Maintenance day

meganpettigrew86
meganpettigrew86 Posts: 349 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I read an article or two that cheat days can actually help your weight loss by keeping your metabolism up. (Studies were cited etc.)
Has anyone tried this?
I was thinking maintenance calories for Fridays as my "cheat day", mainly to stop the crazy binge mentality which can happen.
It's my lazy day, so easier to reduce error with exercise calories being thrown into the mix.
Let me know your experiences with this method!

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    When I was losing weight I typically ate maintenance on Saturday...mostly because that's when we end up socializing with friends or going out, etc. I've also read the whole keeping metabolism thing up, and it seems like the science is kind of dicey...I did it more for social reasons and continuing to live my life while I was cutting weight.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    edited September 2017
    Oh, wait, I answered the wrong question.

    EVERYBODY has had something resembling a cheat day or a diet break or a maintenance day. Yes, it does notify your body that the famine is ended and tells your body that the adaptive thermogenesis can stop. Yes, it does cause you to gain water prodigiously. Yes, it does drop off fast and yes, it does give you a couple of weeks of slightly faster losses if you manage to stay in your calorie deficit.
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,868 Member
    I eat at maintenance one or two days a week. Usually the weekend. It makes my weight loss slower but helps me have more fun in life and with my family. At 1200 calories that doesn't allow for much spontaneity so my maintenance day or two allow for a little cake or something. I exercise 4 days a week, but not usually the weekends.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    Can you point towards the article? I'd be interested to see the studies. I'm not sure about those days actually 'keeping your metabolism up', but they do absolutely have benefits to weight loss.

    I allowed myself a big fancy weekly cheat dinner when I was in loss mode but not because I wanted to keep my metabolism up. It was more for the mental release and motivation to help me sustain a larger deficit over the rest of the week.
  • meganpettigrew86
    meganpettigrew86 Posts: 349 Member
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    Can you point towards the article? I'd be interested to see the studies. I'm not sure about those days actually 'keeping your metabolism up', but they do absolutely have benefits to weight loss.

    I allowed myself a big fancy weekly cheat dinner when I was in loss mode but not because I wanted to keep my metabolism up. It was more for the mental release and motivation to help me sustain a larger deficit over the rest of the week.

    Can't remember which article, I read loads, I'm pretty sure it was linked by someone on mfp ranting about no such thing as starvation mode causing weight gain etc etc. Might of been a link inside that article which referred to a sixth month study done where they starved people to a point where their metabolism slowed, but that was under extreme deficit.

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