How do you define "cheating?"

Scorpioangel

This may seem odd but I don't even really see things like eating fast food, etc. as cheating anymore. In fact, I don't even have cheat meals. I just eat things and if I go over I go over but I log it all so I can look for patterns. I am at my goal now and looking to get more lean mass. I rarely have the desire to go hog wild on what some may call a cheat meal For me it would be lots of chocolate, donuts, alcohol and bad bad foods all day! LOL The last time I did that was around the holidays where I ate maybe 3,000 calories but some of that was alcohol I needed late night pizza of course to keep food in my stomach while drinking my wine

vweavers

I would define 'cheating' as anything you put in your mouth without regard for your health and/or caloric intake.
If you don't at least occasionally eat some foods you ENJOY (guilt free)- it's much harder to stay on track.

If eating that cupcake puts you over, but going over isn't something you do every day- I see no problem. If you eat that cupcake because, dammit- you just don't care right now....that's cheating.

hope516

I only feel guilty when I go over my calorie intake. I about 95% of the time try to only eat "healthy" foods. But every now and then (today for example) I indulge in something "not so healthy." But as long as I don't go over than I don't mind. However, I have found I am more likely to overeat when I do allow myself these small indulgences. I am an all or nothing type of person so not eating these things works better for me.

tmt2003

I feel like cheating = guilt and I am done feeling guilty about food! This is it for me. the real deal for life to be accountable to myself. I've been overwieght my whole life and have spent years feeling guilt and shame about food and myself. I am done with that! Sometimes I feel like "I shouldn't have eaten that" but it's more like I will do better next time, not shame.

So to answer, I don't consider anything "cheating" - either I am eating at a deficit or not. period. If I take a day "off" or splurge for an occassion that is a decision I have made. Ditto if I don't record 100% of my food or eat chips instead of veggies. Sometimes I make smart choices and sometimes not so smart choices, but I'm the one in conrtol of all that and I've learned no matter what I log or don't log - I can't cheat the scale : )

Teresa

CharityPearce

I have been working at decoupling my eating habits from the vocabulary of moral lapses. Eating off plan isn't "cheating", it isn't "bad", it isn't a crime or a sin. It's not something for which one needs to be punished, or do penance.

That kind of thinking leads me right to starve-and-binge cycles, even minor ones, and those are simply not productive.

So, to answer the question, how do I define cheating? I don't, in the context of weight loss. There is eating on-plan and eating off-plan, and occasionally I make a considered decision to go off plan in which case it's sort of a planned off-plan event, if that makes sense. But there isn't any "cheating".

The important thing is what I do with the NEXT eating opportunity - and I always try to follow off-plan decisions with on-plan decisions, beginning from the very next bite. There is no "well today is blown so I might as well..." Every choice, every eating opportunity, is a separate and new opportunity to make a good choice.

That's how I try to think about things.

^^This^^ Couldn't have said it better myself. Now, what you put in your "plan" is up to you. What are your personal goals? Mine, personally, is to learn to eat healthy, not starving myself or depriving myself, but eating balanced and healthy meals most of the time. If I eat nothing but junk food all day long but still come in under goal, I would say that was a day that I wouldn't want to repeat very often, because my body won't thank me for it later. But it happens occasionally. It's all personal. Only you can say what you need. ; ) And good luck!

grinch031

Cheating is when you violate the terms of your diet plan (minus any planned cheating which is cheating, but not really cheating). That could be an excess of calories, or excess of a particular macro-nutrient or even food choice.

izzydino

I don't call eating or not eating anything, cheating. I call it life. I don't plan on eating clean 100% of the time and sometimes I'm going to go over my goal.

Cheating to me would be not recording as accurately as possible.

ETA: Quick Add Calories. That's cheating.

This!

Oo_BrookeNicole_oO

Thanks everyone for the answers. It helped me think things through. I think there has to be a middle ground. Eating what you love in moderation isn't probably going to destroy your diet. I have alot of respect for the people that can go the "all or nothing" route, but that just wouldn't work for me. I crave yummy food to much!

adamtall

if i eat something that takes me over my calories and i dont really need it (10pm and i grab a granola bar or something along those lines) or when i eat a large amount of junk food and stay under my calories (a bigger bag of buggles and sour punch straws that totaled about 450 calories when i had 500 left for the day) thats how i classify it

Churble

I consider it cheating when I eat something that I know I won't be able or willing to work off. I know I'm only going to feel like doing a 20 minute walk, but I'm eating this burrito anyway... I call that a cheat.