Cheat Days?

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tanikatrusty
tanikatrusty Posts: 15
in Food and Nutrition
So my big question is if you have done well for an entire week or however long you feel is enough, do you think it's ok to have a cheat day?

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  • joecmoore1
    joecmoore1 Posts: 87 Member
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    I think its ok to reward yourself with a treat or a special meal. But I think an entire day is a good way to derail your momentum or even make yourself sick.

    For instance, I LOVE brats. But I know that I am so unused to grease that if I had one, I would get ill. On occasion, I will allow myself a special treat, maybe once a month or so, but I don't go over board on portions. An ice cream cone or something like that is reasonable.

    I tend to try not to cheat just because, I am fighting food addiction and trying to break cravings. I know that if I have a certain item that I love, I will crave it for the next two weeks! So I try not to eat those things.

    Also, a cheat day opens yourself up to binging, which is never a good thing and often results in indigestion, guilt and self loathing.

    Just my thoughts. :)
  • JL2513
    JL2513 Posts: 867 Member
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    I firmly believe in having a cheat day once a week. I do mine on Saturdays. It really keeps me on track and motivated throughout the week. of course, when I say "cheat day", it doesn't mean that I eat whatever I want for the whole day. For me, I mostly indulge in the smaller snacks that I refrain from during the week- cereal, toast, granola bars. I don't normally have cheat meals. For the evening and dinner, I go back to my weekly eating habits. If I splurge, it's certainly during the earlier part of my cheat day.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    Personally, for me, I don't believe in cheat days. I eat what I want, I'm okay with it. If I want a treat I'll have one. I don't deprive myself or say anything is off limits. Because it should be a lifestyle change not just an "until I'm this weight" change. If I go over, that's fine, I may go a little under the next day or work out a little harder. It's about moderation not deprivation.
  • emmalzthompson
    emmalzthompson Posts: 275
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    I dont reward myself with cheat days, as to me this is a change of life, not a diet. So Instead each day I have a little something naughty, it might be a couple of choc biscuit, or a glass of wine type thing. In the past I have tried loosing weight and cut out everything I love, and ended up failing. this was I stay on track. I never deprive myself but I eat Clean 75-80% of the time. As for special dinners, I have just done some research to make my fav high cal dinners less calorific, thus not all that bad. :)
  • emmalzthompson
    emmalzthompson Posts: 275
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    Personally, for me, I don't believe in cheat days. I eat what I want, I'm okay with it. If I want a treat I'll have one. I don't deprive myself or say anything is off limits. Because it should be a lifestyle change not just an "until I'm this weight" change. If I go over, that's fine, I may go a little under the next day or work out a little harder. It's about moderation not deprivation.

    Great Minds think alike! :)
  • jayjay12345654321
    jayjay12345654321 Posts: 653 Member
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    You posted in the Technical Support forum. Repost your question in the appropriate forum if you want it to be visible by everyone else.
  • pinkstp
    pinkstp Posts: 220 Member
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    When friends come to town and want to go eat out at the wide variety of restaurants here, I let it happen :) Life's short. In general, I stay at or under my goal so I don't find one meal (or one weekend) is going to go crazy - plus I make food at home when people visit too (and it's cheaper AND usually yummier) and they start requesting to stay in instead of go out. Everyone loves saving money ;)

    edited for grammar.
  • tallmansix
    tallmansix Posts: 57
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    I think the idea of cheat days makes the rest of the days seem more punishing. You should be able to enjoy your food every day and therefore not feel the need to cheat. If the cheat days are the only days you feel happy or enjoy your food, you might end up reinforcing the fact that the less good foods make you happy.
  • kowajenn
    kowajenn Posts: 274 Member
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    I don't do cheat days. If there's something I've been craving, I just work it into my plan. Nothing is off limits, but if I want that burger something is going to have to give during the rest of the day. The only time I go off plan is when I vacation, and even then I watch myself.

    I don't feel deprived. I'm fortunate in that desserts have never been my thing. If I really want one, I have one.
  • sugarbum1990
    sugarbum1990 Posts: 7 Member
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    ofcourse...its rewarding urself and no food should be banned everything is ok in moderation. enjoy a treat :)
  • bingefreeaubree
    bingefreeaubree Posts: 220 Member
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    The problem with cheat days and I is that I cheat way to much and end up wrecking all my progress. When I first started dieting, I would eat at a deficit all week, and then come Saturday I'd stop counting calories and just eat whatever. But I ended up making my deficit so small for the whole week because of that, that instead of losing two pounds that week, come weigh in one Monday I only lost .5 pounds. I noticed that when I don't have a cheat day I do much better and can lose at least a pound a week. Maybe a cheat meal every couple of weeks is okay, but I wouldn't make it too regular of a thing. Or if there's something you're really craving I'd just eat in moderation staying under my calorie goal during the week. I've been able to have a sliver of cake for dessert at times and still stay under my limit. Or any 800 calorie meal that makes me really happy and still be under my goal. :happy:
  • smaugish
    smaugish Posts: 244 Member
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    Something that helped me before I started my Masters and therefore fell off the wagon (lol) was to not think of it as a 'cheat'- cheat implies that you are doing something bad, and the whole punish/reward mentality is REALLY something that doesn't help me. Instead, I thought (and will think of it again) as a 'relaxed' day. That seeps into every aspect of my mentality- I don't feel like I have to get up at an early time, I can sit and mooch and play an hour on the computer, and I don't necessarily take as much care in my eating.
  • Hannah_Hopes
    Hannah_Hopes Posts: 273 Member
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    I don't do cheat days but during the week if I want something I will have it if it fits, that way I never really get the urge to have cheat days so I just have odd relaxed meals :smile:
  • jimgatewood
    jimgatewood Posts: 86 Member
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    NO.
  • brutusman
    brutusman Posts: 3 Member
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    I don't know if I would call them "cheat days", but on the weekends, I do not track my food and exercise intake as diligently as I do during the week. My weekends are much less structured than the weekdays and a lot of times I just forget to even login to MFP.

    If I have a couple of beers, or we go to a party or a cookout, I still watch myself, but I don't worry about it. As some folks said, you don't want to go overboard and derail your progress, but you need to have a little time off from MFP as well.

    Anyway, seems to be working for me. Give it a try and see if it works for you.
  • Walkbyfaith1971
    Walkbyfaith1971 Posts: 7 Member
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    Personally, for me, I don't believe in cheat days. I eat what I want, I'm okay with it. If I want a treat I'll have one. I don't deprive myself or say anything is off limits. Because it should be a lifestyle change not just an "until I'm this weight" change. If I go over, that's fine, I may go a little under the next day or work out a little harder. It's about moderation not deprivation.

    I use the same approach!
  • stacyhaddenham
    stacyhaddenham Posts: 211 Member
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    If you look at my diary you will see that as long as it fits my calories I eat pretty much what I want. I too am not big into depriving myself as I don't feel that is realistic or sustainable. Who wants to do all the hard work to lose the weight and then gain it all back because they couldn't go long term without their favorite foods. However, we do schedule a "cheat" day every 2 weeks, it is the new term for "date night" and basically we eat what we want and focus more on each other than on our calorie goals. It gives us something to look forward to every 2 weeks and we take the time to plan it carefully. Like this one coming up we have gotten a groupon for a new restaurant in town and will be seeing a movie. On that day I may or may not make it to the gym but the idea is to have 2 days a week where we relax and just "be".
  • jenaphile
    jenaphile Posts: 15 Member
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    I love a good cheat day! : )

    Mine are on Saturday, and they really help me stay focused during the week. Ironically, I usually end up eating less calories on my cheat day, since I find myself getting uncomfortably full rather quickly in the day. For me, the concept of a cheat day is not necessarily to eat bad food all day, but to not be concerned with calorie counting or be worried about a few extra bites of something.
  • finchleyserenada
    finchleyserenada Posts: 1
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    I firmly believe in taking it easy for a day. For example I have a killer weakness for Lindt chocolates and Saturday is the day when I eat them. Also Doing this helps me stay on track for the rest of the week. I must add that I tend to work out really hard on those days to sort of compensate. For example last Saturday I burned close to 900 kcal in the gym. After that I didnt feel like over-indulging...my appetite was much lower post-workout. This routine works for me - i've lost weight as expected since I joined MFP. Again it does not work for everyone. Any other desserts I have during the rest of the week are carefully included within my calories limit.

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