Cheat day?

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  • iamhealingmyself
    iamhealingmyself Posts: 579 Member
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    So we've all decided that have a day off is a good thing, BUT do you think they should be logged as a means to judge how well we're doing "off the diet mode" or should it just be a day without worrying about the numbers? I see someone said they took the day to eat but still logged the food. Is that helpful or counter productive? If you know you're going to judge what you eat afterward, will we still have the freedom to trust our skills?

    Does this make sense? I haven't been logging my day's off, but I've only had a couple since I started in January. I know exactly what I've eaten so I could log it for today's day off, but it wasn't part of my plan.
  • surfhag
    surfhag Posts: 1
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    It helps me with the rest of the week. If I am losing on a daily rate, then I will definitely splurge on one day of the weekend. If I haven't lost any weight during the week, then I will stay on my plan. Good Luck!

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  • twogoots
    twogoots Posts: 96 Member
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    No cheat days here, just learning to average out when I can afford to have that meal and drink that is extra calories. So tomorrow I am going to have to tighten the foods I eat and add in some EXTRA cardio!!! I am heading out for my night of mexican food. Good luck figuring out what works for you!
  • cindy4mica
    cindy4mica Posts: 777 Member
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    i've had cheat "days", but found that as long as it's not several days in a row, it won't affect my weight. somehow i might actually lose a pound. however, sometimes cheat days result in several in a row if you don't have the will power to have just one.
  • hellen72
    hellen72 Posts: 144 Member
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    Bump
  • cindy4mica
    cindy4mica Posts: 777 Member
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    So we've all decided that have a day off is a good thing, BUT do you think they should be logged as a means to judge how well we're doing "off the diet mode" or should it just be a day without worrying about the numbers? I see someone said they took the day to eat but still logged the food. Is that helpful or counter productive? If you know you're going to judge what you eat afterward, will we still have the freedom to trust our skills?

    Does this make sense? I haven't been logging my day's off, but I've only had a couple since I started in January. I know exactly what I've eaten so I could log it for today's day off, but it wasn't part of my plan.

    i always log in my food (if i remember) - even cheat days. there are days i've actually been over by a full day's worth of calories! but it just motivates me to do better the next day. we can't "pretend" we're perfect so we need to be cognisant of our weaknesses & little "failures", as well as our successes.
  • Lisa1971
    Lisa1971 Posts: 3,069 Member
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    I don't think it's a bad thing to have a "cheat day." Sat or Sunday is a cheat day for me.
  • hellen72
    hellen72 Posts: 144 Member
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    I have found that having a net calories of X and I lose steadily but last week ( and this is not the first time) I had X+300 on 2 days, I was still logging an overall deficit though. However the scales went up bu 1-5 pounds. It has taken a week to get back to where I was. It is as if any calorie I eat over X is really 10 calories!

    I am guessing funny things are going on with water retention.
  • iamhealingmyself
    iamhealingmyself Posts: 579 Member
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    I have found that having a net calories of X and I lose steadily but last week ( and this is not the first time) I had X+300 on 2 days, I was still logging an overall deficit though. However the scales went up bu 1-5 pounds. It has taken a week to get back to where I was. It is as if any calorie I eat over X is really 10 calories!

    I am guessing funny things are going on with water retention.
    Maybe it's not so much the caloric increase but the types of foods you are choosing? Could be more salt than you realized or were used to eating, could be that maybe your elimination cycle is off that week if say you ate more rice, bread and less fiberful items so you're not as empty as you'd normally be. I'm finding that the case this week although I eat yogurt everyday at least once a day but I have noticed my overall fiber intake is down a little over what it was.
  • ontheheap
    ontheheap Posts: 12 Member
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    I have a "cheat day" once a week where I eat all of my maintenance calories. I do this to keep my metabolism from slowing down due to the 1000 calorie/day deficit I have on the other days. I've noticed that I seem to lose 1 - 2 lbs the day after I do this, almost like it resets my body in preparation for the next week of calorie restriction. Once in a while I'll have a couple of days like this in a row (eating whatever foods I want, but not exceeding my maintenance calories) and then I'll do a 24-hour fast to reset my system. I find that allowing myself the things that I want (in moderation), and making healthy choices the other 95% of the time, is much more realistic for me over the long term. It's been working great for me so far!
  • frannyannemum
    frannyannemum Posts: 142
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    Hi,

    I don't exactly have cheat days but have gone about 100/200 calories over my recommended intake several days this week and have not done much in the way of exercise. I have a very poorly 14 month old baby and a 33 month old toddler who is just getting better so stress and not having much time has been in abundance this week. Really, really feel guilty about not sticking to what I should. Have put on about 1lb. No cheat days for me for several weeks (although is my son's christening next Sunday, but will try and be really, really good!).

    Good luck and don't put too much stress on yourself to be really strict :)
  • iamhealingmyself
    iamhealingmyself Posts: 579 Member
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    I have a "cheat day" once a week where I eat all of my maintenance calories. I do this to keep my metabolism from slowing down due to the 1000 calorie/day deficit I have on the other days. I've noticed that I seem to lose 1 - 2 lbs the day after I do this, almost like it resets my body in preparation for the next week of calorie restriction. Once in a while I'll have a couple of days like this in a row (eating whatever foods I want, but not exceeding my maintenance calories) and then I'll do a 24-hour fast to reset my system. I find that allowing myself the things that I want (in moderation), and making healthy choices the other 95% of the time, is much more realistic for me over the long term. It's been working great for me so far!
    this wouldn't work for me. My BMR at my goal weight is 1518.45 and I'm currently eating 1530 and MFP just upped my rate to 1550. I'm not sure why the numbers are higher than when I started but I have that in another thread. I guess it has to do with the sedentary factor being included into the daily calories and the BMR being a just to exist in bed kind of number.
  • hellen72
    hellen72 Posts: 144 Member
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    I have found that having a net calories of X and I lose steadily but last week ( and this is not the first time) I had X+300 on 2 days, I was still logging an overall deficit though. However the scales went up bu 1-5 pounds. It has taken a week to get back to where I was. It is as if any calorie I eat over X is really 10 calories!

    I am guessing funny things are going on with water retention.
    Maybe it's not so much the caloric increase but the types of foods you are choosing? Could be more salt than you realized or were used to eating, could be that maybe your elimination cycle is off that week if say you ate more rice, bread and less fiberful items so you're not as empty as you'd normally be. I'm finding that the case this week although I eat yogurt everyday at least once a day but I have noticed my overall fiber intake is down a little over what it was.
  • hellen72
    hellen72 Posts: 144 Member
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    Ooops I meant to write the following to go with the above quote....

    On those days I havevbeen over it has been on chocolate or sweet junk rather than salty snacks
  • tslocum2001
    tslocum2001 Posts: 23
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    I dont' schedule a cheat day, but sometimes I eat something less than healthy and don't beat myself up over it. I figure once I am at my goal I will do that and I might as well treat the journey the same way. It has become something I do a couple times a month not daily and I am usually still within my food goals once I add in my exercise calories.
  • kwardklinck
    kwardklinck Posts: 1,601
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    I do a "cheat meal" every week or two . Cheat days really don't work well for me. I go way over on calories and I feel bad for days after. If you're feeling particularly hungry at the end of the week, get yourself a nice dinner on Friday or Saturday night. You may be up a couple of pounds the next day, but it'll be gone within a couple of days. The good thing about the cheats is they sometimes actually speed up the weight loss. I generally notice a loss 5-6 days after my cheat.
  • jbug100
    jbug100 Posts: 406 Member
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    I like to call it "maintenance day" as I could not successfully maintain if I didn't relax the program once or twice/ week. I feel too guilty if I call it "cheat" day. It's all a mental game. My maintenance days rarely go over 2500 cals.
  • danielled6875
    danielled6875 Posts: 53 Member
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    I been giving myself a "cheat day" for 2 1/2 years and have lost almost 90 lbs prior to MFP. It kept my head on straight all week knowing that I can eat whatever i wanted on Saturday. Once Sunday came...the switch clicked and I was right back on track. I would always be up a few lbs but lost it right away. I always considered it fake weight. BUT now with 10 lbs or so to get to my goal weight....cheat days are no longer working for me. It depresses me because I always looked forward to it and it always helped me. Now I am doing alot of analyzing of what I am doing because I just can't shed these last lbs. Part of me says I should be happy with where I am but the other part of me wants to really loose these last lbs. I am struggling with giving up the cheat day so I am trying to control it and not go as crazy as I used to. i really do think it helped me stay focused for so long. All in all like everyone else is saying....if you can make sure your cheat day dosn't spiral into cheat days....enjoy it!
  • kally64
    kally64 Posts: 1
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    that's great,keep up the work

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