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lucky2702
Posts: 23 Member
Do you have a cheat day?
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Replies
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I don't have cheat days, I have holidays where I relax my control over calories or I have refeed days.
I've had 2 long holidays this year, after both I'd gained weight eating A LOT more calories than usual but within 2 weeks, maybe less, I weighed lighter than before the holiday.
My refeed last Friday put me up by 2lbs but that's gone down already.
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I never have a cheat day. I don’t need one. It’s a personal choice for everyone0
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I don't have cheat days.
I eat plenty of not highly nutritious just for enjoyment food - chocolate etc - but I fit it into my weekly calories.
And I have days that are higher than average but they average out with lower ones to keep my weekly average on track.
And I have very occasional days when I don't log at all, eg Christmas Day
And now and then, mainly when on holiday ( vacation) I take a break from logging altogether.
But I don't see it as cheating - just things built into the system that works for me.6 -
I don't have cheat days - I just include things I like within my budget. I let myself eat more on the weekends because I can exercise more. It's mainly just because I do want to track/keep an eye on what I'm eating and exercising and so I'd rather have it all captured. It doesn't mean I don't have days when I eat a lot - I just make sure I've exercised enough to have increased my calorie budget to absorb it and minimise the damage.1
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I have cheat days, but it needs to be done carefully so as not to become a binge day or a cheat week and a give-up-altogether.2
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I don't consider what I do cheats, I have higher calorie days and lower calorie days, also days where I don't pay as much attention to my macros or nutrition (especially on vacation). I call it life.7
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If you think in terms of needing a "cheat" day, your calorie restriction may be too aggressive. Some find an occasional refeed day or weekend (eating at maintenance) helpful.5
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I also do not consider anything I do cheating. It is a counter-productive mindset imo.
When I go on vacation I eat a lot more food than I actually need. Even then I have rules that I stick to so that I am always engaged in mindful decisions. On holidays I may choose to eat maintenance. I still have a calorie goal it just happens to be more relaxed.
My plan requires that there is always some structure because unstructured eating and thinking is what got me into a situation where I need to lose weight.
I have made a lifestyle change which means cheating would be cheating on my life. Saying it is a lifestyle is becoming less meaningful because people who hop fad diets are not saying it each time they hop but for me it is now an 18 month reality. That is still a very short amount of time but I feel success coming.7 -
my biggest problem in my obese days was fast food. I haven't touched it since starting my journey. I know I can fit it in my daily calorie log every now and then but I choose not too. Although, a triple cheese & bacon from Freddies sounds freaking delicious right now! (in a lettuce wrap of course) The problem with fast food, it always left me wanting more and feeling like garbage all over my body.4
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I also do not consider anything I do cheating. It is a counter-productive mindset imo.
When I go on vacation I eat a lot more food than I actually need. Even then I have rules that I stick to so that I am always engaged in mindful decisions. On holidays I may choose to eat maintenance. I still have a calorie goal it just happens to be more relaxed.
My plan requires that there is always some structure because unstructured eating and thinking is what got me into a situation where I need to lose weight.
I have made a lifestyle change which means cheating would be cheating on my life. Saying it is a lifestyle is becoming less meaningful because people who hop fad diets are not saying it each time they hop but for me it is now an 18 month reality. That is still a very short amount of time but I feel success coming.
I totally agree, especially with the bolded. I quite hate the expression "cheat day" for all the reasons you mention.3 -
Thank you everyone for your replies, i definitely wont be adding a "cheat" day after reading these.0
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This question is the easiest to answer.
Never. ☺4 -
Maybe cheat/off meals/days work for some people but definitely not for me. Every failed diet effort I've had since the day I was born fell apart over a cheat day, and its associated scale avoidance the next day and the urge to have just one more cheat day before getting a clean restart, which then turned into a cheat year, etc.
If I want a few hundred extra calories, I just take them, log them, enjoy them, and move on. There is no reason to "cheat". It's all on plan, even taking a (reasonable) spontaneous break from the calorie quota.
To me, a recovering morbidly obese person, taking a cheat day is the same thing as a recovering alcoholic having just one beer. With the same, predictable results.
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If you are counting calories, there is no such thing as a cheat day, just days that you eat under goal, at goal, or over goal.
When I was following Atkins, I did have cheat days. I simply couldn't stick to very low carb for long periods of time, so about once a week or 10 days I would have a day when I would eat some high carb foods. Then the next day I'd go back on program. Eventually I realized that the low carb lifestyle wasn't right for me. I missed fruit, bread, etc. too much. Calorie counting is easier because I can eat whatever I want, if it is within my calorie goal.2 -
I don't have "cheat" meals or days, but if I know I'm going to be doing something special, say, a dinner out or traveling with a team dinner planned, then I simply build that into my day/week and plan accordingly. If I want to enjoy that meal without worry, I simply reduce in other places to fit it in, try to make "better-of" choices, and then enjoy that meal.
I think the idea that it's cheating, or bad, or has "ruined" your other decisions only leads to more self-loathing and not owning the process. If you own the process, and make it a part of your plan, and plan it accordingly, I think that helps you build longer lasting processes that work long term.1 -
Depends on your definition. I'm training for a half marathon, so my long run days can burn an extra 1200+ calories, which means I can eat a lot of things I normally can't easily fit into my day, but I still stay within my calorie goal for the day.0
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I bank calories during the week (about 200/day) so I can eat out on Friday without doing a ridiculous workout first, but I don't really consider it cheating so much as looking at CICO on a weekly scale instead of a daily one.2
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I haven't had a cheat day, although I guess I ate uncontrollably when I suddenly had a medical condition which caused some pain.0
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spiriteagle99 wrote: »If you are counting calories, there is no such thing as a cheat day, just days that you eat under goal, at goal, or over goal.
Great way of describing what I subconsciously was thinking.0
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