Cheat day or meal?

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  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    I'm in the mindset of fitting in the things I want on a regular basis, rather than waiting for a "cheat" day. For me, that means a glass of wine and something sweet pretty much every day, pizza or fast food maybe once a week, and a more indulgent meal maybe once a month. If I know I have a special event coming up - a date night or girls night out or a birthday celebration, something where I'm going to want more calories, I will often bank some calories during the week so I have more to work with on the weekend.

    I don't really call any of that "cheating" because its just part of my overall plan. I lost the weight I set out to lose and am currently maintaining and never felt like I had to be "good" on certain days in order to be "bad" on others. I just figured out how to eat the food and drinks that I enjoy on a regular basis. Some days I can't fit them in, or can't fit in as much as I want, so I make adjustments and wait until I can.

  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    edited March 2016
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    considering I could easily eat 5000 calories in a day and still be hungry, I personally wont do a cheat day unless it's a holiday like thanksgiving or christmas.

    It might be easiest to do a "refeed" day and eat at maintenance or slightly over that day. That could be spread over all your meals or you could go out to a nice restaurant and do it all in one meal. It leaves you a little room for flexibility. The difference is, you're just making sure you don't undo all your progress by still counting calories that day.
  • vms4evr
    vms4evr Posts: 106 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »

    Pointless semantics.

    Sometimes I go over, sometimes I go under.

    The main thing is self awareness, not denying myself and making life difficult to achieve in the long term.

    I'd also observe that calling it a cheat is negative terminology. You're not cheating, you're making a conscious decision to go over your calorie allowance. Take ownership of the decision.

    This is the best answer I've read on here about "cheats". I'm dumping that word and using this going forward.

    Most days I'm under. My goal is maintain. So I chose to go over one day. So what. The world doesn't end. I'm not doing twice the workout tomorrow to make up for it.

    I eat well and exercise regularly. Some days I eat fun stuff that costs me.

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