Is it Okay to have a cheat day?
amyrluk
Posts: 13 Member
I let myself have a cheat because I have heard that cheat days can speed up your metabolism. When you hit a platue. But are there certain rules about cheat days. like how many calories you can go over. And what you can eat?
I let myself have one yeasutrday but I think I ate to much.
I let myself have one yeasutrday but I think I ate to much.
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Replies
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All that matters for weight loss is eating under your maintenance calories on average. Doesn't matter what you eat. (For health is another thing of course) Doesn't matter how you spread those calories over the week, whether it's eating the same amount each day or having lower calorie days throughout the week and a cheat day on the weekend, etc.
I do recommend logging your cheat days to make sure you're not cancelling out your calorie deficit of the week. The precise numbers will depend on your chosen weight loss rate, what your calorie goal is (and how much you're actually eating),... To give you an idea: losing 1lb of bodyfat per week corresponds with a calorie deficit of around 3500 calories.20 -
I don't like the term "cheat" because of its negative connotations. Instead, I have "spending days".
I often "save" calories (eat under my limit) during the week, and then "spend" what I have saved over the weekend.
I don't have any hard and fast rules on what I "spend" those calories on-- sometimes it's good beer, sometimes it's fried mushrooms or potato chips, sometimes it's half a sleeve of cookies.
How much I "spend" depends on how much I've "saved". If I've only saved 400 calories in the previous week, I'll try to keep my Saturday "spending" within that 400 calorie limit. But I've had weeks where I've "saved" as much as 1400 calories during the week by not eating many of my exercise calories, and I have occasionally (though rarely) "spent" all of those on a weekend, too!
On VERY rare occasions, I will spend more than I have saved. So the next week, I make sure I "pay back" the calories I loaned myself.28 -
Cheat days don't speed up your metabolism. Refeeds (within certain constraints) can help moderate some hormonal responses that may make weight loss more difficult for some people. More information here:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1
IMO, it would be a good idea to be skeptical of anything that implies that one's metabolism has anything like an accelerator, or brakes. Metabolism is pretty much the summation of the energy required at the cellular level to keep you alive, while at rest.
Lietchi is right about logging the cheat days: If you do so, you'll have a better idea of the effect. Sometimes it's just a nice psychological break to eat a bit more, when on restricted calories for a long time. If you know how many calories were involved, so know how much impact those calories had, you can decide whether the delay in reaching goal weight is worth it. Sometimes, IME, it is.15 -
Yes. It’s ok if that’s what works for you. The “best” diet is the one you can easily follow all your life.
Personally, I have a cheat meal once a week, not a day. For me, it’s a meal to practice maintenance and awareness. If I’m actively trying to lose, I never eat out without
Researching first. Look up the menu and calories online before I go, figure out what fits my calories and macros. Cheat meal, I just go. Figure out what comes sorta close when I get there, but no worries if it’s not as good as I thought, or if they really don’t have anything low calorie that I like. I know I’m trying to eat less, so even on a cheat meal, I try not to go way overboard. You CAN eat all the calories you saved all week in that one meal, but that would defeat the purpose.4 -
I let myself have a cheat because I have heard that cheat days can speed up your metabolism. When you hit a platue. But are there certain rules about cheat days. like how many calories you can go over. And what you can eat?
I let myself have one yeasutrday but I think I ate to much.
Who or what are you "cheating"?16 -
I don't think the speeding up the metabolism thing is important here. Giving yourself a break from "restriction" is fine now and then but if you "cheat" for a whole day, you'll have set back your "losing" for sure. Occasionally having a treat or going over your calorie goal for a meal now and then is fine but eating a lot one day, isn't a great idea!7
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Just make sure 'cheat' doesn't mean 'binge.' I don't know about you, but if all bets were off, I'd have no problem downing an entire frozen pizza, a half batch of chocolate chip cookies, an entire box of ice cream bars and a big bag of Doritos - all washed down with a jug of milk or 2 liters of Pepsi and happily call it a 'cheat day.'19
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Agree with others here.
I don’t do “cheat days” - really dislike the term. I love @freda78’s question. Exactly what I did.
AND I didn’t want to ever activate that “free for all” eating again - not saying you would- but I knew it was not the mindset I’ve worked hard to develop. In fact if I notice that thinking or a small beginning of that behavior in myself, I figure it out & bay it back down.
AND once I figured out that food gets broken down into nutrients &that’s what labs measure, nutrition clicked for me. Why would I want to over feed my body & make it have to deal with the extra. (This is heightened in my case due to one kidney & strict dr request to keep protein in a certain range to maintain kidney function.)
I eat to live now (after 5.3 years) not live to eat (out) like I used to.
PS I know others who use cheat days very well. We each just need to figure out what works for us!!6 -
What does "cheat day" actually entail for you?
I assume the general range of meanings of that term could be anywhere from eating at maintenance to an all out uncontrolled binge.
Which would make the range from perfectly fine to an absolutely terrible idea. Can see you went a long way over your goal but is that logging everything or not as lunch is blank?
Why do you want a "cheat day"?
Is it because your dieting method is unsustainable and you need the release? Is it because you want to enjoy a social event involving food?
Again a big range!
"I have heard that cheat days can speed up your metabolism" - sorry but that's not true.
It comes from a common misconception of what metabolism actually is, plus pandering to a desperation for some magical calorie burning. Sorry but life and dieting isn't like that.
If you have a weight loss plateau then maybe stop drinking so many empty calories in Mountain Dew and increase the accuracy of your food logging?7 -
Who you gonna cheat on?4
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I consistently drop scale weight a couple of days after eating more than my usual calories more for me is at maintenance rather than at a deficit.
I suspect this is where the metabolism boosting myth comes from.
Reality? I think I drop scale weight because my body drops WATER weight because the long deficit sort of stresses it out and it holds water a bit and the extra food prompts it to go. Alternatively I drink more coffee those days and pee more. Since I have been eating closer to maintenance this is less of a thing.
Either way, I do days (and sometimes weeks) out of a deficit and it does nothing for FAT loss. Except keeping me sane which is long term useful.12 -
I agree with everyone else. Your cheat day is likely knocking out your deficit for the week.
I never understood the point of a cheat day. You can have days where you indulge but why not just plan for them and still count calories so you know what to expect. If you log your cheat days you can see if you are wiping out your deficit for the week. Or if you enjoy having a day eating a little more, just budget for that day in your calories.10 -
Like lots of others, I don't like the term cheat days. I definitely allow myself some days when I eat over my daily calories, but I balance that out by eating some days when I am under, so over the week, I am within my weekly allowance. This allows me to socialise with friends over a meal, and/or lets me enjoy some higher calorie foods like pizza which would be tricky to fit into my daily allowance AND still have other meals that day too. Whatever I eat, I log... I do this to help with accountability. Sometimes it's actually to make sure I am eating enough as I don't want to lose any more weight, but most of the time it is just to reassure myself that I am in control of my eating, it is no longer in control of me.
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Cheat day? Nope. TREAT day!
And the secret is to still log every bite. Then, like @rosiekin says, see how it all works for the week. There's a little challenge on one of the groups I'm in where the goal isn't to be UNDER a calorie limit every day, it's to be CLOSE to the limit. On a daily basis, we try to get within 10%, and then there's a bonus if you're within 5% for the week. . For weight LOSS, your target already includes a deficit, so you can eat a little into that deficit and still lose, just not as quickly. The scoring also rewards you for not going too far under your goal.
To be honest, the reason I started that challenge was that once in maintenance, it's definitely not a goal to always be under a target; being over some and under some and averaging out over time is the goal. It's still hard!
Treat days are great. Keep them in context. If they get out of control, well, don't go nuts and throw it all out the window. Defenestration does nobody any good. Just get started again, and don't wait until tomorrow. Just tell yourself the kitchen is now closed and then you're back on the wagon.
Logging it all also gives you better data so you can more effectively reset targets based on actual results.
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freda78 "Who or what are you "cheating"?
I don't know if I agree with your philosophy that I am somehow cheating myself. Because a cheat day is not a bad thing. I saw a weight watchers post of facebook. and several of the posters said that cheating actually helped them break a plauto of not loosing. I hit a platue. and a i cheated and I broke it. Cheat days are not bad. I just want information on how to do it right.
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What’s “right” is what’s right for you. How did it help you? Mentally? Day off? Got to have some food you were missing? Physically? Able to eat where you were and what was available, vs worrying and hurrying to get something that “fit” your eating plan.
For me, a cheat meal is giving myself permission to relax and roll with life every once in a while instead of always being so rigid. It relaxes me, allows me a mental break.
What does it do for you?6 -
To me, it depends partly on how you define "cheat day". No holds barred, the sky's the limit? I have occasional days when I eat something I've been craving (usually mixed nuts or trail mix), but I log those calories and still remain within my limit for that day. (So I have to eat less of the healthier foods and my diet is not balanced that day). I consider that a "cheat" in the sense that I've pushed aside better choices, but I log every bite and stay within bounds. I haven't maintained for as long as most of you - just 7 months at this point - so I do feel that I need to be more vigilant still than others are able to be.3
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Some people say you can eat up to maintenance on cheat days(I’m not really one of them, but it does make sense).
When you eat between your goal and maintenance, you are just slowing your loss, not stopping or reversing it.
What you can eat? Is there something you haven’t been allowing yourself to eat that you’d really like?
For me, it was mostly just to sit and eat with everyone else and eat what they were eating, or go to a restaurant and order off the menu. No substituting lower calorie options. It was the relaxation of the rules and just enjoying life.
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freda78 "Who or what are you "cheating"?
I don't know if I agree with your philosophy that I am somehow cheating myself. Because a cheat day is not a bad thing. I saw a weight watchers post of facebook. and several of the posters said that cheating actually helped them break a plauto of not loosing. I hit a platue. and a i cheated and I broke it. Cheat days are not bad. I just want information on how to do it right.
So why is that "a cheat" rather than "a strategy"?
In the thread I linked up above, there's information about "how to do it right", if there is such a thing as "doing it right". (By which I'm not saying you shouldn't have a higher intake day; I think that's something a person can choose to do for various reasons. My implication is that I don't think it's something that requires profound technical correctness, if we're talking about something that happens relatively rarely. Other than avoiding allergens or poisonous/dangerous things, or foods contraindicated by some health condition or medication, I don't think it matters a lot what the over-goal calories consist of.)1 -
What about a "treat" day while doing keto?0
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It all comes down to how much of your weekly progress you're willing to give up. Weekend lollapaloozas can wreck havoc with your progress. You'll have to ask yourself that as the weeks go by.3
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Eh. If it happens, it happens. But you should understand the data and why you may only lose X amount of lbs that week in case you're the type to get worried about it. I prefer eating in a deficit for 3 months at a time or so, then taking a full diet break at maintenance for a week. It's controlled and helps me practice logging in maintenance, and a week at maintenance is most likely more beneficial to regulate hunger hormones than a day is.9
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I note that some of you are talking about "cheat days" during the weight reduction phase. Maybe that can be motivating in terms of keeping people on track (so you don't feel like 'the most deprived person in the world' and give it all up!), but I would probably make those very rare during weight reduction and only start to work them in during maintenance, when we have parties and social events and other things that we're opening up to again (as the pandemic permits, of course). You want to feel that you can eat more normally - i.e. less restrictively or vigilantly - once you're in maintenance.1
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freda78 "Who or what are you "cheating"?
I don't know if I agree with your philosophy that I am somehow cheating myself. Because a cheat day is not a bad thing. I saw a weight watchers post of facebook. and several of the posters said that cheating actually helped them break a plauto of not loosing. I hit a platue. and a i cheated and I broke it. Cheat days are not bad. I just want information on how to do it right.
If someone is intentionally having a high calorie day as part of a weight management strategy, then I wouldn't even call that a "cheat day." It's just a higher calorie day.5 -
mylittlerainbow wrote: »I note that some of you are talking about "cheat days" during the weight reduction phase. Maybe that can be motivating in terms of keeping people on track (so you don't feel like 'the most deprived person in the world' and give it all up!), but I would probably make those very rare during weight reduction and only start to work them in during maintenance, when we have parties and social events and other things that we're opening up to again (as the pandemic permits, of course). You want to feel that you can eat more normally - i.e. less restrictively or vigilantly - once you're in maintenance.
I mean. I've maintained about 2 weeks out of every two months the whole time. The only thing that has changed is the number I maintain AT (Ie: It drops down). Also a lot of us here average our calories out over a week, not a day to day basis. It all works.
And not feeling deprived is pretty important DURING loss too. There is no big change when you flip to maintenance. By the end you should be losing half pound a week. Meaning what you gain back is a whole 3 apples or 1 candy bar worth of calories so might as well practice as you go, be it 'banking' calories/averaging out over a week, or otherwise working those special occasions in.5 -
mylittlerainbow wrote: »I note that some of you are talking about "cheat days" during the weight reduction phase. Maybe that can be motivating in terms of keeping people on track (so you don't feel like 'the most deprived person in the world' and give it all up!), but I would probably make those very rare during weight reduction and only start to work them in during maintenance, when we have parties and social events and other things that we're opening up to again (as the pandemic permits, of course). You want to feel that you can eat more normally - i.e. less restrictively or vigilantly - once you're in maintenance.
Personally, I think the concept is more difficult to accommodate successfully in maintenance. (That's one of many things I have against thinking of over-goal eating as "cheating" as if it doesn't count or won't come home to roost.)
During loss, there's that cushion of a deficit. One can wipe it out with a big over-goal day, but even at a small deficit, it takes quite a bit of overage to wipe out a whole week's deficit (250 daily deficit, overage on day 7 to wipe out all loss is 1500 over maintenance calories; anything short of that is still a small loss).
In maintenance, the goal is zero deficit, over time. If one is to feel less restrictive or vigilance, that requires a thought process, and a strategy. Averaging 100 calories over maintenance goal is about a 10 pound gain in a year.
Personally, as much as possible, I believe in test-driving all strategies one will need in maintenance, while still in the loss phase, because there's that cushion of a deficit, in case of oopsies.
But maybe I'm an oddball: I don't particularly want to feel deprived, like I'm eating seriously "not normally", or having to be anxiously vigilant . . . even during loss, let alone during maintenance. 🤷♀️ I believe in plans, strategies, tactics, informed choices, though, to accomplish that - not "cheating".
P.S. I know this post is tangent to the topic of the thread, since OP is in the loss phase; but the thread is mysteriously in the maintenance forum, so I'm picking up on the maintenance implications as a subtopic.10 -
So, of some relevance here and that Ann's post made me think of:
When I first started trying to lose weight, I had to do a LOT of experimenting. There was a lot of cutting things out, or substitution for lower calorie/light versions of things, and a lot of working toward volume because I was used to eating a lot more - clearly, since I was obese.
That was probably the period I 'needed' cheat meals and diet breaks the most. Because I was hungry and unsatisfied and fumbling around through my mistakes of thinking something was worth it that turned out not to be (and so having fewer calories for later in the day), or making TOO MANY substitutions and ending up just being really low on calories PERIOD. In both cases ending up hungrier than I would have been with a more fine tuned understanding of what worked for me - as well as a bigger deficit than I have now, of course, plus at that point I was still used to grazing all day.
At this point the diet breaks aren't a big change from when I'm trying to lose - 250 extra calories a day, sure, but it's just slightly bigger servings of what I'd eat, anyway. The deficit is smaller in loss and my TDEE has gone up some, but also *I know what I am doing* and my habits have changed and my hunger has ramped down. I don't do a lot of snacking anymore. I eat more - volume and calories - at once. I'm not eating egg whites on 35 calorie bread for breakfast - I'm using regular bread with whole eggs *and* bacon for breakfast. Or avocado toast with egg on top. My yogurt is 5% fage not oikos triple 0, nd so on and so forth. It's just eating, at this stage, and even the occasional 'I'm getting a whopper for dinner' isn't something that really puts me over.
During loss though? Learning how to feed myself led to me being hungry and antsy a lot. The odd day of going 'Can't deal' and just eating helped. I needed, basically, to make the mistakes that left me hungry, learn from them and adjust to get to the point where 'cheat days' or 'high calorie days' or 'breaks' weren't a thing. And I needed them to not be a mental thing, either. Ie: Not binging, not 'cheating' on something, not failure, just a 'okay we're doing this on saturday and if I don't lose, so be it'. But as ann said I had enough deficit that I never failed to lose SOMETHING.10 -
CaydensMommy wrote: »What about a "treat" day while doing keto?
does your "treat" consist of consuming extra calories without affecting your glycogen levels? Then see all the other responses.
does your "treat" consist of consuming sufficient carbs such that your glycogen levels replenish? Expect disproportionate scale fluctuations directly related to this issue which is both an integral benefit and an integral challenge associated with the keto diet (way of eating).7 -
I have two no hold barred cheat days. My birthday and Mother’s Day. These are about six moths apart for me and have worked well for the last three years. I eat my “ never” foods those days. Ribs, Pasta and tons of bread.3
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For me, this weight loss journey has been a learning experience, requiring different strategies at different stages. In the past I was of the belief that if I had a less-than-ideal food day, then the next day I'd just get back on track and eat my allotted calories. Basically pretend it didn't happen and carry on. But now, 8 years into the process, I'm finding that what works well for me is to use the "weekly calorie average" feature on mfp. As long as my numbers average out over the week, its all good. Friday is always pizza (usually homemade) and a couple of glasses of wine. Its not a "cheat day". Its just a day that I plan for by eating a little less and/or exercising more on the other days.
You just need to figure out what strategy works best for you. And if something isn't working, don't be afraid to change and try a different strategy. Personally, I found that if I was stuck at a plateau, it was because I'd got sloppy with my logging (weighing and measuring portions). Once I went back to the basics, the scale would start dropping again.7
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