Cheat Days?

daniflems

What is everyone's opinion on "cheat days"? Today I have decided not to count calories. This doesn't mean I'm going to go crazy and eat everything in sight; it just means I am not going to stress about how much calorie is in every little thing that goes in my mouth today.

I feel like it is necessary to have a day like this every once in awhile (maybe once a week) to give yourself a break.

My question is:
do you think it effects your weight loss very much? Better for or worse for your will power? Just curious on other people's thoughts, ideas and struggles!

padams2359

Well, for one thing, today is the best day to do it. View your Home screen on the weekly view. Today is the last day of the week, and you may have a lot of leftover calories for the week. I think that could be part of the reason the program goes Monday to Sunday instead of Sunday to Saturday.

abadvat

Cheat days? No such thing!
Bacon - ice cream - poptarts - staple part of my diet and still shreded!
Just fit your macros and live happily ever after!

kelrogers75

In my opinion--absolutely. If you can handle getting back on the wagon afterwards, give yourself one day a week to not stress and count. Some people can't stray from their plan and then go back to normal the next day. I can and it keeps me sane. If I'm having a wild craving for ice cream, I can just tell myself that I'll get it on my cheat day.

Then, often enough by the time you get to your cheat day you don't even want all the things you told yourself you could have that day.

I was at my goal weight two years ago and I still had a cheat day once a week where I didn't count calories and had whatever I had been craving all week. I didn't try to go as crazy as possible but if I wanted it badly enough, I'd let myself have it that day. It didn't stop me from losing weight at all BUT obviously if you're having some junk food, don't weigh yourself the day after because you're likely to retain water and you don't want to get overly upset over water weight.

I feel like if you give yourself once a week, it's a good pep talk the other days if you're feeling week. "Don't eat that! You can have that on Saturday if you still want it. You can have four if you want. You just have to eat broccoli now!"

I think it's a lot healthier than calorie counting the junk food and eating it often. Stay away from the junk, eat healthy and then give yourself a day of relaxation. Mine usually includes wine.

darrensurrey

This doesn't mean I'm going to go crazy and eat everything in sight; it just means I am not going to stress about how much calorie is in every little thing that goes in my mouth today.

If you can do the latter and not the former, then fine. If you can't help yourself, then a cheat meal is going to cause fewer problems for you.

If you can "cope" then how about 14 days? http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

daniflems

This doesn't mean I'm going to go crazy and eat everything in sight; it just means I am not going to stress about how much calorie is in every little thing that goes in my mouth today.

If you can do the latter and not the former, then fine. If you can't help yourself, then a cheat meal is going to cause fewer problems for you.

If you can "cope" then how about 14 days? http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

Thanks for this. Interesting read!

darrensurrey

Yeah, I did them a couple of times. If you're smart, make it coincide with the Christmas period.

Francl27

I always log. Only way not to go totally overboard for me, but I've had two cheat meals... I was over by 1100 the first time, 500 the second time. Both times I lost weight 2 days later... I don't know if it's a coincidence or not though.

RosaliaBee

I've decided I want to be able to cook us a nice meal and sit down to eat it together once a week. I think Sunday is going to be that day from now on. I've just used up 750 of my daily calorie allowance on penne arrabiata and it was so delicious. I trimmed back the olive oil quite a bit and used wholewheat penne, so I did make minor allowances for a slightly healthier approach, but I've stuffed myself silly on pasta and went back for seconds too - we both have - and I feel great for it so I'm pretty happy right now. Not too sure what if anything I'm going to do for supper later though.. ;-P Still in the process of working out how I'm going to manage this diet day by day and week by week, as I'm going to be doing it for quite a while so it needs to be flexible enough in order to keep me happy enough to stick with it! Even with a flexible approach though, I know it's going to be important for me to keep tracking, it's been so useful and enlightening so far. And I've learned a lot about the foods I eat already.

XTSH

No designated "Cheat Day". Basically, when I have social activities, I just let myself loose and enjoy because I don't want to be a spoilsport. Besides, I still love food.

Oh, I still count diligently, taking photos of my food so that I can figure out the ingredients and log the best I could afterwards. Numeral days of going over my maintenance this November but by the end of it, I still lost weight.

westendcurls

Well I sortof have two cheat meals but not every week.... My husband works out of town for 2 weeks at a time. he's not allowed alcohol while on hitch so when he gets home he wants to celbrate. lol. I typically join him. So that usually puts me over. Sunday night is desert night/( or date night when hubby is home) so its not totally unusual for me to go over my calorie range on Sundays as well.

I dont plan on going over on those days but I also dont stress if I do. I stay at the low end of my calorie range most days so going over a few days a week doesn't do much to my weekly avrage.

LovingLife954

I actually lost 60 pounds incorporating cheat meals into my routine.

I consumed 2-3 cheat meals per week (not overboard) and followed The Fitness Foundation Plan to the T. I learned that Leptin hormones increase when you do this, along with T3/T4 hormones which control your metabolism. Ghrelin (which makes you hungry) is reduced and so is Cortisol levels (which increase insulin response in the body... plus is the stress hormone).

I've found cheat meals to be one of the biggest factors in me losing weight! I say go for it, but be mindful. Don't go overboard and stay structured!!

SLLRunner

What is everyone's opinion on "cheat days"? Today I have decided not to count calories. This doesn't mean I'm going to go crazy and eat everything in sight; it just means I am not going to stress about how much calorie is in every little thing that goes in my mouth today.

I feel like it is necessary to have a day like this every once in awhile (maybe once a week) to give yourself a break.

My question is:
do you think it effects your weight loss very much? Better for or worse for your will power? Just curious on other people's thoughts, ideas and struggles!

Do you know you can "cheat," for lack of a better word, every single day within your calorie goals? Now that's freedom. :bigsmile:

daniflems

So when i said cheat days i guess what i should have been more specific in saying is not so much what you are eating but the counting of calories....like if i wanted some triscuits today i wasn't going to count out only 10 of them....i was just going to grab a handful and not worry about it...

SLLRunner

So when i said cheat days i guess what i should have been more specific in saying is not so much what you are eating but the counting of calories....like if i wanted some triscuits today i wasn't going to count out only 10 of them....i was just going to grab a handful and not worry about it...

Oh! Gotcha.

For me, grabbing a handful of anything and not worrying about it is what got me into trouble in the first place. Thus, that behavior does not work for me.