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Cheat day..yes or no?
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I like to go out to dinner with my boyfriend once a week (when I've been able to stay on track for the rest of the week). It let's me have something I've been craving, and I get to spend time with the person I love. I do tend to go above my calorie limit on these days, but try to make sure the day doesn't exceed 1,500-2,0000
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Personally, I don't think I would have made it as far as I have (I'm down 51lbs in 4.5 months) without knowing that i was going to be able to have a cheat meal once a week. My DH and I go on a date every friday night and every friday night, I order what I want. Now, I don't order like an appetizer, entree, dessert and soda. I might order a burger and fries instead of a salad, but I DO order that burger and fries. After a while on the diet, I no longer can finish the whole portion, so I figure I can't be doing myself that much harm. Mentally, I need to know that I can have a one off meal every once and a while and it's not the end of the world. It's too all or nothing the other way and I think that would lead me to give up if I ever slipped up. YMMV!2
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Yes.
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I don't do cheat days (since I just fit the treats I want into my daily goals), but I've found it easier to lose if I stick to my diet unless I'm at an event or on holiday, which I still try not to overeat on.0
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Yes! If you don't have a cheat day every once in a while you'll get burnt out.0
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For me -- No. If I have a treat day it leads to cravings and I fall off the wagon. A small cheat meal or snack, MAYBE -- but personally if I eat something I shouldn't it really messes up my progress.0
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No cheat days. No cheat meals. Just moderation and sane eating habits.1
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How do you define cheat days? Are these out of control binges? Then no.
Equating weight to finance and your plan is to get out of debt - if you are paying $100/week towards a credit card debt would you have a cheat day and splurge $1000 on Amazon and add more debt?
Don't think of it as a diet - think in terms of budgets and don't take on more than your body and habits can handle. I know I'm going to want a beer tonight, so I budget accordingly. Either I'm going to have less of another food item or add an equivalent amount of exercise to counter the additional calories.0 -
CICO. Start there. I haven't read all the responses. I'm an avid iifym, but that's not for everyone. Log honestly is the best info.0
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You can get away with a weekly cheat "meal" and still lose for a while but eventually you will get stuck.
No cheat days... Think cheat treat, once a week... Imho0 -
JstTheWayIam wrote: »You can get away with a weekly cheat "meal" and still lose for a while but eventually you will get stuck.
No cheat days... Think cheat treat, once a week... Imho
I actually don't care for the concept of cheat days or meals as I prefer to work the foods I enjoy in on a regular basis... but I'm curious why you believe eventually you'll get stuck if you do employ the "cheat meal" philosophy? If the calories are accounted for and a weekly deficit is maintained, why would a person get stuck?
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WinoGelato wrote: »JstTheWayIam wrote: »You can get away with a weekly cheat "meal" and still lose for a while but eventually you will get stuck.
No cheat days... Think cheat treat, once a week... Imho
I actually don't care for the concept of cheat days or meals as I prefer to work the foods I enjoy in on a regular basis... but I'm curious why you believe eventually you'll get stuck if you do employ the "cheat meal" philosophy? If the calories are accounted for and a weekly deficit is maintained, why would a person get stuck?WinoGelato wrote: »JstTheWayIam wrote: »You can get away with a weekly cheat "meal" and still lose for a while but eventually you will get stuck.
No cheat days... Think cheat treat, once a week... Imho
I actually don't care for the concept of cheat days or meals as I prefer to work the foods I enjoy in on a regular basis... but I'm curious why you believe eventually you'll get stuck if you do employ the "cheat meal" philosophy? If the calories are accounted for and a weekly deficit is maintained, why would a person get stuck?
Personal experience... Lost 180
The lower you get the more that cheat meal is going to count against you... Could be water retention from a salty meal... But
I can say from experience losing weight is not as simple as math and calorie restriction... Despite what anyone says.1 -
JstTheWayIam wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »JstTheWayIam wrote: »You can get away with a weekly cheat "meal" and still lose for a while but eventually you will get stuck.
No cheat days... Think cheat treat, once a week... Imho
I actually don't care for the concept of cheat days or meals as I prefer to work the foods I enjoy in on a regular basis... but I'm curious why you believe eventually you'll get stuck if you do employ the "cheat meal" philosophy? If the calories are accounted for and a weekly deficit is maintained, why would a person get stuck?WinoGelato wrote: »JstTheWayIam wrote: »You can get away with a weekly cheat "meal" and still lose for a while but eventually you will get stuck.
No cheat days... Think cheat treat, once a week... Imho
I actually don't care for the concept of cheat days or meals as I prefer to work the foods I enjoy in on a regular basis... but I'm curious why you believe eventually you'll get stuck if you do employ the "cheat meal" philosophy? If the calories are accounted for and a weekly deficit is maintained, why would a person get stuck?
Personal experience... Lost 180
The lower you get the more that cheat meal is going to count against you... Could be water retention from a salty meal... But
I can say from experience losing weight is not as simple as math and calorie restriction... Despite what anyone says.
Water retention is temporary and shouldn't be considered as derailing progress.
What does weight loss come down to then, if not CICO?1 -
If you eat a hundred calories of pizza, it's going to effect you more than vegetables would.
Cico over simplifies it
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JstTheWayIam wrote: »If you eat a hundred calories of pizza, it's going to effect you more than vegetables would.
Cico over simplifies it
Affect you in what way?
For weight loss it does come down to CICO, period. For overall health and nutrition certainly different foods have different impacts, nobone disputes that. I'm curious though what's so bad about pizza? Depending on the toppings, how would it be so vastly different or markedly worse than vegetables? I'd actually say pizza would be better than a plate of vegetables since you could have protein and fats as well as veggies on that pizza....1 -
Probably not...JstTheWayIam wrote: »If you eat a hundred calories of pizza, it's going to effect you more than vegetables would.
CICO does nothing except show the energy balance in the body...JstTheWayIam wrote: »Cico over simplifies it2 -
JstTheWayIam wrote: »If you eat a hundred calories of pizza, it's going to effect you more than vegetables would.
Cico over simplifies it
What does "effect you" mean? Foods are different, but it's the overall diet that affects you (and if calories are constant and protein adequate) we aren't talking weight loss or even fat loss but nutrition, satiety, overall well-being, which are of course important but unlikely to be affected by a single "cheat meal" even if I personally wouldn't call it that.
100 calories of pizza is a small amount, so likely not that filling, and will involve a variety of ingredients -- cheese, flour, probably olive oil, tomatoes, whatever you put on the pizza (I normally like lots of vegetables, so the problem with my pizzas is that I need to compensate with more protein in sides or other meals).
100 calories of vegetables is kind of a lot (more than 300 grams of broccoli, for example), and will likely have a lot more fiber than the pizza (cheese, oil, and white flour don't have much fiber), but in itself is equally poor as a diet. I've had something similar (but with a mix of veg) for dinner on occasion and find it filling enough (some don't), but wouldn't think it was a healthy way of eating if all meals were like that, of course.
Now, of course, 100 calories is a small part of any day, so you are going to eat other foods anyway, so it's kind of a weird comparison. If I had pizza I'd have more than 100 calories and have other things too, likely including lots of vegetables, and if I had the vegetables I'd also eat other foods that contributed more carbs, fat, and protein, so I guess I don't see the point.1 -
WinoGelato wrote: »JstTheWayIam wrote: »If you eat a hundred calories of pizza, it's going to effect you more than vegetables would.
Cico over simplifies it
Affect you in what way?
For weight loss it does come down to CICO, period. For overall health and nutrition certainly different foods have different impacts, nobone disputes that. I'm curious though what's so bad about pizza? Depending on the toppings, how would it be so vastly different or markedly worse than vegetables? I'd actually say pizza would be better than a plate of vegetables since you could have protein and fats as well as veggies on that pizza....
That's insane...
Pizza is the number one source of salt for people between 10-50yrs of age. ..
You don't honestly believe that pizza is more healthy for you than vegetables do you?
If you eat pizza twice a week and I opt for a bowl of veggies instead... Do you really think you'll out live me, or weigh less?0 -
One would think there was no variety in pizza. And that no one could put vegetables on pizza or eat pizza with vegetables on the side. Weird! I was unaware of these rules somehow.2
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lemurcat12 wrote: »One would think there was no variety in pizza. And that no one could put vegetables on pizza or eat pizza with vegetables on the side. Weird! I was unaware of these rules somehow.
Are you actually going to try to argue that there's vegetables on pizza...?
And I'm not talking about a homemade pizza either.
Yeah and McDonald's French fries are healthy because there vegetables!1
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