How do cheat days work?

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  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    That's just it, they don't really work. One cheat day or cheat meal can easily undo all your hard work for the entire week. It's just not worth it. Eat what you love every day, just stay within your calorie goals and you don't need cheat meals or days.
  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
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    If I am under my calorie goal or exercised more I have a treat meal once a week. Today is my treat meal day, wing night! I'm fasting all day until dinner.

    If you have a whole "cheat day" you might consume all your banked calories over the whole week in one day. At least I know I would..
  • NanCaudill
    NanCaudill Posts: 18 Member
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    I'm so new to all this, i cant fathom a cheat meal. I did however go to brunch at O'Charley's sunday morning with family. I tried to just "keep it reasonable" and made up for it during the rest of the day.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    I eat whatever I want for the most part. That has nothing to do with what a cheat meal or day, or hell, month is to me. I'm talking blowing my calorie goal not cause I feel deprived, but because I just feel like eating as much as I want of whatever I want. It is more for sanity purposes than anything else.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Since this question comes up quite often here, I figure I will just copy one of my responses from a Cheat Day/Meal Thread earlier this week since it seems relevant... there are a number of different ways of looking at this. Most people here work some indulgences into their overall diet (noun). Whether they do that in the form of an infrequent "cheat" day/meal or whether they work in the indulgences on a more regular basis - most people do not strictly adhere to a life with no "treats".

    Beyond the impact of a cheat day/meal on your total calorie consumption, there can be a psychological impact to the concept as well. Some people find that calling things "cheat" meals implies that they are being "bad" and this creates negative thoughts around food (something that many people here struggle with to begin with). Some people find that having those free for all meals/days can set off a binge/restrict cycle, something else that people here often struggle with. Others find that if they are managing a small deficit to begin with, that having a meal or day where they don't track calories at all can hinder their progress, basically destroying their weekly deficit in one meal/day, which can be very discouraging.

    Personally, I work the foods I enjoy in on as regular a basis as I can accommodate in my calorie allotment. I have a glass or two of wine pretty much every day, as well as something sweet like a piece of chocolate, a small serving of ice cream, etc. About once a week I have pizza or a fast casual meal like Qdoba that tends to be a little larger than my normal meals, and then about once a month I go out with friends or my husband and have a much more indulgent meal or a big dessert. I plan for those meals and bank calories in the days leading up to them, do extra exercise the day of the event, and log everything anyway. Even if I am over my daily calories quite significantly, I try to make sure that it doesn't put me outside my maintenance calorie total for the week. This has worked well for me, but I wouldn't call any of those things "cheating", but then again, I also don't call this a "diet". It's just how I choose to manage my calories.

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