Tracking Cheat days?

kieferz

Ok this past Sunday I allowed myself a cheat day. I have no clue how many calories I consumed bc my church had a chili cook off that I planned all week for. Should I just not track at all on cheat days or what should I do on days when I know I am going to go waaay over on my calorie allowances?

robinogue

I track everything, good days as well as bad days. It just helps keep me accountable.

erm511

Yep. I count everything. Sometimes I attempt some version of zig zag calorie counting to offset bad days.

LadyFaile

Do what works for you.

I personally track it no matter whether I'm on track or way over. I find the accountability helps to keep me on track and better track trends. When I don't know for sure what is in something, then I just find something in the database that sounds close and go with that. At least then I have an estimate of what was eaten.

juliekaiser1988

I track it. Even though I hate seeing it right in front of me. But I do count it.

And then I do it again another day.

We're not perfect.

MissVCI

The whole reason I joined MFP was to become more conscious of what i'm putting in my body. So if I ever have a cheat day I would definitely log it. But not stress over it because I knew I was going to go over and I wouldn't put in an extra session at the gym the next day.

Eating food is supposed to be an enjoyable experience, it's why you share meals with friends and family. Constant worry over cheat days and whether or not to record them hinders us from the enjoyment of food and eating.

Just because you are a on quest to get healthier doesn't mean you still can't have fun eating and go ahead and pig out at a picnic or chili cook off.

sherrirb

I try to track everything, if only to keep myself accountable and so there is NO question if I have a gain that week, I'll know exactly why.

Besides, I think it will help in the long run. We have to see how those "cheat" days affect us now so once we reach our goal weight, we know ahead of time just what it will take to maintain that goal weight.

techigirl78

I track everything I eat. If I go over one day, it usually all works itself out on weekly totals anyways, so I pay more attention to weekly summary.

netty1959

I agree if you know yer going to have a day using up more than your daily allowance, i would personally cut down during the week so the total tallys up over the week.