Cheat days. Are they helpful?

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  • chimaerandi
    chimaerandi Posts: 153 Member
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    Depends on how we define "cheat day" I bank calories for the weekend, so yes, my weekends are higher than my weekdays, but I run a weekly deficit. This is the most workable lifestyle for me because I can go out with friends and such. (This is especially true now that I'm beginning the transition to maintenance)

    I do have three days a year where I don't log at all and let the chips fall where they may: Passover Seder, Thanksgiving Dinner, and my Birthday. I've lost 72 pounds doing this.
  • aloranger7708
    aloranger7708 Posts: 422 Member
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    I don't do cheat days anymore because I kept gaining then losing the same 2lbs every week. Now I just fit treats to my daily calories and it works sooo much better for me.
  • Owlie45
    Owlie45 Posts: 806 Member
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    I personally have a cheat meal once in a while. Generally when my friend comes into town. Which can be every other week to every other month. We usually go to a place I don't normally go to so I make it a special treat for me.
    Otherwise I make stuff fit either but banking or extra exercise.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    I personally don't think so. I just incorporate and log my favourite foods into my day. Every time I had a cheat day or meal, it always encouraged bingeing that wiped out my weight loss deficit. Not worth it.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    For my first year or so, I would give myself a "cheat day" when I reached certain milestones. It was a long time between them because I lose so slowly, so it only happened a few times per year. When I had a cheat day, my rule was I could eat whatever I want and as much as I want, but I would still log it. The problem I found with cheat days is that I have an insatiable appetite. That made it nice to have a cheat day since I feel like I'm starving all the time if I eat at a deficit, or at maintenance, or at a small surplus. So after months of starving myself, I would have a 20K-30K calorie day. I always chose a day when I had nothing else planned so I had time to cook and order and eat as much as I wanted. I would get pizzas, make cakes, cook several lbs. of spaghetti and sauce and sausage, ice cream, donuts, cookies, candy, potato chips, etc. But it derailed my weight loss. So there was good in that it helped give me something to look forward to and break up my long streaks of hunger, but there was bad in that it erased a lot of progress. It has been a long time since I've done this because it set me back so much. Maybe when I reach my goal weight or get very close, I'll have a cheat day again (and then lose a few lbs. again). Until then, I fear it will just set me back too much.
  • Citycat2015
    Citycat2015 Posts: 86 Member
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    I don't have a cheat day but I do eat at maintenance one day a week. Sometimes two.
  • workhardtogethard
    workhardtogethard Posts: 49 Member
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    Cheat days seem to work for some people, but I'd rather not. I may have days where I eat close to maintenance, but going above that feels unnecessary to me. 80+ lbs ago I had a lot of cheat days....don't ever want to get back in that "eat all the foods!" mentality. I'm not one of those people who can easily reign in the eating again once the cheat day is (supposed to be) over.
  • workhardtogethard
    workhardtogethard Posts: 49 Member
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    And is starvation mode even a real thing for casual dieters? I routinely water fast for 10 days at a time (spiritual reasons) and have never experienced anything where my body starts storing fat because of it.
  • Jazzykatt
    Jazzykatt Posts: 38 Member
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    They have always worked for me and I'm almost at my maintenance weight.I have a day where I don't think about anything that I put in my mouth every two weeks. I look forward to the day and still managed to lose weight with it.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    workhardtogethard wrote: »
    And is starvation mode even a real thing for casual dieters? I routinely water fast for 10 days at a time (spiritual reasons) and have never experienced anything where my body starts storing fat because of it.

    Probably not for most, but I've had some of the most unusual experiences it seems. Once, I cut my calories back in hopes of losing even faster. For 3 consecutive weeks, I gained weight really fast with the new lower calorie intake. I was gaining so fast that I decided to return to a smaller deficit by increasing calories to the previous level. Within a week, I had stopped gaining and within another week, I was losing again.

    There isn't enough time or data to say exactly why that happened, but most would say that decreasing calorie intake should speed up losses rather than cause fast gains. I didn't change logging methods (I weighed food before, during, and afterward and used the same Fitbit before, during, and after), so it isn't like I just suddenly started under-counting calorie intake or over-reporting exercise.
  • charlsy1691
    charlsy1691 Posts: 36 Member
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    I would never have a cheat day, a cheat meal... Well then now we're talking.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    workhardtogethard wrote: »
    And is starvation mode even a real thing for casual dieters? I routinely water fast for 10 days at a time (spiritual reasons) and have never experienced anything where my body starts storing fat because of it.

    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

    (Not invalidating your experience, @midwesterner85, but since you have a rare combination of medical conditions am not counting it either.)

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