Cheat days ... yes or no?

chevy88grl

I find that I need a cheat day once in awhile or I end up going on a huge eating binge sooner or later, so I would rather plan and cheat then let my emotions take over and I have no control

I'm the same way. I will start to feel like my eating is getting a bit out of control. I have a "cheat" day- eat what I want, when I want and I'm good to go. I don't do it once a week or even once a month -- I'd say I do it once every 4-5 months. Also, I still log everything on those days -- just to see. I've found I'm not THAT horrible even on "cheat" days.

elliecolorado

I am not on a diet so I don't 'cheat' this is a lifestyle change. I still eat the things that I want, I just eat less of them. I am only making changes that are realistic for me to stick with for the rest of my life. I don't think it's realistic to think that I will never eat my favorite things or that I won't have days where I want to go out to dinner with friends or go out drinking. If I know in advance I will be going out I try to factor things into my daily calorie goal or work out a little extra, but if something comes up and I go over my goal I don't worry to much about that either. Personally I think 'cheating' has a negative connotation and me living my life is not cheating!

alifer

After reading these responses I think my definition of a cheat day may be a little different than most. I allow myself one day once a week to eat up to a couple hundred extra calories that day, but still count everything the best I can. Usually it is on the weekend and is related to what is going on that day. So far I have found that I end up close to calories and feel the need to work them off anyway. Still relatively new to this as I just started about 7 weeks ago, but seems to be working for me. And I find myself getting full long before I ever was before I started this.