What is a cheat day?

DirkdeKauwe

What is a cheat day? What are the rules others use on this day. Not sure if I am doing it correctly or not....or if there is even a correct way?

TimothyFish

Is there a correct way to cheat at anything? The question is how are you going to make up for it?

jemhh

I'm not a fan of the cheat day phenomenon. Eat at maintenance once a week, meaning log the calories. Don't gorge yourself and encourage binge eating, while risking wiping out six other days of calorie cutting.

Unknown

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JaydedMiss

I dont see the point in cheat days. Work what you like into your daily. Sure if every now and then you want to eat more, Do so. But plan for it when you can by being more active that day/week. Your body counts calories, Even if you dont. Id still track the best you can if you do "cheat"- Facing what youve done and deciding if it was worth the setback helps you decide whats worth it next time. Not tracking tends to make people go into an all or nothing mindset- Its cheat day im going to eat everything! And screw up the week or more of hard work.

Still think the best bet is fit in what you like daily though but life happens. Try not to let every little excuse turn into a cheat day though. Bad mindset to even have. This is for life, Not temporary. Cheating only cheats yourself

Idontcareyoupick

I'd say just have a cheat meal, but try not to make it any trigger foods. The stuff that really gets you

michael1976_ca

for me it's where I have a meal of my choice like McDonalds or something once a week. it works for me

Christine_72

I had one yesterday. We went to a bbq, and there were drinks and snacks too. I wasn't even going to begin to try working out the calories!

Shelley_ac34

Like mentioned before. Have a cheat meal and not a cheat day! Don't go to crazy but let yourself indulge a little. Also work towards it. Set a goal and than have a cheat meal! Don't just have one every week!

MegaMooseEsq

As you can tell, there isn't really a consensus on "cheat days/meals." I think the only right way to do it is whatever works for you to help stick to a deficit more often than not. As you can also see, the "cheating" concept ruffles feathers sometimes as well. Again, to each their own. I try and log everything and always try to enter something even it's just ball park, although I know some would rather take the occasional logging vacation. I also average by week and month so that I can vary from day to day, as I enjoy going out on the weekends, which usually eats up about half my deficit from the rest of the week. Some people find they can't keep a deficit that way, and that's cool too. So long as you're keeping sane and losing weight at a rate that you're happy with, there are no rules.

velvetsparkle13

I tend to end up in situations where I go out some place and don't have access to my own food. Sometimes with friends or at work they have something and I'm hungry and can't have anything else. So I'll eat pizza on free work pizza day or I'll get a latte and go out to eat with my friend. I always use my "cheat day for doing something out of the norm. It helps me not have it as part of my daily routine. So I can't get into the habit of it because it was a specific situation.

amusedmonkey

It's just a (bad self-defeating in my opinion) name for not restricting yourself unnecessarily (too low calories or too few food choices), and therefore having a diet that is more sustainable. Some people feel better when they keep to a certain set of food rules for a while and then deviate from said rules for one day, others do a day where they don't log food (I don't recommend that), yet others do a day where they eat more calories than their usual dieting calories. So yes, basically people do what is called a "cheat day" differently.

It's okay if this makes dieting easier, but it's not cheating. It's just part of the plan. As long as you don't feel like you are required to limit yourself to a certain set of "diet foods" and be miserable then use "cheat days" to come out of your misery once in awhile, it doesn't matter how you handle your calories. You could have all your days be the same calories and eat small portions of calorie dense foods to fit your budget, you could eat slightly less for a while to "bank" calories for a higher calorie day where you get to eat larger portions of calorie dense foods, you could have one day every week or whatever number of days you want where you just aren't dieting and eating to maintenance without banking for it (but know it would slow your weight loss ever so slightly). You could have very occasional days where you go way over calories knowingly without guilt. It really doesn't matter how you do things as long as you are doing things that make dieting easier and more sustainable to you.

For me personally, the concept of "cheating" is a bad idea. It tends to divide my days into "cheat days" and "waiting-for-cheat-days days". Not the best mindset for long term dieting. I do have higher calorie days when I need them, and I do have small portions of calorie dense things whenever I want them, or larger portions on maintenance days other times. It just all flows for me and depends on my wants and needs. No rules to it, no cheating, and no regrets. Just strategies to flexibly manage my calories to fit my life.

Machka9

DirkdeKauwe wrote: »

What is a cheat day? What are the rules others use on this day. Not sure if I am doing it correctly or not....or if there is even a correct way?

No idea ... I've never, ever had a "cheat day".

CMNVA

It means different things to different people.

Some use it as one day to just do a blow-out of eating. From morning until evening they might partake in their old habits and eat and drink anything they want.

For others (and it's probably my own definition), it's the one day you might have a meal out or a rich dessert at the end of a meal and you knowingly go over your daily calorie limit.

gerla_k

I have a cheat meal usually chips or few extra cookies, that's what I consider a cheat meal. But I always make up for it the next day, by either going for a run or pushing extra hard with my workout. I think it's important to indulge once in a while ( a week).

estherdragonbat

I have days where 'taste' and 'want' take priority over macro goals. (I.E., one day a week where I know I'm almost definitely going to be below my protein and iron targets because, goldarnnit, I want to have more carbs and fat in my life.) BUT I plan for that day, pre-log ahead of time, and stay on-track with my calorie and exercise goals. To me, that's not a cheat day by any stretch. It's more... while I don't consciously plan for an '80/20 split' between nutrient dense food and whatever else my tastebuds might want, it probably works out that way. And more than 80% falls out six days of the week and more than 20% on the seventh.

Unknown

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RoxieDawn

No cheating.. this implies guilt and shame over food and I never like to feel bad about eating. So for myself, eating my normal calorie amounts each day during the week is way more important than saving/restricting further during the week so I can eat what ever on one day. But some bank calories so they can eat up maintenance on this day if they choose too.

Weekends I allow 'treat' meal or rather this meal is still within my normal calories, it is just compromised of more relaxed food choices not in my regular week day.

fitoverfortymom

Cheat days are unicorns.