Rules and cheating

menchi

I like rules; they've been helpful with my dieting so far. Also, they eventually become natural and I don't have enforce them. I have a treat rule that gives me "permission" to have a treat (something I like but clearly don't need, often sweet) once a day and no repeats of the same treat in 7 days. It helps me control amounts, not obsess about specific treats, and not feel guilty that I had something "naughty."

I like food; some of the foods I like just don't fit in with the healthy food choices:grumble: . But I miss some of those foods a lot. For example, creme brulee, it is egg yolk and heavy cream and sugar :brokenheart: :frown: :sad:. Oh and I've been wanting crab at the seafood buffet-- that's not going to fit in my calorie goals either.

So I'm tossing an idea around in my head for a new rule and I want your input. Occasionally succumbing to eating way too much or excessively too few calories won't cause nearly as much havoc to your body as much as to your mind (guild, shame, depression, anger). So what if I made a rule that allows me to plan for them and give myself "permission" to fall off the wagon occasionally with the expectation that the rest of the time I'm going to be a good healthy person? Since I'm more likely to over eat, the rule for me goes like this: :bigsmile: no more than one day of over eating (that is noted, but calories not logged b/c that would just be depressing) every 30 days. This is like a cheat day, but it's not whenever however I like it, there are limits. This allows me to plan ahead say I want to eat whatever I want on my bday, or anticipate the annual party thrown by the best bbq-er I have ever met. I don't think I would actually binge every 30 days on the dot. Even with the treat rule, I only have about 3 treats a week instead of the full 7 I could have. So, wadaya think?

BeckyRayJohnson

I think it is a great idea. Go for it and then you can share back how well it worked for you.

krissy_pooo

I say YES YES YES! It's my birthday this weekend and there's a Chinese buffet and a night of drinks on the way... BAD! I know I could easily eat 2500 cals that day:indifferent: just thinking about it makes me cringe. But if we're good 98.5% of the time, what's wrong with indulging every once in a while? there are diets out there that swear by doing this!

Naomi91

That is a great idea!! Every month I go over my calorie goal, but only once. Its good for your metabolism to do so

And btw I LOVE creme brulee!

PJilly

I think it's more than OK. I think it's a very [mentally] healthy way to do this. Crab isn't bad at all — until you dip it in that glorious melted butter. :bigsmile:

halphord

I love creme brulee and crab also! I say go for it.

Lyadeia

Perfectly OK and quite normal! :flowerforyou:

It's a lifestyle change, and if someone's lifestyle does not include pizza, Cheesecake Factory, etc...then God bless 'em. As for me, I can't and WON'T go my entire life without them, and I also have "planned cheats" about once a month. When you do this, you will actually see your cravings go down. At least I have!

mideon_696

i love my "cheat" days...saturday be that day! I regularly go WELL over on those days. i'm talking double, or sometimes more.

(i eat 2400 normally), some saturdays have gone as high as 6000... lol.
I weigh in on that morning, then again sunday, and again monday. saturday's and monday's weight is generally always the same

menchi

Crab isn't bad at all — until you dip it in that glorious melted butter. :bigsmile:

Hahahahahaha... that is exactly the problem, and then multiply it by 3 hours of buffet time slowly savoring... Oh my.

JenBrown0210

i think that is a good idea. I do something similar. I love applebees. I love to get buffalo wings, chicken fingers, french fries, and a baked potatoe. That is about 2000 calories. So because I have reached 17 pounds lost we are doing a special day at applebees. I am planning on eating half of the chicken fingers and going to work out extra hard and drink extra water to combat the sodium. it is going to be my reward to myself, since i haven't had applebees since I started my diet. just make sure you are in control and have everything planned.

kategardella

This is a good idea... I cheat one day a week, and its usually a weekend night when I go out to dinner and end up having a few drinks. Make sure you go to the gym on your cheat day to keep your metabolism revved up... we're only human! Also, I usually try to get my sweets in the form of a protein bar or shake, I'll get one that's chocolate flavored so I can have my fix And, if I really want something, I always allow myself a bite... Good luck losing!

PJilly

Crab isn't bad at all — until you dip it in that glorious melted butter. :bigsmile:

Hahahahahaha... that is exactly the problem, and then multiply it by 3 hours of buffet time slowly savoring... Oh my.

I know! I know!

MrsChasteen

I allow myself one piece of candy everyday...

menchi

Thank you for all your responses. I feel more confident about trying this out and seeing how my body/mind responds.

A few of you commented and I feel I should clarify. This cheat day is not about moderation or stuffing face until I hurt either. It's about putting the on the calorie blinders occasionally and go with what makes sense and feels good/right. I think the general idea is to take care of your mental and physical health in your own ways. I'm glad to see everyone here has found something that works for them. :flowerforyou:

wolfchild59

I'd still log the calories on those days. No reason to hide that information from yourself or anyone that can see your profile. I had two almost 6000 calorie days in a row in Disneyland last December (I really don't care about my calorie counts while I'm on vacation) and I logged every single bite I took all day long.

This last Saturday I was in Reno and we went to the El Dorado Buffet. Two plates of entree food and one heaping plate of desserts later I was fat and happy and every single thing got logged. (and photographed and put on Flickr. lol)

The way I see it, is that I'd rather be able to look back and see how calorie spikes for free meals or days compare to how my weight shifts or doesn't. Plus, my ultimate sin is gluttony, so I tell stories of my overeating on vacations like they're war stories and often pull up my logs to show the actual calories and fat I consumed that day. (along with the pictures I take of way too much of my food. heheh)

menchi

I see your point but I guess it serves a different purpose for me. It's not so much about hiding the numbers as much as I get obsessive about the calories when I log and I think I want a day where I just don't worry about it. Especially since I've also try to avoid eating foods that I would have a hard time logging (Chinese sticky rice cake for Chinese New Year was a pain...). I don't want to be counting snow crab legs while I eat. I know there will be a calorie spike that day and I will put in a food note about perhaps where/what I ate w/o allowing myself to wallow in the calorie numbers.

menchi

Just had a cheat day yesterday. I appear to have gained a pound as of weighing this morning but it remains to be seen if that stays or is temporary. I paid attention to how my body felt and ate what was comfortable-- I did have to remind myself that I wasn't going to count calories... I started to mentally estimate what was in my meal a few times.

For those interested, here's the breakdown of my day which was planned with a food-exercise-food-exercise pattern. We started with a full walk through IKEA (took about an hour) and had a softserve as I left the store (asked the BF to share one with me instead of each getting one). Then we headed to an amazing French pastry bakery and had a meal of 2/3 dessert and 1/3 croque monsieur which was all shared with my BF (Another thing I liked about my cheat day was that it was easier to share food b/c I don't have to keep track of who ate how much, but I'm learning to offer the last bite to someone else to cut down on what I eat, if just a little). We went Powell's bookstore. For those not familiar, this is a huge multilevel bookstore with lots of stairs and since I didn't have anything in particular I wanted, I walked around and explored the store most of the time (found a fabulous gardening book for $4, hard cover!). By then it was getting dark so we headed to dinner at a fabulous tapas restaurant which was packed and had a 1.5 hour wait. OMG it was very much worth the wait. We had the tasting menu which was pretty much chef's choice on what to serve us. Most of the dishes were very rich and there was a lot of bread munching (read lots of sodium and probably the source of my weight gain). We wisely skipped dessert and headed to the last stop which is an Asian grocery store. It's pretty big so we pushed the cart through all the aisles and restocked on essentials. Then it was a 2 hr drive home... it was a 14hr adventure all together.

BeckyRayJohnson

Hi, I log every bite. Not for others but so I can see what happens to me when I eat like that. I am not here to impress anyone else. I am here to learn. For example, I had a bowl of liptons chicken noodle in the packets and was horrified to see the amount of sodium. I mean I thought it would be a good thing for me but boy was I wrong. This is why I do it. To learn is the only way I am ever going to go off the "diet" when the weight is gone. I need to know what is good and bad and what I can splurge on. I am glad you enjoyed your day of eating. Now get to work and get it off I just did that and had five lbs to get rid of. A full lost week to catch back up. ...You can do it!!

menchi

I only gained a pound from that and I think it's mostly gone now (getting exercise on my cheat day helped). I've been good this week. Another perk to not logging that day is that when I go to look at the graphs under reports, it's obvious which day was a cheat day, but it doesn't have to make me angry and depressed that it was this huge number of calories.

I do log every bite normally (0.15 of 1 serving of a chocolate bar =1 square, even I roll my eyes at myself for that some days), but sometimes the numbers just drive me nuts. The sodium thing gets me too! I was surprised to find that many foods I eat have crazy amounts of sodium, but also that some of the very tasty foods I like have very low sodium. Like you and many others, the logging has helped me learn which ones are good for me and tasty. I'm always pleased to read how others are learning more about themselves (haha, I even study how people learn as a grad student!).