Is it necessary to have a cheat day?

Irenaekl

I joined MFP last month to get my weight back in order, and yesterday just so happens to be the very first day I did NOT go over my calorie intake since I joined. I was just curious on what everyone else thinks whether or not its necessary to have a cheat day. I feel like I've had a "cheat day" everyday for the last 2.5 years.

I don't have 'cheat' days ....the only person I'm cheating is me. But I don't freak out if I go over my calorie allowance once in a while either, I just get back on track next day.

stephiehampshire

I found it works for me to have a cheat day but I still have to be semi sensible even on a cheat day, so Il have alchohol which I dont log (usually because Il forget what I had) and if I want a take away I will have one but I wont eat a massive fry up followed by macdonalds followed by a chinese, I will choose which meal I want to treat myself to and the other two will be sensible foods.

However this is what works for me as it fits into mine and my boyfriends lifestyle. He works out hard monday - friday and has the weekend off, Saturday he relaxes what he eats but he watches what he eats sunday - friday

we both avoid chocolate and crisps during the week but will let ourselves have a treat on a saturday but only in moderation.

Occasionally Il have an off day during the week if its a special occasion, mainly becuase I dont think of MFP as a diet so I cant spend my life eating 1200 every day without fail, the main thing is to not fall into the temptation of one day off followed by 2 days off followed by 6 days off a week (This is why the 5:2 diet failed me! 5 days "off" a week I ate more than I was fasting on my 2 days on)

runlilyrun

I suppose I did, haha! The main reason why I was asking is because I've heard from people that its good to have a cheat day, but like I said, I've never been able to stay under 1200 calories since yesterday, lol.

Yeah, 1,200 is tough (reason # 34 I'm glad I'm not a girl). I struggle with 1,500. If I didn't do 17 to 18 miles a week running on a elliptical, I would never net out at or under 1,500.

How tall are you? I ask because unless your pic , unless it is an older one (you're very cute, btw, just throwing that in there to brighten your day), you don't look like you have much (any?) weight to lose.

I'm a girl and I struggle with 1,500! My first week or so on MFP I was set at 'sedentary' and was getting like a 1560 calorie goal and I found that really difficult. Then someone said that the categories are really generous so I shifted up to 'Lightly Active,' now have 1760, and manage to lose fairly consistently and never feel too hard done by.

Sometimes I have days when I just don't log, but I find 'YOLO meal' days more important to log - or I'll log in the morning so that I have a rough idea of just how over my goal I am for the day.

runlilyrun

Hm, that's a different take. I live with my boyfriend's dad {temporarily} and he buys a lot of snacks. {fudge brownies, swiss rolls, oatmeal creme pies, chips, etc.} so all of it is so tempting, but I'm trying a thing to where if I just even think about any of that, I'll drink water, and for the most part it helps.

I love snacky foods like that, so I have a 200cal each morning snack and afternoon snack factored into my mental calculations
I aim for breakfast circa 350 cals, lunch 400 cals, dinner 400-600 cals.