Cheat Days: Necessary or Inappropriate

eric_sg61

I've never viewed cheat days as a question of food choice but instead eating at maintenance or above to stave off metabolic adaptation. At least in bodybuilding circles, cheat days are for those that are already pretty lean. At least for myself a cheat day is when I don't count calories or log them.

jeannineolivo

I incorporate two very low calorie days into my week to account for my weekends. I try not to go nuts on my weekends but I might have a burger, a couple of beers, whatever. Exercise helps, too.

swat1948

I don't care what anyone thinks...I think they are necessary. I need those days to recharge and not feel accountable for every thing I put in my mouth or every step I don't take. Not having a good day but I will get over that. Some days I just want to cram everything I see into my mouth. That's why some weekends when my family is here visiting I will not watch what I eat and eat every blessed thing that I want on that weekend. It recharges me and makes it easier to behave when I come back to logging and exercising. That being said, I reached my goal a while back and my doctor thinks I am thin enough. BMI is 22.55. I am 66 and they would rather I not lose anymore weight. So it is just a matter of playing catch up when I do come back and if I lose another pound or two, it's a win for me.

Slimby28

I don't do "cheat days" I do "cheat meals". I do feel they are necessary. It's a good way to shock the body as well. If you are on a restricted calorie diet for so long I think your body can get used to what you are eating so it is good to shock it every once in a while. I personally don't do it once a week. I "cheat" once every two weeks. When I cheat I try and be smart about it. For example, if I want something sweet I will still have a sensible meal followed by a piece of cheesecake for dessert. Or if I want grease, I will go with the meal I want and eliminate the dessert to make sure I am not over doing it. It has worked well for me and it definitely takes the edge off. It's impossible for me to say I will NEVER eat sweets or pizza again. Not me, I love my cheesecake

liz_walkerrr

I think they are necessary for most people, just to keep them sane! However, not everyone has them. To each their own. I don't necessarily have cheat DAYS, but I do have "cheat meals" a few times a week. However, they usually end up fitting into my daily goals so idk if they really count as cheating. If I did a whole day of eating whatever I wanted I would be bloated and feeling sluggish the next day & it would just mess up my whole routine. Cheat meals just work better for me.

low_esteem23

Whatever-you-want-to-call-them days are necessary.
Think about it this way. If you don't eat these foods until you're done with your diet or plan, then your body wont be used to them anymore. <<-- that is a big pain. you'll have gas, bloating, constipation, and feel all over terrible.
If you have these "cheat" days every so often then your body will stay used to it. It wont make you gain weight when you start eating "normal" again after your diet and you wont be as scared to have what you want. It's good emotionally like that too. It'll be easier to avoid over eating your indulgences once you finish your diet because you've been able to have them all along (in moderation of course).

Bri_Becq

I'm more of a cheat meal kind of person, usually sushi. But my cheat meal is not a reward for losing a few lbs or anything. It's just a small indulgence. Kind of like shopping.

In MY opinion, if meals become rewards, it's as if we don't know moderation. You can have a cupcake, believe me, the world won't stop rotating...

dlionsmane

Neither - eating food at a moderate deficit is not cheating and no food is 'bad' so not cheating there either...

funfang

I just eat what I want in moderation.

This :-) If you make food your enemy, you will be fighting against it, if you make food your friend, it will work with you! Eat what ever you like, just in moderation.

bcattoes

Some people are super against them and call them a crutch, whereas other feel they are very important to include when trying to lose weight. What do you guys think?

I don't think they are necessary or inappropriate as a general rule. I very much believe that different methods work for different people and everyone should find the patht that keeps them happy and on track.

For me, I do not have a scheduled once a week "cheat day" nor do I like or ever desire to eat greasy stuffed crust pizza. But, days where I overeat are, for me, a part of life. I don't schedule days to purposely overeat, but there are occasions when I deem overeating appropriate.

workout_ninja

"Cheating" a bit maybe once a week is really necessary for me. I think of it as rewarding myself for coming this far in my journey. However, I make it a "cheat meal" instead of a day. My biggest problem with this is I have to be careful not to tell myself "well, you've already eaten one junk item, there's no turning back now so you might as well eat another" because basically I love food, and afterward I would not be able to forgive myself

This^^^ If I want to "cheat" by having something really quite high in calories, I will try and plan for it by eating a little less throughout the day and exercising to try and cover it. If I dont manage to cover it, I have the cheat meal and leave it there, I eat properly the rest the of the day - it is a bad habit to think "well ive ruined my diet with that meal, i may aswell stuff my face for the rest of the day" That doesnt do well for your mental attitude- oh and I definitely wouldnt do it every single week. maybe once or twice a month

Sailatsorf

I definitely have always had to fit one in. When I first started losing, I had cheat weekends because it was hard for me to keep up the good habits when I went home from college on weekends. When I was home for long stretches of time, I'd hide in my room, away from the dining room area because Mom was always munching on chips, and my dad would always buy boxes of doughnuts and eat 4 of them in one sitting.

I got to a point where I would just stay at college for as long as I could and maybe have a cheat day once a month with my friends. Now that I'm married and 800 miles away, I thought it would be even easier since my friends and family won't be there to tempt me.

Nope. My husband and I go out to eat with his grandmother every week, and it's basically impossible to stay within my deficit when we go to Applebee's every Tuesday.

naechai40416

My wife and I tried a day of eating whatever we want, and not caring how much we went over our goals...we told ourselves no matter how 'ugly' it looked when we logged, we were going to log it and go right back on our diet the next day...at the time we felt it was something we needed to get out of our system, and while we didn't feel guilty (all we had was Whataburger and Baskin Robbins)...we did feel sick haha...horribly sick actually! That was an extreme cheat day I guess, but there are times where we go over without planning to, and those are unscheduled 'cheat days' haha (who would turn down a free dinner after all)...but we decided that no matter what happens today, we are going to log tomorrow, and we are going stick with this until we reach our goals...

That night I told my wife that we would eat like that regularly before we joined MFP...so what is a cheat day for us now, used to be called Tuesday...and that is what I like to call progress

lcorrea

I do try to reward myself occasionally but what I have noticed since I'm over 40 now, cheat days have a tenancy to really mess me up and get me off track. Anyway, in the early stages of dieting and counting my calories, I try to be as strict as possible so I can start seeing progress right away which makes me really thinking about if I want to cheat or not.

parkscs

I don't think they are necessary or inappropriate - all comes down to personal preference.

Agreed. For me personally, I don't schedule a day on which I go out and gorge on food and deviate from my plan/goals - I'd feel worse if I did, rather than better for being able to binge eat on a particular day. Personally, I'm content with my diet throughout the week and so I don't feel pressure to go out "cheat." I eat foods I like, I eat big meals and frequently feel full if not stuffed afterwards, and so there's really not a lot of temptation for me to cheat and deviate from my plan. That said, do I occasionally have a beer at the pub when it goes over a particular macro or some sorbet after a nice dinner even though it's definitely putting me over my carb macro? Sure, and I don't feel guilty over it because we're talking once every few months. But weekly? Definitely not.

That said, if having a maintenance day once/week helps you, go for it. There's no one-size-fits-all solution to weight loss.

12bfree

I read about it often but I still don’t understand the concept of a cheat day. I can’t imagine the emotional challenge it must create to have self imposed restrictions. One thing I like about a caloric deficit program is that no restrictions are placed on food, only limits on calories. So, I don’t need to fight any temptation because I can eat anything.

If by cheating a person means exceeding their daily caloric requirement, I think that defeats the purpose of a caloric deficit program.

If a person defines cheating by using food as a reward for achieving a goal, then I’ve also cheated. For example, when I lost the first 25 pounds, I treated myself to dinner at my favorite restaurant.

If exceeding daily-caloric intake on special occasions is considered cheating then I’ve done that as well. However, I knew those occasions were coming weeks in advance so I prepared for them with a slight reduction in my caloric requirements and a slight increase in exercise. So basically my monthly caloric numbers remained the same.

Maybe it’s just the term “cheating” that I have a problem with. Loosing weight can be challenging enough without adding unnecessary emotional elements to the equation.

TheMannon

As others have said it's a personal question of whether it's in appropriate. For me, 'cheat' days are very necessary and they help me stay focused and disciplined the other 13 days (i generally do one every other saturday or sunday). You can also use MFP to plan these days in a way that don't crush your diet. For example, on my Pizza Sundays I eat a whole dominos medium hand-tossed pizza - the entire thing is about 1800 cals, so I still end up at a deficit for the day. Same thing with my fried chicken Sundays. Of course, it helps that my cravings are for foods like pizza, chicken, and cheeseburgers instead of a 1500 calorie milkshake.

OTOH, I know people whose minds work differently and 'cheating' makes them feel ****ty about themselves which starts them on a vicious cycle of shame and eating and more shame. Its important to be aware of your food issues like that.

weird_me2

In the past, I've always had "cheat" meals or "treat" meals or whatever you want to call them. You know what's also always happened in the past? I've always "fallen off the wagon" and regained whatever I've lost. For me, being so strict that I feel the need to allow myself to not care for one meal or one day or whatever means that I'm not going to succeed long term.

While I really don't like the whole "this isn't a diet, this is a lifestyle change" mantra, that is my goal. For this to really be a lifestyle change, then I need to eat like I want to eat for the rest of my life. For me, if I log everything I've eaten for the day, it's a good day, whether my calories are in the green or the red or whether I've had pizza and cookies or salad all day. If I'm at or under my calorie goal, great, if not, oh well. Life happens and as long as my averages over the course of a week or so are at maintenance or lower, I'm happy. Sure, my weight loss is much slower than it could be and much slower than it has been in the past, but I'm not feeling the need to quit this time around.

If I shared my diary, some people would probably think I have "cheats" every day or at least 4 times a week because I regularly have chocolate (and not just 100 calories worth) or pizza or Oreos or ice cream or a big fat burger or a combination of those things. I eat plenty of fruits and veggies, lean protein and dairy products and then fill my day with whatever I'm in the mood for. On Monday I had a 1200 calorie bacon cheeseburger from Five Guys and didn't feel one iota of guilt about it. I've set my weight loss goal very conservatively and I exercise so that I can still eat 2200+ calories per day and never feel the need to "cheat" and for the first time in over 15 years I'm really feeling like this is doable for forever.

Kari121869

I follow IIFYM, no need to 'cheat', you can fit a bit of pizza or a doughnut in your cals and macros if you plan a little.

^^^^ this - I just switched to IIFYM, but I've always 'incorporated' my 'bad' foods into my macros...

nsala86

I think sustainable weight loss is really about what works best for you as an individual. For me, I don't believe in having designated "cheat days." I also think that treats can be fit into your day most of the time. My son just had a birthday and I fit in a small piece of cake without going over my daily calorie goal. It's doable. I also like to think I'm realistic about it...there are special occasions, holidays, vacations etc where I'm going to indulge, and I don't beat myself up about it. Eating healthfully is a lifestyle, and it's never going to be long-term if there's an unhealthy relationship with food.