Verdict on cheat days?
clafairy1984
Posts: 253 Member
Hi, wondering what your verdict is on cheat days when trying to lose weight. How do you manage them? Do you set any 'rules' et? Or find them detrimental?
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Replies
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Plan them....if you dont, you're gonna do it anyway. Just set controls in place. Dont let a cheat day become a cheat week.5
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I wouldn't think of them as "cheat" days because you still need to have some sort of control. You could easily undo a whole week of progress if you just ate whatever you felt like without any sort of restrictions. But that doesn't mean you can't have days where you eat certain treats that don't normally fall within your calorie goal.
There are two common ways to do this. One is to "bank" calories during the week where you eat slightly under your goal, say 100-200 calories, and that leaves you with some extra calories to have a big meal one day during the week. The other is to just consider one day as an "off" day from your weight loss where you decide to eat at your maintence calories for the day. That gives you more calories to eat more foods but still stay on track.
You don't have to do it either of those ways, and can come up with a strategy that works for you, including being comfortable with going to a certain surplus amount for special ocassions. But I still think no matter what, it is important to track and understand how much you are eating those days. Calories count the same on cheat days as non-cheat days. So you have to make sure to at least take some care.12 -
I wouldn't necessarily call what I do cheat days, but they are planned higher calorie/carb refeed days which occur on the weekend. So I remain in a deficit overall but it allows me more flexibility when I spend time with family, have events, functions, dinners and it helps boost my workout performance and adherence. If you do have a higher calorie days just make sure they don't wipe out your deficit.6
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I had a hormonal 'sod it' day last Saturday. I was desperate for my first piece of chocolate in a month. I had a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup pack then I allowed myself to enjoy pudding with ice cream. It wasn't as wild a day as I'd initially expected. I found that otherwise I kept the rest of my meals the same as normal on a usual deficit day. I didn't feel the need to binge which surprised me. I think I had my weight loss goals at the back of my mind. I was about 500 cals over my target of 1200 (I'm bed bound parts of the week). But it hasn't affected my weight loss this week as I'm having a post TOM whoosh. A cheat meal rather than a full day might be enough to keep you mentally in a happy place but YMMV.2
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I believe that having a higher calorie meal or maintenance day can be a great psychological boost especially for those of us who have a long weight loss journey.
When I have these days I still log everything that I eat. I may bank some calories or even use exercise calories so that I'm not really eating over my maintenance calories. I also use a weekly calorie goal as opposed to a daily goal so I'm commonly higher on some days and lower on others.
For many of us, we are learning new habits that will keep us at a healthy weight for the future. Learning how to fit in that rare piece of cheesecake or chocolate cake really matters because life isn't just about calories, macros and weight loss.2 -
My advice would be: Eat at, below, or above your calorie goal every day, but strive to make the choice intentional. Stay healthy and strong.
If weight loss is your goal, log everything, even on over-goal days, even if you have to estimate. That way, you'll know where you stand, and know how to adjust, if needed. Your body counts everything.
Treat the weight loss process as a way to learn how to eat in a way that keeps you happy, healthy, and at a reasonable weight permanently. That long term view needs to include celebrations and occasional indulgences.
Best wishes!10 -
I have 3 cheat days a year: my birthday and the 2 days after. Cheating regularly only cheats yourself.12
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cahubbard6421 wrote: »
Why not just have the snacks you enjoy as part of your normal daily/weekly diet? I still eat chocolate, popcorn, peanut butter, burgers, pizza etc., but in appropriate quantities as part of a balanced diet. It's not cheating, it's just eating.7 -
Redordeadhead wrote: »cahubbard6421 wrote: »
Why not just have the snacks you enjoy as part of your normal daily/weekly diet? I still eat chocolate, popcorn, peanut butter, burgers, pizza etc., but in appropriate quantities as part of a balanced diet. It's not cheating, it's just eating.
Because sometimes the foods I want to eat are almost my entire day of calories. Chipotle burritos are really high in calorie. That's a cheat meal.4 -
Cheat day, terrible idea.
It will become a cheat week, cheat month...2 -
I will tell anyone that “cheat days” are vital to success.
Let’s review: did you get where you are after one bad day? Nope. It’s a string of bad days and bad decisions. NOT ONE.
So how I say it is to keep to a cheat “meal”, once a week. Just go nuts. Whatever you want, whatever you see, go for it. BECAUSE...
After a while, even on your cheat meals, you won’t be splurging. You’ll start valuing eating healthy, even if it means going to bed craving something. And eventually, your values will change enough you don’t even crave the old stuff.
The WORST you can do is “fetishize” your food. “Oh don’t touch that, that’s bad.” What’s the FIRST thing you’re going to want? Lol allow yourself to indulge once in a while!
At the end of the day, your weekly caloric defect is what matters, not the daily. So go nuts, have fun, and then spread those calories out over the next few days. THATS being responsible and healthy! And like I said, eventually, you won’t want many cheats because you value the changes you see!3 -
I eat at my caloric goal 99% of the time, but my husband has a habit of springing dinner out on me at random. On those days I consume more, but because this happens about every two weeks I don't worry too much about it. Usually when I add it all up it's about 300 calories extra I take in.
I don't really have cheat days, I just eat good enough that when a dinner or special occasion comes up I can indulge without worry. I also have two pieces of chocolate every night, and still eat my favorite crackers in small amounts, it keeps me sane and keeps me from binging0 -
There’s some good advice here as how to go about implementing something like a cheat day without sabotaging yourself. I personally don’t believe in the idea of “cheating”. Your body counts everything, full stop. If you have a lot to lose it’s not so big of a deal, but if you’re nearing your goal in a healthy weight range that cheat day might end up wiping out your week’s deficit.
I still eat literally everything I want, just in smaller portions. A chipotle burrito was mentioned- I have eaten half a burrito for lunch and half for dinner. It’s okay to eat it all in one go, but again: it still counts. I think if eating at a deficit is too much it might be better to consider a diet break (eating at maintenance for a while) as an option.0 -
A cheat meal...rather than a cheat day.2
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clafairy1984 wrote: »Hi, wondering what your verdict is on cheat days when trying to lose weight. How do you manage them? Do you set any 'rules' et? Or find them detrimental?
Refeed days, I personally have two a month. I keep my protein and fats the same, and I add 100 grams of carbs, which is 400 calories. That puts me at about maintainence for the day. Key is, eat at maintainence on your refeed days. Use them as a tool. Don’t abuse them and they work wonders0 -
Just don’t underestimate how calorific one meal/evening out can be. Add up your cheating and be aware, record it all. You may be surprised to learn that one evening can eliminate all the deficit you have worked hard for during the rest of the week. That’s ok if you did it knowingly, saving your calories for that meal, but don’t then get on the scales and be all shocked and depressed when you haven’t lost weight that week.2
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An interesting thread, are cheat days/ meals important then ? I use to live on takeaways, crisps chocolate an would eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, a friend told me about MFP I log everything I eat and most of the time I'm under my allowance for the day, I'm quite active but when exercising it's makes my calories allowance even higher , so I'm banking cheats then ? Confused.com 🤯1
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Not a fan personally, but they work for some people. I'd rather stick to my daily calorie goal and get the pain over as quickly as possible if I'm cutting. Instead, I recommend that you treat yourself to a small portion of something you like every day, but try to stay at or under your goal. Learn to savor your food, chewly slowly and concentrating on the flavor instead of scarfing it down. Have one cookie and enjoy it instead of three. Have a half glass of wine and sip it slowly instead of two full glasses. There will be days when you can't help but go over your daily goal (parties, vacations, etc.) so consider those your cheat days and try to be disciplined about all the other days.3
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cahubbard6421 wrote: »Redordeadhead wrote: »cahubbard6421 wrote: »
Why not just have the snacks you enjoy as part of your normal daily/weekly diet? I still eat chocolate, popcorn, peanut butter, burgers, pizza etc., but in appropriate quantities as part of a balanced diet. It's not cheating, it's just eating.
Because sometimes the foods I want to eat are almost my entire day of calories. Chipotle burritos are really high in calorie. That's a cheat meal.
I suspect that chocolate, popcorn, PB, etc can all fit into the vast majority of people's calorie budget if they plan for it. The same is true of the occasional burger (that isn't loaded with various toppings) or burrito. A Chipotle burrito with barbacoa, corn salsa, white rice, no guacamole, and no dairy is 570 calories. That's not a cheat meal.6 -
cahubbard6421 wrote: »Redordeadhead wrote: »cahubbard6421 wrote: »
Why not just have the snacks you enjoy as part of your normal daily/weekly diet? I still eat chocolate, popcorn, peanut butter, burgers, pizza etc., but in appropriate quantities as part of a balanced diet. It's not cheating, it's just eating.
Because sometimes the foods I want to eat are almost my entire day of calories. Chipotle burritos are really high in calorie. That's a cheat meal.
I suspect that chocolate, popcorn, PB, etc can all fit into the vast majority of people's calorie budget if they plan for it. The same is true of the occasional burger (that isn't loaded with various toppings) or burrito. A Chipotle burrito with barbacoa, corn salsa, white rice, no guacamole, and no dairy is 570 calories. That's not a cheat meal.
Well, it's around 570 calories. The guy making your burrito isn't weighing the ingredients, so you don't really know what you're getting. I'd definitely consider Chipotle a cheat meal because you have no idea what you're putting into your body.7 -
I never used to do any "cheat" days or meals. But, I'm seeing a dietitian regularly and she said I should have one "free meal" every weekend. She said for people who need to watch their weight for the rest of their lives, she feels it's an important part of making it doable for life. So I started doing that about a month ago--and I'm losing weight better than ever. I haven't asked her yet, but I think varying my calories like that must be doing something helpful weight wise, not just making it easier mentally.1
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newhopeind wrote: »I will tell anyone that “cheat days” are vital to success.
Let’s review: did you get where you are after one bad day? Nope. It’s a string of bad days and bad decisions. NOT ONE.
So how I say it is to keep to a cheat “meal”, once a week. Just go nuts. Whatever you want, whatever you see, go for it. BECAUSE...
After a while, even on your cheat meals, you won’t be splurging. You’ll start valuing eating healthy, even if it means going to bed craving something. And eventually, your values will change enough you don’t even crave the old stuff.
The WORST you can do is “fetishize” your food. “Oh don’t touch that, that’s bad.” What’s the FIRST thing you’re going to want? Lol allow yourself to indulge once in a while!
At the end of the day, your weekly caloric defect is what matters, not the daily. So go nuts, have fun, and then spread those calories out over the next few days. THATS being responsible and healthy! And like I said, eventually, you won’t want many cheats because you value the changes you see!
I'm sorry, but this seems like terrible advice for most people. Cheating once a week is way too frequent and will create bad habits. Let me give an example.
Suppose a person is in a 250 calorie per day deficit. That translates to a half pound of weight loss per week and a weekly deficit of 1750 pounds (well, 1500 because one day is a cheat day now). Now you have a cheat day in which you could easily hit a 1500 calorie surplus if you aren't careful. You've completely undone your work in a single day. Even if you still don't eat a full 1500 extra calories, any surplus is now going to slow your rate of loss to a crawl which has negative psychological effects for people trying to lose weight and many will just give up at that point.
When people see results from a weight loss program, they are encouraged to keep it up. Losing weight isn't fun, so we need some sort of positive reinforcement to keep going. Cheat days once a week are completely detrimental to progress.7 -
newhopeind wrote: »I will tell anyone that “cheat days” are vital to success.
Let’s review: did you get where you are after one bad day? Nope. It’s a string of bad days and bad decisions. NOT ONE.
So how I say it is to keep to a cheat “meal”, once a week. Just go nuts. Whatever you want, whatever you see, go for it. BECAUSE...
After a while, even on your cheat meals, you won’t be splurging. You’ll start valuing eating healthy, even if it means going to bed craving something. And eventually, your values will change enough you don’t even crave the old stuff.
The WORST you can do is “fetishize” your food. “Oh don’t touch that, that’s bad.” What’s the FIRST thing you’re going to want? Lol allow yourself to indulge once in a while!
At the end of the day, your weekly caloric defect is what matters, not the daily. So go nuts, have fun, and then spread those calories out over the next few days. THATS being responsible and healthy! And like I said, eventually, you won’t want many cheats because you value the changes you see!
"Cheat days" might be vital to YOUR success. They are not vital to EVERYONE'S success. Not everyone's cravings or approach to eating are going to follow the pattern you experienced.
The one thing you said that is absolutely true for every person is that you can lose weight following a weekly calorie deficit rather than a daily one. If you're eating a large meal or two and still in your calorie budget for the week, then you're still on track. That is very different from simply eating a lot and not logging it, and/or intentionally exceeding your calorie goal.
I lost 100 pounds and have maintained that loss for over a year and a half. I didn't have "cheat days." I ate what I wanted within my calorie goal. That usually meant going out for a bigger meal on long run days, or saving up a few calories for the weekend. The folks who have been here for a while and have lost a lot of weight or are successfully maintaining generally approach their eating this way. Few, if any, of us had "cheat days" in the sense of eating anything and everything we wanted without making it fit into our calorie goals. Instead, we ate what we wanted and fit it into our weekly calorie goals.6 -
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Just an observation: We spend a good many electrons here, posting our competing opinions of "cheat days".
Very often, we do so without even clarifying what we mean by "cheat day":
* Over weight-loss calorie goal?
* Over maintenance calories?
* Skip logging, don't know the calories?
* Eat above some macro goal (carbs, say) but within weight-loss calorie goal?
* Eat some "bad food(s)" (<eyeroll!>) we've been denying ourselves?
* Etc.
No wonder there's plenty of disagreement: We're using the same words ("cheat day"), but meaning different things.11 -
Cheat days are great. Once/week. They give you a little bit of guilt to get you motivated for the next week's calorie counts. Also I've found that if I was very constant hitting my calorie deficit that I would plateau. And then I started going -100 extra for say six days then +600 for the 7th day and that seemed to kick start some losses. (all for the same weekly calorie goal)2
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If you have a good plan you shouldn't need to "cheat" on it. I run my deficit on a 6 day not a 7 day cycle so that I always eat my maintenance calories on Sunday. This gives me a break each week and something to look forward to. I also do not force myself to be miserable so if I am having an especially bad day I allow myself to eat up to my maintenance calories.
For special occasions I usually think in terms of either my maintenance calories or my deficit. In between Christmas and New Year I had some days at half deficit so I could have extra treats. I will also schedule a maintenance and a half day or even a maintenance x 2 day depending on the occasion.
I don't do completely unleashed days/meals. I always want to have a plan and a calorie cap even if it is not totally accurate because I am guessing at some of it. I have estimated at some of the calories I would eat in one sitting in the past and it was a stupidly high number. I believe I need those days to be completely over.5 -
Just an observation: We spend a good many electrons here, posting our competing opinions of "cheat days".
Very often, we do so without even clarifying what we mean by "cheat day":
* Over weight-loss calorie goal?
* Over maintenance calories?
* Skip logging, don't know the calories?
* Eat above some macro goal (carbs, say) but within weight-loss calorie goal?
* Eat some "bad food(s)" (<eyeroll!>) we've been denying ourselves?
* Etc.
No wonder there's plenty of disagreement: We're using the same words ("cheat day"), but meaning different things.
Good point. It depends on your goals. Most people don't track macros, so for the majority I don't think that qualifies. My personal definition is eating over maintenance or eating something you want to eat without regard for caloric intake. I said above that I would qualify eating a Chipotle burrito as cheating because you don't really know the calorie count for it, just a very rough estimate. A couple of people disagreed, but I wonder if they would say that eating a Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl's Jr. would be also not be a cheat meal even though you can find the estimated calories for it online as well. If you're trying to lose weight, "cheating", IMO, is eating something you want to eat without accounting for or caring about caloric intake, but I know many wouldn't adhere to that definition.3 -
Just an observation: We spend a good many electrons here, posting our competing opinions of "cheat days".
Very often, we do so without even clarifying what we mean by "cheat day":
* Over weight-loss calorie goal?
* Over maintenance calories?
* Skip logging, don't know the calories?
* Eat above some macro goal (carbs, say) but within weight-loss calorie goal?
* Eat some "bad food(s)" (<eyeroll!>) we've been denying ourselves?
* Etc.
No wonder there's plenty of disagreement: We're using the same words ("cheat day"), but meaning different things.
I think this is a HUGE issue in the discussion. we are all talking about slightly different things.3
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