Cheat days??? do you have one or not?

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Replies

  • ingeh
    ingeh Posts: 513 Member
    Not really. If im way under calories I might have a bit of junk food like crisps or a biscuit. Va;entines day im being taken to a chinese buffett so thats my cheat day lol
  • Ange0NZ
    Ange0NZ Posts: 45 Member
    Like many others, I do not plan or have any cheat days. I think if I did, temptation would be a huge factor for me and the words "... just one more" would take over, putting me back at square one again. Having said that though, I do have moments when I crave something and a healthy substitute or a drink just doesn't make it disappear. At those times, I have the item that I am craving but try to make sure that it fits within my set levels for the day. It's like a treat. I plan my meals in advance and if I have any levels leftover, I let myself have a treat!
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    I used to but I currently don't feel the need to have one. The aim for me is to chance my diet for life. Cheat days make my head think I'm on a traditional 'diet', that'll end at some point and that there are 'bad foods'. So now if I have a bar of chocolate, I just log it and that's it. It's not good or bad. It's food.
    No food is cheat food. I just chose to eat in moderation instead and fulfil my nutritional needs
  • 212ackley
    212ackley Posts: 431 Member
    I didn't agree with the"cheat day"....either you have accepted a new lifestyle and can live within the terms you set for yourself, or you can't. I have cut nothing out and if I go over my calories I have to deal with the consequences. Super bowl Sunday I went over, picked back up Monday and am no worse for the wear today.
  • PhiSigAmber
    PhiSigAmber Posts: 44 Member
    I have planned "cheats" (usually about 2 meals/week). I think an entire day is excessive and unnecessary.
  • bunbunzee44
    bunbunzee44 Posts: 592 Member
    yes I do. :) but not the entire day, just little something I have a craving for.
  • Nutella91
    Nutella91 Posts: 624 Member
    every week, 2 times
  • 366to266
    366to266 Posts: 473 Member
    Doesn't anyone ever stop and think what "cheat" actually means?

    Cheating yourself of weight loss.

    Cheating yourself of freedoms from sugar addiction.

    Cheating yourself of health.

    Why do any of those things?

    To those who say that if they didn't have their cheats they'd go on a binge, anyway, I say this: it's the little things you allow yourself every day that is feeding your addictions and keeping them alive, so that once a week you HAVE to splurge and have a portion of whatever you like.

    And 99% of the time it's carbs. You keep the carb addiction alive all week by teasing yourself with artificial sweeteners or "just one tiny cookie" and this builds up addiction and craving and eventually you crack and you MUST have a cheat day in which you can satisfy the carb-o-holism.

    It's like someone who "gives up" cigarettes, but has one puff a day from someone else's *kitten*, and once a week HAS to have a whole packet.

    If they did not have that one puff a day, they would allow their bodies to get over the addiction!
  • RobinsonDawn
    RobinsonDawn Posts: 40 Member
    Yes of course! Special occasions I will eat anything I want too however the next day I will go back to eating healthily. One day isn't going to make you pile on pounds so there's no need to worry about a few extra calories!
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    weekends,,, work my butt off hard all week, party it up all weekend.
  • LisaLayers
    LisaLayers Posts: 10
    I will not be having cheat days.. Only because I wont stop and it will ruin my mind set for the next day.

    I don't deprive myself of anythin (im just countin calories) I have 300 cals alocated for snacks.. So can have crisps, choc or cake but I choose better options. Just knowin I can makes it easy ;)
  • dcazll
    dcazll Posts: 65 Member
    I have one little chocolate bar every night (about 120cals), otherwise I end up bingeing and undoing all my hard work, so no, no cheat days. Just a little bit of what I fancy within my cal range. But if we go out to eat, which is only about once a month, then I have what I like.
  • 366to266
    366to266 Posts: 473 Member
    One day isn't going to make you pile on pounds so there's no need to worry about a few extra calories!

    As a matter of fact is DOES if you are on a ketogenic diet and are knocked out of ketosis. The glycogen stores fill up again which can make a person gain 5lb overnight.
  • KeithChanning
    KeithChanning Posts: 202 Member
    No. Why would I want to cheat myself?
  • sblackwood77
    sblackwood77 Posts: 26 Member
    I usually have a "eat what I want night" on fridays evenings. this is the day I weigh in and cheat!! LOL I do feel like it keeps me grounded, and also makes me realize how eating healthy makes me feel so much better than all the high fat foods.
  • boohe65p
    boohe65p Posts: 14 Member
    I ease up in the week ends but usually increase my exercise to off set the food. Friday nights I cycle about 90mns after work but then have dinner out like a reward. Sunday I like bacon and eggs or a cycle to a beach cafe and brunch.
  • hannah_ryann
    hannah_ryann Posts: 259 Member
    I don't consider anything I eat to be "cheating" because I always fit it into my calories/macros. I've been on this healthy lifestyle for 8 weeks and I've had two days where I ate over my recommended calorie intake. (2,400 one day and 2,100 the other day.) However, one of them was when I was on a girl's weekend with my best friend, the other was when I was PMSing, and I just consider that life. I'm going to a state competition this weekend and will be eating out, but I don't think it's a cheat day. It's just a part of life and I accept that. I don't deprive myself of anything if I want it (wine, chocolate, mcdonalds very rarely) because this new lifestyle is just that.. a lifestyle I want to stick with for the rest of my life. If I make a choice to eat or not eat something, it's more based on if my body needs it and how I will physically feel after I've consumed it.

    I also eat between 1600 and 1700 calories a day on days I don't workout, so I don't think my body ever feels like it's lacking in proper nutrition/calories.
  • IHAVEPMS247
    IHAVEPMS247 Posts: 70 Member
    Yes!!! But if i do, i cut back calories during the week to balance it all out and do some extra exercise.
  • LovinDaNewLiz14
    LovinDaNewLiz14 Posts: 217 Member
    TO STAY FOCUS AND NOT FAIL...once a week I will have a cheat meal:)
  • Eat2Win
    Eat2Win Posts: 123 Member
    Since doing this MFP seriously for about 6 weeks now, a few days ago I ate something to trial that was just horrible that I needed a "cheat" treat to recover, lol.............so I grabbed the nearest thing which was Herrs Salt and Vinegar Potato Chiips........filled with greasey fat. Sooo good, but when I took the bag out to eat, I got my scale and weighed a serving. Although I considered that a cheat, I still incorporated it into my daily diet plan, and in doing this I saw I did get to eat a nice serving, enjoy and still stay on track.

    What we need to learn, as I am seeing, is that we can eat possibly anything if we can stay on track and no overindulge. The biggest problem we have I feel is the desire to want to overindulge.

    We can learn to choose small on all our loved foods within reason, then the cheats can be had more ;)

    Anyone else feel the same way?
  • lfergurson1
    lfergurson1 Posts: 137 Member
    For me I work like a fool during the week so I always feel like I am 'entitled' to over eat on the weekend. So, with this being said I have actually been making myself do better on the weekends. Honestly, for me the whole cheat day thing is what gets gives back my success. Not sure what everyone else is doing but thats what I am gonna be doing.
  • drchimpanzee
    drchimpanzee Posts: 892 Member
    I think you have to have a cheat day or two or else you're just going to be bored with your marriage. I say go for it.
  • TravisBikes
    TravisBikes Posts: 674 Member
    I used to during past weight loss attempts. Not this time though. I realize I'm not "old" yet, but I now realize how much harder I have to work to get to where I want to be then in my teens or 20's... I need every advantage I can get.
  • furniem
    furniem Posts: 145 Member
    Once a month I will do a cheat evening (not day) but other than that I am within my calories and still exercise daily.
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    every now and again. there's no rhyme or reason to it, in terms of how often, but they're rare.

    when they DO happen, I plan them out ahead of time - like going to this dive my girlfriend and I saw on TV for chicken and waffles. we planned it out, and by the end of the day I'd still hit my macros, cheat and all. :)
  • Lisah8969
    Lisah8969 Posts: 1,247 Member
    Since I'm working under the premise of everything within moderation and my calorie goal, I don't do cheat days or cheat meals.

    This exactly! I don't cheat. Everything is allowed. I need to make this something that I will do for the rest of my life and if something yummy and high is calories is a cheat, I will fail.
  • Jennwith2ns
    Jennwith2ns Posts: 296 Member
    Yes but I am making sure I don't binge or I will gain back everything I just lost the week before. It's closer to a cheat meal.. And I also make sure it's on a workout day. My cheat day last week was by accident and landed on a day when my mom wanted to go out to dinner, so it was just that one meal.
  • canadiandee
    canadiandee Posts: 196 Member
    Cheat? Never. Treat? Sure. I had a grandmother who never again tasted ice cream after she was diagnosed with diabetes in her 30s. She could have had it, could've fit the occasional treat into her life, but she was proud of her ability to control herself completely. That was her.

    This is me. I love life and everything about it. I love a cold beer on a hot day or a thick wedge of cheesey pizza out with the family. I'm learning restraint, not deprivation.

    For those of you who never indulge, hat's off. But that's not me and it never will be. Not in the way I eat, and not in the way I live. We're just different.

    Do what promotes success for you.
  • little_miss_panda
    little_miss_panda Posts: 79
    Sometimes I have days where I don't log. I don't necessarily have "cheat meals" those days, but I just give myself a break from having to log everything I eat.

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