cheat day

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  • pwnderosa
    pwnderosa Posts: 280 Member
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    I don't really consider anything I eat as cheating. I eat lots of high calorie meals and lots more low calorie meals. This week (my birthday) and Christmas week I changed my goals to eat at maintenance and enjoy more yummy things. But I kept logging the whole time and stayed within the calories I'd planned so it's all good.

    However, now that I've been really concentrating on eating healthy and light for some time, if I have one big/high fat meal, I am not likely to want one again for a couple days.
  • kanadian_bear
    kanadian_bear Posts: 70
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    Yes, definitely! I highly recommend it in fact! I have one cheat day a week. On that day I go absolutely nuts and allow myself whatever it is I'm craving. It hasn't adversely affected my weight loss at all and I believe it helps keep my body guessing. As you can see I'm four pounds away from the halfway point in my weight loss. I gave myself a year to lose 40 lbs and I'm gettin' there slowly but surely. Just last night I had 4 large slices of donair pizza, 6 honey garlic chicken wings half a bottle of Coke and a slice of cheesecake. But that's just me. You do whatever makes you comfortable. Like some people here have said, if they allowed themselves one cheat day a week it might undo all their accomplishments so far - so it's clearly a personal decision. I know I have the willpower to climb right back on so really for me it's a non issue.

    I vote for cheat days!
  • purplecharm
    purplecharm Posts: 446 Member
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    Cheat meals occasionally but no cheat days.
  • BackTatJIM
    BackTatJIM Posts: 1,140 Member
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    I don't have to cheat because I eat food I like every day!
    iifym-diet_zpse66b43b8.jpg
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
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    I have days I eat more relaxed and only log as quick adds, or not at all. But I don't consider it cheating. I am not taking a test or playing someone else's game. It's my lifestyle with my rules. I eat foods I want that fit into my weekly averages, and now that I am in maintained, I don't even bother with the weekend logs.

    But... I have never had problems with binging or emotional eating. I can understand that some people that have issues with that may want to avoid 'cheat' days and want to be very meticulous about logging every bite exactly. We all make our own paths.
  • kanadian_bear
    kanadian_bear Posts: 70
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    I don't have to cheat because I eat food I like every day!
    iifym-diet_zpse66b43b8.jpg
    YES .. I LIKE THIS!
  • erynleigh13
    erynleigh13 Posts: 7
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    My trainer encourages not a cheat day, but a cheat meal once a week. When I first started this journey that was one thing that kept me going ... knowing that if I was craving somethin, like pasta, I could wait until my cheat meal and enjoy it without feeling guilty. I eat clean 6 days a week and my breakfast/lunch/snacks and then have 1 meal that day where I cheat. Don't go crazy, but eat without feeling guilty.
  • devan33
    devan33 Posts: 177 Member
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    Saturday, after my weigh in, I will eat things I wouldn't eat during the week. I don't eat much in the way of anything processed during the week. No chips, crackers, 100 calorie snacks,hot dogs, candy, american cheese etc...but, on Sat if I am watching a movie with the hubby and have a snack or want to order out, we do. Last weekend we had a date night and ate out. We noticed that we ordered differently than we would have a couple months ago. I would say to have something to treat yourself..but don't blow the whole day by pigging out! :)
  • justicekenny
    justicekenny Posts: 80
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    I don't have to cheat because I eat food I like every day!
    iifym-diet_zpse66b43b8.jpg

    Yup Yup .. .Boooommmm goes the dynamite
  • mlbbarnes
    mlbbarnes Posts: 12
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    just wondering if anyone agrees with me of having one "cheat" day a week...any comments are appreciated :flowerforyou:

    I definitely think you need a cheat day! I don't do it once a week but I do it once every two weeks. I think it helps me stay on track with dieting and gives me motivation to do really well with my eating and have something to look forward to it. I wouldn't go buck wild and consume 3 or 4 times more calories than you do now but you have to treat yourself for a job well done. You will also find that eating the really fatty food, after dieting for awhile, that it makes you a little sick. I usually feel blah for the next day after my cheat day.
  • CharlesLadd
    CharlesLadd Posts: 39
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    Sounds to me like you are trying to justify bad behavior. If you are trying to teach yourself how to eat more healthfully, why would you purposefully throw caution to the wind and jump into the trough with a big spoon? Does that mean there are some foods you can never have again? Of course not, but it should be within the boundaries you have established, that is, meet your macros (calories, grams of carbs, fat, proteins). Since you should generally be "eating your exercise calories" all you need to do to enjoy that calorie-laden meal is enough exercise to allow for it. It is not rocket science. Maintain a certain level of input, equal to your output to maintain, less than your output to lose weight, making sure to consume a minimum level (say 1,200 calories). I try not to lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those who do (the West Point rule), and I most especially don't tolerate those who lie, cheat or steal to/from me, and that includes myself. If you are thinking a diet is a program that will some day come to an end, you are more likely to "cheat." If you see your journey as a lifetime of healthful living (eating and exercising), the concept of a cheat day or cheat meal won't occur to you. But, do what you want to do. No one else is your keeper.
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
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    No. In the past, cheat meals have led to cheat days to cheat weeks to cheat months to cheat years. Now I try to be disciplined every day. Of course, some days are better than others. I go off the rails from time to time.
  • Sofitin2013
    Sofitin2013 Posts: 39
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    For me, it is tough. It turns into cheat day, and then cheat weekend (sat and sun) and then I throw in a cheat Friday too ;)

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