Cheat days

sultank101
sultank101 Posts: 87 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys. 19 year old boy here. 174 cm and 92 kg. I wanted to know how often can I have a cheat day?every week or every two weeks? I consume around 1850 calories and burn 500 extra by walking on a treadmill..

Replies

  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    Define cheat day. How many calories?

    It's still basically math. Whatever you eat, however often, will reduce your deficit by that much. So, if you eat an extra 3500 above maintenance calories on your cheat day and do that once a week you no longer have a deficit. If you eat to maintenance calories every other day you'll still lose because you'll still have a deficit over a week. It just... depends on how much that cheat day is and how much of your weekly deficit (or bi weekly or monthly) you're eating during it.

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    There is no set schedule. You get to decide how much you want to reduce your weekly deficit and how often.

    Your body doesn't recognize the concept of a "cheat day." If you eat enough to cancel out your deficit (which some people can easily do in a day), then you'll see your results impacted accordingly.

  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,460 Member
    Your body, you make the rules.
    How much are you trying to lose? And how fast?
    A cheat day will slow you down, but if that’s ok with you, have as many as you need.
    Just don’t go way over and undo the good you’ve done.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,529 Member
    It's hard to give specific advice over this forum. You are the only one who understands your own situation very well.

    It is clear that everything over your TDEE eaten on a "cheat day" must be compensated for on your other days or you will gain weight. So, it pays to bank up a slight deficit during the week that you can exploit a bit on the weekends.

    If you get good at calorie counting, you will find that this additional capacity is pretty small and basically means you can have a piece of cake or something on Saturday (or maybe pancakes for breakfast)-- not an entire "cheat day" where nothing is off limits. So, maybe think of it as a little treat on Saturday for being strict all week, if that motivates you.

    Note that some people don't like having any desserts, because eating carbs tends to make you crave more. So your treat could be a steak or some pizza, instead. You have to experiment and find out what works for you.

    Weekends are good for activities, so I recommend you finding a few of them that you like and can do for a couple of hours without getting bored. They don't have to be "sports" if you aren't into that. Walking is excellent. Or, you could help with yardwork. Housework, even. Anything that gets you up and moving.

    Best of luck!

Categories