Cheat day- Does it work for you?

Adrianachiarato

Having a "cheat day" is accepting that you are being realistic with your goals. No one got fat because they ate one "bad" meal a week. It was many, many bad meals over many, many years.

I know plenty of thin people who eat high calorie meals. They just don"t do it often.

Agreed 100%

scottaworley

I don't have a "cheat day" per se, but I also don't feel bad if I go over my calories for the day. There are days when I don't log anything, too, but still try to make conscious choices about what I eat (for example I will not be logging on my trip to Vegas this week).
Every day is a cheat day for me, you could say.

rachaelgifford

I try not to. I try to plan well to have what I want. I may occasionally have a 'sod it sunday' once every few months - but even on these I don't really go over my calories as I compensate with exercise!

StheK

A "cheat day" would never work for me. Everything about it seems designed to make me fail. For one thing, occasionally eating something you don't eat every day is not "cheating". And if it is, your diet is too strict. There are no rules to break, just choices to make. So sometimes you make a choice to eat chocolate cake, or have a second slice of pizza- the very next time you go to put something in your mouth is an opportunity to make a different choice. You don't have to wait until the next day to make a different choice. Indulge and have the pizza, but then say no to the cake. And then wait a week or two before you indulge again. Or work out a little "extra" to make up for it. You have to find the balance of these things that you can live with, and for me, a cheat day would be a terrible idea. I just ate half a chocolate bar and it wasn't cheating and it won't ruin my progress or start an avalanche of terrible choices. That feels pretty damn good.

kathleennf

Having a "cheat day" is accepting that you are being realistic with your goals. No one got fat because they ate one "bad" meal a week. It was many, many bad meals over many, many years.

I know plenty of thin people who eat high calorie meals. They just don"t do it often.

Agreed 100%

Totally agree. I have a "cheat day" every Sunday though I don't consider it cheating. The rules are: I do log, I don't go more than 1000 calories over, and I don't (or I almost never) go over for the week total. I save calories for Sunday all week.

scottaworley

One cheat day per week is too much. I only do cheat days when I reach plateau.

If you are at a deficit of 500 per day and are set to lose 1lb per week, but you have one cheat day where you go 500 over maintenance per week is that really too much?
7x300 = 3500 (7x300 = 3500) - 1000 = 2500 = you're still losing over half a pound per week, which is pretty good progress.

Ang108

Honestly, I find the concept as ridiculous as the word diet....meaning that the definition of diet should be something other than the type of foods you eat in general (vegetarian, pescetarian, etc), as opposed to a short term, restricted calorie plan.

Every day is a day to choose sensnibly what I want to eat, which will include some typically 'non nutritious'', but enjoyable food items. Somedays this will include sweets. Somedays this will include fried foods. Etc. But designating one day to stuff my face with everything under the sun seems ludicrous to me.

I also don't quite get why people would think all week of that one day or meal they can eat the stuff that got them in trouble in the first place. For me that is not a " life style change ". Of course I realize that this is easy to say for me, because I have lived all my life of healthful whole food ( just way too much of it ) and still eat exactly what I like ( yesterday chicken, a baked potato and 3 cups of cauliflower with cheese sauce for one of my meals . Today a mexican stuffed poblano pepper, pancita/menudo and rice for my main meal ) , things I will eat for the rest of my life ( in more reasonable portions ) and therefore don't need to cheat. The concept completely escapes me, because even if someone scarfs down 10 000 calories on empty calories, why would it be cheating....on whom ? or on what ?

endoftheside

I prefer to "cheat" a little almost every day. I will eat pretty much anything if I really want it, but in a reasonable quantity. If I let go of food quality AND quantity at the same time, it just sets me up for cravings. I have been there and don't ever want to go back.

123tryingtobefree

yes
in my cheat day I eat my chips once per week.
even if I go over cals the scale is cool with me

blah2989

I dont have a designated "cheat day." I eat whatever I want, with in reason. If I go over calories, I just exercise more to burn them off. Like yesterday. I had a protien style double double from in n out, 2 servings of 6 pieces of twizzlers, a few coke gummy candies, and shared two bags of popcorn. I also drank a 24oz bud light. I usually dont eat like this or drink my calories. But I also ONLY ate that, the whole day, and stayed under calories.

lioooba

I make a cheatday whenever I feel like one, but i wouldnt call it a day since i just eat one unhealthy meal.
I really enjoy eating clean so it doesnt happend to often actually.

Ang108

One cheat day per week is too much. I only do cheat days when I reach plateau.

If you are at a deficit of 500 per day and are set to lose 1lb per week, but you have one cheat day where you go 500 over maintenance per week is that really too much?
7x300 = 3500 (7x300 = 3500) - 1000 = 2500 = you're still losing over half a pound per week, which is pretty good progress.

I don't think it's even worth discussing it. And I agree that some times chosing only .5 pound loss, because of a special occasion or the desire for a special meal is perfectly ok.
But many people ( at least from what I can read when they come back on Monday and brag about what they ate ) it's not going 500 calories over ( which is not even cheating in my book ) but thousands of calories of fried, fatty, greasy, sugary food with empty calories and even more based on alcohol mixers. I really don't understand why people are so proud when they have cheat days of that magnitude. I make efforts all week to do what's right for my health and weight loss and it would not occur to me to nullify all that effort stuffing my face with " good tasting " crap. I often wonder if many of those with big cheat days are also those were " oops, 100 pound crawled back on and I didn't even realize it " happens all too often.

Nikoruo

i have many cheat days and it seems to be fine for me right now. Hard to give up things you love so much. I try and cheat while staying in my calorie count for the day.... but not so much looking at the rest of the stuff.
My cheat days are saturday or sunday (maybe a little on both) and my female week because the beast inside needs some sugars and carbs! Like i said it works for me now because i've lost lost of weight with it, eventually i'll have to cut back on the cheats but i am doing that slowly as i lose weight

chani8

I cheat one day a week. There are times that I eat as much as 600 calories over, but I do log them so that I stay accountable to myself and not just eat mindlessly.

My cheats include indulging in wine and homemade ice cream.

Lately, I've found it hard to cheat by too much. How that happens, I don't know. Less snacking, I think.

Trueray

<---Hey what is that, I think so

tworthen79

I don't do cheat days. I eat whatever I want throughout the day as long as my calories permit it. Whether it be pizza or icecream. If it fits, eat it.

JasonT1973

I am starting to rethink 'cheat days' in regard to calorie overload and more leaning toward crappy foods in limited amounts.
I try to eat healthy wholesome food for the majority of my meals and snacks with the occassional hick up with tasty stuff. But even on 'cheat days' I am now watching the amount of food i consume. My loss has begun to speed up again now That I am not spending days trying to fix the damage I did during a binge.

AKkatHarris

I ComPLetely & Totally Agree with You! I am struggling to be around others that just dont get it! It is a Lot of energy to Expended. A Good Support system is so Helpful!!

Txracy

I don't have a cheat day per se, but I do have days where I blow over (sometimes by a lot), but I've found that it always ends up evening out for my weekly total, it's just that one day I might be under by 300, but the next day I'm over 300. But I don't go over my total for the week. But I don't really sweat it if I'm over by a few. (I think I am overdue for an adjustment anyway, as I calculated based on just running, but I've started heavy lifting since then, so I think I need to increase)

slw87

I don't plan to have cheat days but definitely don't hold back at events etc its not holding me back so I don't mind