Cheat Days

oklagirl

Should I be logging my cheat days?

Phoenix_Warrior

I would, personally. You're not doing yourself any favors by having a whole day of ?? Intake that could potentially ruin your deficit.

I don't do cheat days though. I just practice a moderate deficit and cut nothing out of my normal routine. So, there's really nothing to cheat

jwdieter

I log everything. But I don't call days where I eat a lot "cheat days".

clambert1273

I would, personally. You're not doing yourself any favors by having a whole day of ?? Intake that could potentially ruin your deficit.

I don't do cheat days though. I just practice a moderate deficit and cut nothing out of my normal routine. So, there's really nothing to cheat

This... don't deprive yourself and you won't have them I logged thanksgiving for fun (about 2500 calories) and enjoyed every dam bite lol

Alot of us on here regularly have wine, ice cream, chocolate, cake or just about whatever we want

_TastySnoBalls_

Should I be logging my cheat days?

why wouldn't you? and i hate the term "cheat days" this isn't a test. if you go over on one day, cut back the next day. yes, it's that simple.

Rage_Phish

when i have a "Cheat day" it usually is going to an event and drinking/ eating whats there. i dont intentionally plan cheat days. But wh when im going to a party or a night our im gonna drink booze and eat the good food.

I will log my breakfast and lunch, but generally not the fun stuff at night (since often i dont even know what ill have till i have had it)


these nights dont happen that often (although more foten with the holidays), so i dont sweat them as much

calliekitten9

The only time I don't log is when I am sharing a bunch of different appitizers or eating "family style" where trying to figure out every item is problematic.

paleojoe

Log everything... and if you can't quite figure out how much is in certain food use the "quick add" calories feature and use your judgement. None of this will work until you become honest with yourself about what you are and are not doing.

stefaniemazz

Eh, I don't log my cheat days, I cheat every Saturday and I have been losing weight.

I got by TDEE -20% which is about 1600 calories for me, I eat about 1300 during the week and then on Saturday, I make up for all the calories I didn't eat during the week.

So it's like a re-feed day.

Works for me.

paleojoe

Eh, I don't log my cheat days, I cheat every Saturday and I have been losing weight.

Great that it works for you... others do not have the same luck.

_Zardoz_

How else will you know your calories intake of you don't log everything. Also what are you cheating against. If you're depriving yourself so much you need to cheat you're not doing it in a sustainable way.

stefaniemazz

How else will you know your calories intake of you don't log everything. Also what are you cheating against. If you're depriving yourself so much you need to cheat you're not doing it in a sustainable way.

This is the way I look at it.

Saturday is a day me and boyfriend have our date nights.
We will go out for Dinner and I will eat whatever I want, we will go home and watch a movie together and share a bag of chips.
During the week, I wouldn't be able to fit that into my calories while I'm trying to lose.

I don't deprive myself at all during the week, I eat bacon every morning, I will have some chocolate or icecream at the end of the day if it fits into my macros. I eat pasta probably 3 nights a week.

But Saturday is my day to eat some junk without thinking about logging it.

oklagirl

Thank you all for the advice. I guess I call it a cheat day cause I ate the stuff that I normally would not eat in trying to reach my fat loss goal. I don't say weight cause I'm trying to gain lean muscle. Anyway, I do enjoy the occasional fried or sweet stuff but on this particular day we had an office lunchon and at this time it seemed impossible to be acurate about what I ate but I see that having an idea of what was consumed is better than not knowing at all...Thanks again for the suggestions.

Vex3521

Yes. Logging what you're eating on the positive times should carry over to all the time. I think calling it a "cheat" and hiding it (by not logging) sets you up to guilt yourself and keeps a negative relationship with food going. I log it... If I'm over, I'm over and I don't punish myself.

zainabel83

I log every darn thing I eat, its a pain, but I like being meticulous and knowing what I have ingested, it also makes me think about what I am eating and I try to remember it for logging rather than mindlessly put things into my mouth. Basically, when I think about what I eat, I eat less.

ndj1979

yes, log them and own them…

A better strategy to cheat days is to eat what you want…pizza, ice cream, hamburger, etc and just fit it into your day…then you do not have the guilt of blowing out your calories for the day and you staid in a deficit or ate at maintenance…win, win

SamanthaD1218

I don't understand the concept of "cheat days." I have to agree with ndj1979 - if you want to eat something that's higher in calories, just do it and make it work with the rest of your day. Setting aside a "cheat day" seems like a way to excuse bad choices. In relationships you don't get "cheat days," nor in school or at work. Just eat what you want and be responsible by logging it.

(I'm not trying to sound like I'm on my high horse here, haha. I just had a week of horrible eating and no logging and saw a weight gain! But I'm trying to be more responsible for my intake, so for me it works best by not excusing the bad choices by calling them "cheat days" or a "cheat week." I know that some people give themselves "cheat days" every now and then and it's a great system for them. Whatever you think works the best for you is what you should do - just my opinion! Happy holidays!)

DR2501

I don't have a cheat day, but friday and saturday nights are cheat nights and I always log them

stefaniemazz

I don't understand the concept of "cheat days." I have to agree with ndj1979 - if you want to eat something that's higher in calories, just do it and make it work with the rest of your day. Setting aside a "cheat day" seems like a way to excuse bad choices. In relationships you don't get "cheat days," nor in school or at work. Just eat what you want and be responsible by logging it.

(I'm not trying to sound like I'm on my high horse here, haha. I just had a week of horrible eating and no logging and saw a weight gain! But I'm trying to be more responsible for my intake, so for me it works best by not excusing the bad choices by calling them "cheat days" or a "cheat week." I know that some people give themselves "cheat days" every now and then and it's a great system for them. Whatever you think works the best for you is what you should do - just my opinion! Happy holidays!)

I'll tell you why this "fitting it into your calories" doesn't work sometimes.

Because if I want to go out to a restaurant on the weekend, most meals around over 750 calories, me and my boyfriend get a starters etc, so your saying I should starve myself all day and then go out to eat just so it fits into my calories?


Cheat days WORK, a lot of people on here seem against them, but I've lost 9 pounds so far, I've went down a pant size, and I've lost inches, and I have a cheat day every Saturday and I don't log it.

Pamstimelines

I log it so I can see what it is and how much I've consumed so maybe the next time I "cheat" I won't be tempted to cheat even more. knowledge = wisdom = good choices or something like that.

velvet4899

I have a cheat day every Saturday, I usually log it and I've continued to lose weight. Best thing is don't deprive yourself of something or you may just over eat to compensate for that craving.

aubyshortcake

if you're going to do it, definitely log it. yesterday was my birthday, and while I expected to go way over I was surprised at just how far over I had gone. I ended the day with a total of 4380 calories, at least now I can hold myself accountable!

PS. for being once a year it was totally worth it lol

MeanderingMammal

Should I be logging my cheat days?

Log, whether you go over your targets or not.

Who do you see yourself as cheating?

RllyGudTweetr

I don't understand the concept of "cheat days." I have to agree with ndj1979 - if you want to eat something that's higher in calories, just do it and make it work with the rest of your day. Setting aside a "cheat day" seems like a way to excuse bad choices. In relationships you don't get "cheat days," nor in school or at work. Just eat what you want and be responsible by logging it.

(I'm not trying to sound like I'm on my high horse here, haha. I just had a week of horrible eating and no logging and saw a weight gain! But I'm trying to be more responsible for my intake, so for me it works best by not excusing the bad choices by calling them "cheat days" or a "cheat week." I know that some people give themselves "cheat days" every now and then and it's a great system for them. Whatever you think works the best for you is what you should do - just my opinion! Happy holidays!)

The issue here is there are going to be days, for some of us, where wanting to eat something will wind up putting us over for the day. It may be hanging out with friends at a pub; it may be a family member's birthday dinner with cake; it may be that the portion sizes were more calorie-dense than you thought once you get to logging them after the meal; it may be that having a Reuben and some onion rings is just what you're craving after a crap week at work. It's not a "cheat meal," because those imply that there are foods you are and aren't allowed to have but that you're otherwise within caloric budget, but a day where you actually are over on calories.

If you're actually able to keep yourself from going over calorie goal, ever, for the rest of your life, congratulations. Most of us do, in fact, sometimes make mistakes, and (surprise surprise) on a health and fitness site, many of those mistakes involve food choices.

MeanderingMammal

Cheat days WORK, a lot of people on here seem against them, but I've lost 9 pounds so far, I've went down a pant size, and I've lost inches, and I have a cheat day every Saturday and I don't log it.

Not against cheat days per se, but I don't entirely see the point of butchering the English language. Its a decision,take responsibility for it. Calling it a cheat is nonsense. Who is being cheated, or is it just a method of absolving oneself of responsibility for ones decisions?

stefaniemazz

Cheat days WORK, a lot of people on here seem against them, but I've lost 9 pounds so far, I've went down a pant size, and I've lost inches, and I have a cheat day every Saturday and I don't log it.

Not against cheat days per se, but I don't entirely see the point of butchering the English language. Its a decision,take responsibility for it. Calling it a cheat is nonsense. Who is being cheated, or is it just a method of absolving oneself of responsibility for ones decisions?

It works for me so I dont really care what you think.

Happy Holidays

socomary

What are you cheating on? If you eat it, don't log it and don't acknowledge it, then I'd call THAT a cheat day.

If you're going to over-do it on a given day, and you don't feel like estimating everything (especially if it's a bunch of hors d'oeuvre, appetizers, buffet, what-have-you) then you can estimate as a "quick-add" or search for "buffet" and estimate the fraction or whole number of buffet plates you had (which is what I usually do).

All the talk about "cheating" and still losing weight? It might work, to a point, likely because overall those folks are still running a calorie deficit compared to what they were eating before.

This doesn't work unless you are honest with yourself about your all of your intake.

ndj1979

I don't understand the concept of "cheat days." I have to agree with ndj1979 - if you want to eat something that's higher in calories, just do it and make it work with the rest of your day. Setting aside a "cheat day" seems like a way to excuse bad choices. In relationships you don't get "cheat days," nor in school or at work. Just eat what you want and be responsible by logging it.

(I'm not trying to sound like I'm on my high horse here, haha. I just had a week of horrible eating and no logging and saw a weight gain! But I'm trying to be more responsible for my intake, so for me it works best by not excusing the bad choices by calling them "cheat days" or a "cheat week." I know that some people give themselves "cheat days" every now and then and it's a great system for them. Whatever you think works the best for you is what you should do - just my opinion! Happy holidays!)

I'll tell you why this "fitting it into your calories" doesn't work sometimes.

Because if I want to go out to a restaurant on the weekend, most meals around over 750 calories, me and my boyfriend get a starters etc, so your saying I should starve myself all day and then go out to eat just so it fits into my calories?


Cheat days WORK, a lot of people on here seem against them, but I've lost 9 pounds so far, I've went down a pant size, and I've lost inches, and I have a cheat day every Saturday and I don't log it.

so if your daily goal is 1500 calories you can't save 750 for dinner? really? Or have a 250 cal breakfast and 250 cal lunch which would leave 1250 for dinner…??????

MeanderingMammal

so if your daily goal is 1500 calories you can't save 750 for dinner? really? Or have a 250 cal breakfast and 250 cal lunch which would leave 1250 for dinner…??????

If I got to 8PM on 500 calories I'd be ready to tear an arm off the waitress and chew on that rather than waiting for the menu

But would it be ok if I just used pork as an approximation from the database, and would I need to include the weight of the bones or should I take them out before weighing the arm...

MeanderingMammal

It works for me so I dont really care what you think.

So you don't include information about your food choices. How do you know what has an effect on you and what doesn't?

I'm not suggesting don't go over calories, just be honest with oneself about it.

Are you losing at the rate that you would expect?

In your profile you allude to eating as a coping mechanism, how do your days over goal relate to mood or other influences?

A few weeks ago I went significantly over goal, but the reason for that was because I met up with some work colleagues for dinner. OK I went over, but I added a couple of Ks to my run the following day, and the benefit of meeting up far outweighed the single day of going over.

Working on incomplete information strikes me as pointless. One might prefer to ignore that grubby little secret of a day over goal, but if they're grubby little secrets how is their effect mounting up. We shouldn't encourage ourselves to feel guilty about our food choices, face up to them, understand them and account for their effect.

As another illustration, a couple of months back I caught a nasty stomach infection after working in South Asia, as a result I spent a week with very little in my stomach. I went back to work the following week seriously lacking in energy so ended up going over about four times that week. I understand why I went over, and in all those cases it was a conscious decision. By the end of the week I was able to train to standard again, but at the beginning, after a week of losing every meal I went out for a 5Km run and burned out after 4, where normally I'd have been able to do 10 on a Sunday morning.

All grist to the mill in making progress.

ElegantSlenderChic

"To cheat or not to cheat that is the question" :laugh: Everybody has their own approach but whatever you end up doing remember that your body will keep an accurate journal of what you eat, no matter how you log