Cheat days- works? or weakens?

jitterbug89

Like many of you, I have a TON of cravings. Particularly any kind of bread (yumm sourdough!) or chocolate item. I try to stick to my healthy eating diet throughout the day but then I allow myself one dessert/treat a day usually around 150-200 calories. However, I've noticed that even with this much leniency I still blow my diet on the weekend! My mom makes Sunday dinners that are always a caloric mystery and my boyfriend and I always go out for dinner and/or dessert on Saturday. I feel like the weekends are my vacation from being stressed about my weight but then the stress only multiplies! Is anyone else in this dilemma??

JesaGrace

Yes, I worry about that too....sometimes on the weekends I'm particularly bad about cheating a little....would love some advice too...

jmecale72

This happens to me too. Being here actually has helped me be more conscious about what I eat on the weekends. I have become better at not splurging, but I'm still a work in progress. Everything in moderation.

Shan605

I personally think it weakens my attemps to stay healthy but everyone is different. I want a life style change not just a diet so i try to incorparate my favorite foods into my life, just in moderation.

mamareese

From reading topics on here, I think it really varies from person to person. I know that I can relate to your 'Saturday' dinners. We eat at my parents' one day a week and it's always difficult to try to behave on those days. It's soooo good to go home to Mama's and just have a nice relaxing dinner! I've found that for me I have to allow myself a little bit of lax on those days and then use that as motivation for the next meal there. If I try to stay on top of things every minute of every day, it becomes so cumbersome that I bum myself out. Meals at my moms are my 'freedom' meal so to speak. I don't go crazy but I allow myself to eat until I'm full while still paying attention to what I put on my plate and then I will log it in so that I have that accountability to fall back on during the week. It's a pain because with her meals I'll have to enter it ingredient by ingredient but it does help.

wendyj441

I have a similar problem. My fiance does all the cooking on the weekend when I am in town. The food is great but not great for you and he likes to try and fix my plates and it is of course always way too much. I sat him down and explained to him what I am trying to do. I still eat what he fixes but I pick and choose if I have to cut something out and I decide the proportions. It's a happy arrangement. I keep it down low enough to still have a snack in the evening. I play with the portions on here and see what will best fit what I need.

Jacquelyn913

I also have no idea what my mom uses in her Sunday dinners, and my boyfriend and I go out every Friday night. I still try to stick to my calorie limit but exercise alot more the days I know I will be 'splurging' that way I know I wont actually be going over. I am having success doing it this way. Good luck to you!

lordofultima

Cheat meal, once a week it's fine. Cheat day? Sabotage's a whole week of effort. Trust me, it's either on or off in my experience. Last time I tried to have a cheat day, I ate like 4500 calories and ruined my week. I'd recommend planning out your cheat meal once a week, so you look forward to it and maybe do a bit extra cardio that day to make sure you still hit your goals.

kao708

To make this a true lifestyle change you are going to have to incorporate "normal" foods at some point. If you completely remove all those things from your "diet" to lose weight you will struggle to keep the weight off when your eating habits return to normal.

If you know that you are going to have heavier meals on saturday and sunday, make sure you get in some sort of workouts those days to allow you some additional calories. Also, make your other meals on those days something lower in calories so you don't have to worry so much about going way over.

If you go over your daily calorie goal now and then, it won't derail your progress. Just don't get too carried away! Everything in moderation! Good luck!

FearAnLoathing

I think it depends on the person

NicoleMcArthur1983

I have the same problem. I do great during the week but on the weekends my husband & I like to drink. Beer has alot of empty calories. I've found a beer that is 55 calories (Budweiser Select 55). It's not that great but it's only 55 cal. Hope I can stick with it and loss more weight.

WhiteStar2351

Cheat days are definitely not good! Its far too easy to eat your entire calorie deficit for the week if you don't keep it in check.

Cheat MEALs on the other hand are beneficial - they boost the hormones responsible for weight loss and allow you to stay sane.

I always recommend people follow the 90% rule - eat right 90% of the time and you'll have no problems. If you eat 4 meals a day, thats 28 meals a week of which you can get away with cheating on 2-3 of them. Obviously the less you cheat the faster your results will come.

Plus you need to reward yourself for all your hard work over the week, just don't go mad and over eat (a chinese takeaway could easily see you pack away 2000-3000 calories. A large kebab is around 1400 calories, etc!)

hamiltonba

Someone posted the comment that eating healthy is not supposed to be a punishment. I thought it was a good statement. I would always justify my lousy eating habits on the weekend by telling myself I was good during the week. Let's face it, if we have to go crazy on weekends where it's going to offset the healthy eating during the week, maybe we're too strict with ourselves. I am trying to make choices that I can live with for the rest of my life. I have been able to maintain my weight, but there are times when it is easy to fall back into bad habits. I can't have cheat days or I tend to want more....

mjcaines72

I "try" to eat good on the weekdays because I know on the weekends I will go over my calorie intake. I LOVE pizza and we normally order pizza on Saturdays. I try to fit in an extra workout during the week so I can enjoy. Perhaps if you know you are going out to eat on Saturday and then Sunday eat at your mom's...cut out the desert during the week OR eat something that's reasonable in calories when you go out to eat so you can enjoy and have desert with that dinner.

USCErin

I use exercise to gain calories back into my diet so that I can splurge regularly. It has been a GREAT motivator for me to exercise. Just knowing that I can get that milkshake at Chick-fil-a or glass (or two) of red wine at the end of the day with calories left over feels good. The whole eating every few hours has helped too, when I have those big meals on special dinners out, my stomach just gets full faster. Growing up I was told to finish everything on the plate, so it took a long time for me to be alright with leaving some if I was full.

If I know I'm going to be splurging that night, I exercise like a dog in the morning (90 mins - 120 mins cardio) and snack all day so I have plenty of calories to go. It is working for me.

It's so funny, I hated exercise (and I'm not especially fond of it now), but now knowing that it leads to a guilt-free calorie day has made it so much easier :-)

timetoshrinkk

I am trying to make a lifestyle change and therefore i am trying not to deprive myself and try to incoporate my lifestyle into my family and homelife. I mean usually when i wasn't calorie counting and making healthy choices i would over eat everyday binging on fatty foods and fastfood. Now i am limiting this to my 'cheatmeal' which is on a saturday night. This is my boyfriend's and I's takeout food evening and i am still going to have this tradition, but be very careful with my intake on saturday day time and simply have one meal where i can enjoy myself that one time a week.

Of course if i can see that this meal is going to jeopardize my weight loss i will have to drop it from my plans

christinslough

I like cheat days, but I only get 1 every two weeks. I know that if I have a treat every day and then don't log/count calories on the weekend I will just maintain my weight that week and not lose. I gain easily, so I have to do a lot to maintain and A WHOLE LOT to lose. For me to lose, I have to be religious every day, including weekends, and only have one cheat day every other week.

I had the same problem... I go to my parents lake house most weekends and my mom cooks. I actually started taking my own food and offering to cook some "healthy" meals and we found out that everyone really liked what I made! So every other week I would cook and every other week my mom would on my cheat day.

All of that being said, I would say that if you don't want to cheat and you don't want to just not eat with your family, share your healthy food with them! Your mom might like the break on cooking every once in a while and your family might like to try something new?

Good luck!!

NoAdditives

I save my indulgences for the weekend. I used to have two days off every week where I wouldn't worry about my calories and I'd eat foods I wouldn't during the week. As I've come along I've cut out refined sugar, most cheese (only 1oz per day max), etc. so I no longer crave junk food. Once every couple of weeks I'll have a soda, and I definitely give in to the cravings during my TOM. But that's about it. Since I don't eat those foods often, I don't want them much.

Having the freedom of those days off really helped me, especially in the beginning. It was much easier to transition to a lifestyle of "clean" eating. It also helped to have a more relaxed approach to my weight loss. When I started I had 85 pounds to lose. I knew that would take me about a year (broken up by a pregnancy). Knowing it would take that long made me give myself a little more freedom because I knew that I wouldn't be able to completely swear off cake, chips, etc. and I wasn't going to want to eat only salads at restaurants. I've never tried to lose 2 pounds per week because I knew I couldn't be that strict every single day. So I'm content to have the weight come off a little slower if it means I can indulge a little when I want to. For me, this isn't about getting skinny as much as it is about living healthier, and it takes time to transition from eating pizza and soda to steamed broccoli and grilled chicken breast.

jitterbug89

You all have great insights. I especially think the idea of a cheat "meal" is a lot better than a whole day. The worst thing about "cheating" is that I'm an all-or-nothing person, like to the T. It's hard for me to eat really healthy all day and then splurge on a meal. I also find it difficult because if I know I'm going to have a big meal at night I'll eat hardly anything all day and then justify eating a whole cow for dinner. Hahaha wow I think I just talked myself in a circle.

happyhaunt

I can totally relate to you. I've been going out for a meal every Thursday and I really eat a lot during that meal. I'm stopping going out for the Thursday meals starting this week. I have trouble most evenings though. I have a lot more will power during the day but then when it gets to nighttime I just lose my control. I'm hoping this site will help me to stop doing that.

suliah

Cheat days for me lead to cheat weekends which lead to guilt which leads to cheat weeks... Bad spiral.

The idea of a single "cheat meal" per week, on the other hand, is rather appealing. But I think I will have to make my weigh-in morning the morning right after it, so that my cheat meal doesn't become a full-on binge! There IS a difference, my friends