Cheat days, I hear they are good for your diet?

CatMcCheesey

I do a cheat meal once a week, but it's more for my sanity than my diet.

runningagainstmyself

My personal experience has been that cheat days are good for my sanity. I don't eat badly the WHOLE day, I just pick one meal that I will indulge without guilt -- say, having that pub burger with cheese, fries, and gravy that I've been craving -- and then eat well the rest of the day. By doing this, I still continue to lose weight successfully and consistently.

I don't see any harm in doing this. One meal out of the 21 (at minimum) meals you have every week isn't going to cause you to gain all your weight back any more than eating one green garden salad with light dressing will cause you to lose all the weight you have gained by eating poorly. Logically, it just doesn't make sense.

On top of this, cheat day gives me something that I can look forward to all week -- namely, I can plan (over and over again) what I want to eat for that one meal. And because it's only one meal, I have to make it count. So it better be worth eating!! At the end of that, I am back on track and ready to take on the world again.

udt123

I've been told by numerous people that allowing yourself a "cheat" day once in a while is great for your metabolism.

I've been on a very strict deficit for the last three months, and one day I allowed myself 2,000 calories instead of 1,200. I mostly had to, because I went to a birthday party where there was absolutely nothing healthy to eat. I wound up eating Pizza Hut to my hearts content, and chips with ranch dip. On my weekly weigh-in, I was down 3lbs which was more than the .05 ounces from the week before.

I've heard it gives your metabolism a boost, because our bodies become adjusted to the deficit after a while.

I'm not a scientist though, but I know that it didn't blow my diet - it seemed to help it!

Exactly . It's not surprising to look much more lean and to weigh less after a cheat day. Your muscles get filled up with carbs again, your leptin levels increase and your metabolism gets a kick. You'll burn more in the long run.

Camera_BagintheUK

I've gone over my calories a few times, like at Christmas, etc, but I don't believe I've gone over 2000 which is supposedly the number of cals women need per day. So that's my cut off point.

I don't have *cheat* days - I don't really believe in the concept. For me, cheating is bending or breaking the rules to gain an advantage, or to outdo an opponent. So eating too many calories gives me no advantage, and makes no difference to anyone else - it's not a race or a competition.

But I don't deny myself.

Obviously to eat my calories I need to make sensible choices, but I still eat chocolate, biscuits, bread, drink wine - just if I can *afford* it within my calories that day. So my exercise calories help out here, buying me a treat now and again. It's not a cheat - it's part of my diet, I have to live in the real world, and in another stone or so, I'll need to be able to maintain my weight and live my live, so that'll be easier if now, I re-educate my body and my palate to eat moderate amounts of those things. And because absolutely nothing is banned in my diet, I don't feel deprived, and don't feel the need to blow out - or "cheat" whatever that is!

typos edited

cavia

My cheat days are when I get together with friends or family occasions. But I consider a cheat a food that I normally don't get to eat day to day, like fried chicken or a burger and fries. I eat an appropriate portion and don't go all out and destroy my deficit I've sacrificed all week to build. I don't plan them but am happy when the occasional opportunity arises to let loose a little.

caviggia

1 cheat day a week can be good for sanity and your metabolism; however, you have to know yourself and know if you can continue back to eating at a calorie deficit and your healthy eating habits.

And I'm not one to say keep within maintenance on your cheat day... I feel people would honestly throw up if they knew the calories I consume haha but I always start it off with a super workout (2 hours of intense cardio and cardio lifting for usually a 1100'calorie burn) so I don't feel as terrible when my total is 3500 calories for the day.
Yes,the next day the scale goes up, but 1 week later it drops either 1-2.5lbs (less now that I am within 7 pounds of my goal).

And honestly, you would have to eat around 8,000- 9,000 calories in 1 day to gain back 2 calories in 1 day- kind of ridiculous and impossible. So you don't ruin your week, you just have to understand the scale will go up a few days, then evens out, then BAM... Drops like its HOT.

Haha that's just my personal experience. The month of June was filled with vacations and 2 weeks consisted of eating like there was no tomorrow and after a week I evened out. You have to live life and go with it and enjoy it. I will always be addicted to food, I just have to control it and find a way that works for my lifestyle.

shellygfields

My husband are training and loosing weight together. Having said that...we will not give up our Friday night Papa Murphy's pizza. Instead of the "meat lovers" now we get the "vegi delight"- light on the sause and on the cheese. It works for us.

ncmedic201

I don't do cheat days. If there is a special occasion then I enjoy myself, eat moderately, and not stress over it. I'm looking at this as a lifestyle change and the reality of it is there are going to be times that I'm going to exceed my calories.

As far as what I eat, I try to watch it daily due to my blood pressure, but there are days that I exceed my micros knowingly. Again, it's a lifestyle change and I'm eating as I plan to for the rest of my life. I'm just consuming less calories right now. I don't consider anything completely off limits. Some things I just save as a splurge, again due to medical reasons.

Eat what you enjoy. Eat in moderation. Don't feel guilty when special occasions occur and you eat at maintenance (or even higher) because this is for life.

katg73

I'm gonna go ahead and chime in on this because I've had 3 different levels of cheating...

For the first few months of my journey, I was scared ****less to cheat, so I did it only once every 2 weeks. Yes, I lost weight at a steady pace (2 lbs per week), but it began to taper off the closer I got to my goal. My exercise regimen had also gotten more intense so I had to increase my calorie goal. Around that time, my body and mind was learning to balance itself out from the calorie increase. In that time came a stall AND the holidays... the holidays being the main culprit, I found myself having Balls-To-The-Wall Cheat Days. And this actually worked out really well for me for a while, but again, it eventually started not liking that.

These days, what works for me is having a major cheat *meal* accompanied by some cheat snacks or possibly dessert (so something like a third of my eating day). And I've usually burned over 1,000 cals for the day in my workouts so it doesn't feel as bad. The reason for this is because now when I cheat for more than one major meal in a day, it wreaks havoc on my system. TMI ALERT -- I literally end up having to make trips to sit on the porcelain throne a couple times during the night. I know this because of things like family visits and mini day vacays.

I'd say that all these different levels of cheating are what help keep my metabolism in check, keeps it guessing. My eating habits are a lifestyle change, but let's be real... life is short! So am I going to stress myself about allowing some indulgences here and there? Hell no. I'm also an IIFYM type of eater to help me stay sane on the daily . As long as you get your macros in, you will be fine .


So I guess when it comes down to it (and you might not want to hear this... or you might want to, idk lol)... you must experiment with your body, find out what it likes and what it doesn't like. For some people, a full on cheat day is golden for them. For other's, it may be only a cheat meal, cheat half day, or cheat biweekly sort of thing. Anyway, no matter what yours is, I hope you figure out what your body needs!

43932452

Cheat allowances have kept me from gorging in a bad binge.
I have done remarkable in my own opinion with all the challenges
and yet I promise myself this or that by prelogging it .. it keeps me
looking fwd to it and working hard for it. In the meantime I behave
in a strict manner. I think if it works for ppl, they should do it.
You can't gain weight if ya do it right.

michellekicks

I think it is good an valuable advice I have received from all of you. I have not had a cheat day. What I mean by cheat day to me means going over my calorie goal. I am not unhappy with my results but feel a little stuck. Which is probably unrealistic having lost so much this first month. I still have quite a bit of weight to lose. But I hear so many people say how much a cheat day (maybe once a month) boosts their weight loss. So I wanted to get other peoples opinions on it before I tried it.

Having a maintenance day or day in which you go a little over maintenance can often be helpful to gets your metabolism rolling again and keep your hunger at bay by raising your leptin levels. Try to avoid going completely off the rails though as you can blow an entire week's worth of work in a day or two.

^ This.

I don't believe in cheat days. If you want to do a planned re-feed day to TDEE, that has been proven to be a good idea. I would not go way over or stop tracking though. I say track everything so you know what's going on.

__Di__

Having a maintenance day or day in which you go a little over maintenance can often be helpful to gets your metabolism rolling again and keep your hunger at bay by raising your leptin levels. Try to avoid going completely off the rails though as you can blow an entire week's worth of work in a day or two.

There is nothing wrong in having a maintenance day etc but please don't do it under the guise of "getting your metabolism going" because contrary to what many people think on MFP, the metabolism will not stop during eating at a deficit and it does not need to "be forced to get going by eating food".

People: if you want to eat over your daily calorie allotment, do so, but please, do not do it via excuses, just do it and continue as per normal the next day.

Extra calories equals just that, extra calories, providing you are mindful of what you are doing and how to stay on track there is no worry, but trying to justify what you are doing is pointless, because it just leads to more excuses and then people start asking why they are not losing any weight and then others will tell them to "eat more" and the cycle goes on.

pinkraynedropjacki

No cheat days ever here. Not once in 515 days so far. Has not done anything to stop me losing & I sure don't crave anything. I still get a whole block of chocolate to eat in a day, or a whole large pizza to myself. Actually at the moment it's 7:30pm dinner is done & logged as well as all my snacks & I STILL have 1500 or more calories I can eat & STILL be in deficit by 500 or more. Who needs to cheat on themselves?

serekj

I stay away from cheat days...having said that I definitly do 'cheat' but I let my body choose when.If I have a craving that can b fullfilled with a healthy alternative, i go for it. But just in koderation. If im craving pizza, i have a slice of pizza (but not 5 slices like b4) i kno that for me I have been much more successful this time around because I am allowing my stuff to still have things I enjoy.

aliceclutz90

I find that a whole cheat day is not a good idea as you can potentially ruin your hard work not even realising how much extra you're taking in. One cheat meal works better I think

My exclusions to this are holidays (I'm going for an all inclusive week in Greece next week - uh-oh), birthday, Christmas and Easter lol. Well that's what I plan anyway but I do lose control at other non planned times!

pluckabee

I think a lot of people here employ cheat days because their daily calorie intake is set pretty low (I think many many people here have chosen to lose 2lbs a week) to create quite a large caloric deficit, so a cheat day doesn't really hinder progress.

If you are consistently eating at a moderate deficit everyday a cheat day probably isn't going to do you any good.

cingle87

I dont use the word cheat, I look at is more of a treat. For me I dont plan on having treats, if my body wants one my body will get one, mainly have these treat meals after working nights just need a large hit of calories after the lack of sleep the night before. That being said the main reason ive avoided having many treats i try and get as many treats under my net calorie goals for the day. For example when I first started off everything was banned sweets, chocolate, beer, ice cream etc. What I realised after a few weeks its ok to have a bit of them as long as its fit into your goals. So ive managed to fit a nice bottle of cider or beer into my meals recently because the weathers so nice in England for once. This has helped me aviod having the daily cravings for "junk" food.

tomcornhole

Lots of broscience happening here. And lots of good advice. Try it and see what works for YOU. Track the results, how you feel and what happens to your brain housing group during and after a cheat day. Then tell everyone who thinks you are stupid to bugger off.

I have tried all the approaches and found the one that works for me and is sustainable. 70 lbs lost and now successfully maintaining is all the data I need to support my approach. I've been doing this long enough that I no longer consider it cheating. Eating any other way is cheating.

Via88

I think that cheat days can be dangerous if you don't do them correctly. I used to have a cheat day when I would go crazy and eat wayyy over my budget. I think a cheat day is okay as long as you don't go ridiculously over your allotted calories.

kao708

I don't like to call it a cheat day. There are times in life that you will go over your suggested calorie intake...that's life and I don't consider it cheating. Especially because I try not to go way overboard and I still log everything I eat. How about we call it an indulgence day? And try to keep it down to 2 times a month, maybe?