what is the point of cheat meals and/or cheat day?

skyhowl

gebeziseva wrote: »

TinklesOdd wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

TinklesOdd wrote: »

MissusMoon wrote: »

TinklesOdd wrote: »

MissusMoon wrote: »

Cheat meals/days do not do anything for your metabolism.

People have a lot of reasons. Some people can enjoy them from time to time and are successful. I see a lot of people take them as a free for all and then complain when they don't lose weight.

For me personally, I don't do them.

i don't think i had a cheat day since i started logging here -though i only started logging 42 days ago- but i was wondering what do you usually eat in a day? do you have any treats or desserts -chocolate, cake, ...etc- ? do you count these as "unhealthy"?

Oh yes! I eat pizza once per week. Steak. My freezer is full of single serve cups of ice cream! And I love my wine. I don't leave anything off limits. I make them fit when I want them. That does take some planning. I manage pretty well when I eat out, too.

No, I don't count them as unhealthy. I eat lots of food that would be typically called "healthy". And I enjoy stuff that is pure indulgence, too. Even my ice cream has nutrients that are useful.

well, i baked myself a cake and cut it into tiny pieces, about 142 calories per serving. i still log it and keep under my calorie limit. so i was wondering if i should consider this a cheat meal -i.e. i shouldn't do it regularly-

Since you're the one in charge of your life, you're the one setting the rules. You get to decide what's "cheating" and what's not, and what you can do regularly and what you can't. Unless you're a tiny, sedentary person, I can't see why you couldn't regularly work a 142-calorie treat into your day--but your life, your rules.

i can fit them into my calorie limit, but i always think that in days when i get more sugar -in a cup of coffee or tea, fruits- i shouldn't eat more sugar. that's the main reason why i think i shouldn't eat it regularly.
also sometimes when i eat sugar early in the day, i feel more hungry during the day.

Sugar makes me craving more too so that is why I avoid eating alot of it. But apart from appetite and obviously the calorie content, sugar in general is not bad for you unless you have diabetes.

thankfully i don't. thank you for your help

skyhowl

ElizabethOakes2 wrote: »

I don't have 'cheat' days. I'm not cheating anyone by eating a little more on one day rather than another. I have treat days, where I don't stress myself about weighing every last gram and counting every last calorie. For example, lst night, my husband and I went out for a gourmet meal. I drank a glass of wine AND we shared a dessert. I knocked over my daily calorie allowance by about 300 calories, and that's only a rough estimate since I can't exactly go in the kitchen demand the chef to tell me recipes! But it was worth every bite. Plus, I know I'd already done four 5-mile power walks this week, and not eaten back the calories, so I know I had the 'spares' to do that.

If you're going all out binging and eating twice your TDEE, then no, you're not going to lose weight.

good for you having a nice evening with your husband thank you for your help

sappermuff

The point, for me, is not going batshit crazy.

85Cardinals

Lots of pressure dieting. Have to eat this, have to eat that. It wears people out. Sometimes you just want to let your hair down and go crazy. It's like with Christians and sin. They'll be good for 2 weeks and then they hit the bars and get rowdy Saturday night.

Nobody makes you take a cheat day though! It's optional.

s0987

The Rock is king of cheat meals, granted he works out HARD https://www.tumblr.com/search/legendary cheat meals

melissa6771

emmylootwo wrote: »

I do "free" days (I don't like calling it a cheat) because there are foods that I like that are hard for me to log accurately on a regular basis. I like to go out and eat dinner with my family and go see a movie. There's not really a health reason for doing it. :P I will say, in the past, I have broken through plateaus by having these free days/meals. Not sure if it was a coincidence or whatever, but it works for me.

I agree with this. I am basically a body for life person and that is part of that plan. 6 days a week on plan, one day a week off, and he calls it a free day. I've followed that plan for long periods of time and consistently lost 1.5 pounds of fat a week. I was always right back on the next morning. And it never turned into a long term thing for me. That's not to say it can work for everyone. The reason for me gaining back had nothing to do with the plan and everything to do with me and stuff in my life.

That being said, right now, I try to eat a few hundred extra calories every Sunday. I choose something I want and have it.

Here's a quote from BFL regarding free days...

"A few words about your free day. You should think of the free day as an opportunity to choose "unauthorized" foods. It's not about losing control. It's about making choices and enjoying those choices. The danger of going overboard is that a wild pig-out style free day can blow several days of "caloric deficits" that are essential for fat loss, and can also be detrimental for people who tend to be binge eaters. If you're not a little careful, the idea of "free days" can create an "all or nothing" mindset and sets up binge eating patterns that are hard to eliminate later. That said, kept in perspective, the free day may help counter the risk that your body senses a fasting state. Metabolically, you're trying to convince your body that it doesn't have to lower its metabolism, shed muscle, or defend its fat stores in response to the change in its "environment". You don't need a huge number of extra calories to do that. It's good if your free meals make you feel warm, and it's great if you actually break a light sweat. The free day gives you something to look forward to, keeps your body "confused", and gives you a chance to have that pizza and ice cream you've been eyeing all week, but don't go way overboard. There's some evidence that cycling high and low caloric periods with weight training can help muscle gains, but the effective cycle is evidently about two weeks, not one day. And if your primary concern is fat loss, I wouldn't try to get that fancy."

flatcoatedR

I too agree calling them a "free day" or "free meal". I don't do them very often because I can't always trust myself with them. I use them mostly when I want to go out with my husband, or friend, or special occasion and enjoy a certain kind of food that doesn't quite fit into my daily calories. For example mexican, pizza, birthday, holidays. When I want to partake in all of it. Yes, I know that I can work anything into my plan but I don't enjoy just eating 1 piece of pizza, 1 taco, or a 1" × 1" piece cake. That being said, the secret and hardest thing for me is getting "right back on track". I am a compulsive eater, so it could start me off if my heads not in the right place. I do have to check myself that I know I can do what I say I am going to do and that Iam not using it as just an excuse to binge or to continue eating. A planned free day/meal will also help free me up from that awful guilt that sometimes follows a regular binge and we all know what quilt can do. My apologies for being a bit windy.

mandamoxie

Typically I don't do cheat days, because I just try to fit the things I like into my calorie goals for the day. However, once in a while, I can't to that so I'll say I'm having a "cheat day" and go over on my calories.

For example, the other day some friends and I went to a Japanese restaurant and got a TON of food to share. Takoyaki, chicken nanban donburi, some miso mussels, and chicken karaage. A lot of it was fried and probably had tons of calories. I was out having fun with friends though, and I wasn't going to try to limit myself really strictly. Since I'm on a 1550/day calorie limit, I would've either had to eat a really small portion at the restaurant, or just made that like my one meal for the day. I didn't want to do either, so I said "screw it" and went over.

I really don't like calling them "cheat days" though, because I don't feel like I'm cheating anything. There are just some days where I don't want to stick to 1550 calories, and that's fine. Going over occasionally is ok. I just remember that I'd have to eat 3500 calories over maintenance in order to gain one pound. That makes me feel good because I know no matter how much I eat that day, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that I would eat that much. And even if I did... I don't mind re-losing a single pound if it meant going out and having some food that I really wanted with some good friends. For me, this is about doing something I can maintain forever and not be unhappy with, and that means I need to be able to occasionally eat very caloric fried food, or stuff my face on Thanksgiving.

PaulaWallaDingDong

I have one once every couple of billion years (exaggeration) because there is absolutely no way to fit my most favorite foods into my daily calories, or even have them on a regular basis and still lose weight.

neohdiver

Not in 249 days. Normally when I'm losing weight, I have days when just I eat what I feel like eating. Those work for me, as long as they are days I choose, not days that are chosen for me by other people (work or social pressure).

Then, unfortunately, diabetes came along - and the impact of food on my blood glucose is instantaneous (well, 30-90 minutes). So eating what I feel like is no longer something I can do once in a while with immediate consequences. What I can eat isn't appetizing enough to me that I have any burning desire to pig out with extra calories since I don't enjoy fat that much unless it is combined with carbs or sugar. I frequently have trouble making myself finish my calories for the day. I'm kind of dreading moving to maintenance (I'm actually supposed to be there now since I'm recovering from surgery), since it means I have to add more daily calories - primarily from fat.