Do you have cheat days?

Annamarie3404

Do you have cheat days? I don't mean once a day, maybe once every two weeks or so if then.

ab_1203

Yeh I do, but I like to think of it as a well deserved break day. Once every week I will have a relaxed day, going a couple hundred calories over maintenance and eating what I want. It works for me. This week I managed to get into a 2000 calorie deficit overall so that was a success.

Annamarie3404

I had 600 too many calories. I'm hoping to get some exercise tomorrow. I don't usually go so overboard, but I also don't often get the chance to eat doughnuts. It was most definitely a treat!

Courage1895

For a while I was good, but recently, cheat day's have been more than I would like to admit. I need to get back on track desperately.

chezjuan

While I don't call them cheat days, I do have days where I go over my calories. Basically, when there is a special occasion like birthdays, work or social functions, a holiday (Christmas, Independence day, etc.),I decide not to log. I still eat reasonable portions of food - I probably wouldn't go over but for the delicious beer. This happens probably once or twice a month on average, and is generally evened out by days where I am under my goals.

jas14196

Never cheat m8, its just overloads.

amblight

Not really, if I know I will be eating something calorie dense, I make room for it in my daily calorie, or at least my weekly.

Francl27

For a while I was good, but recently, cheat day's have been more than I would like to admit. I need to get back on track desperately.

This. Although I'm still way below my TDEE in average... but I keep a lower goal to make up for it.

Preferably, I eat what I want within my calories... or I make healthier versions of things (like I'll have one serving of those 130 calories frozen French fries instead of a small McDonald's fries). But when I crave something I can't fit in my calories, or it's a special day... I'm not sweating it anymore. In the end, if I go over, worst case it undoes 3 days of eating 400 calories under my TDEE. It's not a huge deal. The key is not to go totally overboard... Have one cheat meal. Then eat lightly the rest of the day. If you know you're going out for dinner or something... leave yourself extra calories for dinner (if you can. I am the 'eat a lot early in the day' type so it totally sucks for me and typically I will go over those days).

I've gone over my TDEE by 500+ probably 5 times since November (and will probably go over today too) and I've still lost weight nicely.

carabelladonna

While I have always had occasional cheat (or treat) meals, they tend not to put me much over my calorie plan. However, yesterday I had my first full on cheat day with chocolate, ice cream, samosas, tempura, a biscuit, and went waaay over my calories and then lost half a pound. Has anyone else experienced this?

Zilla100

Yeah, I have done that a couple of times. I found that as long as I get right back on track, the rare off day is not going to derail me. I just don't want to do it very often.