Cheat Days

stefaniemazz

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.

Yes I am, I am losing 1 pound a week, which is what I want.

I have had months where I have taken breaks from working out but I'm losing exactly how I want.

After a cheat day, I feel fine, I go back to normal the next day.

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.

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…??????

Like I said, My dinner normally goes over that, and me and my bf have movie night where we have some junk like chips and candy. It works for me.

cwolfman13

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.

You don't have to "cheat" to have that stuff. You can fit that stuff into a well balanced diet that is otherwise rich in nutrition...you don't have to deprive yourself of those things to lose weight...weight loss is about energy consumption, not so much the types of food you are eating. Obviously I would recommend getting plenty of nutrition, but I eat some kind of "junk food" pretty much every day so long as I know I'm hitting my nutritional goals.

Deprivation dieting doesn't work, particularly in the long run.

kgeyser

Yes, you should log it, and here's why: you need to have a 3500 cal deficit to lose 1 lb each week. MFP sets up your deficit so you lose it through diet (500 cal deficit x 7 days = 3500 cal). If you exercise, you need to eat back the calories, otherwise you create a bigger deficit (which some people do in order to increase the amount of calories they can eat on their cheat day). The way the "cheat" day fits in is that you need to account for your calorie intake on that so you can look at your average for the week. If you eat just a few hundred calories over, you'll probably continue to lose weight consistently. If your "cheat" day is an all-out calorie blowout, you stand to screw up your average for the week completely.

Now, as you can see from the arguments, there are different schools of thoughts on this. Some people like to eat what they want and just fit it into their calories for the day everyday. Other people like to restrict during the week and have a cheat day where they just eat all the extra calories they've earned while still maintaining the deficit. Mathematically, both ways can work and you can see results. The sticking point is what works for you. If you are good about controlling intake and portion sizes, you could go with the first method and just work it into your daily routine. If you're one of those people who is still working on their relationship with food and can't eat a few chips without eating the whole bag, the "cheat" day method might be better for you until you get more comfortable with logging, meal planning, and lifestyle change in general. It's up to you as to what works best for you.

Ideally, you want to get to a point where no food is "off limits" and you learn to include those foods in your day to day life, but it takes some of us longer to get there than others. Even people who have been doing this for awhile still have questions and need to tweak, as you can see from the questions in the forums.

katpudda

I agree. A lifestyle change is not a one size fits all! Some people can handle cheat days, some cannot. I keep trigger foods out of my home. Every once in a while. I allow myself to eat something that isn't part of my healthy eating plan. The difference being is that I eat it and move on. I don't dwell on it, I don't chastise myself. I have had a long unhealthy relationship with food. We have been breaking up for almost one year. I tell myself I could eat it if I wanted to, I just choose not to. Good Luck.

Love4fitnesslove4food2

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…??????

I would say absolutely not. I'd rather go over by 500--allowing 1000 for breakfast, a snack and lunch-- and then eat 250 less for 2 days.

just_Jennie1

I'd probably log it.

I don't necessarily have cheat days but when I am in the habit of eating well and exercising I don't necessarily WANT to have any treats and junk like that because it makes me feel like crap. So in those instances I might just take a day and have a cheat meal where I just eat whatever I want and don't concern myself too much.

meshashesha2012

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.

it would work for everyone. you're still eating at a deficit.

Glossysweets

I would say definitely log "cheat days" or over days. Like other people suggested just make a ballpark figure if you can't seem to find what you are looking for. But I think that by doing this you really do "OWN" it. Don't feel bad about it but do log it so you are aware of it of course.

You will find that being accountable with everything makes you feel more in control of your weight loss journey (well at least it does for me). And the next day just have a little less - or the next day or so. I do also agree with giving yourself something you like everyday so cravings don't add up. I tried to do that myself and instead went over my calories today because I binged. But I logged it and will fix my calories tomorrow and add in more exercise etc.