Cheat days - do you or don't you?

kayleighfurfie

I've heard from countless people who are in fantastic shape that they will treat themselves to a treat day. The only thing that seems to vary is how much and how often.

For example, one of my male friends who is in extremely good shape, says chocolate tastes better if he only has it once a month. He has maintained his physique for approximately 6 years and is still going strong.

But one of my female friends, who is also in very good shape and has maintained her weight loss for years, has a cheat day every Sunday and eats whatever she fancies. She says it is easier for her to resist the 6 days of the week when she knows on the 7th she can indulge.

I figured if I'm going to have a cheat day, it should be Sunday. I'm always off on a Sunday, which means I can choose what I buy and what is in front of me. (I work in a call centre, so if my cheat day was mid-week in a place where there is always temptation, I would eat more than I wanted to). I tried it yesterday and I decided on a cheat meal instead (bananas with low fat custard, not exactly crazy, but it was tasty!)

So what do you do?

Do you have a cheat day? When is it? How much do you allow yourself?

Or do you avoid it?

StaciMarie1974

I eat what want, when I want: but I track everything. Meaning things need to fit into my calorie goals OR I need to move more to still have my deficit. I do occasionally (1-2 times a month) allow myself to eat at maintenance, which amounts to an extra 500 calories without 500 extra calories burnt.

I can't cheat because I'm not taking a test, or doing anything wrong. Life, in my opinion, is a sum of the decisions we make. And I don't see food as good or bad. If your overall goal is to lose weight, be more healthy: find what works for you to accomplish those goals.

elsinora

I eat what want, when I want: but I track everything. Meaning things need to fit into my calorie goals OR I need to move more to still have my deficit. I do occasionally (1-2 times a month) allow myself to eat at maintenance, which amounts to an extra 500 calories without 500 extra calories burnt.

I can't cheat because I'm not taking a test, or doing anything wrong. Life, in my opinion, is a sum of the decisions we make. And I don't see food as good or bad. If your overall goal is to lose weight, be more healthy: find what works for you to accomplish those goals.

This. Also I don't need to reward myself with food, I'm not a dog.

Censor76

When I was in better shape I allowed myself a cheat meal...it keeps me sane. A cheat day is too much for me and would tempt me to carry it into the next day.

Since I have more weight to lose I allow a cheat snack. This weekend it was a piece of cake.


I am not a dog but I do support rewarding myself with food. I don't really care what people think about that. It makes me happy. I've found other ways for happiness but I'm not gonna lie...that cake was what I wanted. If that's once a week I'm okay with that.

1911JR

I eat what want, when I want: but I track everything. Meaning things need to fit into my calorie goals OR I need to move more to still have my deficit. I do occasionally (1-2 times a month) allow myself to eat at maintenance, which amounts to an extra 500 calories without 500 extra calories burnt.

I can't cheat because I'm not taking a test, or doing anything wrong. Life, in my opinion, is a sum of the decisions we make. And I don't see food as good or bad. If your overall goal is to lose weight, be more healthy: find what works for you to accomplish those goals.

This. Also I don't need to reward myself with food, I'm not a dog.

EXACTLY!

Veil5577

I don't have a 'cheat' day in terms of what I eat, because I eat what I want worked into my allotted calories for the day. But one day a week I will allow myself to go over in calories by 200 maximum. That still only puts me at 1400 calories so I'm still in a deficit.

AlliSteff

I let myself enjoy special occasions- some more than others. I may allow myself a few drinks at a birthday party, but I decided to have fun at my sister's Bachelorette and did not track- which I will also do at her wedding. But, this amounted to 1 full day and 3 'kind of' cheats in almost 90 days. I went to a birthday party this past weekend and stayed within my goals (went over a bit in my fat macro, but stayed in my calories).

I don't let myself do it just to do it....if I want some dark chocolate, I log it and fit it in.

starsybyll

I don't get cravings really and I hate sweets and fatty or fried foods so if I wanted to "cheat" it would be like going out for some vegetarian green curry. But I don't do it, no. I personally think "cheating" is a sign of weakness in myself so I won't allow myself to do it. My friends don't really like being around me right now because I'll go out with them but I won't order anything usually, or if I do it will just be a small salad or something. They'll say "oh it's just one meal" but first its one meal, then what? Another and another? I won't do that.

Kalikel

I strive very hard to eat the boring food I'm supposed to eat. I don't always do it. Sometimes I just get sick of it and indulge a little.

As time goes on, I do less of it. But I still do it. I don't lie to the doctors about it, either, so I don't consider it cheating. It's more like I'm saying, "Screw it!" than that I just can't resist. Maybe a mini-rebellion, lol. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone else.

I don't plan it, of course.

If you can eat whatever you want and you feel like doing it, why not? Whatever works for you.

seltzermint555

I define "cheat day" as eating with wild abandon and not logging it or caring AT ALL about macros and going way over on calories if you do log.

By that definition, I don't ever have a cheat day.

What I do, though, is indulge in a lot more stuff on Saturdays when I get extra exercise. It would not be normal for me to eat 3 restaurant meals in a day or have ice cream AND pie or pizza AND a chicken sandwich in the same day...except on Saturdays. But I ALWAYS log and usually come within about 100 cal of my goal (after adding in exercise calories).

I do let the macros slide a bit on Sat. For example on a Tuesday if I was craving an ice cream bar and had the calories but was already over on sugar & fat by a little, I'd just have a string cheese and go to bed. But if that happened on a Saturday I'd enjoy the ice cream bar. It's just a "cheat day attitude" in some ways.

Goliath1357

Yes, I allow myself a cheat day once every 2 weeks to eat/drink things that I normally avoid (pizza, pasta, soda) I still log it whether or not it goes over my caloric daily goal. I don't look at it as a reward but just a treat since I don't indulge regularly.

chilly1470

How about just a cheat meal to treat yourself. Then you can adjust the rest of your meals to allow for it. Remember, it's not a diet, it's a way of eating the rest of your life and you should not go without eating what you like or love. I love ice cream, cheesecake, pizza, brownies, chili dogs, subs, etc and I will be danged if I am NEVER going to eat them again. All things in moderation. You do not have to eliminate any one food; just moderate how you eat the sinful things. Right now, I am sticking to the good and healthy that will help me get to an acceptable weight, then I will indulge now and then with the "bad and fattening". You get what I mean?

Tikibar72

I definitely do. Saturday's I give myself the opportunity to eat what I like, and I still track what I eat on those days. It serves two purposes for me;

1 - the psychological side that gets to eat / drink what I want without feeling bitter about completely excluding things from my life
2 - the realization of all of those calories and how quickly they add up when they get tracked

That one day a week helps me stay committed to the changes I'm making and the journey I'm on.

Artionis

I eat what want, when I want: but I track everything. Meaning things need to fit into my calorie goals OR I need to move more to still have my deficit. I do occasionally (1-2 times a month) allow myself to eat at maintenance, which amounts to an extra 500 calories without 500 extra calories burnt.

I can't cheat because I'm not taking a test, or doing anything wrong. Life, in my opinion, is a sum of the decisions we make. And I don't see food as good or bad. If your overall goal is to lose weight, be more healthy: find what works for you to accomplish those goals.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

ruthejp13

I only have cheat days after the fact. I call them going over my calorie goals. This usually occurs on date nights or special occasions which unfortunately are too rare. I'm good with this concept because it means I'm not beating myself up for going over.

To avoid cheat days I try to record before I eat. I also consider what I am eating when I record it. Is this a treat? Is it worth the calories and nutrition? I love not feeling guilty for making a conscious choice to have a treat.

DecemberPsalm

Since I'm just starting out (again, lol) I do not allow cheat days. I do try to leave extra calories for ice cream a few days a week though!

If I were to have a cheat day I'd want it to involve lots of pasta and french bread with olive oil and cheese. Since that is my binge trigger meal there is no way I can do that right now. I'm like a skid row addict with that stuff, haha.

willrun4bagels

I don't. I fit what I want to eat in my daily calories. When people "cheat" and eat 3k+ calories and then don't lose any weight, it would be because they may have totally erased their deficit for that week. It seems counterproductive to me.

amusedmonkey

I'm a random eater, meaning: my diet is just like my pre-weight loss diet, just more controlled (days vary in calories based on my appetite or occasions). I eat whatever I want whenever I want in whatever quantity I want and I don't consider it cheating. I don't keep to a certain daily calories budget, I actually keep a weekly calorie spreadsheet. I often ask myself two questions before eating something that has high calories:

1. Is it worth it? Do I want it badly enough to warrant eating less or exercising more?
2. Do I have enough calories "in the bank", or can produce enough calorie deficit to make up for it this week?

If the answer to both questions is yes, I eat and log whatever high calorie food I want. This has been an eye opener for me, as I find myself saying no sometimes and losing interest without that festering feeling of hate and envy you get when you deprive yourself. If my answer is yes, I find myself enjoying my food choice without that feeling of guilt and regret. If the answer is yes to the first but not the second, I downsie the quantity to something I can handle and eat it.

Here's an example of how this week looks like for me with the goal of losing 1/2 a kg (about a pound) this week, so you could get an idea of what it's like:



As you can see, I went over my goal twice this week but I'm still well within my weekly goal with a few calories still left in my "bank" to spend later if I feel like it. Chocolate mousse cake today was totally worth it even if I did not have enough extra calories available. I would have happily worked out double in the next two days to make up for it!

DeguelloTex

Thanksgiving will be a cheat day. The week of Christmas will probably be at maintenance.

LoupGarouTFTs

I try not to have cheat days, but I probably will when I go to the dog show in August unless I scope out the area well enough to plan and pre-log meals. I do have occasional cheat meals, like the hamburger and tater tots I had last week or the IHOP breakfast I had on Sunday. Generally, though, I manage to come in under my calorie ceiling even when I do. I don't see anything wrong with having cheat days, if you can just log your food and get back on track the next day, but personally I find it hard to go completely off the wagon and then expect to climb right back on. I plan to make exceptions for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but by then maybe I'll be able to schedule sufficient exercise to make enough of a deficit for the week for me to still lose or maintain my weight.

mikejholmes

I tried a cheat day once a month.
I figured, if I was at or under budget 30 days a month, 1 day couldn't be THAT bad, right?
So one day a month, I'd just spend whatever I felt like, and not track it.

The bank didn't think this was such a good idea.

missiontofitness

I prefer "free" days.
I fit everything into my macros, but there's some days where I don't care. I create enough of a deficit and am on my feet enough that I don't feel the need to "cheat" (and hate the word). It never throws me off.
Those days I tend to eat around maintenance, or close to it.

AgentOrangeJuice

I don't refer to them as Cheat Days, and I never do them for an entire day.

Call them Treat Meals, and make them few and far between and as a reward for something great. Just don't use them as rewards for weight loss goals. or you'll set yourself back a few days while your system purges again.

becky4m

I do have cheat days. They are normally not planned. Its like oh we are eating out twice today... It only happens once or twice a month. But I allow myself to have whatever I want in large amounts. Like Mexican food. Ummm... I eat way to much. But I do not say no to whatever I want on a daily basis. I have it and include it in my daily intake.

sheedy17

i find giving myself a cheat day allows me to eat better for 6 days in the week, I sometimes struggle to not eat some chips or chocolate early on, but when I choose to start rewarding myself every saturday, I look forward to that date, I push hard to get to that date, I also think before I choose a snack and say this can wait until saturday etc. i think everyone should cheat

TMM211073

I'm not taking a test and I don't believe in diets, so no I don't believe in cheat days, I simply eat what I want and log everything, I do try to restrict the amount of food I eat after 8pm, but in my job that isn't always easy.... Some days my diary is shockingly *kitten*, but usually within my calories and other days it's healthy, but it's over my calories - people can judge me for the food I've consumed, but they can never take away my accomplishments!

I do sometimes do extra exercise of I've had a particularly high calorie day, or I know I'm going to have one (we had a family BBQ on Sunday, so I got up earlier than usual and did 90 minutes at the gym, instead of my usual 60 minutes)....

That said, I do have one major weakness - McDonald's milkshakes, so I only allow myself one of them on my official weigh-in day every month (my next weigh-in/milkshake day is Monday 30th June and it can't come round fast enough, I've been craving a Maccies milkshake for days).

It's each to their own, you have to learn what is best for you.

xXx

wildlotus

I'd like to humbly point out the connection between "cheat meals" (I prefer to call them refeeds) and giving your metabolism a little boost via hormones (i.e. leptin, etc.):

"The concept of 'cheat meal' is often confused with "cheat day" or " trash day". As its name implies, cheat meal presupposes a meal of "cheating", outside the usual dietary restrictions, and not all day. The aim is precisely to increase leptin leading to a metabolic reactivation. In this regard, carbohydrates are particularly effective as insulin stimulation in a sensitive environment favors leptin production. Thus, the cheat meal should be rich in carbohydrates, or even sugars."

Source: http://www.metabolicedge.net/2013/10/the-importance-of-cheat-meals-and-how.html

So theoretically if you're going to do it, it's better to focus more on higher carbs instead of higher fat (i.e. a big bowl of pasta with meat sauce instead of a cheeseburger and fries). But I highly recommend researching how a strategic refeeding can impact hormone levels. And of course, there is the psychological aspect as well. Really guys, not a dog? That's a little harsh. People enjoy food too...

rawhidenadz

I don't know, I mean I do have a higher calorie day or two every week, but I go by weekly averages, so I don't really care if I go higher one day as long as my average at the end of the week comes out to under my TDEE. I usually aim to average 2000 calories. So usually I'll have one 3,000 calorie day and then maybe 1800 calories for most of the rest of the week and it works out fine, or I'll just eat closer to 2000 every day. It all works out the same in the end, as long as you take in less calories than you burn, you'll lose weight.

So for example, I'm going out to dinner this week (Thursday night) and I already know that I'm going to have a higher calorie day because of it - I've already calculated the calories in the meal I plan to order, because they have their nutritional info online, and my dinner comes out to about 2000 calories. So that day, I'll probably have a normal breakfast and lunch, and my total will come out to between 2500 and 3000 calories. I'm still going to stay on track the rest of the week and make sure to stay low enough the other days to come out with a low enough average at the end of the week. It's never hindered my progress, and giving myself a little bit of freedom within reason makes the restriction the rest of the time a lot more bearable.

Everyone tracks differently, but however you choose to look at your calories, I'd suggest that if you do cheat days, not to go completely off the rails. Have a higher calorie day within reason. Track everything, just like you normally do. It's very easy to go overboard when you're not tracking, especially when you've been keeping to a strict deficit for a long time.

cwolfman13

IMO, the entire concept lacks perspective. There seems to be this necessity to label foods as "good" or "bad" without taking into account context and dosage. Just about anything you can think of can be consumed as a part of an overall well balanced and nutritious diet. If I have a doughnut for breakfast, it doesn't negate the nutrition I take in the rest of the day. If I have a couple slices of pizza for dinner, it does not negate the nutrition I've taken in earlier in the day. Unfortunately, people have this all or nothing mentality that ultimately leads to this kind of lack of perspective and small picture thinking.

To that end, even having a crummy day here and there where you really aren't hitting your nutritional requirements doesn't matter in the larger picture so long as you are hitting on your nutrition most of the time. Add to that, overindulgence and/or overeating on occasion never hurt anyone either...it's routinely overeating and overindulging that is the issue.

So again, I think the concept of a "cheat meal" or a "cheat day" completely lacks perspective and shows an inability or reluctance to see the much bigger picture and get out of the minutia that tends to trap people.

amaysngrace

I do have a cheat day, two in fact. However, lately I have just been exercising for what I crave or just fitting it in to my allotted calories which might result in eating a smaller lunch and dinner...

karenj_m

I don't have an assigned cheat day.....if its someone's birthday or something, I'll adjust my eating throughout the day, to try to allocate for a piece of cake or something, so my calorie totals are still meetng my goals.

Maybe when I hit maintenance, I'll do the cheat day thing...but right now everything is going well, and its too easy for me to screw up with my love for junk and goodies.