Is a maintenance day a cheat day?
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I'm with the "I don't cheat" camp. I either eat at a deficit, or I don't.5
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I find the whole "cheating" terminology to be pretty childish. We're not playing a game or taking a test, we're just trying to live a healthy lifestyle. Some days are more successful in that than others, and that's human nature.
Today I had cheese and crackers, pasta with italian sausage, bread, wine, and dessert. Definitely over my maintainence calories. But I wasn't "cheating" on anything. It's just life. None of us are perfect.5 -
No it's not a cheat day. In fact you have to read just your mindset and eliminate that term sheet Day. By calling it a cheat day you're implying you're doing something wrong and you're not.
You can't look at this as a diet. Diets suck and they don't work. you're constantly depriving yourself of stuff that you enjoy and it said negative and if it's negative process you're not going to be able to maintain that. What you have to do is look at this as a lifestyle change. It's a matter of educating yourself as far as what you eat and how much you eat and how it's going to affect your body. For this to work it has to be enjoyable.
Touring my weight-loss Journey I went on vacation. I'd say a couple of those days I drank my calorie limit alone. I still manage to lose the weight. Also I never gave up food that I liked it was just a matter of fitting it within my calorie goal. If I had to give up the occasional Wendy's hamburger pizza or beers on the beach I wouldn't never have been able to lose the weight and maintain the weight loss. Not once during the weight loss process that I look at it as an inconvenience or something negative. As crazy as it sounds it was probably one of the easiest things I have ever done2 -
It's your day. Call it whatever you want. Your body doesn't care, and your goals are yours to decide if you want to put them on pause.3
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No such thing as a cheat day. Such a negative term to associate with food. A day where you eat at maintenance or above is exactly that. Just a small blimp on your marathon journey of weightloss. If this day involved good times with family or friends then the health that came from that is also important. In saying that you don't want these maintainance or above days to occur too often if you want to continue losing weight but every now and then is part of a healthy relationship with food.1
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RedheadedPrincess14 wrote: »So just a little open ended discussion here guys. If you eat at maintenance for a day instead of at deficit (assuming you're trying to lose,) do you count that as a cheat day or just a day off? For me, that is a cheat day. So the question is- what is a cheat day to you?
No such thing as "cheat days".
I eat at a deficit when I want to do so.
I eat at maintenance when I want to do so.
I eat over maintenance when I want to do so.
And I take diet breaks where I don't log when I want to do so.
I am in control of what's going on and I do what I think is the best choice for me.5 -
Watched some random videos yesterday and came across a channel called "mind over munchies" or something similiar and I really liked her approach.
She just simply called them "treat" meal/day which sounds less negative for a lot of people.
Personally I really dont mind how to call them but Im also having them sparingly. Next one is gonna be on easter nightshift with some pizza. And for me thats just "traditional" nightshift which I only enjoy with a certain colleague.
But I do not think calling it a "cheat" meal makes it sound negative, personally.2 -
It's neither. It's just another part of your PLAN.3
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TavistockToad wrote: »
"un-structured refeed days" are the best.1 -
I agree. The whole mentality of cheating needs to go. It is all about simply budgeting your calories and spending them as best suites you.0
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trigden1991 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »
"un-structured refeed days" are the best.
like it!0 -
I used to think that everybody was making a fuss about the terminology, "cheat" days, what difference does it make. Now however I am far more aware that it is not "cheating" day, it is a choice. I am also becoming more aware of it not being a "treat" day, uses food a reward to make me feel better is how I got to 294lb in the first place!!2
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mandy_godfree wrote: »The way I see it, is that if you eat deficit more than maintenance you'll still lose weight, just more slowly than if you eat deficit every day. So how can it be cheating. The aim is to lose weight in a way that's manageable for you. It's not a race to see how quick you can lose it. I see it a bit like a credit card balance. It's not wrong to use a credit card, but you should always pay the minimum balance and keep within the credit limit, but it's always more beneficial to pay off the balance if you can.
This. I eat at maintenance every weekend, I'm losing weight pretty slowly but this is what works for me. Thinking of a day as a "cheat day" is a big dangerous for me because I feel out of control and could end up binging.1 -
trigden1991 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »
"un-structured refeed days" are the best.
That phrase made me very excited for some reason.1 -
Don't do "cheat days" do "cheat meal". You wont lose as many gains.0
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