Im feeling soo guilty😬🥺🥺

ali03nan

So i said to myself once a week i will allow myself a cheat day ,which means i can eat whatever i want throughout one day ,but i feel so damn guilty ,its okay to feel like this right?🥺

emmabrookes1

You feel guilty because you're sabotaging yourself.
What's the point of putting in the work for six days just to blow it on day seven...and repeat.

harper16

If it makes you feel guilty stop having the cheat days. Work your "cheat" foods into your daily calories, and get rid of the need for an entire cheat day.

Geneveremfp

I don't think a cheat day is sustainable.

It's much better to plan it into your diary so that you can get info better habits. Otherwise it's just binge eating with an app. I know if I'm going to have a slightly heavier day it's better to plan in advance. So let's say I'm going to go and have a burger with some friends. I normally eat 500-600 calories in a meal but a burger is going to be more like 1000 calories (rough numbers) so over a few days I will reduce my daily count by 50 - 100 calories either through exercise or being careful with my count. Over the week I average the right amount every day.

I also try to think of things as being "worth the calories" a carrot? Always worth the calories - healthy, yummy, low calorie. A chocolate hobnob? Yeah one is probably worth the calories but 4 will make me feel crap and won't add anything more than 1 does. Cake? Depends on the cake - a slice of overly sweet dry cake probably not, a slice of my sister's really nice gooey chocolate cake yeah worth a small bit.
I find that prelogging/looking up items before I eat them helps me to get a handle on if I actually want something and if its worth the calories.

Lillymoo01

How about you eat 100 calories less for 6 days a week and then once a week treat yourself to a special meal where you are 600 calories more than you would normally have eaten for a meal? That way you still get that one meal a week where you aren't feeling guilty as there is no cheat, no eating over the allowance.

snowflake954

I don't agree with the idea of "cheat meals" and "cheat days" are going to have you spinning your wheels or gaining. If you want something special--eat it, no guilt, and LOG IT. Same with a special meal once and a while. "Cheating" is just playing mind games with yourself.

briscogun

Geneveremfp wrote: »

Otherwise it's just binge eating with an app.

Every now and again someone posts a gem on here. This was one of them for me. Well done!

ReenieHJ

My binge-ing started with once a week cheat days. Then it increased to cheat weekends, now it's full-on overeating every single day. Thought I was right back at it last week, actually logged calories for 4 days, then bam, lost all control again. So here I sit, gaining weight like it's my last week on earth and I feel like Crap.

Just be careful. I agree with having a treat(don't want to feel deprived of the yummy things in life)but log it. A day with a couple extra hundred calories won't break your calorie budget but a day could lead to a week and then a month, etc., then no control whatsoever is much harder to come back from.
Good luck!!!!

lemurcat2

I ate a bit below my cals 6 days and had a 7th day where I ate at maintenance (usually that meant some kind of restaurant dinner, but still I was thoughtful about it).

I guess that's similar to a "cheat" day, but I didn't think of it that way.

That way no risk of gaining or removing the "work" of the other days.

If something like this makes you feel guilty, you might be developing a problematic relationship with food. Eating should not be associated with guilt.

mmapags

snowflake954 wrote: »

I don't agree with the idea of "cheat meals" and "cheat days" are going to have you spinning your wheels or gaining. If you want something special--eat it, no guilt, and LOG IT. Same with a special meal once and a while. "Cheating" is just playing mind games with yourself.

I could not agree with you more! In addition, if you feel you need a cheat day (a term I despise!) you are taking too aggressive an approach and it will not be sustainable.

mmapags

lemurcat2 wrote: »

I ate a bit below my cals 6 days and had a 7th day where I ate at maintenance (usually that meant some kind of restaurant dinner, but still I was thoughtful about it).

I guess that's similar to a "cheat" day, but I didn't think of it that way.

That way no risk of gaining or removing the "work" of the other days.

If something like this makes you feel guilty, you might be developing a problematic relationship with food. Eating should not be associated with guilt.

I wouldn't describe this as a cheat day. I would describe it as a sustainable plan that suited your lifestyle and managed your calories on a weekly basis with a daily plan. Intelligently done! But I would expect nothing else from you.

shirazumdraws

ali03nan wrote: »

So i said to myself once a week i will allow myself a cheat day ,which means i can eat whatever i want throughout one day ,but i feel so damn guilty ,its okay to feel like this right?🥺

I used to feel this way, then with a little bit of work, I adjusted my cheat food or the food that I am craving in my regular food. Also, started looking into recipes and making them in home. It works pretty well for me. It is a little overwhelming in the beginning, all the 'looking out for recipes', ' fitting cheat food in daily meal' but its worth it, trust me. And that's how you get best of both world. Enjoying the food you want, and having the calorie control too.

sardelsa

I would first try to lose the feeling of guilt associated with food. Some people bank calories, eat more on certain days or weekends and that works for them. Just be mindful they don't blow your calorie budget. Tracking them can help. Some people are ok with calling it cheat day or meal but I find that causes a negative association. I personally do refeeds on weekends where I eat much more but I save up calories from the week and make sure I am within my goals.

kimny72

I eat the foods I like every day, just fit them into my calories. Losing the misplaced guilt over enjoying food was one of the most important steps for me in getting healthier and losing weight.

hipari

You decide the rules you apply to your eating. If you feel the need to cheat your own rules, then maybe your rules suck.

Those rules are also ones you have to live with for the rest of your life if you want your results to be for the rest of your life. So, might as well learn to incorporate those things you love into your regular guilt-free rotation to be enjoyed as part of life, instead of trying to make them off-limits. It’s about balance and portion control. For example, if you love McDonalds food, it’s probably not a great idea to have a full supersized meal every day or even weekly, but a normal-sized meal or a Happy Meal ocassionally won’t hurt in the long run.

If there are things you particularly love and saved for your ”cheat day”, maybe share what they are? With this community, there’s probably ideas and experiences for every kind of treat and how to incorporate it or make it lower calorie.

richardgavel

I think it also depends on the size of the "cheat". Let's assume you are accurately tracking calories in and out and are trying to lose 1 lb per week (-500 calories per day). Let's say a cheat adds 300 calories. What your doing is still in a deficit that day, just no as big of one as you hoped. If a cheat brings you over maintenance and therefore you're reversing your gains, that a different story. So context plays a part.