What does "cheat day" means (in your own term)

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  • Woodsmoke
    Woodsmoke Posts: 360 Member
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    'Cheat Day' is MAINTENANCE calories, otherwise you're just undoing what you've done through the week.
  • ChelzFit
    ChelzFit Posts: 292 Member
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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.
  • Lizakabibbis
    Lizakabibbis Posts: 370 Member
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    I track everything but eat what I want - so I guess IV?
  • jufrasin
    jufrasin Posts: 40 Member
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    My 'cheat' days are the days when I eat at maintenance instead of deficit.
  • DamieBird
    DamieBird Posts: 651 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    DamieBird wrote: »
    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 :D
  • gmksek8199
    gmksek8199 Posts: 11 Member
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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 to
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,136 Member
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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.



  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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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.

  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
    edited April 2017
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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 so
  • Libby283
    Libby283 Posts: 288 Member
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    jufrasin wrote: »
    My 'cheat' days are the days when I eat at maintenance instead of deficit.

    Ditto.
  • RayBoy76
    RayBoy76 Posts: 23 Member
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    Miller Time!
  • stacieluvzneyoo
    stacieluvzneyoo Posts: 20 Member
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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.
  • Lizzypb88
    Lizzypb88 Posts: 367 Member
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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.
  • cozytimes
    cozytimes Posts: 111 Member
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    eating over maintenance calories and gaining weight since i'm straying from my original goal of losing weight
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
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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.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,867 Member
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    DamieBird wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    DamieBird wrote: »
    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 :D

    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. :)

  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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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.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,332 Member
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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 calories

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