why cheat?

neandermagnon

Many people are more interested in learning how to eat in a sustainable way, which includes enjoying all kinds of food and not just "diet" food, WHILE they are losing weight. Trying to figure it out/re-learn how to enjoy those foods sensibly once you're ready to maintain is way harder. Also, not restricting/cutting out fave foods while losing weight helps many people with adherence, since they don't feel deprived.

QFT ^^^^^^^^^ this x 100

: )

+ 1

I see far more people who are in this cycle of excessive restriction followed by overeating/bingeing followed by guilt and more excessive restriction, more guilt, falling off the wagon again etc, than I see of people who cheat too much and don't lose. I'm sure both extremes exist, but I'd definitely advise a mentality of moderate "cheating" (not that i'd call it that, I'd call it enjoying everything in moderation) in order to be able to stick with the program in the long term, and keep the fat off for life.

ken_hogan

I try to factor mini-cheats into my day every so often -- I still stay under my calorie allotment. For instance, yesterday I knew I would be in Princeton where The Bent Spoon has amazing flavors of artisan ice cream. So I made sure to get my exercise in and ate a light supper so that a small cup of ice cream would not tip me over. Is this really a terrible thing, if I'm still in my calorie allotment?

I don't think it's a bad or terrible thing since you are still in your calorie allotment....

alyhuggan

I'd rather have that extra 250-500 calories at the end of the week and keep going as a lifestyle than give up in 2 months because I can't take it anymore. No cheat meal > lower morale, lower morale > giving up.

autumnpath

It's all personal preference. Doesn't make anyone right or wrong. I have one "splurge" meal a week...and have done that consistently for about 7 months...and I've lost over 60 pounds. No, I don't go and have like a 5,000-calorie day....but I do allow myself that one meal to enjoy...hasn't hurt my weight loss anyway....doesn't make me a failure...that is my preference....neither view here is wrong....nor should either view be judged.

pixtotts

part of me agrees part of me disagrees...
"cheat days" I hate the idea of...
but then I think anyone on such a diet that means they need a cheat day to eat things they want to are shooting themselves in the foot in the long run... I dont believe in cheat days but I play my cals so I remain under my goal... If im going out for a meal I make sure to have smaller breakfast and lunch or I adjust what I have day before or day after to stay under a weekly goal
x

kikicooks

It's not sabotage, it's called enjoying life. One meal or one day a week of not so healthy foods or junk foods are not going to ruin progress if the most of your week is good. Too many people on here think they need to eat super low calories anyway so I say have a cheat day or whatever you want to call it.

autumnpath

I'd rather have that extra 250-500 calories at the end of the week and keep going as a lifestyle than give up in 2 months because I can't take it anymore. No cheat meal > lower morale, lower morale > giving up.

^^ this too

autumnpath

It's not sabotage, it's called enjoying life. One meal or one day a week of not so healthy foods or junk foods are not going to ruin progress if the most of your week is good. Too many people on here think they need to eat super low calories anyway so I say have a cheat day or whatever you want to call it.

^^ yes.

MudRunLvr

They always worked well for me. Kept me from quitting. Never much hindered my weight loss.

But feel free to rant away.

ZiezieO

My mantra is, "If you wouldn't cheat on your significant other, why would you cheat on you diet?"
Especially since your diet should be your life style.

Joehenny

This is simply a rant but I hate hearing people talk about their cheat days. This doesn't make any sense. You work you but off to lose weight then admittedly sabotage it and for what? Flavor? Wooo! That last about 4 minutes. Now in not referring to people who at at or near goal weight, it then becomes a personal choice for maintenance. I am also not referring to people who have a bad day because who hasn't? What im talking about are the people who have a lot of weight to lose who plan on eating like crap on a weekly basis. These are the same people who whine because they have only lost x amount of weight in x amount of time. Lose the weight and then eat like crap. Right now you are trying to lose weight, not maintain so quit destroying your work for food, thats why we all got fat in the first place...

If weekly it should be a cheat meal. If a cheat day that should be like once a month. A lot of cals can be consumed in a day, especially if you've been deprived for a week.

PhearlessPhreaks

I completely agree.. im not saying cut out anything, thats why I love this site but to plan on eating 1000s of calories over your goal is sabotage, is it not? Eat anything you want but in moderation, not over endulgence

I am of the same mind- I like the whole IIFYM idea, rather than depriving myself or saving a day for splurging, but it was recently pointed out to me that sometimes "cheat" days are like a test day. It's that day that you know is coming, so you push through the craving or whatever all the other days... and then, maybe, on your cheat day, you don't have the desire to have that decadent dessert, or that pizza you wanted earlier in the week. My MIL told me that's how she quit smoking years ago. She'd allow herself a cheat day every x days, and she often found that when she got to her cheat day, she was more focused on continuing the smoke-free streak than having that cig, but knowing she had a day where she *could* have it if she really wanted it, helped her the other days.

Personally, that method doesn't work well for me, although, I did use a variant of it early on in my pregnancy. I had been craving ice cream, and told myself If I got to my next appt without gaining weight, I would indulge. Then, when it happened, I didn't want it anymore. But, I much prefer to indulge my cravings in moderation. I don't always succeed, but it's a learning/growing process.

neandermagnon

I can understand where you are coming from. I saw a post, last week I think, of someone who was planning a 5,000 calorie day. I'm not sure why they were going for that specific calorie amount, but to me that would undermine any progress I had. I can understand maybe going out having a little 'extra' of something, but that 5,000 calorie day just confused me.

some programs work on a weekly deficit, whereby someone has very few calories for part of the week and a huge number on one day of the week, the entire calorie deficit is calculated for the week, so they burn fewer calories than they take in.

I don't, personally, think this is the best approach and I'd struggle to eat that many calories in a day, and I'd struggle even more with such low calories on the other days. And it's supposed to cause hormonal changes that mean faster fat loss on the very low calorie days - whether that works or not I don't know, because I'm not aware of any peer reviewed studies into this, just a lot of people who sell ebooks and diet plans based on this idea.

But that's the rationale behind it. No idea if it actually works, wouldn't want to try it even if it did.

tedrickp

Even though I have lost a lot of weight I still have a lot to lose.

I never plan a cheat day - but yes once a month or so I "wild out" for a night. This is usually some social gathering that includes some rockstar like activities.

I do it because it is fun and I enjoy it. It makes me happy. Being happy makes me less likely to binge. Pretty simple and reasonable really.

I could get into concepts like will power being an exhaustible resources etc... but at the end of the day I do it because it is fun and enjoyable to have a care free night. Just giving no f***s.

The key is making sure those nights of care free indulgence don't trigger ongoing bad behaviours.

DontStopB_Leakin

*points to ticker*

How bout you do you, and I'll do me? Sound good? Great.

Jacwhite22

Bro.....Do you even lift?

csuhar

I completely agree.. im not saying cut out anything, thats why I love this site but to plan on eating 1000s of calories over your goal is sabotage, is it not? Eat anything you want but in moderation, not over endulgence

One of the challenges we run into is how an individual may define the concept of "cheating". Not everyone is talking about eating large amounts of calories.

I've seen "cheating" used to refer to not caring at all about what you eat, having a particular day (such as a holiday) where you try to keep things in check but don't stress over it, to simply allowing yourself to indulge in a favorite food while still remaining in within your caloric goals.

I would agree a specific scenario with someone whose goal is to eat thousands of calories over the recommended goal seems counterproductive. In the end, though, I figure I'll leave it up to them to either balance out those calories or to simply accept the results.

nolongerXXL

I'm not a fan of planning an extreme cheat day that includes just stuffing yourself to the gills.

I know that personally I struggle with overeating and portion control (with is why I'm here!) I know if I allowed myself to indulge in excessive eating I would only open a door to continued uncontrolled eating. Like putting an recovering alcoholic in a bar!

I am all for occasionally treating myself. In past diets I have always sworn off from all "junk" like foods, pizza, hamburgers, chocolate, cake, ice cream, etc. I can honestly say that the strict restriction of these foods was probably the reason for my diets failing. This time I have found that allowing myself to eat these foods and learn the proper portions and not deprive myself has really help keep me on track to continue to lose.

ryry_

It's one of those where if you can do it and still lose weight, it's fine. Some people do it responsibly, and say "I'm going to allow myself an extra 1000 calories today". But more often than not people use it as a license to binge. They don't realize that yes you can erase you're entire weekly deficit with one binge day.

If people are not losing weight and asking for advice (and saying they are only eating 1500 cals a day), the first thing I like to do is check their diary and almost 100% of the time it's missing entries and when pressed they say it's a day they just ate whatever they wanted.

Bottom line, if you losing and you have a "cheat" meal, then it's fine, but if you are not then it should be the first to go.

Disclaimer: I am only referring to a cheat meal as far as it pertains to going over calories, not food makeup.

odusgolp

I had steak & carrot cake last night.

Be jealous.