How often do you cheat?

zyxst

I have IDGAF days about 4 times a year (anniversay, Canada Day, birthday, Xmas). I still weigh and log those days and it's mostly going with high sodium foods. It's about mental health for me.

I do eat mostly what I want, just not the amounts I want or the exact types I want (have HBP, so lowish sodium) for the rest of the year.

chrislee1628

my current daily calorie allocation is 1520, some days I go over, some may call it cheating, some not, but the days that I go over, if still time left in the day, then I just get on the exercise bike and work it off, if not, then I work harder the next day to make up for it

Alarae21

I have 'unhealthy' food from time to time, but I haven't actually strayed past my maintenance calories for the day so I guess it isn't a cheat?

I allow enough calories for mini indulgences while keeping my calorie deficit. I eat chocolate everyday. Not the healthy dark chocolate either, the delicious milkybar/snickers/twin/curly wurly kind. I love my work chocolate drawer

donjtomasco

Cheating is a choice!!!!!

donjtomasco

Crosstobear, I told my doc that I was on a diet and trying to watch my caloric intake. His response was to not worry about dieting during recovery, that conversely, eat normal and not eat to lose weight, since my hip would need those nutrients and calories. My PT said the same thing. I don't see how that is so hard to understand. If I was extremely overweight I would guess the doc might not address the diet thing since recovery is not long compared to the time it takes to lose enough weight for the weight loss to help your new hip. Just common sense in my opinion, but that's just me I guess......

donjtomasco

Also Crosstobear, if you are extremely overweight, or overweight period, it makes sense to try and lose as much as you can before a surgery and involves bearing weight, like on the ankle, knee or hip. Which is why I stared a month early to lose what I could. If you carry less, there is less stress on that new part the doc put in or the existing part the doc repaired. I doubt a doc will say "Don't worry about your diet" without you bringing up your diet in relation to the surgery. However, I think a wise doc would advise an overweight person to lose as much as they can before surgery. It is just common sense, in my opinion only.

VegaGirl11

I am 42 and this is my third go around of trying to earnestly lose weight. The first two times I denied myself everything. I convinced myself (or tried to) that I never wanted pizza or a cheeseburger again and both times I fell off the wagon. This time around I am at 55 pounds off and for the first time I'm not miserable. If I have a craving for example pizza, I don't pick up the phone and dial delivery right away, but I do give into my temptation. Then I go right back on my plan. I am very careful with it. If I splurge or cheat I try for the next few days to eat exceptionally clean, but I don't make myself feel guilty or beat myself up over it. I think allowing yourself those little endulgences occasionally is normal. It means you're human. The way I look at it this time around is that my goal weight is 145, so I need to eat the way a typical 145 pound women might eat. I know it isn't the way I was eating before I started this journey!!! One other thing I would like to mention is the occasional times I have had a cheat day, it has had a very positive effect on my weight loss. It's almost like it kick starts my metabolism. For example, I was experiencing about a 3 week plateau and I always weigh myself on Thursdays. I decided to cheat a bit on a Saturday and the next Thursday I had dropped 3 pounds. The following Friday I had a bit of a cheat again and again the next Thursday I dropped another 2 pounds. I don't recommend cheating once a week as I do think your body would grow accustomed and see it as the "norm", but I truly don't think am occasional chest hurts.

donjtomasco

I agree with you VegaGirl, and like you this is my third go around, and I am experiencing the same things you mentioned. I think possibly the only problem with weighing only once a week is that let's say for whatever reason you weigh the same or maybe more on that day then the week before. If you had weighed the prior day, or the next day, you might see a lower weight then the aberration that happened to hit on that weight day of the week. Some people don't like to weigh daily since it can be depressing, but I think it is more depressing putting a weeks worth of work on the hope that the weight day is truly reflective of your weight. Then again, if you don't worry so much about week to week swings, but more look at your weight monthly, then it really does not matter is you weigh once a week. Plus, we know when we are losing because our clothes start fitting better. But this is why I weigh each day, and I put my results on a graph with a pencil and ruler connecting each days weight. My graph is consistently on the downward slope, which is the goal (since my goal is to lose a pound a week), but if I look at each 7 day period individually, it is amazing the swings that appear both to the upside and downside. Today was my lowest weight yet, but had I had my weigh in day being Sundays only, I would have seen that my weight was not where I had worked hard for it to be, not knowing that the next day (today) while in itself possibly an aberration, might more accurately reflect my hard work in showing a really good loss of weight for the last 7 day period. Just my thoughts on daily weighing versus once a week weighing. Daily weighing can be too stressful for many people though. But for me this is not a short term effort this time, it is a long term effort, yet still, I like to see on a daily basis if my daily efforts are paying off, versus maybe seeing that I gained weight by just weighing one day a week. And there might be that occasional occurrence where the prior week was an aberration to the downside (which resulted in euphoria on that day), then the next week might have been an aberration to the high side, combining for a disastrous one week swing in a large weight gain, where in reality, I might have really been losing weight, however I just happened to hit the weight day on the wrong day two weeks in a row. Just my thoughts......

Machka9

pluthera wrote: »

How often do you cheat on your diet and is it beneficial?

I never cheat on my diet.

I really don't see the benefit in doing so.

In fact, for the year or so prior to coming here, I ate well during the week and lost a little bit of weight, and then ate whatever I wanted on the weekends and gained that little bit of weight back ... and sometimes gained a little bit more. Ever-so-gradually I became overweight.

typeitdaily

Never. I fit all my foods and snacks I enjoy into my day. It is a lifestyle change for me not a diet. I always log everything I eat and hold myself accountable.

SCoil123

I eat whatever I want when I want so there is no need to cheat. I used to restrict myself more and have a "cheat" day but I was undoing all of my hard work from the week with that one day. It wasn't worth it. Now it's all things in moderation. I've had dessert 3 out of the past 5 nights but I have those treats usually after smaller dinners to save room. This is working better for me.

pluthera

Cool! What are your calories? Are you maintaining your weight?

DonM46

Intentionally? No.
I just got back from vacation yesterday, and with all the dining out, I gained 1.5 pounds in eleven days. Fortunately, I started the vacation 2 pounds under my goal weight.
There are no benefits.
If you are in the 'losing' stage, reaching your goal will take longer.
If you are 'maintaining' like me, your weight loss might be converted to a gain, & you have to go back to the losing mode again.
If you eat 3500 calories, but log only 1500, no one on here will know; but your waistline WILL.
I'd recommend against it.

Machka9

To expand on what I said above ...

When I first started here back in February 2015, I stuck to the diet like glue for 16 weeks.

My calorie limit was 1250 calories + exercise calories ... and for those 16 weeks, I never went over my limit.


I made a decision when I started that I was not going to waste my calories on foods I didn't like ... and of course, the flip side of that is that I eat foods I do like. So I went to the grocery store and spent some time browsing up and down the aisles to find out what lower calorie food options might be available to me.

For example, I discovered a low-cal brand of soup I really like. I haven't been much of a soup person in the past, but I actually crave these soups. And happily, my husband likes a few of the flavours too so he puts together a bowl of delicious soup, with rice, chicken, and veggies for dinner for us about once a week. Yum!


If I wanted to eat more, I exercised more. So, for example, I wanted chocolate cheesecake on my birthday ... and I ate half a small chocolate cheesecake on my birthday. I also cycled a little over 60 km, and didn't eat a huge amount of other food that day. It all fit within my calorie limit.

On weekends where we do a 100+ km ride ... we might stop for pies (cauliflower-cheese is one of my favourites) and pastries partway through the ride, then hit the Dominos on the way home. And everything is calculated and logged and fits within my calorie limit.


There was no need for me to cheat.


At the end of 16 weeks, I had reached my first weight goal and was debating about stopping there. I was back within my normal weight range and didn't need to continue with the diet. During that time we went on a 1-month holiday. I stopped logging my food and started eating whatever I wanted. I also exercised a whole lot more than usual. That was a planned diet break while I decided what to do next.

I decided to continue.

For the next 16 weeks, I stuck to my diet like glue. My calorie limit was 1350 + exercise calories ... and for those 16 weeks, I never went over my limit.

I dropped to the lower end of my normal BMI range.



Since then I've been more or less maintaining. I suppose I could drop another 2-3 kg and reach the bottom of my normal BMI range (the border of normal and underweight), but I don't feel hugely motivated to do that, so I've been holding steady instead.

OneHundredToLose

I try not to think in terms of a daily limit so much as a weekly one - that is to say, if I go over my limit one day, I just do my best to make up for it the next day.

LivingtheLeanDream

I don't cheat, I eat at a slight deficit during the week so I can eat more on the weekends when I want to, I enjoy them guilt free.

jennypapage

i don't . if i want to eat something "bad" i eat it and remove something else from my meal, to not surpass my calorie goal.

caammph

randomtai wrote: »

Can't cheat on a diet. I fit things I want to eat in.

Same here.

Stewie_Mc

Don't look at it as cheating, just make allowances on the run up to you meal out or takeaway and do some extra exercise the next day, I couldn't do this knowing I would never be able to have a pizza or kebab again.
We have a treat night once aweek where one of us picks what we do and eat, il take us out for a meal, my miss's will choose a takeaway mist of the time, it's all about balancing and beside your diet isn't your life

VintageFeline

Cheating suggests there are things I don't "allow" myself to eat. Nope. Even if it's unplanned or over my allowance it's just food I ate. Log it and move on. I didn't cheat, I just ate something I wanted at the time.

freya9897

I don't really view it as "cheating", I still log everything, but once or twice a week I will eat at maintenance instead, generally if my boyfriend's taking me out for dinner, or my friends have decided to get pizza, or its someone's birthday, etc. It's not cheating in that I choose to do it, knowing it'll make weight loss slower, but honestly I'm quite close to goal weight, and I don't see any hurry to get there.

Wynterbourne

VintageFeline wrote: »

Cheating suggests there are things I don't "allow" myself to eat. Nope. Even if it's unplanned or over my allowance it's just food I ate. Log it and move on. I didn't cheat, I just ate something I wanted at the time.

Exactly. There is nothing that I've told myself that I may not eat while I'm losing weight. So if nothing it "off limits" how can anything be considered cheating? It's not a good mindset to have. This is a permanent lifestyle change. A temporary period of "disallowing" things creates a situation that ends, and oh look, now 'I can have the item I told myself I couldn't and I'm not cheating', and weight can return. My only change pre-weight loss is calories per week.

AlabasterVerve

I don't have a have a rigid system in place I just go by "the least amount needed to be happy" rule of thumb. I don't really consider them cheats but probably about 12 days a year I eat off plan.

About half of those days are calorie controlled indulgences (like a pint of ice cream in the summer - it's not something I usually eat so off plan but I can fit it in my calories) and the other half are holidays/celebrations where I just enjoy myself and don't take calories into consideration at all.

SezxyStef

Wynterbourne wrote: »

VintageFeline wrote: »

Cheating suggests there are things I don't "allow" myself to eat. Nope. Even if it's unplanned or over my allowance it's just food I ate. Log it and move on. I didn't cheat, I just ate something I wanted at the time.

Exactly. There is nothing that I've told myself that I may not eat while I'm losing weight. So if nothing it "off limits" how can anything be considered cheating? It's not a good mindset to have. This is a permanent lifestyle change. A temporary period of "disallowing" things creates a situation that ends, and oh look, now 'I can have the item I told myself I couldn't and I'm not cheating', and weight can return. My only change pre-weight loss is calories per week.

I don't even considering going over my "daily allowance" cheating...

NaturalNancy

Too often lol!
I need to enjoy myself some days!
Today I cheated/treated myself to a PeanutButter gelato and it was worth every calorie

carrieloveshk

I used to cheat once a week. Every Saturday was my cheat day! Until it became cheating since Friday night until Sunday... and gained all the weight back. Ugh. I've been on this again for 10 days or so (not long at all) and I haven't felt the desire to cheat. Changing the way I eat now, and including lots more whole foods in my diet instead of simply counting calories.

CrabNebula

Every Friday evening, I feast. No calorie counting, eat/drink whatever I want as much as I want. I've had this ritual for nearly two years now and the ultimate effect it has on my weight is none, because next morning, back on the wagon.

“Everything in moderation ... including moderation.”

jessicarobinson00

The word "cheating" isn't in my vocabulary. Do I indulge and go over my calories now and then: yes! But this is a lifestyle change for me, so nothing is ever going to be off limits.

tomteboda

The only cheating to my mind is when you lie to yourself about how much you ate.

angerelle

I regularly go over my planned deficit and occasionally over maintenance, but I don't see that as "cheating" (how can I cheat myself?) - I know I'm making a choice on those days to lose weight more slowly in favour of short term pleasure. Sometimes it's worth it to me. I log pretty much absolutely everything, occasionally I will go out for a meal where it's too much of a pain to (only chain restaurants here publish nutritional info in general), but that's the only time I don't log accurately (oh, and Christmas Day). I don't have any foods or drinks that are off limits, so there's no need to "cheat" on that front, if there's something I really fancy, I eat it.