Cheat days advise

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Replies

  • Chadxx
    Chadxx Posts: 1,199 Member
    Exercise some self control?
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    No to days where you cheat.. this is bad.. Have one planned "indulgent" meal and call it a day..

    Calorie cycling is not fun during the week .. so I would just eat maintenance on this one day.

    eta: I do not do any cheating while I am in a deficit, this is just a suggestion.

    This. What is the point of tracking calories at all if you are going to blow it cheating? I don't get cheat days at all. Planning for a higher calorie meal you really want however is completely doable while staying within your goals. You just have to plan for it. You just have to decide if you are committed to this and stop making excuses. You can do this. You just have to decide to do it.
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
    edited October 2016
    I don't have PLANNED "cheat" days or meals. But in the past 3 months of using MFP and losing weight, several times I've found myself in situations where I know I'll be eating more. These have included weekend trips away, out-of-town family visits, restaurant meals, and birthdays. I figure I'm in this for the long haul, so I have to figure out how to deal with these situations and not derail my progress (or worse, send me into an I don't-give-a-crap downward spiral). So instead of planning cheat days, or "indulgent" days, I just assume I'll be faced with high-calorie-potential days, and I plan for them as best I can. This has included saving up calories during the day or week, making it up the next day by having a lower calorie day or two, exercising a little more, or just eating at maintenance (sometimes much higher!) for a day or two and realizing it doesn't affect much in the long run. So far, it's been going great and I have continued to lose weight steadily. In fact, I feel like my body appreciates those higher calorie days, and I get to work in those "cheat" days when necessitated by particular situations. My family appreciates it as well, since I'm fine with participating in special occasions, and I'm not freaking out about the calories.

    I hope that all made sense!
  • Trane333
    Trane333 Posts: 5 Member
    I've found that eating lightly at places that don't serve foods that are not necessarily healthy to be a great help, ask if the food can be prepared a certain way, how it is prepared, etc. Even on vacations or with family or on vacations with the family, you can olan to eat as healthy as possible and if you know that it is going to be ugly, not avoidable throw in some workouts to supplement amd try toake sure that the carbs you wat come from whole foods, potato, rice, etc. And if you like it, try yogurt, a lot of study's show that those enzymes that promote healthy, good bacteria drive away bad cravings for sugary, fatty type foods, so you won't have to worry about falling pray to your appetite. Hopefully this helps and by the way the triple zero yogurt, by Oikos is great because it is low in sugar which too much of it causes the bad bacteria to swarm in amd take over your intestines which cause the cravings for more sugar and fatty foods, I know not just because of research, but also because I have been doing it for about a year andy crac OK ngs arw gone to almost non existent.
  • smithjazmin93
    smithjazmin93 Posts: 2 Member
    I'm going to try to stay within my calorie gole every day and have a bit of what I like every day to prevent binging, and if I see that dont work for me then I'll try to have cheet days, that way I know what's best for me, maybe you should try the same?? It's the effort right?
  • ariela569
    ariela569 Posts: 22 Member
    It's totally the dedication and effort. Great advice