Cheat day or cheat meal?

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2

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  • LeggyAmericanGirl
    LeggyAmericanGirl Posts: 285 Member
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    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
    hiddensvelte Posts: 53 Member
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    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
    Amberonamission Posts: 836 Member
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    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
    hunter624 Posts: 252
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    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
    NdBuk Posts: 25
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    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
    stephgirl78 Posts: 2
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    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
    BMcC9 Posts: 4,440 Member
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    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
    hiddenaudacity Posts: 122 Member
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    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
    bikhi Posts: 175
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    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
    SheCanSheWill Posts: 33 Member
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    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 :)
  • LivingInPuglia
    LivingInPuglia Posts: 122 Member
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    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!

    You're not odd ..... for me it's the best way.
  • LivingInPuglia
    LivingInPuglia Posts: 122 Member
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    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.

    Varying number of calories with some higher / lower days is a good idea. It fools the body and stops metabolism slowing down.
    I try to keep within my total calorie limit each week, having some higher, some lower days. No carry forward of unused calories into the next week now. I can't remember where I read about this but it does seem to work.
  • blueroses_78
    blueroses_78 Posts: 85
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    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

    Thanks for the article. Very interesting :)

    As to the OP: I usually have a cheat day, but I try not to cheat with more than 500 extra calories. If it's a special occasion, then I might just let it go and watch myself a little more closely the day before and the day after.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    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

    Normally I cringe at random blog links because they're full of crap, but the above link was really a great write-up, thanks for sharing.
  • lynz4589
    lynz4589 Posts: 389 Member
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    I essentially started out as a cheat day but I found I didnt want to eat anything other than the meals Im used to now because the thought of working hard all week in the gym to blow it anyway wasnt a nice idea and the thought of my PT not seeing the scales drop wouldnt be nice either! So without realising it I have a cheat dinner on a friday and a snack. By cheat meal it usually involves having some carbs incoporated into the meal (dont eat carbs after 6pm otherwise) and the odd small bar of chocolate (im a chocoholic so once a week feels like im starving myself of it lol)
  • LivingInPuglia
    LivingInPuglia Posts: 122 Member
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    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!

    Great article ...... covers the weekly calorie banking and lots of other stuff.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    neither. i had plenty of cheat years.
  • miadhail
    miadhail Posts: 383 Member
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    I don't exactly have a cheat day. I eat whatever I want and watch my proportions (mostly for dinner and my weakness for rice). Though I mostly eat healthy the rest of the day and make sure I exercise prior to allow me the cals.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    I try not to have cheat meals. I might get myself a small treat every now and then, but I would much prefer finding recipes and foods that are both healthy, delicious, and fit into my calorie and macro goals.
  • tryinghard71
    tryinghard71 Posts: 593
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    I go by weekly totals on MFP instead of daily. This way when I have plans to eat dinner out or maybe a birthday party with cake I can enjoy without taking me off track. I do this by leaving a couple hundred calories for the day. Then if I am over on another day I am still in my weekly goal. This has been working for me.

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