What does "cheat day" means (in your own term)
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I wouldn't really define it as cheating since I don't really have any rules, but if I had to choose it would be a day where I have no care for my goals. If I am bulking, it could mean coming way under my cal goals (too many healthy salads haha), doing too much cardio, or skipping a lifting session because I'm lazy. Or if I am cutting it could be going way over in my calories and not even coming close to having enough protein or nutrients. But in the end I know it will all balance out so I'm good
I was trying to figure out how to word my thoughts on this, but @sardelsa pretty much summed it up for me, too. Not a "cheat" day - more like a, "whatever" day.2 -
@DamieBird : what does TDEE means ?
TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure...these are the calories that would be required to maintain. When you eat below what is necessary to maintain, you burn stored energy (body fat) to make up for the deficiency in energy. TDEE includes your BMR as well as your daily activities as well as exercise activities.1 -
I don't like the term 'cheat'. If I am making progress I will have an occasional 'reward' day, when I don't log, and eat/drink whatever I want, fast food or otherwise... Have lost 21lbs since mid-December so it works for me. Maximum one such day per week...1
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Cheat day for me = giving up
Seriously though, I have tried the cheat day thing and *for me* it always seems to derail things for at least a week (or longer), in that I turn a cheat day into a cheat week. As soon as I give myself permission to go off plan, I always end up in disaster.
So, now I plan accordingly, eat what I can budget for and bank calories (or exercise more) for special occasions. I am a believer in not restricting certain foods and eating what I enjoy, so if I am craving something, I just eat it, log it and move on.1 -
I eat whatever tickles my fancy, whenever I feel like it.
Chocolate cake at 10 am? Sure.
I also don't log any of it.
If I feel like being active and working out, then I will, but if I don't feel like it, then I just won't.
The good thing is that I usually can't have many off program days (I try to avoid calling them cheats) in a row, or else I start to feel pretty bad, physically. Like I feel bloated, sluggish, uncomfortable...just bleh. Like if I decide to go off program for a weekend, by Monday, I'm usually eager to jump back onto the wagon, just so I can feel good in my body again.1 -
Which are your best definition of "cheat day"
i) no exercise but still under calorie consumption
ii) exercise but more then calorie consumption
iii) allowing yourself to eatfast food, fake sugar, soda drink but under calorie consumption
iv) no exercise, no calorie control, fast food, fake sugar and soda drink allowed
Please do share and comment , tq
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A cheat day to me, would be a day where I intentionally did not follow my normal eating plan to lose weight. I don't do cheat days.0 -
I've seen a lot of people on here saying that they don't log their cheat meals/days. I'm curious as to why that is. Even when I go way over my daily target, I log it so that I can get a general sense of where I am that week/month. I'm not bothered by the number, I just like the data.
What's the purpose of deliberately not logging?1 -
For me it means eating something I'm craving that doesn't necessarily meet my goals for macros and that I wouldn't eat on a normal day. I still try and keep my calories within my target and I still exercise. I don't identify it as a cheat day or anything...I just let myself indulge in the odd "bad" craving. Like I had onion rings the other day. I didn't treat the whole day as a cheat day and go nuts and ruin all my hard work for the week. I just got the onion rings I was craving and ate healthy the rest of the day and still worked out. I don't consider myself on a diet though and needing cheat days. I just make healthy choices 95% of the time and really enjoy those treats 5% of the time. Or whatever the number is. I don't know...it's not planned.1
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I'm low carb, so I don't have "cheat days" as this would undo all of my hard work. Eating carbs would throw me out of ketosis, and I'd have to go through a couple of days of adjustment to get back to where I was. Not worth it. I do, however, occasionally eat more calories than my target while still staying low carb.1
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I've seen a lot of people on here saying that they don't log their cheat meals/days. I'm curious as to why that is. Even when I go way over my daily target, I log it so that I can get a general sense of where I am that week/month. I'm not bothered by the number, I just like the data.
What's the purpose of deliberately not logging?
I don't log during my diet breaks because I can't be bothered and really don't care.
Usually my diet breaks occur when I'm on holiday or when I'm doing really long bicycle rides. Logging would mean trying to figure out what it was I ate at that rest stop 240 km into a 300 km randonnee ... or trying to find an entry for that meal in the little restaurant in the small town in the middle of nowhere.1 -
'Cheat Day' is MAINTENANCE calories, otherwise you're just undoing what you've done through the week.2
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I have found the more I have been incorporating treats and my cravings into my total daily calorie allowance, the less I feel the need to have a "cheat meal." Probably at least once a month I go out with my husband or friends and we have a big meal out, a couple of drinks, stay up later than we should and end the night with pizza. Other than that I dont really have planned cheat meals or days. I also dont increase exercise after a night out of eating over my allowance or change my eating the following days.1
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I track everything but eat what I want - so I guess IV?0
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My 'cheat' days are the days when I eat at maintenance instead of deficit.1
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I've seen a lot of people on here saying that they don't log their cheat meals/days. I'm curious as to why that is. Even when I go way over my daily target, I log it so that I can get a general sense of where I am that week/month. I'm not bothered by the number, I just like the data.
What's the purpose of deliberately not logging?
I don't log during my diet breaks because I can't be bothered and really don't care.
Usually my diet breaks occur when I'm on holiday or when I'm doing really long bicycle rides. Logging would mean trying to figure out what it was I ate at that rest stop 240 km into a 300 km randonnee ... or trying to find an entry for that meal in the little restaurant in the small town in the middle of nowhere.
Ah, that makes sense!! I don't log during vacations usually because I'm too busy having fun, but I was thinking of those times as different than the idea of "cheat days". Thanks for answering
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i dont do cheat days, I will do a cheat meal and its normally the same day as my weigh in so I have a week to burn it off. I sometimes track it if I can remember it all. normally a cheat meal is dining out and I don't always pull my phone out to figure things out. if I didn't do a cheat meal, I would most likely fall off the wagon and binge when I shouldn't. it gives me something to look forward to0
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I do not consider myself to have cheat days, now and again I will eat at Maintenance and very,very rarely I will eat over and above maintenance (usually the day after a special event when I've been drinking and I'm tired and hungover). Most of these days are accounted for in my weekly planner and aren't a cheat as such, they are just me working life around my long term weight loss plan.
I take a diet break on occasions when I'm away from home for a few days, however, I still log everything as best as I can and eat around my maintenance level or slightly under. I stopped logging the 2-3 weeks over Christmas/New Year out of sheer laziness and put 3lb back on so now I make the effort to log regardless.
Having a regular once per week/month "cheat day" where you eat without abandon, just doesn't make sense to me, it suggests an unhealthy relationship with food and unnecessary restriction the rest of the time.
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I don't do cheat days. I stay within my calorie goals or I don't. I'm human like everyone else, and will sometimes go over. I pay more attention to my macros these days as long as I land somewhere at my calorie goal. If you set realistic goals there's no reason for cheat days unless someone or something has convinced you that carbs or some other specific type of food is bad. Hint: It's not. Eat what you want, stay within your goals and you'll do just fine.
If you find you NEED cheat days then you likely are being too restrictive in the first place. There's no reason to spend a ton of effort to create a 3500 calorie a week deficit to lose 1lb then blow it with one cheat day a week which negates that deficit so you lose nothing, or worse yet, gain. I've spent the last six months or more learning that when I go over my set goals, I need to work a little harder during my workouts or reduce calories afterward to make up for it. I'm trying to make it something I do instinctively so that I don't have to count calories forever. I figure it'll take another year or two to get to that point but I'm doing pretty well now with maintenance. No cheat days. Just human nature and learning to pay for my own appetites and make smart choices.
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Cheating for me is knowingly eating over my cal limit and intentionally not recording the food eaten on MFP. It's been happening a bit too often recently but I am still trying to resist the impulse to distort my weight to food data relationship by doing so0
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Miller Time!1
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I never do a full day because it make me feel terrible. I sleep bad that night, I get bloated so i stoppedOnce a week I go out to dinner and enjoy what ever I want. I track my calories through lunch. That particular dinner I do not track.1
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Number 4! A cheat day, for me, is a cheat DAY! Although, I will admit when that happens, I feel like complete garbage that night and the next day!! I tend to do it on special occasion or on some holidays (made it through Easter with zero cheating!)
I watched a video once showing that once a week, and only once a week having a cheat MEAL is okay and can actually aid in your diet, as long as you exercise regularly, but if you cheat the entire day then any benefit is thrown right out the window. Seems accurate, just wish I could listen to it myself!
I typically have a cheat day once a month, and the week I cheat, I either lost half a pound, or absolutely nothing that week.0 -
eating over maintenance calories and gaining weight since i'm straying from my original goal of losing weight0
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I go on a long run, which means I have the calories to indulge in a big meal I wouldn't otherwise fit into my calorie budget. I don't cheat. I wouldn't be cheating anyone besides myself, and I don't see a reason to cheat myself.0
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I've seen a lot of people on here saying that they don't log their cheat meals/days. I'm curious as to why that is. Even when I go way over my daily target, I log it so that I can get a general sense of where I am that week/month. I'm not bothered by the number, I just like the data.
What's the purpose of deliberately not logging?
I don't log during my diet breaks because I can't be bothered and really don't care.
Usually my diet breaks occur when I'm on holiday or when I'm doing really long bicycle rides. Logging would mean trying to figure out what it was I ate at that rest stop 240 km into a 300 km randonnee ... or trying to find an entry for that meal in the little restaurant in the small town in the middle of nowhere.
Ah, that makes sense!! I don't log during vacations usually because I'm too busy having fun, but I was thinking of those times as different than the idea of "cheat days". Thanks for answering
I don't call them "cheat days" but my diet breaks are probably as close as I come to what others call "cheat days". It works better for me if I stick to my diet for weeks on end and only take diet breaks for special occasions.
When I started, I stuck with it for 16 weeks, then took a month off while I travelled and reassessed what I wanted to do ... did I want to lose more or not? That month was a diet break. I still logged exercise because I've been logging exercise since April 29, 1990 ... but I didn't bother logging food.
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I don't like the concept of cheating, therefore I don't have any special days that are different to the others.0
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I don't consider any day a "cheat" day, but I do have days where I'm hungry so I have a little more food, the same food I usually have, but say a few more ounces of meat than usual or something I add, Like today I was still hungry after dinner, so I had 2 turkey franks on 1 piece of bread with mayo , I still have 200 cal left for the day but I may not eat anymore.Sometimes tho I do go a bit over my calories but I just get back on track with the next meal & don't "give in" the rest of the day. Personally I don't drink soda, don't have much of a sweet tooth & rarely eat out. very rarely have fast food but I've always been that way. I love chips & some yummy sauce from meat that I put over rice, but I rarely make that anymore because it's too much calories1
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