad as you imagine. Then look at your week as a whole.

I agree! One day will not ruin you unless you take the attitude of "I screwed up, might as well give up!" It will be likely that over a weeks time you will have eaten at maintenance or better yet you are still in a deficit for the week. Either way, any small gain you might have will be quickly replaced with a new low!

booksandchocolate12

Of course, if you don't log it, it means you never ate it, so I totally understand her reasoning.

^^sarcasm

Asher_Ethan

I never do a, "cheat day" (a day with unlimited calories) as that can usually run a whole week of work. But every once and awhile I'll give myself a meal where I don't count calories. It's the only thing that's kept my sanity in this journey.

SergeantSausage

"Really don't wanna know how many calories I consumed"
"My question for you all is - how damaging was my one cheat night to my weight loss ?"

Really?

How are we supposed to know.

*No One* can possibly know without the missing data you "don't want know", right?

You can't win at this through denial.

That never works.

Never.

Denial is a loser's game.

emilyrosebecker

Thank you to everyone who commented positively! That's what these boards are here for ...

rainbowbow

let it go and move on.

Normally i'd say log these things, but at this point what's done is done whether you log it or not. Move on and let it go instead of letting it get to you.

hazelgirl11

Asher_Ethan wrote: »

I never do a, "cheat day" (a day with unlimited calories) as that can usually run a whole week of work. But every once and awhile I'll give myself a meal where I don't count calories. It's the only thing that's kept my sanity in this journey.

I do the same thing! I feel like it really works for me as well.

alexistexas33

I personally had only one cheat weekend (3 days) in the 9 months I have been loosing weight , because I went to Vegas.
During that time, I gained almost 9 lbs due to water weight, so I am particularly scared to try that again.
Everyone is different though.

emilyrosebecker

I ended up logging it and accepting it, moving on. Went to the gym and will continue to do well. Thanks again!

kissedbythesunshine

booksandchocolate12 wrote: »

Of course, if you don't log it, it means you never ate it, so I totally understand her reasoning.

^^sarcasm

Haha. I love this motto. Unfortunately this has gotten me in the position I'm in

janejellyroll

If I were you, I would strongly question my motives for not wanting to know how many calories I ate. My personal experience is that that type of willful denial is what led to me having extra pounds -- I didn't want to know how many calories were in foods.

If you log it, you may begin to see ways in which you can have some of your favorite foods and still stay on plan. Maybe next time you're in this situation, you find a way to hit the gym first and have an amount of garlic knots, soup, and ravoli that fits within your goals. The point is, you can only manage that type of solution for the future if you understand what happened in the past.

booksandchocolate12

emilyrosebecker wrote: »

Thank you to everyone who commented positively! That's what these boards are here for ...

Really? Where does it say that?

Sometimes the "negative" (read: honest) comments are the most helpful.

Would this thread have been better if, in answer to your first post, everyone had said something along the lines of, "You went overboard and didn't log it? No problem! Keep up the good work!"

That's a positive comment, so it's helpful, right?

CoffeeNCardio

Like many, I never have a "cheat day" where I just eat whatever I please and don't log all day. My anxiety would increase and I can't have that. I don't handle stress especially well. I do have cheat meals or whatever, like yesterday my mom took me to a nice restaurant by her work, where we had been doing office trick or treating for my son, and I had a tuna melt on sourdough that was probably over 400 calories. I logged 500 to be safe and ate and enjoyed the heck out of it. Then I did my best to shrink dinner later that evening to make up for it...........and still came in over goal. The beauty of logging consistently and accurately is that I KNOW FOR SURE that I'm fine because I was under goal by a little all week and a lot one day, so I'll be fine. And if I ever want to go back there and have that amazing delicious sandwich again, now I know how much it will cost me and I can plan ahead by PLANNING to lower my intake throughout the rest of the day. Logging well is the best thing you can do.

FitCurves1818

I don't log food and I eat whatever I want on weekends. I've been consistently losing 8-10lbs per month because I'm so diligent about staying within my caloric limits M-F and being active at least 5 days per week. I don't consider this cheating. It allows me to feel like a normal person to go to a nice restaurant or have a couple drinks with friends. Everyone has to figure out ways to work those special treats and occasions into their lives, because Birthday cake, pumpkin pie, Halloween candy and cocktails happen. At least they do in my life, and I'd never stick with something if they didn't.

mysherman

Is it really a cheat day or more so a high calorie day? My body knows when I go over. I don't get away with it if I go too far over. So I try to balance one day of higher food intake (which generally happens at the end of week/Fridays) with days following with lower or a more balanced food intake. In terms of calories, I stay at 1300 Cal. from Sunday-Thursday, and then go up to 2300 Cal. on Friday. On Saturdays, the day after my high calorie day, I probably take in 800 Cal. at most.

Kalikel

I don't have "cheat" days. I have days where I eat more and days when I eat less, but it don't view any of as playing by the rules or cheating. It just is.

It's one day. You get 365 of them a year. If you're over on one or two or ten, I wouldn't sweat it.

boobles

I have set myself 2 cheats. Every week after weigh in I have carbs, something yummy like a subway sub etc. Once a month I treat myself to something really naughty whatever I like for one meal. It's working so far.

Machka9

See my replies in this thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/34432244#Comment_34432244