Cheat day or cheat meal?

DJ2120

Just curious.....Do most of you allow yourself one day to eat whatever you like or just one good meal a week? Like my "cheat" day is Saturday & on that day I let myself eat whatever I want for breakfast lunch & dinner. But, I think I might be over doing it & maybe I should just have 1 naughty meal that day for either breakfast lunch or dinner & then eat clean for the other meals. I dunno, just doing some thinking.

mrseelmerfudd

I am odd... i eat whatever as long as it fits in my cals for the day. this is because i lost almost 2 stone eating mega healthy and then disappeared for a month or so and just about managed to stay the same.. im easing myself in this time. as i go along i will try and get healthier, but i think denying yourself of everything will make you want it more! so im neither, but both at the same time lol!

mavericks15

check out this article, i just read it today.. might be good with helping you answer your question. really put some things into perspective for me : http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1753

kjw1031

I vary my number of calories so that I have some higher days and lower days. On the higher calorie days, I might have something I wouldn't be able to fit into a lower calorie day (like eating out or a couple of margaritas).

Since I plan it into my calories, I don't consider it "cheating", and I do track everything.

DJ2120

check out this article, i just read it today.. might be good with helping you answer your question. really put some things into perspective for me : http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1753

Great article! Thanks so much for sharing it with me!

skinnybitchbarbie27

I allow myself one day but I dont go crazy. I will have a meal with a friend or treat myself to a coffee *full fat*. Like monday was my "cheat/treat" day and I had pizza at my favorite place and two big salads (with thousand island dressing which to me is a treat in itself). I only went over 1500 calories by 200 so I didn't view that as a fail. I think those are needed to keep you sane. Now I don't reccommend going off to the extent where you are eating extremely bad for a whole day.

DJ2120

I allow myself one day but I dont go crazy. I will have a meal with a friend or treat myself to a coffee *full fat*. Like monday was my "cheat/treat" day and I had pizza at my favorite place and two big salads (with thousand island dressing which to me is a treat in itself). I only went over 1500 calories by 200 so I didn't view that as a fail. I think those are needed to keep you sane. Now I don't reccommend going off to the extent where you are eating extremely bad for a whole day.

I agree

p0kers0ph

I think one cheat meal would be better perhaps rather than the whole day.
I stay at my boyfriends Sat/Sun nights and we tend to have a takeaway or something on one of those nights and cook something the other night.
It keeps me sane lol

AlexandraLynch

I do one day where I go over calorie for metabolic purposes, so that my body doesn't think I'm starving it totally. And that lets me never have to think, "Oh, no, I'll never ever have wienerschnitzel again!" Nope. I can have it on Monday. That's fine. And I can always wait til then.

(Wienerschnitzel, for those who wonder, is a veal or pork tenderloin chop pounded very thinly, then breaded, crumbed, and deepfried; in Indiana we put it on a bun and call it a tenderloin sandwich. And it is good.)

ladylu11

I have a cheat meal. I eat clean all week and all day on Wednesdays. But, on Wednesday night I go out for fajitas and ritas and usually have something sweet after, like Peanut M&M's or some kind of chocolate.

kimmers99

I have been doing a cheat day. But thinking I'm going to cut back to a cheat meal and 1 cheat snack. I think that I over do it as well eating junk all day and night. I end up feeling really crappy.

healthybodyhealthymind

I can't do cheat meals. It messes my weight up, and I don't find it worth it.

Antlady69

I don't have a "cheat day" as such, but due to standing appointments I can't do any exercises on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and therefore usually go over my calorie limit. I try to keep it below my TDEE but don't panic if I go slightly over - the key word being "slightly". I also allow myself a pizza, a Dürüm Döner or a curry once a month. Hey, you gotta live, you know!

Tank_Girl

Cheat day is a pure disaster for me... Cheat meals usually happen after a work out so im trying to pick up ready made salads/pasta salads/sandwiches from tesco after workouts now instead of just heading to the takeaway

mcpjan

I don't do cheat days. I try to plan my next days meals. If we are going to go out I go online and check the menu and plan my day around it. I allow myself anything I want but if I want to go over my daily calories I then have to exercise to make it up. That makes me think twice about what I am going to eat. Is it worth the extra workout. That works for me.

nxd10

I have really good meals all the time. I don't have to cheat to do it. Last night I had steak and mashed potatoes and wonderful vegetables with an ice cream sundae (it was my son's birthday). With half a beer. All in my 1310 calories.

I just had a SMALL sundae and a very small serving of mashed potatoes.

Eating too much makes me feel sick. The first taste is always the best. One of the things that I have learned is that small helpings of wonderful, delicious food are more satisifying - AND make me feel better - than overeating.

jsmamadden

I generally do a cheat meal but what usually happens is that I anticipate said cheat meal and it makes me work out way more in the morning and eat less during the day so that by the time i get to my cheat meal for dinner I can pretty much eat whatever I want anyway and still be under calories. The problem with this is that then I feel really gross after.

BrokenBarbiexoxo

check out this article, i just read it today.. might be good with helping you answer your question. really put some things into perspective for me : http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1753

all the answers I wanted!

Jimmytreatingtons

it's difficult really, I don't set out to have a cheat day so I suppose a cheat meal is better.

For instance I am out this Saturday night with Friends so I will eat what I fancy. But during the day I will try to eat healthly as I possibly can and try to keep my calories down for the day. If I go over I go over.

Saturday is a Spinning class day for me so I can work back some of the calories I will over eat or drink on Saturday. I will always try and counter balance it.

I try not to let it bother me at the moment! Going on an All inclusive holiday very soon so that is going to be intersting to say the least. It's my holiday, but I am not going to go mad eating and drinking to excess but in saying that I will not be drinking water 24/7 and eating lo cal meals all the time.

Think it is just about setting a happy medium with yourself.

And enjoy it!

katescurios

A couple of weeks into my healthy diet I had a cheat day and the next day my stomach hated me for it. Now I allow myself treats if I have enough calories left and try to do good cheats like gettin bbq rancher salad at KFC. Delish but under 200 cals.

gatorginger

I have a full day of eating what I want and yes I will gain a pound or 2 from it but Im okay with that because I am at my goal weight and therefore getting right back on track the next day helps me lose it. So if your not at your goal weight I would suggest a cheat meal or if you decided on a cheat day maybe not overdo it like I do lol.

LeggyAmericanGirl

I do 90% clean/fresh/healthy food and 10% treats that fit into my limits (usually). Therefore I never binge or blow the whole week.

hiddensvelte

I believe we're working on LIFESTYLE changes and so I try to use my head on what I eat. If on a hot day I wanted an ice bar to help cool down, I'll have one (only 40 cal). If the family's schedule is busy that we head out to eat, I try to eat healthy unless it doesn't sound good ATM. The big key is the frequency. A little isn't going to derail your plan normally. A lot will.

I generally don't deny unless I haven't eaten well for a few days, even if under my calorie goal, and I also look at my weekly calorie deficit.

Amberonamission

I have 1 good high calorie high fat meal a week. But, even then I try to not eat white carbs. At this point I don't even like bad carbs so why bother. Ohhhh except for a good hard roll.. If I could get one here in the south it would be game on. LOL.

hunter624

Remove Cheat day, the only person your cheating is yourself, and substitute Treat day, as I do every Sunday I have MY TREAT and thats A Full English Breakfast with all the trimmings, and the rest of the days calories are based around that 1187 calorie delight, of course there's no gain without pain , so Monday has become Big Walk Day.

Good luck and enjoy the journey, Iknow I am.

:drinker:

NdBuk

Cheating is Baaad.....

However that depends on your definition of cheating.
To me, cheating is eating a shedload, not logging it then wondering why you didn't loose, or even worse gained that week.

Now what you're talking about here to me seems like a treat. You have something really nice as a treat, and you log it. Hopefully you had enough calories through the week for it not to take your weekly average over your target and all is fine.

More to the point, if you logged it, you were way over and didn't loose you at least know why you didn't loose and can make informed decisions ongoing. maybe half a treat next week! Just keep half an eye on that weekly average and you'll be fine.

stephgirl78

I will never have a cheat day again. I did so and gained the 5 lbs that I lost. Now I'm super disappointed in myself and I'm an emotional eater. After stepping off the scale last night, I didn't binge, I happy about that. I'm more determined than ever.

BMcC9

You intro sounded like we aren't just talking special occasions here, but more like a regulary occurring event ... so I am answering accordingly.

Are you disciplined enough to "write whatever you bite" even on "cheat all day" days? So that you can look back at the data at a later time and decide if it was worth it? Or does Cheat Day mean no logging either? That would be VERY DOUBLY dangerous, because you might be thinking it "wasn't so bad" but if you had added it all up, you would shock youself to see it in black and white later.

If you respond to "Cheat day" as license to "eat bad the entire day" - that is NOT a good thing. It can become tooooo psycologically easy to extend.

If you are able to treat it more like hunter624 does, where "Cheatday" (or "Treatday") is like the name of a day on the calendar when you allow yourself a Treat (that you make a big mental deal out of savouring, but HAVE to work around the calorie-cost of the delight either on the day or by the following day), you can avoid the Elephant in the Room of "Never Being Able To Have[ProblemFood] Again" thinking, which tends to lead to obsessing about what you can't have - and giving short shrift to what you can.

Only proviso: If you are early in your MFP journey, and "having just the one" tends to automatically trigger "blow the rest of the day" response - you might be better off with "just for now, I am bypassing [ProblemFood] so that I can concentrate on discovering NEW favourites"

They can be anything that are only-just within acceptable limits but either harder to come by, take longer to make or at the high-calorie end of OK. And once your new eating habits have a chance to take hold, you may find that your tastes have changed and the [old ProblemFood] now seems too sweet / salty / rich / whatever, and no longer worth the "price".

hiddenaudacity

check out this article, i just read it today.. might be good with helping you answer your question. really put some things into perspective for me : http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1753

all the answers I wanted!

This is excellent! Fully answers the question and more

bikhi

once a month i have a treat meal, but it's a big one. i have chicken mole and two margaritas at a local mexican restaurant. i'm still losing 4 pounds a month.

the day before and after i cut back a little on calories.

SheCanSheWill

I was eating healthy on tuesday, until I had a 3 course thai meal.. So I'd count that as a cheat day.. Not too sure.. But I'd say just a cheat meal