Cheat days do not work!

ProjectTae

I plan to have a cheat day but it will not be once a week I believe that is way to often (for myself) I love fast food but i only generally get it once a month i.e. my cheat day mine was actually last week I went 1500 over goal but worked out and still lost weight so as long as you don't over do it you can have a successful cheat day!
BTW: Eating until you are sick does not sound healthy I am not a doctor or anything but a couple of years ago a girl i knew died because her stomach burst because she would eat until she was literally sick! I do not know how often she did this though. Not trying to scare you or anything just want you to be a little safer!

wildkatt7

calling something cheating is the problem... I never cheat, I simply eat whatever I want within my calorie intake allowance. when you mentally tell yourself it is a "cheat" you make it out to be as though you are doing something wrong. If you body craves chocolate, eat the chocolate... don't feel bad about it, just make sure you adjust your calorie intake to allow for it. Eating healthy and balanced in a way that honors your body every day is what matters. In just 44 weeks I have lost 70 pounds with a commitment to honoring my body, its cravings, and feeding it with whole food versions of that which I crave (yes I make nearly everything from scratch).

servilia

What is a "cheat meal"? How is it cheating if you're sticking to your daily calorie deficit?

Bellyroll

I think it really depends on the person. Cheat days have worked for me and never really killed my weight loss. But my cheat day is not aggressive. Something I do is I log everything.

carrie_eggo

I am not sure that i understand the point of cheat days. I try to save my junk food for times I can't avoid it, like birthday parties and special dinners. Eating healthy six days a week and then having one day a week where you eat poorly seems contradictory.

For starters:

1) Mental health.
2) Dieting longevity.
3) Hormone levels.

I need cheat days for #1.

tigersword

I don't believe in cheat days at all. If the philosophy is "this isn't a diet, it's a life style change", then cheat days don't make sense. They suggest you get to walk out on your life once a week. That's ridiculous. It means you don't really buy off on the change. You're just hanging tough to get to the next cheat day. I'll take the life style change and stick to it, thank you.

Lifestyle change is different than calorie restriction to lose weight. Cheat day means eating at or slightly above maintenance instead of eating at a deficit, in order to keep your hormones in balance.

havalinaaa

Cheat days don't work for YOU, but they do work for some people. Diets are very individual, what works well for one person might be a disaster for another.

Cheat days work well for me, but I only eat 400 over my goal at the very most. Usually I do this by having one item I might not normally have, a larger portion of something I would have eaten anyway, and an alcoholic drink or two. I don't have them on any sort of schedule, but try to have no more than 4 a month. I usually 'save' them for days when I'll be going to a party or to a special restaurant.

TrimThinTonedTight

cheat days don't work for me either. I'm working on eliminating them after Christmas completely with exception of 4 days per year.

For some people they can manage weekly cheat days. I'm just not able to because I tend to mindlessly eat. The only cheat days I will give myself is: my birthday, Canada day, Christmas eve, and New Years eve.

Depends on your definition of "cheat days." I personally have 1-2 days per week where I go over my stated calorie goal on purpose. I don't necessarily have high sugar or high fat foods, I just more calories of healthy stuff that I would have anyway, like calorie cycling.

And I've been losing an average of 1.25 pounds per week since the week before Thanksgiving.

I've had things like apple pie and cupcakes, but my body doesn't like them anymore. Sure they taste amazing and I love them, but my body just feels rundown and "icky" after consuming them. So I don't bother anymore unless it's a small piece of something on a special occasion. Now if you meant "cheat days" by having that kind of food all day, then I wouldn't do that. It would make me feel icky and not want to exercise and thus derail anything I was trying to do as I would be more motivated to eat more and exercise less.

I feel the same way when I eat "bad" food now too. I'm kind of glad however because it's an added incentive.

Le_Joy

You described uncontrolled binging. That is nowhere near the same as a cheat day.

This!

rockerbabyy

i think cheat days work great for me. i do one a week where i eat at maintenance instead of my deficit. sometimes its healthy stuff, sometimes its a burger at red robin, or something like a night time trip to the gas station for nachos. when i actually stick to my calories the rest of the week, i lose my 2lbs a week. this month has been rough but it has nothing to do with "cheat days" - more just holiday treats and stressful times

Natashaa1991

if you want diet to work, you better make it a lifestyle. otherwise you're gonna gain it all back.
and of course you're gonna eat junk food and sweets, just try not to eat that every day.. as for me, i lost my weight slowly, because i let myself have my favorite food, but i don't stuff myself until i want to vomit. But at least i know i'm not gonna gain it all back after i "finish my diet", because i'm trying not to. I had pizza for lunch yesterday and because of that i had light dinner. try to balance it, otherwise you're just gonna deprive yourself and binge on your "free" days, remember, it's not your last chance to eat delicious unhealthy stuff.
I know how you feel because i used to be like you. But try to think "lifestyle" not "diet" and you're gonna lose weight faster, and be happier, since you get to eat all the yummy food!

Sd0510

Cheat days work for me, but I am usually still under my calorie goal. My "cheat" defination means eating at a restaraunt or having a snack like baked doritos for example, but not over eating.

Allersfera

Ok so, CHEAT days are not supposed to be the whole day , that's the first thing.
and yes cheat days are always a serving of something you're really craving. that's all.

Pebble321

I can't imagine why you thought that eating until you felt sick two days a week would be good for you?

I'm all for going over my calorie allowance now and again for a special occasion, but doing this for two full days every week sounds like a risky strategy. I remember your previous post and that you have a hard time when you are with the family. Well, you've tried eating everything, now it sounds like you need to find another strategy. Portion control perhaps?

And I don't think it would be that hard to log your estimated calorie intake - you could either add in your mum's recipes or just find something that is similar (I'm betting their would be a fair bit of moroccan food in the database so you can take a reasonable estimate at least). This way you will have a bit of a sense of how far over you are on the weekends and what you need to do during the week to stay on track.

Good luck finding a strategy that works for you.

foremant86

A cheat day does not mean eating til you get sick, that's called binging.

A cheat day is a day where you go over your calories a bit but not insanely crazy.

Don't be ridiculous.

SachaMichel

I have 2-3 days per week where I eat about 50% more calories than I usually do. It's worked for me.

I tend not to eat till there's physical pain because that's rather unpleasant. If I'm getting too full, even if it's my cheat day, I'll stop.

Umeboshi

Tell that to the 36 pounds that have somehow disappeared from my body so far...
I have one cheat day/meal a week. I usually go over my calorie goal by 200-500 calories.

65PONY

Hmmm How much do you weigh??

chevy88grl

I don't do cheat meals or cheat days.

I eat what I want, when I want it. I make sure I can account for whatever I'm eating in my daily calories, log it and move on. For me, cheat meals and cheat days sound way too much like a diet and not a lifestyle change. I don't know about you, but if I want a Reese's Peanut Butter cup - I want it NOW.. not on a specific day that I set aside as the day I can eat it.

This isn't a diet for me, this is my life. I don't want to spend the rest of my life anxiously waiting for a certain day to eat something. I'd rather have it now, work it into my calories and be able to move on with my life.

I've also found that being able to eat what I want, when I want it has helped with my binge eating. Since I'm not denying myself anything - I don't feel like I'm dieting, I don't get resentful and therefore want to binge.

cheeksv

I have a cheat weekend where I cheat one day ( with unprocessed foods) but still work out and rest the next and stick closely to my diet. If I miss a cheat day though and eat healthy it does not bother me. Some people need them to keep sane and I think they are good. There are times when continuous calorie counting and saying" no" can take its tole.

SLT01

I am not sure that i understand the point of cheat days. I try to save my junk food for times I can't avoid it, like birthday parties and special dinners. Eating healthy six days a week and then having one day a week where you eat poorly seems contradictory.

I agree, I work graveyard hours so when I got off work I stopped by the bakery and picked up some sweet rolls and danishes because we were doing our Christmas today and I had like 2 danishes and a cup of coffee while watching everyone open gifts. I haven't had a danish in FOREVER and allthough it was really, really good, I kinda felt sickly and bloated afterward. Guess my body isn't used to all that sugar anymore, lol. But on days I know I am gonna eat like that I will do an extra workout. I also only save my "cheat" days/meals for times I know there will be junk food involved: BBQ's, birthdays, parties, etc...

Unknown

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aquapussy

Oh for god's sake. You can't ruin all your progress from one cheat day. If you have a problem with food then obviously you should get that under control before allowing cheat days. I have lost over 100 lbs now with a cheat/carbo load day per week for the last year.
You have to do what works for you, but just because it doesn't work for you does not mean it does not work. Making blanket statements like that is pretty ignorant.

Also like everyone else said, cheating does not mean binging until you are sick (though I did have the odd day like that in the last year).

debussyschild

Hmmm... cheat days where you go over on calories probably aren't going to work, since that does not produce an adequate deficit. Plus, eating a bunch like that is probably going to slow down the metabolism.

I'm incorporating my own kind of "cheat" days into my diet. I'm a big advocate of clean eating, but clean eating has a major drawback that I like to call food boredom. On my cheat days, I'll replace maybe 1-2 of my meals with "non clean" foods such as maybe a serving of ice cream, a piece of fried chicken, a beer, etc. I'll still hit my macros, but I won't be doing it with clean foods the whole day. This way, I feel, I can still keep my deficit and hit my macros without feeling completely deprived all the time.

Cheat days where you just let your entire diet go are probably not going to work. Allowing yourself to squeeze in foods you don't normally have as a treat, I think, is one of the best ways to avoid binging when you've finally had enough of all those boring clean foods.

ninerbuff

I "cheat" at least 3 times a week. Nothing wrong if you know how to control them.


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KayteeBear

To me a cheat day is allowing myself to eat a donut or something unhealthy or an extra helping of food or something...not stuffing myself until I feel sick so for me cheat days are okay...

Hola723

I don't do cheat meals or cheat days.

I eat what I want, when I want it. I make sure I can account for whatever I'm eating in my daily calories, log it and move on. For me, cheat meals and cheat days sound way too much like a diet and not a lifestyle change. I don't know about you, but if I want a Reese's Peanut Butter cup - I want it NOW.. not on a specific day that I set aside as the day I can eat it.

This isn't a diet for me, this is my life. I don't want to spend the rest of my life anxiously waiting for a certain day to eat something. I'd rather have it now, work it into my calories and be able to move on with my life.

I've also found that being able to eat what I want, when I want it has helped with my binge eating. Since I'm not denying myself anything - I don't feel like I'm dieting, I don't get resentful and therefore want to binge.

This.

Lozze

I'll have a cheat meal usually once a week but can go longer if I don't feel like it.

I will generally have chocolate once a day. But I have a 'fun' sized chocolate from the work candy bar. Not a full block. I need my chocolate and that's how I do it. Still under calories! It's the same as an apple or a kiwi fruit but it's oh so good.

PBJunky

Hi:) i just wanted to make a topic about cheat days. an advice from me is to NEVER have cheat days. Last month i started having cheat days.2 cheat days per week. on those days i ate like crazy! i eat and eat and eat till my stomch gets full and i get sick. and then when i try getting back on the wagon it was really hard for me. I gained 2-3lbs just having those cheat days. So AFTER christmas im going to stop having cheat days.if i have any junk food cravings, i well eat 1 serving of it per day (. but Not on saturdays and sundays. because on those days mom makes alot of homemade cooking (moroccan food) and i dont know the calories. so on those days i well have no junk food and try eating as less as possible of the homemade cooking mom makes.

If you had a deficit of 500 cals a day which equates to 1lb(3500 cals) loss a week and you consumed those 3500 cals back and more on a cheat day then surely you will gain weight. It isn't that difficult to understand people

Debbe2

I don't do cheat meals or cheat days.

I eat what I want, when I want it. I make sure I can account for whatever I'm eating in my daily calories, log it and move on. For me, cheat meals and cheat days sound way too much like a diet and not a lifestyle change. I don't know about you, but if I want a Reese's Peanut Butter cup - I want it NOW.. not on a specific day that I set aside as the day I can eat it.

This isn't a diet for me, this is my life. I don't want to spend the rest of my life anxiously waiting for a certain day to eat something. I'd rather have it now, work it into my calories and be able to move on with my life.

I've also found that being able to eat what I want, when I want it has helped with my binge eating. Since I'm not denying myself anything - I don't feel like I'm dieting, I don't get resentful and therefore want to binge.

^^This is how I do it^^. I am mindful, and if I decide to eat something after I have a good idea of where I am at for the day or few surrounding days I go ahead and eat it, log it and move on. None of the guilt, none of the stress surrounding the food. I prefer this to dieting and cheating. I can live like this but I never succeeded in the past by dieting.