Will a cheat day hurt?!

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  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Weight loss is all about calories, and simple math. If the cheat day/meal you eat on the weekend takes away from the deficit you've created during the week, then it can slow your weight loss.

    Personally I'm not crazy about the concept of a cheat meal/day - I think a lot of people follow a plan that is too restrictive during the week and then feel they need a reward or a break on the weekend. I think that creates negative perceptions about diet and weight loss.

    I work the foods I enjoy in on a pretty regular basis, and I also often bank calories during the week for a more indulgent weekend - but I don't call that "cheating" as it's just representative of my normal habits and lifestyle.

  • MontyMuttland
    MontyMuttland Posts: 68 Member
    Most of us got fat by having an unhealthy relationship with food, meaning a desire to eat too much, not being able to stop snacking, comfort eating and such like.
    In order to overcome this, you have to change your relationship with food, otherwise any amount of "dieting" will eventually lead to you simply putting the weight back on.
    This means learning new eating habits and leaving the old ones behind.
    If you try to factor-in "cheat days", whatever your definition of them happens to be, you're not really learning new eating habits at all, you're simply putting all your bad eating habits in one place and re-labelling them as something acceptable providing you don't do it all that often.
    Ultimately (as has been said before), if you have cheat days you're only cheating yourself. You haven't actually committed to losing the fat at all.
    I know it sounds harsh, but this is true about weight-loss as it is about just about everything in life, if you factor-in failure in your goal, then you can be pretty sure you will fail.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    If your cheat day puts you into a calorie surplus equal to your weekly deficit (easy to do) then you won't lose weight.
  • andrea4736
    andrea4736 Posts: 211 Member
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    If your cheat day puts you into a calorie surplus equal to your weekly deficit (easy to do) then you won't lose weight.

    This. I've easily undone a weeks' worth of eating at a deficit in one day. It's just not worth it to me. That being said, life doesn't stop when I'm trying to lose weight. So every once in a while I will say screw it. But definitely not every week.
  • Soumiea
    Soumiea Posts: 5 Member
    I have found that cheat meals work better for me than cheat days. Cheat days were like free for all, so bad idea for me. A cheat meal once a week just meant I added 300-400 calories to my daily total, sonit wasn't a big deal. Lately, I've been working my favorite foods into my daily plan and I think this my new way of eating what I love, whenever I want. For example, I love lasagna. Yesterday, I made lasagna for dinner and calcuted the calories for the whole pan with MFP. Based on the total calories in the pan, I determined my portion size to meet my allotted dinner calories. I allowed myself a specific amount of lasagna and then filled up on a salad with a homemade lemon/vinegar/olive oil dressing. The salad allowed me to feel full and I still enjoyed my lasagna. I've actually done better this way than cheat meals/days. I now eat whatever I want, whenever I want, as long as I calculate my portion size ahead of time. Sometimes If I do go over calories because I might want just a few more bites than my allotted portion, then I'll add a little extra exercise or a 30 minute brisk walk. I no longer feel deprived doing this!
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    l883 wrote: »
    If I am doing a low carb diet, with also low calories, is there going to be a big impact on my weight loss if I have a cheat day once a week?

    Also any advice from people who have successfully done the low carb diet? :)

    If you are in deficit 6 days and you are cutting 500 calories a day to try and lose a pound a week, you would have already been down 3000 calories from maintaining. Even if you ate 3000 extra calories past your maintenance caloric goal, you wouldn't technically gain anything for that one day.

    I never cheat. I just eat and make up for it when I want.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited February 2017
    OP, if you don't have much to lose, a cheat day can unravel your hard work from that week.

    I personally fit in what I desire around nutritious meals. No cheat day, no cheat meals. By doing the cheat meal method, I managed to maintain my weight instead end of lose. Moderation works best for me.
    nomorepuke wrote: »
    Let's put it this way. You eat unhealthy/high carb food 6 days a week and eat healthy/low carb food only once a week, would you lose weight? Probably not.
    You eat healthy/low carb food 6

    Weight loss isn't about what you should or shouldn't eat. Weight loss is all about calorie deficit. I've lost 100lbs with moderate to high carb. Some times I am unintentionally low carb. Sometimes (a few days a month), I eat more treats. So what? Macro splits are personal and do not affect weight loss. There is some glycogen decrease on LC, though.
  • bisky4
    bisky4 Posts: 12 Member
    I have a cheat meal, but not a complete cheat day. I guess try to make the best decisions on what you are putting into your mouth. ie smaller sizes of high calorie foods. good luck
  • jamierobinson12
    jamierobinson12 Posts: 29 Member
    If you feel the need for a cheat day them low carb is probably not for you. Why go low carb if you enjoy them? Work out your macros and incorporate the foods you like it's a much more sensible way than killing six days worth of a deficit.
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