"cheating"

shutmeout

So I was reading on prior posts that people don’t log their “cheating” days. But my thoughts are... Is this not deceiving anyone but you? I also have days I go above and beyond my “goal” for the day…. But if I don’t log everything I consume for the day… aren’t I just deceiving myself? How can I possibly track & acknowledge what I’ve done, if I don’t admit it to myself? I’m stating fat because of me & my choices… & I can’t hide it from myself or anyone else!

leebesstoad

So I was reading on prior posts that people don’t log their “cheating” days. But my thoughts are... Is this not deceiving anyone but you? I also have days I go above and beyond my “goal” for the day…. But if I don’t log everything I consume for the day… aren’t I just deceiving myself? How can I possibly track & acknowledge what I’ve done, if I don’t admit it to myself? I’m stating fat because of me & my choices… & I can’t hide it from myself or anyone else!

^^^ This.

Absolutely correct. Shakespeare said it best: "to thine own self be true". Cheating isn't bad. I prefer to call it treating rather than cheating. Rewarding yourself for a job well done isn't cheating. Taking time to enjoy what you've accomplished is important. Losing weight, this journey we are on, isn't some sort of cosmic punishment from which we never recover, like Sysiphus. But knowledge is power and knowing how much you treated yourself is important too. So I agree with everything you said.

norahwynn

I agree. I log everything. The good, the bad and the ugly....

merzback

I personally never, ever use the world CHEAT.
I think it goes back to the all or nothing mentality. If you eat too much one day, call it a slip up and move on. CHEAT is such a negative word. I also never call a food BAD, or say I AM BAD because I am NOT bad if I overeat. Any food in moderation won't kill you.
There will be days/meals you will eat more than others. If you call yourself bad or say you're a cheater, then the negative semantics will just beat you down.

ellew70

I don't even like the word cheating as it implies you've done something wrong. We are all human. There will be days that we eat over our calorie allotment. You aren't going to not eat pizza or cake or chips or whatever for the rest of your life. It happens and I wouldn't want it any other way.

The real question is, you've gone over your calories. Now what? Do you give up or do you take a walk? Do you ignore it by not logging, or do you acknowledge it and lower your calories for the rest of the week? Do you use it as an excuse to fall off the wagon or as proof that everything in moderation is sustainable in the long term.

IMHO, not logging it is the cheating... not the eating it!

Ophidion

"What you eat in private shows in public" is how the saying goes I think.

ellew70

heh see my comment above... great minds and all

berriboobear

Exactly.

I log everything, helps me learn about food and make good decisions. Keeps me accountable and it helps to know how much one cookie is (for example). I don't actually have whole cheat "days", because that is asking for trouble in my opinion. If I know I'll be eating out I will plan as well as I can around it. Same thing if there's a holiday or a family get-together that includes major eating... I'll plan, adjust, exercise, eat well around that period of time... and hey, I'm still going to make good decisions with cheat meals!

Unless I really don't have access to MFP, sometimes I still try to write everything down, than I'm logging! Sounds like you're on a good track and mindset, so good job!

homebrewer84128

I went to a festival yesterday and there is no such thing as healthy at a festival so yeah I added the fish and chips with sauce and ketchup all the while knowing that it was a BAD day but I had to eat or put myself in starvation mode. It's important to log these so when you do have success you can go back and say....ya I remember that day and I got past it I didn't stay in the zone of bad for more than one day.

ereck44

I personally never, ever use the world CHEAT.
I think it goes back to the all or nothing mentality. If you eat too much one day, call it a slip up and move on. CHEAT is such a negative word. I also never call a food BAD, or say I AM BAD because I am NOT bad if I overeat. Any food in moderation won't kill you.
There will be days/meals you will eat more than others. If you call yourself bad or say you're a cheater, then the negative semantics will just beat you down.

This!
I record everything. I totally overate this weekend. I was surprised by a seafood buffet, and didn't have my phone with me. Now I am smarter because I was shocked by the calories in some of the foods that I ate. Yikes! but one doesn't grow if one doesn't make mistakes! RECORD EVERYTHING!!!! AND YOU WILL SUCCEED!

garber6th

I personally never, ever use the world CHEAT.
I think it goes back to the all or nothing mentality. If you eat too much one day, call it a slip up and move on. CHEAT is such a negative word. I also never call a food BAD, or say I AM BAD because I am NOT bad if I overeat. Any food in moderation won't kill you.
There will be days/meals you will eat more than others. If you call yourself bad or say you're a cheater, then the negative semantics will just beat you down.

Totally this! I never use judgmental words like good, bad, cheat, etc. It keeps any emotions out of the situations and helps keep me focused on the math of weight loss, which is what matters in the end.

ammp

We had a family BBQ on the 4th and everything was homemade, so for that day I logged nothing. I am horrible at guesstimating and need to pre plan and weight everything. So for that day I just relaxed. Its a rare occurrence for me, I try to log every bite.
If I do "cheat", I try not to make it a whole day thing, just one meal then punish myself in the gym later

onedayatatime12

Well I just had my first official cheat day yesterday. I logged everything, as I always do, but this time, I didn't log it *before* I consumed it.

ElikaCousland

I just had a revelation about this today myself. I'm not the kind of person who can have one slice of pizza and fill up on salad to have a perfectly balanced 500 calorie meal. I'm the kind of person who will eat half of the pizza and lament not ordering breadsticks.

I used to never track those days. I'd call them failures (and me a failure), which associated foods I loved with negative feelings and generally made me miserable. Sometimes it would lead into the mentality of "oh well, I already effed today up, might as well have this delicious sundae and cookies and cookie-sundae", despite knowing logically that's stupid.

So last night I ate half a pizza, and tracked it. And I was only 600 calories over for the day. SUPER easy to make up for 600 calories - one extra workout and skip a snack or two and I'm right back on track. If I hadn't tracked, I wouldn't know how much I had to make up, or more than likely I just wouldn't bother. And now I'm not beating myself up for "binging", because I have a solid plan to overcome it.

Knowledge is power, and this is a numbers game. Track your noms.

cath14967

I don't do cheating I do living! I'm a busy mum if we have pizza for tea I eat what I need then if I need to I can do the extra work out or skip the night time munchies to balance the calories. I've been on holiday for the past week and tracked every mouthful I have had. Deserts included!! Over the week I have managed to balance out the caloires.

honeysprinkles

I don't need to log my food on here to know that I've eaten it...so it's not like I'm lying to myself or something.

It's all about personal preference, you'll do better on here if you do what works for you and not worry about what everyone else is doing!

EngineerPrincess

As other posters said, I don't have cheat days, I treat myself! Sometimes that results in not logging if I ate a ton of food while out and can't remember what or how much (occasionally, it happens...) but otherwise I'll log even if it isn't a "good" day, just so I know.

HeartbeccaCA

I believe there is no such thing as cheating. Its all about choosing. I may choose to eat more than my allotment one day, or even two, but hey, I just plan and make up for it the next days. OR I just say enough and get right back on track. The price is paid at the weigh in... whether I lose not so much or not at all or even gain - Its called personal accountability. Whether I log it or not, an accounting of my choices show up at the weigh in.
This log is for ME and no one else. It is a tool to help me get to my goal. There is no judgment here. I have learned to be OK with whatever choices I make. As Popeye said, "I yam what I yam," and its all good. I just promote or delay my ultimate goal based on my choices. Doesn't make me bad. Just is. :-)

vettech14

I log everything that I eat or drink.... The only thing that I don't log for the day is how much I do or don't work out. That never figures into my calories at all so I keep my intake at the same no matter what. Heck I have a hard enough time hitting 1200 I don/t need anything to make it look like I have to eat more...

mjrkearney

It's not cheating if you're in an open relationship. If you are truly monogamous with your food, bravo. For the rest of us who slip up, wander, or are prone to sniffing around where we don't belong (I'm looking at you, coffee creamer aisle), we accept the good with the bad and try to take it all in stride. If a minor (or major) fall to temptation ruins our relationship, it was never really meant to be.

ktsmom430

What you are eating, or not eating, affects only yourself.
If you want to lose weight, and are serious about it, why do you want to eat more calories than you need to lose weight?
It is not about cheating, it is about whether or not you want to overeat. Calories in, calories out.
Most of us got to be overweight by over eating. It is about how badly you want to be healthier, and how soon you want to get there and stay there.
Being human, we will overindulge sometimes. The key is (and it is definately not easy) not letting overeating become your way of life, like I did for too many years.
Simple, yes. Easy, never. It takes effort, committment and living and eating a new way.

klp1017

This post made me go back and log a chipwich I ate late last night that put me over my calories. Just because I didn't log it doesn't mean I didn't eat it!

JesterMFP

I think the key is to find what works for you. I personally hate the terminology of "cheat days", and I never used them as such. I've had days where I went over (semi-planned, due to holidays etc) but still logged everything, and occasionally days where I didn't log because either it was just too difficult to estimate (other people cooking for me etc/alcohol involved) or I was just to busy to do so. None of that is what *I* would call cheating. Having labelled "cheat days" is just not something that works for me.

For some people, having days where they don't log calories is extremely beneficial, psychologically speaking. Since I reached my goal weight and started maintaining, I have found it extremely difficult to have days where I am more relaxed about logging, and find that psychologically, I'm very reliant on strict logging. I don't like that. I actually wish that while I was losing weight, I'd incorporated more days without logging at all.

So, I don't think it's about self-deception, at least it isn't about that for everyone. For some people it's just about being a bit more relaxed and not having to think about calories for that day, and if that helps them to stick to it long-term, then I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's about results over time anyway, not one individual day. If you're having cheat days and not logging them, and not getting the results you want, then obviously that's something to look at. If you're getting the results you want, then who cares?

KathleenC12

Like so many of you, I dislike the whole mindset of "cheat days" or "cheating". But I know what you mean: eating and ignoring it, as if what you don't log didn't happen. As someone who lost, then regained all and more, that's exactly why I'm on MFP and keep logging even at goal.

Some days I end up (b/c of workout) with cals unused. I'll occasionally allow myself to eat back some of these the next day- just like the WW approach of banking points. I'm not cheating, I've planned for the treat. Keeps me off that slippery slope... I never want to regain again.