Off night? Do you have an off night? How does it work?

memea83

Hi all,

I'm only on day 6 today....so still a beginner at this...I have a question....Do you have an off night? What I mean by it...is do you give yourself a day or a night when you can eat those things you crave etc? How does it work? Do you just eat anything? Or do you still have to stay within your calorie limit? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you....

snowyapolis

I waited awhile until I got the hang of things (tracking daily calories) and had lost about 10 pounds before I started giving myself an off night. I would try to keep things "under control" but also not track the calories. Ususally it was when I went out with friends and drank wine.

memea83

Thanks for that...I thought it would be better for me loose something first before I start 'rewarding' myself with treats....don't get me wrong I don't want to binge out on Mcdonalds or anything like that...sometimes I just want a piece of chocolate or something nice...:)

trogalicious

most of the community here refers to it as a "cheat day." I don't have one, but I don't necessarily restrict what I eat. I eat what I want, I just make room for it in my daily calorie allotment. As far as the "go out, eat all the things, drink all the wines and beers" mindset, it's what made me 150lbs heavier. It's just a slippery slope.

Also, I don't view foods as a reward for loss. I'm not my puppy. To each their own, and I don't mean that in an insulting way, I would just rather get a new pair of running shoes or something.

memea83

most of the community here refers to it as a "cheat day." I don't have one, but I don't necessarily restrict what I eat. I eat what I want, I just make room for it in my daily calorie allotment. As far as the "go out, eat all the things, drink all the wines and beers" mindset, it's what made me 150lbs heavier. It's just a slippery slope.

Hmm...thats sound interesting...is it okay to eat whatever..as long as it is withing the calorie limit??? So if I wanted lets say a chocolate....and I still have enough calories left to have it....can I just have it and still loose weight?

snowyapolis

Agree. I think the longer you eat healthy and watch what you eat....your cheat days aren't really cheat days and you probably don't want those things. My weakness is always wine, so I call that my cheat.

memea83

You made me laugh actually...I didn't mean it as it sounded....that i reward myself with food......I just wanted to know if I can still have the things that I used to have, if they are within my calorie limit..

AEFidgets

I eat whatever I want so long as it fits into my calories. I do have days where I eat more then my calorie goal (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays) but that's life. I still track EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth. How else will I learn what does what to my body if I can't remember what I put into it.

trogalicious

most of the community here refers to it as a "cheat day." I don't have one, but I don't necessarily restrict what I eat. I eat what I want, I just make room for it in my daily calorie allotment. As far as the "go out, eat all the things, drink all the wines and beers" mindset, it's what made me 150lbs heavier. It's just a slippery slope.

Hmm...thats sound interesting...is it okay to eat whatever..as long as it is withing the calorie limit??? So if I wanted lets say a chocolate....and I still have enough calories left to have it....can I just have it and still loose weight?

Well, I'm not advocating eating all of your daily calories in Reese's peanut butter cups. I'm a supporter of healthy foods most of the times, but if I want a steak, I'll have a nice steak. If I want a glass of wine, I'll do that.

A calorie deficit will cause you to lose weight, I can just fit more healthy food by volume into my face than I can less healthy or less nutrient dense foods. Know what I mean?

BurtHuttz

Yes, you can even eat all of your daily calories in nothing but chocolate. You will feel like crap.

But as far as weight loss goes, at the macroscopic perspective, it won't matter.

The reason you can't really do that though is because you'll still be hungry! Even though chocolate tastes great, it doesn't have nearly the nutritive value of other foods. Eventually "making room for what you want" and "eating what you need" meet up under your calorie limit for a balanced healthy diet.

memea83

most of the community here refers to it as a "cheat day." I don't have one, but I don't necessarily restrict what I eat. I eat what I want, I just make room for it in my daily calorie allotment. As far as the "go out, eat all the things, drink all the wines and beers" mindset, it's what made me 150lbs heavier. It's just a slippery slope.

Hmm...thats sound interesting...is it okay to eat whatever..as long as it is withing the calorie limit??? So if I wanted lets say a chocolate....and I still have enough calories left to have it....can I just have it and still loose weight?

Well, I'm not advocating eating all of your daily calories in Reese's peanut butter cups. I'm a supporter of healthy foods most of the times, but if I want a steak, I'll have a nice steak. If I want a glass of wine, I'll do that.

A calorie deficit will cause you to lose weight, I can just fit more healthy food by volume into my face than I can less healthy or less nutrient dense foods. Know what I mean?

Yes, that sounds good to me....I completely changed my diet...and don't eat anything but healthy things...but in order for me to be able to keep this up longterm...I just want to be able sometimes have other stuff too...but yes, point taken..and thanks for the advice...:)

BurtHuttz

Case in point, I'm having three hot dogs for lunch. They're not the best food for you but I've more than enough room in my calorie allotment today, I had a green smoothie for breakfast, and will be having a dinner comprised of chicken, light starch, and more greens.

But I'm still eating an 1100 calorie lunch as we speak.

RevCO30

This is what I do...Sundays are my weigh in day each week, regardless of gain, lose or maintain I allow myself a meal that is "free." I try to stay within reason and eat mindfully/healthfully the rest of the day. This is also the one day per week I allow myself a soda. I have been pleased with my results thus far. My thought is, if I don't have something to look forward to each week I will go crazy and binge on "bad" foods more. By allowing myself to have something like gooey pizza or a burger and onion rings it helps me stay focused the rest of the week. The reason I do it on Sunday is I weigh myself in the morning, figure out where I am at and just how "bad" I can be, and then with any luck by the time the full week has gone by and I weigh myself again that meal won't have had an effect. Good luck!

WhoIsAmber

Saturdays (or sometimes Fridays*), for me, is a cheat-day or "off-day."

I don't eat as much as I want, I stay within my daily calorie budget. I just eat foods that I wouldn't usually eat during the week.

* If I cheat on Friday, I won't cheat again on Saturday... unless I cheat on Friday and my Mom wants to go out to dinner on Saturday; this rarely happens, but if it does, I just won't have a cheat day the following week.

mem50

A piece of chocolate is Not going to hurt. I found that having just one meal of what I Wanted worked very well. Log it all. If you go over, you go over. It's just one meal. Some people do the whole day or just a "extra" something. Always keep in mind portion control.

Again, with me, I found if I restricted to much I would crash and binge. Then feel bad that I did...and eat more because I felt so bad.

What I would do was think of something I really wanted on Sunday...go all week being under and exercising...knowing that on Saturday I got to have whatever it was I picked out. It really helped me get though the week.

Find what works for you and go for it.

successgal1

One reeses miniature as 44 calories. If you have 44 calories left in your day, have at it! I keep a bag around.

I had an off day last night. Cycled 12.5 miles which may not seem like much for some but 10 miles is a full one hour on a one speed bike. I also did about 15 minutes of arm weights. So I was pretty burnt and wanted red meat. We went to our local hangout where I ate about 2/3's of my burger and peeled some of the bun off, and about half my fries, and brought the rest home for the dogs. We skipped the usual spinach and artichoke dip, and I probably drank too much beer (no real probably about it) though I drink lite beer.

The way my legs feel today I'm pretty sure I'm still burning those excess calories. I'm ok with my "cheat" since I had worked out and needed the recovery food. Probably went 400 or so calories over. I'm fully back on track today.

kennielod

i have a cheat meal once every 2 weeks roughly. like on monday im going for chocolate cake and icecream as its my friends birthday but im not gonna beat myself up about it

memea83

thank you all...will keep all your advice in mind...you clearly know what you talking about looking at the amounts of weight you all lost...:) well done to you...and hopefuly I will be there one day soon too..:)

Jim1960

I don't have a planned cheat day - they happen on their own without any advanced planning at all. Seriously, I'm doing low carb and being over on Calories but under on carb - that's fine. Being significantly over on carbs sets me back several days; makes me feel lousy too. So it's not worth it for me.

Akdn

I too have thought about a "day off" or a "cheat day" but I'm only in my first week of this calorie counting diet. This topic has been very helpful for me. I think I will wait for a bit then, maybe, have one meal a week that I just have what I want.

cclouj

I have a cheat day, but usually am withing my calorie limit when I add in my activity for the day. What this means to me is that instead of having a calorie deficit of 500 (which is what you want in order to lose 2 pounds per week) I will use every colorie that I have burn. I have also done a lot of reading (as I am sure we have) and have come across what is called a zig zag diet. If you get a chance check it out. It is not for everyone but to me it makes some good points. Years ago I was on weight watcher and I would have one cheat day and found I usually lost more weight that week. I think we need to have a day once in a while to give our matabolism a kick start.

Good luck