Cheat Day????

anarod0513

I know that everyone's body is different, and what works for someone might not work for others. But I would just like some advice, the past few cheat days I've eaten whatever I wanted as much as I wanted. I'm just wondering if that's bad? Needless to say i've been in a hump, stuck at 118 lbs, and I finally lost 6 lbs in 1 1/2 - 2 weeks. I'm sure it's because I've been exercising a lot more. But anyways, back to the cheat days.... Should I limit myself, or just enjoy myself on those days. Oh and I only gt one cheat day a week. Can I just get some advice? What works for you?

almonds1

you are about to hear a million different things lol...

I did them, worked well for me!!! I always went over on 1 day a week

SusanleeBee

Oh, how I love cheat day! I find that even when I plan on a big cheat, I'm never that much over my calories. I eat whatever I want, and however much I want, BUT I still log everything, which seems to keep me from going too overboard.

HonkyTonks

I used to do cheat days and now I just eat whatever I want, whenever I want. I found on cheat days (personally) that I ended up feeling bloated and didn't enjoy eating as much.

TopazCarey

I love my cheat days. Looking forward to mine tomorrow. However, on my cheat days I make sure I don't go overboard. The thing for me (and I know a lot of people will say this is wrong) is that I don't eat my exercise calories back during the week. That way on my cheat days, I have a cushion of extra calories to fall back on. It's worked great for me so far and hasn't hindered my weight loss at all.

linnyrhea

I once heard a good tip "instead of a cheat day, have a cheat meal". I will usually have one small treat a day and one cheat meal once a week, I found that if I had a whole cheat day it basically erased everything I worked so hard for during the week.

But everyone is different, just try to find what works for your body

anarod0513

I used to do cheat days and now I just eat whatever I want, whenever I want. I found on cheat days (personally) that I ended up feeling bloated and didn't enjoy eating as much.

This past week I felt exactly like this!!!! I ate ice cream and chips and idk what else, well the end result was regret and the next day disgust. I'm thinking of maybe a cheat meal or eating whatever I want but meeting my calorie goals.

HonkyTonks

I once heard a good tip "instead of a cheat day, have a cheat meal". I will usually have one small treat a day and one cheat meal once a week, I found that if I had a whole cheat day it basically erased everything I worked so hard for during the week.

But everyone is different, just try to find what works for your body

Correct. At the end of the day it is calories in vs calories out. If your daily deficit is only 200 calories and you eat 1000 calories in surplus over your TDEE one day, you are effectively cancelling out the weeks work. I suggest people pay attention to their overall weekly deficit.

ImNotThatBob

I prefer to call mine a "free-day". When I first started, I used to do what you're doing, which is an all-day eat as much of whatever I wanted because I was so deprived day. That quickly turned into an activity that made me sick. (It's amazing how quickly your tastes change and how you begin to notice that your body reacts to certain foods once you've been eating healthier for a while.) Now I limit it to one meal per week with a little lee-way before or after.

During the week I try and kill the snack cravings with healthier alternatives. Instead of potato chips, I'll snack on chicharones (pork rinds). Instead of chocolate candy bars, I'll have a Lindt Dark Chocolate Truffle. Nuts and raisins are great too. Otherwise it's Celery and Carrots and such.

As far as breaking through a plateau... One time I had to slap my metabolism silly with a small strawberry shake from Sonic. Aside from the brain freeze, I had an 18 hour sugar high. It worked though.

Good Luck.

anarod0513

I once heard a good tip "instead of a cheat day, have a cheat meal". I will usually have one small treat a day and one cheat meal once a week, I found that if I had a whole cheat day it basically erased everything I worked so hard for during the week.

But everyone is different, just try to find what works for your body

Yes,like i said, last week i ate anything and everything I wanted. The end result was me feeling stuffed like if I was in a food comma, regret and the next day nausea. I had this whole week to think about it, and I thought about this, as well as eating anything I want but logging it in and not going over my 1300 calories. I'm thinking about panda express or buffalo wings!!!

anarod0513

I prefer to call mine a "free-day". When I first started, I used to do what you're doing, which is an all-day eat as much of whatever I wanted because I was so deprived day. That quickly turned into an activity that made me sick. (It's amazing how quickly your tastes change and how you begin to notice that your body reacts to certain foods once you've been eating healthier for a while.) Now I limit it to one meal per week with a little lee-way before or after.

During the week I try and kill the snack cravings with healthier alternatives. Instead of potato chips, I'll snack on chicharones (pork rinds). Instead of chocolate candy bars, I'll have a Lindt Dark Chocolate Truffle. Nuts and raisins are great too. Otherwise it's Celery and Carrots and such.

As far as breaking through a plateau... One time I had to slap my metabolism silly with a small strawberry shake from Sonic. Aside from the brain freeze, I had an 18 hour sugar high. It worked though.

Yeah, when I stuff myself with unhealthy foods, I now feel "sick," I can't explain it. Maybe this is good. I'll unhealthy, but limited portions,m and stay under my calorie goal.

Good Luck.

Virginia90

I don't cheat, because there is nothing to cheat on, however I do follow the Spike lifestyle, which means 1 day a week I eat double my BMR. Thursday I ate 10 slices of pizza throughout the day - lunch, snacks, and dinner - even a couple slices as a "midnight snack". I also ate some other goodies I had been craving all week. Because of the massive carb load I had the day before, I had an extreme amount of energy yesterday. I didn't even eat anything until after 5PM, but I had super energy all day and got loads of yard work done, plus my C25K run - burnt over 1100 calories, some of which I ate back. Overeating once a week is actually good for your metabolism because it allows your leptin levels to be restored - when we eat a deficit, these levels are depleted over about 7 days and with only 12 hours of overfeeding (eating a surplus of calories), you can restore them to optimal levels for weight loss. The only thing that matters is your weekly deficit. Keep an eye on your TDEE, figure out your BMR, and plan accordingly. You can look up the Spike84 group if you want more information about it - amazing program.

ETA: oh, and you can see my food diary, it's open.

tastemyrainbow76

during the week am a healthy eater and weekends I limit myself to one meal cheat it works for me

tkaawa

I personally think it's up to you what kind of cheat day you want. Personally, I do whatever I want on cheat days..but remember, whatever you put in you gotta put out..so eat a lot, and workout hella harder...that's just me though

nickyfm

Doesn't work for me. I tried last night, and ingested what I estimate to be 3000 cal. Don't call it a 'cheat', just have a treat on an exercise day, so that you have allowed it in your cals.

DiannaMoorer

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As far as breaking through a plateau... One time I had to slap my metabolism silly with a small strawberry shake from Sonic. Aside from the brain freeze, I had an 18 hour sugar high. It worked though.



I love this bit of advise!!!!! I'm going to remember it!

sniperzzzz

I have a day at my TDEE cals and eat what i want within my limit. Nothing lost nothing gained as i account for it during the weekly deficit.

suziecue66

Doesn't work for me. I tried last night, and ingested what I estimate to be 3000 cal. Don't call it a 'cheat', just have a treat on an exercise day, so that you have allowed it in your cals.

What do you mean it doesn't work for you? You cheated last night - you don't weigh the next day as there is usually water weight. You leave it a few days and then see if there is any donward scale movement.

nickyfm

Doesn't work for me. I tried last night, and ingested what I estimate to be 3000 cal. Don't call it a 'cheat', just have a treat on an exercise day, so that you have allowed it in your cals.

What do you mean it doesn't work for you? You cheated last night - you don't weigh the next day as there is usually water weight. You leave it a few days and then see if there is any donward scale movement.

What I mean is I normally can't do it 'within reason' like a lot of people, and I get a lot of mental anguish from it. I'm gonna weigh in 8 days from now, and we'll see how it impacted

neverstray

There are a million ways to do this. You could have a whole cheat day where you don't log and just eat what you want. Or, you could eat anything you want, but log it, even if it goes way, way over. Just keep track.

You could have a cheat meal once a week.

Or, you could log everything and stay within your calorie count, but then have a cheat treat, like a bowl of ice cream or something.

Whatever you choose, it's ok.