MFP Blog Resource, I agree!

hellonew2015

Forget about designating a cheat day to reward yourself. Denying yourself most of the week and then indulging like crazy on your one day “off,” just promotes guilt, anxiety, and shame around eating—which means you won’t likely get to the health outcome you’re looking for. Instead, make every day a great day by listening to your appetite, periodically adding in some of your favorite foods in small portions, and savoring each and every bite of everything you eat. This sustainable approach will help you think of all of your eating as enjoyable, and that’s what gets you down the road to where you want to be.

kgeyser

It depends on the person. Some people do better by limiting the frequency in which they eat certain foods, and having a larger portion of that food when they do have it, rather than just having a small portion more frequently. Both approaches can be sustainable and help people reach their goals.

3dogsrunning

kgeyser wrote: »

It depends on the person. Some people do better by limiting the frequency in which they eat certain foods, and having a larger portion of that food when they do have it, rather than just having a small portion more frequently. Both approaches can be sustainable and help people reach their goals.

Agreed.


I followed a strict diet for 16 weeks (for a bodybuilding comp). While I generally follow the idea of fitting in foods and not over restricting I found I learned a lot from the "cheat day" idea.
I would put off the foods I craved until my cheat day. It was actually a way to manage my cravings. I'd think about what I wanted and plan it for my cheat day. Sometimes by the time that day came around I didn't want it anymore. I also found that some of the things just weren't as satisfying as they used to be. You can't eat everything in one day so you have to start figuring out what you really want and what you actually like.
There were a lot of foods I just stopped eating because it just wasn't worth it for me. I figured out what foods I really liked and what foods I are "just because".
There was never any guilt, shame or anxiety associated with it because i never approached it that way.