Cheat day or no?

anchorfly91
anchorfly91 Posts: 7 Member
in Motivation and Support
I am on a 1250 calorie budget a week. I am 160 pounds trying to get to 125 by mid March. I follow my calorie goal everyday except the weekends in which I do whatever I want especially on Saturdays when I go out. Should I do this? I always have enough room in my calorie budget a couple times a week to have icecream(guilty pleasure) after dinner. So I already get a cheat day or days. Do you think this weekend splurge of not counting is ruining my progress?

Replies

  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
    Do you log on the weekends? If you're eating enough on the weekends to fill in your weekly calorie deficit, it can definitely be interfering. I would recommend calculating your weekly calorie deficit (TDEE-1250 x 7) and keeping it in mind on the weekends...if you eat enough on the weekend to erase it, it will ruin your progress. Some tips would be "saving" a few calories during the week for the weekend or working out and saving your exercise calories for the weekend.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    anchorfly91 wrote: »
    I am on a 1250 calorie budget a week. I am 160 pounds trying to get to 125 by mid March. I follow my calorie goal everyday except the weekends in which I do whatever I want especially on Saturdays when I go out. Should I do this? I always have enough room in my calorie budget a couple times a week to have icecream(guilty pleasure) after dinner. So I already get a cheat day or days. Do you think this weekend splurge of not counting is ruining my progress?

    IDK, are you progressing? Are you progressing on average at the rate you would like?
  • anchorfly91
    anchorfly91 Posts: 7 Member
    No. I feel like I'm gaining.
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    anchorfly91 wrote: »
    I am on a 1250 calorie budget a week. I am 160 pounds trying to get to 125 by mid March. I follow my calorie goal everyday except the weekends in which I do whatever I want especially on Saturdays when I go out. Should I do this? I always have enough room in my calorie budget a couple times a week to have icecream(guilty pleasure) after dinner. So I already get a cheat day or days. Do you think this weekend splurge of not counting is ruining my progress?

    IDK, are you progressing? Are you progressing on average at the rate you would like?

  • Shanel0916
    Shanel0916 Posts: 586 Member
    Why not a cheat meal rather than a day? I say get your foot in the door first before deciding to have all out cheat days, especially since you are wanting to lose quite a bit of weight in a short period of time.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    It's math. If you eat 6000 calories on the week end, you're probably going to wipe your weekly deficit.

    Log everything and do the math... (1 pound = 3500 calories).
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,130 Member
    Why not log the "splurge" day to ensure that you aren't undoing your progress? I think that a "cheat day" with no logging can definitely undo the deficit you've built up during the week. I would, perhaps, just do a maintenance day on the weekends to give you some extra cals but not so many as to negate your progress.

Categories