Who here has a cheat day once a week?

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  • amandastaffonyadav
    amandastaffonyadav Posts: 2 Member
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    For me having a cheat day every Saturday helps me keep on track for the next week. Knowing that you can have pizza and beer coming really helps me focus on eating well on all of the other days. If you are eating well and exercising 6 days out of the week you will soon find out that a "cheat day" just isn't what it used to be. My first cheat day I went to a buffet and CHOWED DOWN and then had ice cream and more!!!! I felt terrible! Your cheat days get less and less offensive as time goes on. My cheat day today was just enjoying a nice steak and loaded baked potato with some wine. Even with that I only went over my daily calories by 300. Not too bad.
  • Mlkmaid
    Mlkmaid Posts: 356 Member
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    Never. It doesn't work for me. Once I start I can't stop. When I have a bad day that's unavoidable, i.e., dinner and drinks with the girls, I eat lightly the next couple of days to make up for it. But I don't PLAN cheat days or build them into my routine.
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
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    I really try to have "planned indulgences" instead of cheats. I don't want to get into the habit of not logging (I do miss stuff sometimes but usually I know right where I am calorie wise). I also have a history of binging and starving, former eating disorder here and to have a cheat DAY, would be to much like falling into that eating disorder.

    So, for example, if my husband and I go out to eat and we get an appetizer and it's something I love, I eat the appetizer, skip the bread and have a sensible meal (grilled fish, veggies usually) But it's planned and I get the best of both worlds. I've eaten something that's indulgent and that I enjoyed but I also leave feeling like I honored my body by giving it good wholesome fuel too.

    Different strategies work for different people.
  • epifany808
    epifany808 Posts: 1
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    I have a cheat day once a week it doesn't hurt me one bit yesterday I ate 10 cookies 3 glazed donuts and I'm fine... It hasn't hurt my physique one bit...
  • emitinpink
    emitinpink Posts: 9 Member
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    I do and this is what works for me. On Saturdays after I weigh myself I let myself have a cheat meal and I don't count calories that day so I don't feel so bad about it. I don't think of it as a cheat, I think of it as a treat but I also eat in moderation on the day, I'm not trying to gain back the weight I lost that week like people are saying. Again, this is also only what has been working for me on changing my eating habits and losing weight.
  • nsfaye
    nsfaye Posts: 2
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    Common.... we're hear to learn, that we don't need "to cheat"... in order to get where we are going. As previously said (much better than I) you must learn portion sizes, and if you want a triple coned ice-cream.... then calculate it, when setting up, your daily-calorie intake......
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    Not me but after a strange conversation I had today I'm about to start.
  • JoJo__Fit
    JoJo__Fit Posts: 258 Member
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    I have a cheat day , typical on a saturday however my cheat day consist of fruit & complex carbs and I get to have a meal of whatever I want which is either pizza or sushi with ice cream :)
  • Fmacgoo
    Fmacgoo Posts: 6 Member
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    I always have a cheat meal once a week without fail, and for a few of very good reasons which may or may not be applicable to everyone.
    1. I am on an EXTREME calorie deficit, and I would need to be eating an excess of 8000 calories to undo my weeks work.
    2. It replaces my glycogen in my muscles and boosts my metabolism for the coming week.
    3. Towards the end of the week i begin to feel very fatigued and this gives me the boost I need.
    4. Without it to look forward to I would not be able to keep to my diet, (although this probably says more about me than cheat days themselves)

    And finally the reason I do not simply have cheat meal or even try to control my cheat days, and that is because when my cheat day does finally roll around my body needs the nutrition (or at least it feels that way, if you can barely hold a conversation). And if I only had a meal I KNOW that I would no be able to stop.... And I would probably go off my diet for a week (which would harm your results :L) rather than just a day.

    Amen to everything you said! I couldn't agree more. It definitely works for me and I look forward to it every week. I never feel like I am undoing what I've done. Just living! I also have no problem jumping right back into counting calories and exercising. It makes my week far less stressful than it could be.
  • FloraSin
    FloraSin Posts: 188 Member
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    I don't eat meat on weekdays and I try to bring bagged lunches to work. Weekends I relax a little, but if I do go over, it's only by 100 or so. It's weekends like this which are holidays (Thanksgiving in Canada) that I have to be careful of because this weekend was dinner with my boyfriends family on Saturday, dinner with my family on Sunday, and dinner with my best friend's family (basically my second family) today.

    I don't want to stop eating things I love and I don't see this as a diet. I'm trying to establish a lifelong routine to keep me healthy...plus I want to be happy. Haha.

    I guess, I just don't consider them cheat days. They're just days that it's okay to eat meat and indulge in alcoholic beverages without obsessing over whether it fits my macros or if one more beer will kill my count for the day. I almost always walk/run it off again anyway the next day.
  • sportsguymarv
    sportsguymarv Posts: 1
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    Here's a thought that I'd like to share...just a simple thing but don't call it a "CHEAT" day ...cheating has so many negative connotations. Call it a reward meal. I agree. When I first started back 6 months ago.. I said cheat days and its the wrong mentality to have cause like many have said you sabotage all the hard work you have done... so do a meal every other week or so.. good luck!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,687 Member
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    I "cheat" the system by eating what I want everyday and just staying within calorie restrictions.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • skcardiog
    skcardiog Posts: 316 Member
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    Weekly reward meal every Saturday .
  • HeyGoRun
    HeyGoRun Posts: 550 Member
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    I do 1 day off logging, i dont pig out but just relax and eat when i want and whatever i feel like eating that day.
    I doubt i have ever undone what i have accomplished by having 1 day off.
  • margarethumphreys58
    margarethumphreys58 Posts: 51 Member
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    I have never done a cheat day and never will. You can undo a whole week in just one day. In my opinion, it's a bad idea and a bad habit to get into. I definitely do cheat meals once every couple of weeks. There is only so much damage you can do in one meal.

    Eating whatever 1 day will not undo what you have been working so hard for the week. It may slow things down, but eating right is about what you do in general. Not that i recommend a cheat day, but a cheat meal, or a dessert every now and again is not going to harm you. Sometimes you just need to indulge a little. Just be careful you do not allow yourself this all the time. When you plan to cheat, I feel you are more successful because you knew it was coming and don't have to feel guilty about it.

    I think she means if you end up eating back all of your calories and going over your weekly limit. , then it becomes a negative thing that does mess up your progress,

    personally once a week I have a cheat day, I eat what I want as Lon g as it won't make me go over my weekly average.

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