Can I have a free day?
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taso42
Posts: 8,979 Member
A free day is a day that you eat whatever you want, without any regard for logging or calories. Also known as a splurge day, spike day, or cheat day. Should you have such a day, and how often?
The answer is probably yes. The main benefits are
a) psychology - people often do better when they know nothing is 100% off limits. Perhaps you don't eat ice cream or pizza or mom's lasagna during the week, but you can have it on your free day.
b) metabolism - while in calorie deficit, the body adapts. It starts to think food is scarce so it holds on to the fat. Taking a day to splurge a bit lets the body know that it's not in a famine, and it becomes more cooperative with burning fat.
A common criticism to the free day is something like, "why would I want to undo all my progress and spoil everything with a free day?" You won't undo all your progress in a single day. Think of it this way. Back before watching your calories, do you think you would become lean and fit by taking a single "good eating" day once a week, and eating sloppy the rest of the time?
The answer is probably yes. The main benefits are
a) psychology - people often do better when they know nothing is 100% off limits. Perhaps you don't eat ice cream or pizza or mom's lasagna during the week, but you can have it on your free day.
b) metabolism - while in calorie deficit, the body adapts. It starts to think food is scarce so it holds on to the fat. Taking a day to splurge a bit lets the body know that it's not in a famine, and it becomes more cooperative with burning fat.
A common criticism to the free day is something like, "why would I want to undo all my progress and spoil everything with a free day?" You won't undo all your progress in a single day. Think of it this way. Back before watching your calories, do you think you would become lean and fit by taking a single "good eating" day once a week, and eating sloppy the rest of the time?
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