cheat days ?

Funsoaps

I do and I never gain weight from it...it helps I swear if I DON'T have a cheat day that I have a more difficult time with weight loss.

Funsoaps

I've been consistently losing weight, but have had a bad couple of days although I wasn't all that much over calorie wise. Yesterday I had a bowl of chili from Steak & Shake and after found out it was over 800 calories. I still didn't eat over 1400 calories yesterday, but got on the scale this morning 2lbs heavier. That scares me. How is that possible?

all it is is the sodium from the restaurant food that will go away once flushed out of system at least that's my opinion.

megleo818

I've been consistently losing weight, but have had a bad couple of days although I wasn't all that much over calorie wise. Yesterday I had a bowl of chili from Steak & Shake and after found out it was over 800 calories. I still didn't eat over 1400 calories yesterday, but got on the scale this morning 2lbs heavier. That scares me. How is that possible?

Check the sodium count on that Steak & Shake chili -- bet it was through the roof! You're just hanging on to extra water. It will resolve itself in a few days. Restaurant food, in general, is loaded with salt.

dvisser1

I do whatever I want with the understanding of what it will do to me.

Exactly. I don't plan cheat days, but I don't beat myself up if I go over my calorie goal for a day or two. I've had days under by 300 and over by 700 calories. Sometimes you plan a workout that you end having to skip because something came up. Sometimes you're just hungry all day. Whatever the reason, it happens. I know the consequences of my actions.

Soni82

I try to be good 90% of the time and allow myself a cheat meal for the other 10%. So this may be dinner out with my boyfriend or if im feeling like pizza and beer on a sunday I will have just that but making sure i order something relativley healthy and exercise portion control. Most times though, if i feel like a taco or burger or something I will recreate a low fat, no carb, no additive version of it which satisfied me completely. However once a month i do say f it, i need my chocolate binge! hahaha

I also have learnt that restrictions are not a good thing for me! When i restrict things from my diet i tend to rebel against myself and once i eat something on my NO list the whole thing unravells and i binge for a whole day....

megleo818

I allow myself to eat (and drink) with friends every now and then. Couple times a month, at most. But I make sure to exercise daily, log everything, and keep at or under my calories when I'm not doing anything "special".

I can't see living any other way -- because, after all, this is LIFE not just some diet, right?

nastenka26

Do you guys think it's okay to have two cheat/treat days in a row? I've only had maybe like three or four cheat meals since January (all were trips to Chinese buffets for holidays/birthday where my calories spiked a lot probably, the last being a serving of ice cream that still fit into my intake). I do have calorie spike days where I'm really hungry and just eat more of my healthy foods but I don't think these qualify as cheating.

That's why I'm kind of terrified to try two in a row because I've been trying to get out of a plateau to lose the final stubborn layer of fat. Next weekend is Father's Day and Saturday I'm making Russian/Ukrainian crepes for my dad and bathing them in sweetened condensed milk (amazing, by the way ). I have to try them as I'm making them and they're my favorite things in the world and I really want to be able to go a little crazy because it's been so long since I've had them. Then Sunday my family is probably going to go out for Chinese and I really really want to enjoy it. Would two days in a row really set me back??

This is probably a silly question but it's haunting me haha. Thanks

acs4162

Now that I've reached my goal weight, i don't feel as guilty have a cheat food once or twice a week. (Like french fries, soda, ice cream, high fat/sugar dessert, pizza, or a bread item- I ate NONE of these for the past 4 months.) I am running and working out and still eating the same as I was when I was trying to lose weight. While I was trying to reach my goal weight I only cheated by eating plain potato chips, bread less hamburgers, breaded baked chicken, cream in my coffee, milk chocolate, or something not great for my diet, but not detrimental to my weight loss. I had a habit of making cookies that only included ingredients that were Paleo approved, except for the white sugar (otherwise they just did not taste good to me.) I will say I ate a lot of coconut flour/ coconut oil/ vanilla/ egg/ dark chocolate chips/white sugar cookies- I made them weekly. I felt like I was cheating, when I really wasn't going off my diet too far and each cookie was under 100 calories each.

I recently tried to splurge on some ribs from Sonny's and later looked online and found they were 1000 calories! Luckily I shared them, but still! I have NEVER eaten that much in one sitting! I was still full 6 hours later and ended up going for a run to help my body/metabolism out. I now make sure to eat from the "low calorie" options on restaurant menus- they are still high in calories, but I'm not going to go into cardiac arrest trying to eat something different.

One of the tips of weight watchers is to give into your cravings so you don't binge later. I really think this works for me. I don't always give into the 'exact' food i want, usually it's a healthier version:
french fries : home made sweet potato fries
sweet dessert : home made "healthy" cookies
bacon : microwaved turkey bacon
cheeseburger : turkey burger with avocado
ice cream : coffee with cream or glass of almond milk or yogurt

Good Luck!

Hayesgang

~ Sometimes there will be a " splurge " .... I never " cheat " ... cause that would mean I was defeating my own best efforts. I won't cheat myself out of a healthy life style ... I just work a little harder to enjoy a little more every now and then !

THIS!!
Nothing is off limits for me any day of the week.

Rachey57

I am struggling with this as well. I find that the day after my weigh in becomes my "cheat day", as I feel like I have the whole week to work it off. Unfortunately, I have this thought that if I eat one bad thing, I have ruined the whole day and may as well eat whatever I want for the rest of they day! It isn't worth it though...I find that I just end up feeling out of control and bad in general

I keep trying to remind myself of a quote I heard a few years ago..."Nothing tastes as good as thin feels".

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!!

Rachey57

I feel guilty when I have a "cheat" day. Today was one of those days

Me too, ughhh But tomorrow is a new day! Lets just start again!

Janeeemonettt

I don't call it a cheat day. I just designate a single day in a given week where I eat food I want in any quantity. It ain't cheatin' if it's on purpose.

I've eaten up to 5000 calories in a single day and lost weight the following week.

I agree, i do a zig zag diet, so there are times when i eat very limited calories and just one day a week i eat whatever i happen to want that day and dont worry so much about calories. I get to look forward to that one day a week, so that helps me talk myself out of cheating the other 6 days.

fatmom51

I agree with all those people who said it would have to be one heck of a CHEAT to totally derail your weight loss. I have my weight loss goals set at roughly 2 lbs. a week, but because my TDEE is 2130 and MFP defaults to a minimum of 1,200, my daily deficit works out to 930 a day, or about 6,500 a week. Even if I have a major cheat and go over by 6,500 for the week, all that means is that I won't loss that week (unless I've exercised to counter some of that excess.) To gain, I'd have to eat an ADDITIONAL 3,500 calories to gain a pound. That's an obscene amount of food.
I've had some indulgent days, but I always try to log everything, so I have a clear picture of exactly where I stand. I went to a school sports banquet this week with my daughter where the meal was a buffet line with very few low-cal choices. I tried to keep pretty good track and to keep myself honest, I even made sure that when I went to the database to find the items, I overestimated by choosing the options with the mid-range of calories instead of the ones that listed the lowest number of calories. In the end, I ended up eating almost 1,400 for that meal alone (and I had already had about 800 calories earlier in the day.)
This week, I'm over my net calories by about 2,300, but given that MFP has given me a calculated deficit of 6,500, I figure I still have a deficit of 4,200, so I should see a loss of at least a pound when I weigh in tomorrow.
Really, the key is moderation and knowing your body. You have to live with food for the rest of your life and if you're too rigid, you're more likely to loss focus and really slip back into bad eating habits. Don't sweat the occasional indulgences, or, maybe you should "sweat" it, by getting in an extra workout or two during the week.

izzydino

no cheat days ever! i make it a point to eat what i crave in moderation:) this about lifestyle not about a quick fix.

futiledevices

I have a lot of food related guilt, so I don't do "cheat" days. If I really want something, I can usually fit it into my daily goal. Or I'll compensate for it the next day.

bathsheba_c

You have to know yourself to know if it's a good idea.

For example, I know that, if I didn't have a specific day for eating junk food, I would eat it every day, blissfully convinced that tomorrow is the day I behave to make up for it. I also know that, the less I eat junk food, the less I crave it. Lastly, I know that I don't want to give up on all junk food forever. The result is that I have one day a week plus holidays plus really special occasions where I allow myself to be significantly over. In practice, even with the splurge, I am still usually at my target calories for the week, and I rarely reach TDEE on those days.

tsolomon75

I do whatever I want with the understanding of what it will do to me.

I agree.

mrs_deg1983

A cheat a day keeps the cravings away! I used to buy a couple different bags of my fav candy. One a day and on the weekends 2. If i waited all week i would go way over.

marylovehellokitty

I don't have a set cheat day or how often. But I will do this so called "cheating" thing. But i usually only do a cheat meal. Mc Donalds . There's just something about their hamburgers and fries that makes me ever so happy. Lol

ditto lol

LadyBug56711

What I am trying to do if I want something that I haven't had in long time I eat it because I don't want to go over board and eat and gain what I have taken off but make sure it's in my calories for the day.