cheat day method; fact or fiction?

The last time I got in shape, I faithfully took a cheat day once a week, and still lost an average of two pounds a week. If you are eating right and exercising for 6.5 of the 7 days a week, you will still lose. In my opinion, it isn't a factor in "resetting" metabolism. But what it DOES do is add an element of confusion to your body and helps keep it from going into a starvation cycle, which really does hamper weight loss efforts. There are a lot of additional benefits. If you are working out hard, you really need to supercharge your energy levels at least once a week. Your workouts will benefit and you will notice the difference in intensity. My very best days in the gym are ALWAYS the day after a cheat day. And there is the psychological benefit of never feeling deprived or hemmed in by a strict diet. If there is something I crave during the week, I just tell myself that I'll save it for my cheat day. Plus, it's awesome for days when I know I'll be going out with friends, which is usually at least once every weekend. I typically limit my cheating to just one evening, rather than an entire day, though. The reason for this is I found that if I went crazy and ate anything I wanted ALL day long, the next day I would wake up and feel like I had been run over by a bus.

Hope this helps ...

You're going to be forced to indulged at some point whether on vacation, with guests visiting, at a work dinner, etc. There's no reason to build it in, unless you need to build it in to maintain self control.

What does appear to be true is that Varying what you eat will help you lose weight, as opposed to finding exactly what works and letting your body get used to that. Another thing that works for some people is eating (for example) 2000 calories one day and 1000 the next, as opposed to 1500 both days. These are both common methods of breaking through a plateau.

Yes, it can help to restore leptin levels which, in turn, helps people lose fat. In short, it's a way to send a message to the body that you're not in danger.

I believe the problem though, is that leptin drops back down very fast when you resume deficit.

If it stayed permanently elevated, it would be a perfect world. It is, however, a net positive.

It didn't work for me, but I was doing it wrong.

I'm the kind of person who's happier completely avoiding something I love but is bad for me than trying to have a little bit of it. So I'd almost always overindulge in my cheat meal of choice, gain some water weight, and then spend the rest of the week undoing the damage. So I decided to just knock it off and stick to my schedule all day, every day.

I'm not saying you should swear off the cheat day, all I'm saying is, if you do decide to try it, that up there is how you shouldn't do it.

Whether it's beneficial or not depends on the context, but it wont "revamp your metabolism."

This^^

I simply don't deprive myself. I eat things that I enjoy every day. I think people should do what works for them, but it doesn't "ramp up" your metabolism. That's just silly.

The last time I got in shape, I faithfully took a cheat day once a week, and still lost an average of two pounds a week. If you are eating right and exercising for 6.5 of the 7 days a week, you will still lose. In my opinion, it isn't a factor in "resetting" metabolism. But what it DOES do is add an element of confusion to your body and helps keep it from going into a starvation cycle, which really does hamper weight loss efforts. There are a lot of additional benefits. If you are working out hard, you really need to supercharge your energy levels at least once a week. Your workouts will benefit and you will notice the difference in intensity. My very best days in the gym are ALWAYS the day after a cheat day. And there is the psychological benefit of never feeling deprived or hemmed in by a strict diet. If there is something I crave during the week, I just tell myself that I'll save it for my cheat day. Plus, it's awesome for days when I know I'll be going out with friends, which is usually at least once every weekend. I typically limit my cheating to just one evening, rather than an entire day, though. The reason for this is I found that if I went crazy and ate anything I wanted ALL day long, the next day I would wake up and feel like I had been run over by a bus.

Hope this helps ...

You explained it pretty well. From my own experience I find a cheat day helps me stay on the diet and has never hindered my weight loss if anything it sometimes helped. On WW old plan they had that you could have an extra 35 calories once a week. Also this concept is explained well by the diet that works around this concept, its called the "Cheat to lose Diet"
here is a link to the book if u want to see the basic concept.
http://www.amazon.com/Cheat-Lose-Diet-Faster-Keeping/dp/B0085SJG6S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345219054&sr=1-1&keywords=cheat+to+lose

So yes I definitely believe in treating myself to a 'cheat day' once a week as long as i am good on my diet the other 6 days.

I hate this conversation because people have opinions, but they are based on nothing except what they think makes sense to them or whatever. There is a lot of information written on this topic. It's been studied a lot. I suggest you go read the data and make up your mind. They can be beneficial if they are done right. But, most people just want to have a pig fest. That's not what a cheat day is.