What's Up With "Free Eating Day"?

jsuh1993

I heard people talking about giving 1~2 days of the week to just let go and eat whatever you want. Of course, tough cal counting during other days. What is the purpose to this? And what function does it serve? Wouldn't it just undo everything from the week?

I gave it a week a try, but ended up consuming 3500 in one day. Could have eaten more, but I am not sure how spreading out 3500 cal throughout the week would help..

Fursian

Not sure about "Free Eating", but I do put 1 day (weekend day) aside for having drinks, and on this day I'll probably eat/drink to maintenance calories. I don't panic if I've gone over though. This is working nicely for me.

If someone finds themselves eating the entire fridge on these days, they may be better off just working these things into their everyday calories so they're not feeling deprived. I read that this one is a popular way for many on these boards

MelaniaTrump

Does not work for me. Yes, undoes everything I worked hard for all week.
But... I will often eat 100 calories less a day for 3 days if I know I want to go out drinking. Banking calories.

Downwinds

I dunno. I personally don't get it and can't do it. I feel guilty if I just eat more than I'm supposed to and it doesn't do me any good and just makes me feel bad. I guess people don't wanna completely give up whatever unhealthy things they like. Me neither, but I just work things into my diary so they fit within my goals. I don't wanna have a day to allow myself to eat loads because it's not helping me and it's making me feel bad about myself for it.

abatonfan

jsuh1993 wrote: »

I heard people talking about giving 1~2 days of the week to just let go and eat whatever you want. Of course, tough cal counting during other days. What is the purpose to this? And what function does it serve? Wouldn't it just undo everything from the week?

I gave it a week a try, but ended up consuming 3500 in one day. Could have eaten more, but I am not sure how spreading out 3500 cal throughout the week would help..

It depends. I'll use an example with my stats:
My TDEE (how much my body burns per day including calories burned exercising) is around 2,000 calories according to my Fitbit. If I ate 2,000 calories each day, I would theoretically maintain my weight (plus or minus a few pounds that is water/food/constipation weight).

Let's say I look at my calories from a weekly view instead of a daily view. Each week, I would burn about 14,000 calories. If I ate 14,000 calories within the week, I would maintain my weight. While looking at it from a weekly view, I have the freedom of eating more or less than the 2000 calories I burn per day, as long as I roughly average out to my 14,000 weekly TDEE. This means that, for instance, I can eat 1,500 calories Monday through Friday (5 days a week), and use the extra 500 daily calorie deficit to eat 3,250 calories both Saturday and Sunday.

Of course, I would gain weight if I started eating more than my 14,000 weekly TDEE. Let's say I ate 1,2000 calories Monday-Friday and then ate 6,000 calories both on Saturday and Sunday. My weekly calorie intake would be 18,000 calories, and I would therefore gain approximately 1.15lbs a week.

The big thing with those "free days" is that they assume that you've been eating significantly fewer calories in the days leading up to it (many programs that use it might tell you to consume 1,200 calories 5 days a week and then you can eat "whatever you want" the other 2 days). 5:2 intermittent fasting works this way, where you have 5 days eating a higher calorie amount (often to your TDEE if you're shooting for weight loss) and 2 days where you're eating significantly less (often 700-900 calories -this is what creates your calorie deficit).

Psychologically, many people find that having those 1-2 "cheat days" to be helpful in sticking to their calorie goals during the week, while other people find that they would much rather eat the same calorie goal every day. Personally, I don't do "cheat days", but that is because I know that once I start "cheating", it will be difficult for me to "get back onto the calorie deficit wagon". I'd much rather fit those "cheat day" treats into my everyday diet.

snowflake954

Usually they're called "cheat days" around here, and alot of new people go wild at the idea. When they are not losing weight, they come back on and wonder why. In my opinion, they are a bad idea. There are enough birthdays, parties, holidays and special occasions to celebrate and then get back to it. If you can do it--good for you, but for me, it would be a disaster.

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Francl27

Yeah I don't get it either. I do have those, but it's more like once every 2 months and it does wipe off my deficit for a week (small deficit) and I still have to restrict myself or I'd wipe two weeks' deficit...

I guess the people for whom it works are people who eat too little during the week already and have a lot to lose (so their TDEE is higher), and don't necessarily have such a huge appetite, so they still manage to keep a good deficit.

MelaniaTrump

I have an entry every saturday called:
Carry Over - Unused Calories From Past Week
(member submitted, 0 confirmations) -300
So, any calories I save a day, go there and I can drink my whiskey on saturday nights without guilt. I'm only drinking once a week now and proud.

snickerscharlie

This is also known as a Cheat Day, and it doesn't work for me. Who am I cheating?

If I have a day that I go over on, I simply log it and move on. Having a designated cheat day every week can make you feel deprived on the other 6 days and can be a recipe (pun intended!) for failure. I make room in my calories every day for treats, and eat them in moderation in the overall scope of a healthy, well balanced nutrition plan.

Edited to add: I think the only difference here is that the infamous Cheat Day has been re-named to a "Free Eating Day," instead to make it sound beneficial and appealing. Problem is that it's waaaay too easy to undo everything you achieved on the other 6 days. Even more so if, as is suggested in the OP, this happens on two days every week.

Bonny132

I have my free eating day every week, so I eat under during the week and eat whatever on Saturdays. It only works if you ensure you have enough calories banked. I roughly count on my calories to ensure I do not go mad, but I rarely do. Instead I find myself rarely going over my banked allowance and rarely under by much. Cheat day as more relaxed yes and keeps me under control as I know I can have what I fancy on my "day off" within reason of course.

jsuh1993

Great to hear many feedback. Thank you! I had some doubts about the idea, and now it makes a lot more sense!

tekkiechikk

Eating is just as much about being mentally prepared as about what you put on your plate. If you struggle to lose weight because you struggle with bingeing/overeating/portion control or whatever you call it, having a cheat day isn't doing yourself any favors. Until you learn how to control your eating, giving yourself permission to go hog wild (no pun intended) is just going to undo all the control you showed during the week.

sonnydaniels

I find I do better when I don't do a cheat day--It is better for me to eat a small amount of whatever I am craving and fit it into my daily calorie budget instead going crazy on a "cheat day"...sometimes cheat days become cheat weeks, at least for me.

LHWhite903

JanetYellen wrote: »

I have an entry every saturday called:
Carry Over - Unused Calories From Past Week
(member submitted, 0 confirmations) -300
So, any calories I save a day, go there and I can drink my whiskey on saturday nights without guilt. I'm only drinking once a week now and proud.

I do something like this, only with food and I don't actually keep that much of a track on how many I save up. I just say to myself that it's fine if I go a hundred calories or less over today because I was really low a day or two ago. It all averages out, week by week.

PeiDub

Usually once every other week I like to eat something that would definitely not fit my calorie/macro goals. Sometimes that one thing is a whole pizza, a pint of ice cream, a giant frozen yogurt, whatever I'm craving. I don't log it, and I make sure everything else I eat aside from that fits my goals. It keeps me sane.

murp4069

I don't do cheat days or free eating days. I just work whatever I want to have into my calorie goal for the day, and if necessary for the week. If I know I'm going out for dinner and drinks, I keep my breakfast and lunch calories a bit lower than normal to accommodate the extra calories I'm having later. But as for treats and eating what I want - I do this every day. I just use portion control to make sure I'm staying within my calories while still eating the things I enjoy. Cheat days have never worked for me in the past, they always started a downward spiral.

kshama2001

PeiDub wrote: »

Usually once every other week I like to eat something that would definitely not fit my calorie/macro goals. Sometimes that one thing is a whole pizza, a pint of ice cream, a giant frozen yogurt, whatever I'm craving. I don't log it, and I make sure everything else I eat aside from that fits my goals. It keeps me sane.

I'm not disagreeing with your choice to eat it, but why wouldn't you log it?

loginjmor

I have been in a program for four years that includes a Free Day. Generally I eat around 1700-1900 calories a day and burn around 2,000-2,500 depending on what I'm doing. I generally maintain my weight around 183 lb. I'm 6' tall. My Free Day is Saturday. I eat whatever I want but ONLY if I have been RELIGIOUS about eating good all week. Otherwise I don't get a Free Day. The effect is psychological in two ways:

1. Whenever you are tempted to cheat during the week, just tell yourself if I hold out until Free Day, I can eat a truckload of this stuff. Usually that can keep you on your diet. Mental toughness thing.
2. When you get to Free Day and you order a truckload of whatever it was you were tempted by (in my case it's barbecued ribs, but for most people it's sweets, etc.) the anticipation has been so great all week that the food never lives up to expectation. So you're sitting there, eating your ribs/ice cream/twinkies/whatever thinking "Hm. This isn't all that great. Why was I willing to throw everything away for this?" Free Day helps break the psychological shackles certain foods have over you.

I see Free Day abused a lot. People that don't stick to their diet take their Free Day anyway. It doesn't work like that. Plus, if you give in to temptation, you don't get Free Day. So when all your buddies are pounding down the brewskies, you volunteer to be the DD cuz you don't get none. IF you are strong enough to manage your diet. A free day won't hurt you. Plus it's kind of a food blitz that passes through your body. You will have a carb hangover, though (even if you don't drink alcohol - the carbs just hit bottom the next day). That's why I do Free Day on Saturday because I don't work out on Sunday. By Monday I'm right as rain and my temptations have been exorcised.

ldowdesw

I have cravings, and if my mind wants it, my body is going to move heaven and earth to get it;) with that said, I'm mindful of what I'm eating, and if I know I've gone over my calories for the day, I take a minute to look back through my week and realise that I generally have about 200 uneaten calories a day. I don't fret over it anymore because I'd give up and think that 'I've ruined everything' true diva style;) . I now accept that my body sometimes wants something sugary or fatty or naughty, but it's got to be worth it now, where as before mfp, I could eat half of my daily calorie allowance by 7.30am just making the kids pack lunches..

Afw94

It works for some people, helps them not to binge during the week and gives them something to look forward to but I think it kind of defeats the purpose tbh. If it was once every couple of months then I'd totally get it but once a week seems like a cop out to me.

100df

snickerscharlie wrote: »

This is also known as a Cheat Day, and it doesn't work for me. Who am I cheating?

If I have a day that I go over on, I simply log it and move on. Having a designated cheat day every week can make you feel deprived on the other 6 days and can be a recipe (pun intended!) for failure. I make room in my calories every day for treats, and eat them in moderation in the overall scope of a healthy, well balanced nutrition plan.

Edited to add: I think the only difference here is that the infamous Cheat Day has been re-named to a "Free Eating Day," instead to make it sound beneficial and appealing. Problem is that it's waaaay too easy to undo everything you achieved on the other 6 days. Even more so if, as is suggested in the OP, this happens on two days every week.

I do not have free days. I find it depressing undoing 6 days of work. I can easily eat enough calories in one day that a teenage boy eats in two days. I find too that I feel much more hungrier when I get back to restricting. It feels like I am starting over mentally. Not fun! Not to mention that I despise feeling physically sick from eating too much. It grosses me out if I have to eat a Tums because of overeating.

Also, as someone said earlier, life brings about occasions where it's easy to spend more calories than usual. Those occasions won't mess me up the way a "free" day would. I do fit small treats in so I don't have the urge for a free for all.

WinoGelato

I'm in the camp of "fit the foods I like in on a regular basis so that I don't have to have a special named day to enjoy them". I find postponing eating the things I enjoy to a certain day so that I can gorge myself on the regular, counter productive to what I'm trying to adopt - healthy, sustainable eating habits for the rest of my life. That includes having things like wine and chocolate pretty much every day, other calorie dense foods whenever I can work them into my day or week. There are definitely days (holidays, special events) where I really indulge and end up going over my calories, but I wouldn't call those cheat days or free days. They aren't planned for on a weekly basis with the sole purpose of indulging - they are just special days that happen to involve a lot more food than usual.

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rainbowbow

As someone who is small in stature and size, yes. It will completely undo an entire weeks worth of deficit for me very easily if i just eat whatever i want for 1 weekend meal, let alone an entire day.

Instead i eat foods i enjoy in small amount all week so i don't feel deprived or the need to go all out on a "cheat" day.

HutchA12

For some it helps with cravings I do a cheat weekend every once and a while. I still log and only eat up to maintenence calories but those extra cals help me feel like I'm taking it easy. Weightloss isn't short for a lot of people.

Right now I'm going from 200 to 140 currently 157. It's been 7 months ... some days you want to have fun. You just shouldn't overdo it.

So all in all cheat days are for mental health and in no way positively impact weightloss directly.