Planned Cheating

JaimeJaimeM

Something that helps me stay focused is scheduling in my cheat days - or giving myself a set allowance. This gives me something to look forward to and it helps me find a balance between the discipline and pain of training vs. the pleasure of just letting my hair down and eating a damn cake if I want to.

I'm pretty strict generally speaking. Monitor my calories, macros, and fiber intake. I give myself one cheat MEAL a month. It can be whenever I want - I usually try to save it up for date night or if I have nothing really planned then for me it's exciting to spend all month "fantasizing" about what my cheat meal will be. I'll write down "burger" and then cross it out the next day and say "no, pizza and fries!" and it's absolutely guilt free because I know for 29-30 days I worked damn hard for it.

Right now I'm leaving for vacation for a week, and have been training and cutting the last three months for it. I'll maintain being active, but I've got tacos and tequila on my mind, and I can't wait to reward myself for all I've accomplished.

Anyone else plan out their cheat meals? Are you able to justify good food with hard work or do you still feel guilty about it the next day?

sammidelvecchio

I am SO impressed that you only eat outside your plan once a month. Girl, that is will power if I've ever seen it. I am a little less strict on my diet on Saturdays, but I also make sure to fit in a lot of extra steps and a workout because sometimes I get carried away. I think i'm at a really fragile place with my weight that I will feel guilty about eating off-plan for a while, but i'm hoping that changes with progress and patience. Right now, I just shouldn't "reward" myself with food so I try other ways like a new pair of shoes or something like that. I want to get to a place where I can fit all my favorite foods into my diet regularly but just smaller portions but I am not able to do that right now.

I am 5 weeks out from my vacay and I am also looking forward to tequila and tacos

TavistockToad

I don't cheat, I fit all the food I like into my weekly cals.

Occasionally (birthday/christmas/holidays) I eat whatever i like and don't worry about it.

Kimmotion5783

I like what Ted Allen once said on the original Queer Eye For the Straight Guy series: "you can eat whatever you want, just don't eat so damn much of it." Truer words have never been spoken. If you feel like having a taco and tequila, then have a taco and tequila. Just don't do it all day every day. Tacos and tequila do sound great, by the way! Enjoy your vacation.

RelCanonical

I can't, planning out days for fantasy foods is a trigger for my binge eating. It's how that whole deal started (planning an "eat my fantasy foods" day) so it's not like I think those days are inherently bad - they're just bad for me. I just have to fit them into my day in appropriate portions.

sardelsa

I don't call what I do cheating, but when I am in a deficit I have planned refeed days on the weekends. So typically higher carb and calorie days. This will be two to three days of eating at maintenance or a bit of a surplus (depending on how the rest of my week looked). Usually pasta, pizza, pancakes, waffles, donuts, things I don't normally eat during the week. Sometimes it ends up being higher everything but I try to stick to just increasing carbs. I will have two lower days during the week so I have lots of flexibility. I don't have guilt but I try not to drink too much where it will affect my workout performance the next day.

JaimeJaimeM

sammidelvecchio wrote: »

I am SO impressed that you only eat outside your plan once a month. Girl, that is will power if I've ever seen it. I am a little less strict on my diet on Saturdays, but I also make sure to fit in a lot of extra steps and a workout because sometimes I get carried away. I think i'm at a really fragile place with my weight that I will feel guilty about eating off-plan for a while, but i'm hoping that changes with progress and patience. Right now, I just shouldn't "reward" myself with food so I try other ways like a new pair of shoes or something like that. I want to get to a place where I can fit all my favorite foods into my diet regularly but just smaller portions but I am not able to do that right now.

I am 5 weeks out from my vacay and I am also looking forward to tequila and tacos

Thank you! I've definitely felt food-guilt before as well. And it was always before I started this 'scheduled cheating' stuff. Often times if I had a little too much to drink and someone busted out the potato chips, or asked "hey, who wants to order pizza?". The next day I wake up and just think god what did I doooooo. It's so true how they say judgement and willpower go totally out the window.

Rewarding yourself with shoes is a really good idea! Any sort of incentive I think to continue to motivate yourself is a lot better than choosing to punish yourself for when you make mistakes.

girlwithcurls2

No, but your vacation is going to be AWESOME!!! Cheers to you! Enjoy every single bite and sip.

cheriej2042

I look at cheat days as a way to let some steam out of the pressure cooker of life. I usually target specific holidays for cheat meals (Easter brunch, 4th of July)) so it works out to about once every few months. But then I train to go on active vacations where I am working out so much I lose another 5-10 pounds on vacation! I do miss my wine with dinner but that habit keeps 5 extra pounds on so I just go on a wine moratorium). Don’t try and count calories on vacation, I just think you need to live life and enjoy!

Motorsheen

I once had a single cheat meal that lasted from April 1997 to July 2003.