No Honor in Cheating - Cheat Days and the Wrong Mindset

Qarol

If that's your opinion and that's how you want to live your life and you think it's best for you, then awesome. But that doesn't make it wrong for other people.

kunibob

Congrats on figuring out what works for you! I would caution you against assuming that's the same for everybody, and casting judgement upon those who work differently than you.

I've been on my weight loss journey for 4.5 years now, and the occasional "cheat day" has not harmed me. Food IS a reward for me. It IS an obsession. I tried pretending it wasn't, many years ago, and it led to year after year of increasingly worse behaviours, ending up with my max weight in 2007. Some folks can just flip on their "100% healthy, all the time" attitudes, but I seem to have an inevitable backlash that comes from that.

What has worked for me has been embracing my love of food and working on portion control instead (daily portion control AND overall "bad day" portion control!) When I was in counselling for OCD, ages ago, the focus of the therapy was to embrace my obsessions and learn that I control them rather than the other way around: it allowed me to empower myself by accepting my obsessions and realizing that I was actively making the choices I did. The same applies to food for me. On the days when the obsession with food seems too powerful to ignore: I own it, I log it, I deal with the consequences, I move on. If those days start to happen frequently, then I look at the root cause and try to tackle that: am I under extra stress? Not eating enough? etc. ...but if it's once in a blue moon, then I own it and move on. You might argue that the root of that is an unhealthy attitude toward food, and I agree. You're absolutely right. For some of us, that is a reality that we have to embrace and work with.

We are all different, and what is the perfect solution for one is not the perfect solution for another.

otr12

I eat whatever I want on Sundays and don't log it. So far it's working just fine for me. I closely watch my progress and when it stops working I'll stop doing it. By "working" I'm including my weight and the lab results my doctor is constantly rechecking.

I'm lucky in that I don't have a problem hopping right back on the wagon Monday morning. I enjoy eating. Food is good food. I don't think that is ever going to change for me. Everything I eat is a choice I make after I weigh all the pros and cons. Sundays carrot cake is a choice I make because it's worth it to me. And Mondays veggie egg white omelette is also a choice that is worth it to me. I no longer eat mindlessly or lose control of my consumption.

So I'm pro "cheat day", for me. But I wouldn't recommend it because I don't think that the majority of people trying to lose weight have the same mindset as I do.