Logging ur cheat day?

crystalmorrison378

I just love getting "roasted" by MFP first thing in the morning. .. don't u? Lol.. I allow myself 1 cheat day a week where I cheat on 1 meal. I always end up going a little over my fat grams, sugar and sodium goals for that day but manage to stay under calories. I'm wondering if it's even worth the effort to log on my cheat day. What do u guys think?

fr33sia12

I log everything no matter what, though I don't have cheat days or meals, if I did I would log them too. It could help for future reference, to see how you eat on those days, and just to see how many more calories (if any) you're eating.

janejellyroll

I always think it is worth the effort to understand how many calories I've eaten -- that way if things don't go as I expect, I can review my diary for the root cause.

lorrpb

Log it. It doesn't even sound like a cheat day to me. You met most of your nutrition goals and stayed within your calorie goal.

genpopadopolous

I do.

So I can see what it does for my week and so that I can see how eating like I used to eat all the time is SO RIDICULOUS! I just had one on Saturday and was almost 800 over maintainance. That's gaining more than a pound a week if I kept that up. That's why I'm fat. It's nice to have that perspective.

I only have a cheat meal once or twice a month, so it isn't too big of a hinderence for my progress.

crystalmorrison378

genpopadopolous wrote: »

I only have a cheat meal once or twice a month, so it isn't too big of a hinderence for my progress.

U are very strong lol... I look forward to my cheat day all week... I bust my butt extra hard that day as well to try and burn that extra fat.

kimny72

I don't do cheat days, I personally do better just fitting in some kind of treat every day, but that's a personal preference thing.

I would think if you don't accurately log your cheat day, it would be really easy for the calories on that day to start creeping up and up until you are getting enough extra calories to undo your hard work from the rest of the week and not even know it.

Plus, the easiest way to make logging a success is to make a habit, just a regular part of your every day life. I've been logging for 2 years now and I don't even have to think about it anymore - it takes no effort at this point. If you aren't doing it one day every week, it might make logging the rest of the week keep feeling like a chore.

So I say log it!

Meganthedogmom

I log even my worst days. I wouldn't consider that a cheat day if you stayed under calories, though...

brb_2013

So worth it. The logging is the good habit I am building. Not simply eating less but knowing precisely WHAT and how much Im eating. I log it all now, and will always to the best of my ability even if it's going over my calories. The logging and keeping track is what matters most in my opinion.

RoxieDawn

So worth it! It only takes a minute. You never know when you need to look back the diary to get some useful information.

It also keeps you aware and accountable. Log it, log it all!

Francl27

Of course you log it. Your diary is a tool, how are you supposed to make adjustments to your calorie goal if your diary isn't accurate?

And I also fail to see how it's a cheat if you're still under your calories.

kwtilbury

I've logged every day for the past year and a half with two exceptions:

1. My wife and I went to an interactive chef's dinner that had 10 courses.
2. We hosted a graduation party for my daughter catered by Chipotle with tons of desserts. I literally ate everything in site from about 3 until 9 PM.

In both cases, it was just too much trouble to remember/log everything, given that I had blown my macros out of the water anyway.

aquablue_1111

I log my cheat days too. It's not easy to see how much I've gone over but...without logging them in, I lose out on valuable data. For example, I knew prior to using MFP that I ate a lot on the weekends. By logging everything including cheat days, I got quantitative data on how much it was over versus just a vague feeling that I was over-eating. Because I know the actual numbers, I can do something about it. It also gave me the motivation to be better about eating on the weekends because it was frustrating to see all my work during the weekdays get wiped out by the weekends.

The other upside for me is that I look back on my cheat days to see which foods were absolute calorie bombs and I try to stay away. (I have a hard time having just a little bit and end up binging. The cheat days also frequently coincide with birthday parties, etc. Knowing that I go overboard at events, I have different things I'm trying to help me manage those things. Sometimes it's making sure I don't show up starving, or I'll tell my spouse to stop me if I go for that 2nd piece of cake, etc...)

H_Ock12

I don't really have a "cheat day", but I log every day...it helps to get me back on track, if I go over my calories one day I make extra effort to stay under the next.

fishshark

depends on the type of cheat.. like we were just at disneyland i didnt log anything enjoyed myself called it a wash and went back to it the next day.

Gamliela

I log it all. I can look back and see what I was doing, when I made changes in my eating, to see the longe range shifts, if there are any, in how I feel or in my health, with those changes. Its a nice record to have.