“Treat/Cheat” or no?

Jknip9484

I like to take each Sunday and not measure, track or log food. I don’t think about what I eat. I just enjoy the day. I take a break. It seems to help motivate me all during the week and keep me on track to Sunday. Any opinions?

MargaretYakoda

If it works for you?
Then it works for you.

Who am I to judge?

LiveOnceBeHappy

Are you achieving your health and weight goals by doing this? Then all power to you!

jennbeth1

What I did the last time I used this app and lost weight was to take a day out of the week and "cheat" but still track. I kept it to 2k calories or less, but that well accommodated treats. Personally, I think cheat days can help avoid/mitigate plateaus, and they keep you sane if you like food. Right now, I'm only two weeks into re-starting, and I want to go the first month without purposeful cheat days. But yeah, if they work for you, go for it!

Corina1143

Overeat to the extreme - bad.
Rest your nerves- good!
If you are practicing maintaining, hurray for you, getting prepared!

AdahPotatah2024

I do that all the time, but dont think of it as cheating. The cheat/treat mentality toward food just seems wrong to me. I'm working on loving the foods that are healthy for me.
I know it's a funny analogy, but it's sort of how I used to be attracted to guys that were good looking, but real a-holes. And now I can still appreciate someone's aesthetic value, but no real attraction whatsoever.
I'm just losing the taste for foods that aren't good for me.No cheating necessary!:D

xbowhunter

We all need a break from reality sometimes. Afterall life is too short and, on your death,-bed you won't regret enjoying yourself once in a while.

AnnPT77

Personally, I don't like the "cheat/treat" framing. I don't understand who or what I'd be cheating. It's just food, and we need to eat some. Food is tasty, but I don't want to be thinking of it as a reward/compensation for anything else.

For me, the "cheat/treat" concept turns the simple act of eating into an epic melodrama about good and evil, and I don't need that kind of extra drama!

Most of the time I eat close to goal calories and my personalized targets. Sometimes I eat under goal (usually not by much), sometimes I eat over goal (on rare occasions quite a lot over - thousands of calories), most of the time I eat close to goal. Ideally, any of those are intentional decisions, and I take responsibility for them.

During loss, I logged everything - good, bad or indifferent - to my best practical ability. That included over-goal or nutritionally unusual days. I wanted to see how my body responded, and I particularly wanted a detailed calorie record so I could see whether MFP's estimate of my calorie needs was accurate. (NB it's just an estimate for demographically similar people, a sort of group average, and I'm an individual.) For me, that was a good plan, because it turned out that I'm the odd duck for whom MFP's estimate is far off (25-30%, hundreds of calories).

I did the same in the early months of maintenance once I reached goal, because I wanted a reasonably accurate estimate of maintenance calories with my complete maintenance routine.

Now that I'm nearly in year 8 of maintaining a healthy weight, I still log most days to keep my head in the game, but will skip days when I'd be wildly estimating or if I'm ultra busy/distracted. I watch the scale as backup. That's been working fine for me for several years now.

I'm not saying everyone should do likewise. Tailoring our tactics to our individual preference, strengths, limitations, and lifestyles is a key success factor, IMO. If having a "no rules" day once a week helps a person, and they can achieve their goals doing that, that's great, sincerely.

Jknip9484

It was interesting to read people’s varying opinions. Goes to show how everyone’s journeys are soo soo very different. The goal is the same for being healthy and getting into shape but the paths, there are soo many ways to get there. No wonder it can be a challenge…there’s no clear cookie cutter guaranteed answer to approach it mentally and the mental aspect, in my opinion, is 90% the factor.

I personally started my health conscious journey after the birth of my second son 30yrs ago and all my thanks to God, it’s been successful. I’ve stayed heathy, (even through menopause), I’ve run multiple marathons and other events. And I’ve always had the mindset of giving myself a break on Sundays. I love food. All food and we’ve a great relationship. And it’s funny cause my husband will ask “soo what are you treating yourself to today” and I’ll always say the same thing, “whatever I crave”. It’s always in moderation mind you, don’t want get myself sick. It’s what’s worked for me. I hope this info helps someone else.