How often do you cheat?

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13

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  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,108 Member
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    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
    pluthera Posts: 15 Member
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    Cool! What are your calories? Are you maintaining your weight?
  • DonM46
    DonM46 Posts: 771 Member
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    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
    Machka9 Posts: 24,870 Member
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    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
    OneHundredToLose Posts: 8,534 Member
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    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
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    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
    jennypapage Posts: 489 Member
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    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
    caammph Posts: 105 Member
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    randomtai wrote: »
    Can't cheat on a diet. I fit things I want to eat in.

    Same here.
  • Stewie_Mc
    Stewie_Mc Posts: 10 Member
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    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
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    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
    freya9897 Posts: 3 Member
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    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
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,200 Member
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    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
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    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
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    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
    NaturalNancy Posts: 1,093 Member
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    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
    carrieloveshk Posts: 128 Member
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    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
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
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    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
    jessicarobinson00 Posts: 414 Member
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    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
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
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    The only cheating to my mind is when you lie to yourself about how much you ate.
  • angerelle
    angerelle Posts: 175 Member
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    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.

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