Feeling guilty after "cheat day"!

So yesterday was my cheat day. I never used to cheat as a mattter of fact I had an eating disorder and ate too little for almost a year. After seeing a Naturalapath he advised a cheat day once a week. Everytime I do it I feel sick the next day and feel like a ruined all the hard work I've done! Im also hypothyroid so weight loss is next to impossible lately. Does anyone else feel like this? Will it ruin the whole week? Advice..
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Replies

  • If you feel guilty then I don't think this is a mentally healthy approach for you to take. Why not have a serving of a treat daily instead? Whether you could ruin a weeks worth of work depends on what your week is like and what this one day is like but the odds are no, it won't ruin a week's worth of hard work.
  • MystikPixie
    MystikPixie Posts: 342 Member
    I think a cheat day is something that everyone should have. That way you can reward yourself for not cheating the rest of the week. If you cheat during the week, you don't get your reward.
  • ars1300
    ars1300 Posts: 159 Member
    How about a cheat meal or 2? I can say I can do alot of damage( I have a healthy apetite) in one day and totally erase and entire week of clean eating! And your probably feelign sick from overeating or eating things your not normally having. I feel I deal better mentally having a meal or to and just feel better in gerneral.
  • Rocky_ZG
    Rocky_ZG Posts: 70 Member
    How about a cheat meal or 2? I can say I can do alot of damage( I have a healthy apetite) in one day and totally erase and entire week of clean eating! And your probably feelign sick from overeating or eating things your not normally having. I feel I deal better mentally having a meal or to and just feel better in gerneral.

    Right.
    Cheat day of careless eating is silly and can erase much of good stuff done during the week.
    1, max 2 cheat meals per week are enough. And don't go completely overboard during those meals.
  • melodywoodward
    melodywoodward Posts: 2 Member
    Well, I think you should read Tim Ferris's book The 4 hr body.. he says 1 cheat day is vital it keeps your metabolism from going in to starvation mode!
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
    How about using the word treat or the word free instead of the word cheat. You don't have to feel guilty about treating yourself OR about things that are free. You aren't breaking the rules; therefore, you aren't cheating; therefore you have nothing to feel guilty about.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    How about just setting your calories to a healthy amount and work on your issues with food? A lot of people need to learn what food is for and how to eat in moderation. Feeling guilty after eating and feeling like it has undone all your hard work is very disordered thinking. Food is also not a reward for eating healthy all week. This is the cycle that will be your undoing.

    Focus on health. Focus on eating foods you like within your calories for the day. When food has all this power, we are powerless to make changes. I wish you the best of luck.
  • charlisobel
    charlisobel Posts: 31 Member
    I have a treat meal once a week, but have a portion that I think the maintenance me in the future would have! I think if you are feeling so guilty about a whole day, you might feel better with one meal. Having said this, I do believe in everything in moderation, so if you aren't denying yourself anything then you don't need to 'cheat'.
  • Agree with the poster who said that a cheat "meal" rather than an entire day might be more advisable. Enjoy your indulgence, but maintain control. I've always likened calculated cheating (which is sometimes a necessity- holidays, dinner parties, etc.) to a plane going into a nose dive. The longer you're plummeting, the more effort it takes to pull out of it. For me, a cheat day can turn into half a week or more, which can really reverse progress. A meal is less likely to gain its own negative momentum.

    I'm not a nutritionist, but I'm pretty sure there's no actual scientific benefit to cheating vis a vis weight loss. It may slightly jumpstart your metabolism, but that benefit is surely outweighed by the excess calories and havoc wreaked on an unprepared digestive system.

    So therefore the benefit of a cheat day or cheat meal is psychological, and therefore subjective. If it brings you shame and regret disproportionate to the pleasure it brings, it may not be worth it. If you're dealing with recovery from an eating disorder, anything that continues the cycle of feast and famine, shame and overcorrection, is probably a bad thing. Maybe keep it to a meal- plan around something, a brunch with friends, a reservation at one of your favorite restaurants, and give yourself no restrictions while you're in that building. When you leave, the regular rules re-apply. Maximize the enjoyment of your cheating, so it feels "worth it" and not empty nullification of your hard work. Also, psychologically prep yourself for the fact that you'll be taking a minor step back- be okay with it- and assure yourself that you'll quickly make that ground back up in the week ahead.
  • ebayaddict0127
    ebayaddict0127 Posts: 523 Member
    Maybe lessen your cheating. I like the cheat "meal" option rather than a whole day. Or maybe do every other week. I know when I'd been doing really well for four weeks or so I ate a super greasy Mexican lunch and felt awful. Physically and mentally. I still allow myself crap once in awhile, but am trying to keep it to every other week or so.
  • fy0904
    fy0904 Posts: 1 Member
    If you're craving something, why not incorporate whatever it is you're craving into your daily calories, possibly toward the end of the day? I could understand if your TDEE is low, however. If you go over a bit with whatever it was I wouldn't worry about it and move on. Your body will thank you for the extra glycogen that day. :)
  • First I would like to thank all of you for your advice! It is alot of information to take in and I like parts of everyone's posts honestly. However. .I do know myself and how hard I work all week. I work out 5 days a week for an hour a day. I mix it up witj cardio and weights. .also HIIT. As for my diet..I eat organic 1300 calories a day protein, vegetables, fruit one grain and no dairy. My cheat day consisted of lasagna, a piece of cake and ice cream. I agree with the fact that it is hard for me emotionally so im going to try one cheat meal on one day. Thanks again everyone!
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    After seeing a Naturalapath he advised a cheat day once a week.

    There seem to be two schools of thought on "cheat", for some it's an excuse to blow their budget, for others it's a more mature look at their calorie consumption and to tailor their intake to keep the weekly target but by going under on a few days and going over on others.

    Notwithstanding the use of the word "cheat" which I find semantic nonsense, I tend to eat in the latter way. It's about informed choices, rather than absolving oneself of responsibility. I note the point upthread about "treat", although I wouldn't even look at it like this. The reason that I wouldn't advocate the term "cheat" is that nobody is being cheated, the only person that will actually experience the result is oneself.

    Notwithstanding all of that it doesn't seem all that sensible to plan to eat to the extent that you feel bad about it. It strikes me as counterproductive, particularly if you have history of ED.
  • kmtbeaulieu
    kmtbeaulieu Posts: 33 Member
    Cheat day not so much. I feel guilty the days after and it makes me feel sick even thinking about it the next time. I think I only did it twice before(birthday and snow day) I changed it to one meal once in awhile. I usually have a treat on girls night... which is about 1-2 times a month. It's fun to indulge in something everyone loves my friends usually involve something chocolate or cheesecake:happy: I guess it also helps that 2/5 friends are going through the same body images as me.
  • Not to sound rude but after reading some of these..I actually feel worse! If this makes sense. .I almost feel like I am being punished for eating food I dont eat everyday.:(
  • healthieryear
    healthieryear Posts: 17 Member
    Well...if you don't feel you need it, I wouldn't do it. If you're craving something, I think its healthy to allow yourself to indulge a little once in a while.

    I personally don't do cheat days based on the day of the week or anything. I wait for special events, or random days when I feel I really need it, or for whatever reason something awesome comes up and I want it.

    For instance, yesterday was my husbands birthday, so we were out for the day and such and ended up eating out. I wanted a burger and fries, my favorite meal that I haven't had in almost 3 months, and I had it. I had a delish cookie for breakfast, while being at a market event full of baked goods, cheeses, breads, kettle corn....totally brutal to be honest haha. But I left with my 1 (sizeable) cookie. Went out for dinner too, wanted another burger and fries, went for the steak sandwich and fries instead that was really only steak and garlic bread. Not the healthiest of choices but was better than the burger.

    In the end I went over and I knew I was going to. But heres the thing, I went over by about 400 cal or so. The day before by 68...but it was "hot lunch," at work and I felt I deserved it, the rest was relatively healthy to eat that day. So basically, I look at my report and yeah it sucks because I hate going over!! I do feel slightly guilty about it and wish to a minor extent that I didn't. At the same time, I didn't go over to a huge extent, in fact both days I would still have technically lost weight in 5 weeks according to MFP just not very much yesterday for sure.

    Long story short, I think allowing yourself to go over when you need to as long as it isn't happening a lot is okay. But I think how much you go over is important. Some people say have a cheat meal, some a day, but whichever works best for you is good I think. For me I prefer the day and don't necessarily go insanely over, but just allow myself a little more of what I want while still being reasonable to some extent.

    In the end do what works for you and makes you feel good as long as its healthy.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    Well, I think you should read Tim Ferris's book The 4 hr body.. he says 1 cheat day is vital it keeps your metabolism from going in to starvation mode!

    Did you finish reading it before throwing it in the bin?

    There is no physiological reason to suggest that having one day of significantly higher intake makes any real difference to weight loss.

    From a personal perspective I generally eat about 100cals below goal midweek, which banks 500-800 cals extra at the weekend, although that's compounded by doing my long runs at the weekend which generally bank another 1000 cals each day. It does mean that I end up under goal at the end of the week as I physically can't consume that volume of food.
  • Not to sound rude but after reading some of these..I actually feel worse! If this makes sense. .I almost feel like I am being punished for eating food I dont eat everyday.:(
    You shouldn't feel guilty or like you are being punished. But, in my experience, cheat DAYS don't work. When I used to allow myself a cheat day, I would fall off the wagon completely.

    I do believe one cheat meal (everyday, or every other day) is a lot more effective if you want to lose weight. For example, if you know you're going to be craving chocolate, then make some room for some chocolate during dessert. If you have to, exercise a little bit more so that you have room for the dessert.