do you log your cheat days/meals?

chroniclesofadime

I log everything...even the bug I accidently swallowed on my way to work. 1/2 g of protein, 2g of fat, 23 calories.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FatDar2012

I log everything M-F and also tend to slide through the weekend without logging what I eat/drink. Even though I don't log on the weekends I am still very mindful of what I'm consuming. I LOVE my Old Fashion drinks on the weekend, but I have been drinking Virgin Old fashions which is just a few shakes of bitters, diet 7 up and pickled mushrooms. I "think" I'm drinking but minus all the calories. It works. If I have a few beers, it's always either Lite beer or Bud 55.

edwinhigg

If you fail to log them, you are only cheating yourself out of valuable motivation.

AshCakes88

I do just so I don't make it a habit. I feel guilty logging my cheat days!

Jamie2007

No logging to cheat days (mine is usually Saturday)! I don't want to know. That's the day to sit back and enjoy the finer things. I do log exercise those days though!

saxmaniac

I suppose it depends if you are satisfied with your progress or not. If you're *not* getting closer to your goals, and don't log cheat days -- it could be education to log them.If you are doing fine on your goals, and leave such days unlogged, then who cares? It's working fine.

TinkrBelz

Nope....that's my point of a cheat meal/day, to get away from the daily grind of logging food and having so much of my thoughts consumed by food/how much to eat/how to log etc. I don't always eat bad stuff on a cheat day, I just want a break from thinking about my meals so much.

Agree!! I need one day off from thinking about every little morsel that goes into my mouth. I am not nor ever been a binge eater, so I do not worry that I might over eat or fall off of the wagon.

I "cheat" or do not log on Fridays. It is nice because if I had a craving all week, I eat it on Friday. We are taking the kids to the movies tomorrow night, I will eat the pop corn and not try to figure how much I ate and what the calorie/carbs were. Just saw that Sonic has a new blast...oh yes, having it tomorrow too!! Hubby and I look forward to Fridays! We will even talk about what we will have for dinner! haha!

I have lost all of my weight while having one "free" day or "cheat" day per week. I do not think that I am lying to myself or cheating myself...I am just taking one day off per week.

Dovekat

I log everything I eat, no point it lying about it. Life is to be lived and enjoyed one extra slice of pizza, one more scoop of ice cream, an entire family sized chocolate bar is not going to ruin all of the hard work and effort of months, weeks or even days (though it might make you thoroughly sick!). Personally I am not on a diet I am eating healthier for life, one "Bad" day won't destroy that but it is good to know exactly what you had and more importantly what triggered you having it.

eryka86

I do it helps me stay on track as far as calories

mmapags

I log it all and don't ever call anything or think of anyting as a "cheat" day. I just don't believe in cheating as a concept and I don't really look at is as a day to day thing. If you need cheat days, you probably have your goal set too agressively and that becomes a long term compliance issue. I have my goals set to eat the same amount every day, just slightly below maintenance and I look to burn 2500 calories over the course of the week. I don't go down on non workout days and I don't eat more on workout days. I follow a plan that is detailed here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3105-eating-for-future-you. It's also very similar to what our fellwo member Dan advocates at his website fat2fit.com.

Sometimes in a week I'm over in calories, sometimes not. Sometimes I burn more, sometimes not. I've been following this for a couple of months. I haven't lost a lot of lbs. but my body measurements are al down and my BF% is dropping about 1.5 to 2 % every 30 to 45 days. It's not an agressive program. It's pretty much one I can do for the rest of my life. Slow and steady wins the race!

NBabi91

I personally don't believe in cheat days. If I want something I earn it through exercise. But if I mess up one day I always log it. By ignoring it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

christyd4

I do because I want to see the effect that my cheats have on the rest of my day. I want to make sure I don't spiral into a mindset of being negative.

sammi402

Logging for me has more to do with getting a chance to log and less to do with what I ate. Sometimes I don't get a chance btwn work, school, kids, and visiting my hubby in the hospital. However, if I'm near a computer I log what I ate, even on days when i have 1500 cal chineese take out. :embarassed:


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jennieodwyer

I used to not log. Until I realized I was just gorging myself and it was really hindering my progress, so now I log it only because it still keeps me somewhat accountable and now my progress is back on track.

Ladyiianae

I haven't been but as of this week I had decided that I feel it necessary to log my Spike days. I want to KNOW what the food is doing to me and how it affects me, I want to be 100% accountable, not hiding under a rock saying "but I don't understand why this is taking so long!!!! I've been SO good!"

This is why it's taking longer....

glengiles

for the record, I log everything and only having been here for a little over 2 weeks, don' t have 'cheat' days. I know I'll go over my count when on vacation but that's what vacation is. And I'll still log it all.

AngryDiet

I log everything. I find that knowing that I will log my cheating helps keep it in check. I may still indulge, but I don't lose control.

Z_I_L_L_A

If you don't log the cheats you could be arrested by the MFP po po.

CShepherd91

I hate the phase 'cheat day'. I refuse to feel guilty about food. If I want a glass of wine (which I'm planning on doing tonight), chocolate, etc., I'll eat it, and work it into my daily calorie allowance by either having a smaller main meal, or doing extra exercise.

I will not go through my whole life obsessing about calories, grams, macros etc., that said I do log everything I eat/drink, unless I've been no where near a computer for a few days.

I suffer badly from migraines, and logging everything I eat made me realise that I always got a migraine the day after I'd eaten Galaxy chocolate - I cut that out of my diet, and I don't have as many (or as strong) migraines.

shannairl

Yep, I log everything. It might not be nice to see it all in black and white but it makes me want to eat better the next day. I don't consider it 'cheating' though. The only way it would be cheating was if I was logging all the good stuff and leaving out the bad stuff.

I'm probably going to go over today because I just had an entire 90g bag of cashews, been craving them for WEEKS and they were bloody delicious so I'm sure as hell not going to miss dinner or write off a whole day because of a bag of nuts!

2fit4fat

I don't log on weekends and haven't for almost a year. Or holidays, or vacation. And sometimes I take a week or month off logging altogether.

The point of a 'cheat' day for me isn't so much indulging in food, it's giving myself a mental break from fussing over calories, macros, etc. I probably don't even eat all that much more than I do on a day I do log. Sometimes probably less. But it's a way to ease myself back into eating "normally," because normal for me isn't - for instance - counting out an exact number of pretzels or potato chips if I want a snack at a party. I don't want to spend the rest of my life asking, "Was that two chocolate chip cookies, or three. Ask yourself... do you feel lucky, punk?"

this! my weightloss is slower but its a maintainable lifestyle for me. and while i do know a cadbury mini egg is 15.83 cals (16) that is the only thing. i dont figure out every little piece either and i am loving living my life while losing and getting more active. i have days i dont log, i dont consider them cheat days, just days that i can go to the park with a picnic or out with my family without my phone out so i can log every little thing that enters my mouth. im getting better at not eating as crappy, some days i suck but hey! it pushes me to be more active or eat even better the next day or week. I am learning to eat in a way that I can keep up for the rest of my life :-)

ZugTheMegasaurus

I log everything, including "cheats" and through enough of these threads, I've been able to nail down three reasons why:

1. For me, the point of logging is to keep an eye on how what I'm eating is affecting me; if I lose 5 pounds, I want to know why. If I lose no weight, I want to know why. If I'm not keeping a realistic record of what I'm doing, it will be impossible to tell.

2. I don't cheat. I just eat; some decisions take me closer to my goal and others take me the other direction. I'm not under any obligation to avoid certain foods. I just consider what I want before I eat. Most of the time, thinking of my goals trumps any desire for a particular food. The few times that I really would rather have something, then I enjoy it and don't feel bad about it. It's so infrequent since I'm being honest with myself that it's not negative like calling it "cheating" would be.

3. When I'm not accurate with those "bad" foods, I tend to grossly overestimate their negative impact. For example, a few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I went out to watch his voice teacher's band at this little venue in NYC. We never get to go out, so I decided to just have a great time and screw the consequences. Split three pitchers between us and finished off with a shot of Jack Daniels. When I went to log the next morning, I almost just hit "Quick Add" and put in 2500 calories, but decided to put in the total amount of the correct brand of beer I drank. And I was completely shocked to find that not ONLY hadn't I had nearly 2500 calories, I hadn't even gone over my calorie limit for the day! This has happened a few times since; even when I tell myself that I don't care how badly I blow it, I don't do it. If I wasn't being accurate with the logging, I'd be upset about those instances, but because I'm honest and accurate with it, I don't feel bad or guilty in any way.

fdlafon

I do my best to log everything i eat. It helps me keep track of things. If I am not seeing the changes I think I should be seeing, I'll go and check my food diary.

jrreed1

From a purely numbers point of view, log it. If you bite it, you write it. This way, you have a pretty good idea of how many calories you are averaging over a week, etc. If you ever get stuck, you have a good log to review to see what changes could be made.

mccarol1956

I don't "cheat" - I just live my life.

And I log it.

Agreed.

me too. The only thing that is cheating is not fessing up to what I have eaten. My life includes eating over my goals at times, no big deal!

leaso75581

I don't. I usually eat so much crap, I don't bother to track. I know I screwed up, the day is shot. I will start over again tomorrow.

sizzle92

Nope. I just choose not to. I log some on the weekends but I don't obsess over it. I'm not on an overly huge mission though.

leaso75581

I don't log on weekends and haven't for almost a year. Or holidays, or vacation. And sometimes I take a week or month off logging altogether.

The point of a 'cheat' day for me isn't so much indulging in food, it's giving myself a mental break from fussing over calories, macros, etc. I probably don't even eat all that much more than I do on a day I do log. Sometimes probably less. But it's a way to ease myself back into eating "normally," because normal for me isn't - for instance - counting out an exact number of pretzels or potato chips if I want a snack at a party. I don't want to spend the rest of my life asking, "Was that two chocolate chip cookies, or three. Ask yourself... do you feel lucky, punk?"

this! my weightloss is slower but its a maintainable lifestyle for me. and while i do know a cadbury mini egg is 15.83 cals (16) that is the only thing. i dont figure out every little piece either and i am loving living my life while losing and getting more active. i have days i dont log, i dont consider them cheat days, just days that i can go to the park with a picnic or out with my family without my phone out so i can log every little thing that enters my mouth. im getting better at not eating as crappy, some days i suck but hey! it pushes me to be more active or eat even better the next day or week. I am learning to eat in a way that I can keep up for the rest of my life :-)

you guys nailed it. The "cheat days" for me is like a "restart" day. I have issues with routine, so in order to not completely fall off the wagon, I take the weekends off.

RipperSB

Not logging seems to defeat the purpose of the food diary, doesn't it? I try to accurately log everything, incl weekends, holiday feasts, etc. If you are going to do it, do it right!

Becoming_A_Butterfly

No, I don't log on my cheat days. However, I only take a cheat day if I work out that day. And I have found that the longer I am in this journey, the less my body will tolerate much overeating or junk food anyway! I can't eat as much as I used to, and I can't get a good workout if I am loaded down with heavy food, so even without logging, the workout reins in my eating for the day.