How to handle cheat days. I don't want to fail.

Clarice530

I am wondering how you guys handle cheat days. Do you allow yourself cheat days and if so how do you make it work without gaining extra and succeeding. I just don't want to fail this time. This is a lifestyle change for me and I want to be healthier and keep the weight off this time.

cappri

If it's a lifestyle and not a diet than there is no "cheating." I don't have cheat days, cheating to me would be not tracking what I eat. I can eat whatever I want as long as it fits within my calorie budget and I track it.

kclynn7

Eat whatever you want so you don't feel deprived - just do it in moderation and track it so you are aware. If you go over your calories - add a workout or make it up the next day.

sandobr1

I too don't have cheat days, of course there are days I am out of my routine but I still count everything. If I know I am going out or will be in a challenging food choice situation I do as much to prepare before hand, if that means eating less or differently that day leading up to the event or choosing foods in advance in the case of a restaraunt. If I know where I am going, I will add those foods to my diary, example, lunch at Olga's, I will plot 3-5 choices in my diary, depending on the day I will make my choice before I get there. For me, I have enough control of my life and meals (as I do all the cooking at home) that a whole "cheat day" would be like a day of giving up. I recently went on vacation and actually lost weight, this was eating rest meals and dessert at nearly every lunch and dinner (pre paid meal plan) and I lost weight, because I limited portions and balanced out "cheat meals" with much healthier options for other meals, limited snacking and did tons of walking.

I think when I first started reading the boards someone made the comment that really stuck with me, something like "you have to eat as if you were your goal weight or fit now" , The realization that these eating choices HAVE to continue forever really clicked for me. For me, I now know I cannot lose weight then go back to before losing weight eating habits, of course this is always the challenging part.

I am also lucky for right now my desire/willpower to lose weight exceeds the desire to "cheat".

BernadetteChurch

Save your so-called cheat days for special occasions or when you're on holiday or at someone else's house. Why make them a habit? Better to factor the foods you like into your daily meals so that you don't feel deprived and feel the need to just go crazy.

JustANumber85

I had a free day on Thanksgiving but i still logged. I was WAY over my cals that day. It was hard the next day to get back on the wagon but i did. I had to. Not getting back wasnt a choice. Yesterday was the first day since that i made a bad choice for lunch but today im back on the wagon and now i know not to let it happen again.

I would say log it good or bad and learn from it. If you really want McDonalds for example- no you dont have to get a salad but you dont have to get that Big Mac either...kwim?

mslynn1007

I don't think I can "allow" myself cheat days, because I feel discourage like I ruined my whole diet. I just rewar myself with things when reaching a certain goal, for example, when I lose 20 lbs. I'm going to get a mani & pedi. May sound little or stupid but it's rewarding atleast : )

mygrl4meee

I don't have days where I set out to eat too much and call them cheat days. I do cycle my calories so if I have a 500 calories left over from doing zumba if the next day I am over 100 or so I don't sweat it. This really works for me and it gives me wriggle room tonot feel deprived and I think it keeps me going with this life style change because I don't go hungry or cut out any certain foods.

dougii

I don't have any cheat days and rarely have a day that I go over my calorie allowance. If I know that I am going to be consuming more than normal on any given day I add to my regular exercise or scale back a bit on other meals. Planning cheat days to me is a sure fire way to set myself up for failure....but to each there own, as we know "one size does not fit all".

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I don't do chet days, but on days like thanksgiving I log my exercise calories and let myself eat half of them back. Normally I don't log exercise.

musiclady420

I agree it is not a diet, it is a lifestyle.
The one thing you might want to try first is to do a cleanse. There are specific ingredients that companies will put in those not-so-healthy foods to make you want to crave them. As a matter of fact Dateline did an report on how companies like Cheesecake factory and Hersheys put 3 ingredients together in all of thier recipes to make them addictive. I can't remember the ingredients but I can't tell you that when you get all of these 3, the place in your brain that causes you to be addicted to something lights up like a Christmas tree on a CAT scan. So, in other words it is the same as taking an addicting drug like cocaine or crack.
Try making something at home like a granola bar where you can control the ingredients. Homemade cookies, granola bars, and other items like this can be made to have less fat, sugar, and carbs just by switching or lowering the ingredients. Try the recipes at www.hungrygirl.com on ways to still have flavor without all those calories. Check out her "onion ring" recipe-that is my favorite!!!!
Good Luck to you!!!!! :flowerforyou:

Dave198lbs

quit calling it a cheat day.

call it a reward day...or a rest day or a vacation weekend....something with a positive angle to it.

there will be days when you go over. if you know they are coming, plan them into the mix. If they just hit you, adjust for it.

having a set day each week to "cheat" is lame.

if you want to plan a day a week to go over, make it worth it. that would involve a cheesecake.

expouk

Instead of having cheat "days" just allow yourself to have a cheat meal instead.

samanthawarren

It has been over a month for me and I don't have cheat days. I find I don't need them. When I want something that is a little decadent I make sure I exercise enough to compensate for it before hand. Then I eat it and enjoy it thoroughly and make sure to log it.

harvo

A trainer told me that it takes 90 days to create a habit and just 3 to break it....I do not plan cheat days but at the same time you cannot drive yourself crazy if you go over a day or sweat gaining a pound. It appears that I have lost 2 pounds in a month or more but last night I noticed I had to pull up my pants more and earlier so I believe I have lost some size.

The other thing is look at a lot of different pieces of advice and apply it to your situation because you are the only one that knows what you can handle or not. Lots of luck!

Note: what has helped me is logging food before I fix it. I have changed what I was going to eat based on the number of calories it was going to cost me.

Capt_Apollo

i feel that the people that advocate cheat days are the ones that usually restrict themselves too much the rest of the time.

allow yourself an extra 200-300 calories a day. enjoy treats on a daily bases. be happier.

Siege_Tank

quit calling it a cheat day.

call it a reward day...or a rest day or a vacation weekend....something with a positive angle to it.

there will be days when you go over. if you know they are coming, plan them into the mix. If they just hit you, adjust for it.

having a set day each week to "cheat" is lame.

if you want to plan a day a week to go over, make it worth it. that would involve a cheesecake.

^^^ this. Find ways to be positive and turn negative things into positives!

5starshelly

I had a free day on Thanksgiving but i still logged. I was WAY over my cals that day. It was hard the next day to get back on the wagon but i did. I had to. Not getting back wasnt a choice. Yesterday was the first day since that i made a bad choice for lunch but today im back on the wagon and now i know not to let it happen again.

I would say log it good or bad and learn from it. If you really want McDonalds for example- no you dont have to get a salad but you dont have to get that Big Mac either...kwim?

I think this is good advice. Log EVERYTHING. Because sometimes a trip to a burger joint is really eye opening and will cause you to NOT make that choice again. Like if you DO go to A fast food joint and get a Hamburger and don't log it you just think " I was bad" but if you log it and YOU SEE that it literally costs you MORE than your ENTIRE DAY's allotment in terms of food, maybe next time it will be a PASS in terms of craving. I have done that. I once logged a Red Robin Bacon cheeseburger and it was MORE than 1000 calories for JUST the burger! So I am NEVER doing that again. When I crave a burger AND the drive thru experience I got to In and out and get a cheese burger Protein Style(wrapped in a piece of lettuce no bun) with extra tomatoes and pickles NO SAUCE. No fries No drink. That is an amount of calories I can work in. Especially on a Zumba day.

beckarini

I have 'Fat Friday' which consists of a few naughty snacks and lunch bought from a local cafe. However I remedy this by eating well for dinner and doing my biggest run of the week in the evening, which makes me feel lighter than ever!
For me, i find that if i stop myself from eating chocolate/treats altogether then I cave and binge after a few weeks and feel like crap! My Fat Friday routine is a short weekly occurence and i always end up within my calorie goal. As long as you plan for the rest fo the day - allow yourself a cheat meal/snacks but then get back to thinking about planning your meals carefully.
Just my 2 cents

rfsatar

I agree that this is a lifestyle choice. So rather than go wild and feel like you are "cheating" (and really? It's YOUR lifestyle choice and you alone control your journey, so who is actually judging you?) then switch to maintenance at the weekends or if you are away.

I did my research and discovered that actually my maintenance in MFP (with no exercise calories eaten back but a bit of wiggle room for a weekend) is actually about 15% deficit from my TDEE.

I also have set myself my MAXIMUM (i.e, my TDEE value).
All that a maintenance day means to me is that I will be between a 0-15% deficit of my TDEE and not within the 15-20% that I aim for during the week.

I'm not cheating - I am adapting my lifestyle choice to... well... my lifestyle :-)

tuiccim

I don't have a cheat DAY. More like a reward MEAL. One night a week I will go to a restaurant or make something at home that I just want. I always try to keep my daily calorie intake on that day to maintenance so that I don't go overboard.

Chadomaniac

i dont want to track everything i eat on a cheat day to be honest , if u have a cheat day eat what u want and make sure u do a good job at eating what u want ... fact is that if your diet is usually clean and under maintanance u will continue to lose weight . a cheat day once in a while wont hinder your progress infact it helps

ps: cheat days arnt recommended to do every week else u wont lose weight . a cheat meal such as a burger and chips followed by an ice-cream is more reasonable on a weekly basis

raiderrodney

Call them whatever you like but they are an absolute necessity for me! I'm going to indulge from time to time when out with friends, etc. A cheat day, reward day, free day or anything else you want to call it isn't going to doom us because we work too hard at it every other day

willwillywilson

For me the rule is "eat good most of the time but don't go crazy when I don't." If you think about how many meals you have during the week one or two shouldn't break you provided you don't go nuts. Eating crappy Chinese food for dinner. Fine. Crappy Chinese food, huge dessert, a few beers, late night McDonalds run when I'm hungry again. Nope.

Fozzi43

I allow my " treats" within my calorie allowance. I'll also workout a little harder. You need to change your conception of "cheat" ... If you deprive yourself of food you truly love and don't allow for it, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Unodragone

for all those who say "I don't cheat I am always a healthy eater" stop your lying we all have that little indulgence that makes our toes curl here and there that reminds us we are alive!! In all seriousness, I count everything, not counting isn't a cheat to me its called lying to yourself. Lets say Godiva chocolate is calling my name...I know that *kitten* is about 200 something calories..so I say ok, I will have a healthy *coughs boring* breakfast as well as lunch and dinner and make sure I have the calories later to devour that sucker. Its all about being honest with yourself and knowing a little bit of high calorie food isn't the devil and just figure it in. When I have my precious chocolate I usually eat a yogurt and banana breakfast, granola bar as a snack, good size salad for lunch and juicing for dinner so compared to all that the chocolate seems trivial :happy: if you eat healthy the majority of the day and have that one little slice of heaven, thats living not cheating :bigsmile: maybe throw in a walk afterwards to help you feel better too.

JanaCanada

I don't cheat, not because I am sanctimonious about all this, but because I completely fear going back to my old habits. I guess you could say that, before MFP, I was a food addict, because I am now so very aware that I am only a Twinkie away from falling off the wagon...and I've worked too damned hard to get where I am to sabotage it now. I know if I failed, even for a day, I wouldl be too disappointed in myself and would probably give up. And I don't want to quit. I want to live!...healthier, happier, and some day, God willing, in skinny jeans!

KeithAngilly

I don't have any cheat days and rarely have a day that I go over my calorie allowance. If I know that I am going to be consuming more than normal on any given day I add to my regular exercise or scale back a bit on other meals. Planning cheat days to me is a sure fire way to set myself up for failure....but to each there own, as we know "one size does not fit all".

this.

Having a planned cheat day is telling yourself that this process is only a temporary situation. Not having cheat days says that this is a lifestyle choice. I go over occasionally, it's no biggie, but I do try to avoid it.

Be kind to yourself and take your time. This is my third time trying this, and by far the most successful.

Just try.

Good luck,
Keith

jnp96

My cheat day is Saturday. It is the one day a week that I do not count calories or weigh my food. I need a break from all the math!! What I try to do is eat well. Lunch is never fast food but is a treat since I don't cook it. We usually eat Thai, Hmong, or Mexican as they offer better/healthier choices. I will allow myself a sweet treat too. But once Sunday comes around I am as strict as I can be until the following Saturday. Seems to work for me.

Cyngen

If it's a lifestyle and not a diet than there is no "cheating." I don't have cheat days, cheating to me would be not tracking what I eat. I can eat whatever I want as long as it fits within my calorie budget and I track it.

This is my view exactly. It's not a 'cheat' to me if I have it budgeted in my life style and my chosen path for the type of foods I want.

newcs

When I was losing (I'm maintaining now) I had cheat days. I had to do it so I wouldn't feel so restricted that I'd altogether give up. I still logged EVERYTHING and as I ate healthier more often, cheat days became less and less drastic naturally. It got to the point where most times I would barely go over my calories but I would feel like I had a cheat day. Just let it happen naturally and don't go too overboard. Give yourself a cheat meal instead of day if you feel like a day is too much.