"Cheat" Days?

jcrider · January 2010

Okay, I've never really had to "diet" before, but since having a baby, things have changed. Let me know if my logic is off..

MFP says I should be eating 1200 calories a day, I usually don't eat all of them though...is this good or bad? I've heard you need to eat all your calories or your body goes into starvation mode and hordes the food you eat.

My real question is, if I eat 1200 calories a day for, let say, a month, wouldn't my body adapt to the new calorie intake? I've always heard that you need cheat days to "shock" your metabolism so you body doesn't adapt to the new calorie intake. Is this right??

Thanks for your help!

Oompa_Loompa · January 2010

Im interested to hear this too.

stacyoct19 · January 2010

It kind of makes sense. But, look at your car. You need fuel for your car. It doesn't get use to the amount that you give it and then change what it needs to run. Scientifically your body needs a certain amount of calories for fuel to function on. Shocking your system is a good idea, but it's not always done with a cheat day. Have a cheat day. Don't feel bad about it, but I don't believe it's required to keep losing weight.

The amount of calories you can take in is determined by your weight because obviously the more weight you're carrying around means the more calories it takes to do everything. That's why as you lose weight, you lose calories.

I will be interested to see what others have to say as well!

Marcy79 · January 2010

I have a cheat day but some people are really against them. I LOVE FOOD! I have a cheat day so that I don't feel deprived, additionally, on my cheat day I do 2 hours of rollerblading @ a rollerskating rink which burns nearly 1500 calories!!! I also don't go totally crazy, I generally do not eat my exercise calories during the week but I do on my cheat day so having that extra 1500 cals is like eating two days worth in one!!!

Of course, instead of all healthy stuff I have some junk food (very little = 1500 lol)

ks2001 · January 2010

I have cheat days, and they don't destroy the weight loss in my experience. Usually mine involve alcohol, but that's another story. I don't know if the logic about shocking your system works out or not, but I do know that you CAN continue to lose if you take a day off now and then. Just don't be rediculous about it--like a whole pizza or anything. AND don't beat yourself up for a day off; just start new tomorrow!

Good luck!!
Kevin

jdavis193 · January 2010

In a month your body isn't going to adapt to it thats a short amount of time. Eventually yes it will that is why it is good to have splurge days once a week. You can eat what you are craving for one day. Do not over do it on the splurging though. I I had a baby april 09 I am down to 115 You do need to start out slow but eventually you will get there. If you exercise you do need more calories. I hit a plateau probably about 5 or 6 months into it I changed what I was doing adn eating eventually I will have to do that again.

bebhinn · January 2010

I don't know what the science says, but I do know that if I have been eating well and I feel stuck in a rut - for example not seeing any changes, if I up my calories with say a handful of almonds or another "good" fat (i dont know how "good" any fat is but its better to have almonds than a big mac) it sometimes seems to jumpstart the whole process. But thats just me

jilly280 · January 2010

There are days I eat more then my 1200 cal I should be eating. SDome days I got over the 1200 and go into the cal I burned from the gym. I don't want to lose the weight to fast but I want to lose it and keep it off. I heard if you don't it slow and not fast you will keep the weight off longer.

tayner · January 2010

MFP has already accounted for the deficit you need to obtain your goal, so eat what they tell you to eat. if you eat less then you are likely getting into an unhealthy deficit, which, over time, will cause your metabolism to slow down, making it harder and harder to lose weight. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the whole "eat to lose weight" theory, but it does work if you choose the right foods and have at least moderate activity. good luck to you

cnbenton · January 2010

According to the nutritionist at my doctor's office it is possible to shut down your metabolism and even to do permanant damage to it by consuming too few calories. When you eat too little to fuel your body you can trigger something called hybernation syndrome. It is a throwback to prehistoric times when hunter gatherers didn't know when or where their next meal was coming from. It is a reaction to famine. When too few calories were coming in our bodies would slow down everything except vital systems like the heart and brain. Symptoms of hybernation syndrome include extreme lethergy or exhaustion, coldness in the extremeties, etc.

HOWEVER this does not necessarily mean that you should be worried if you aren't eating all of your calories everyday. Because we are still essentially the same creatures biologically as our ancestors and our bodies are not aware that we live in 21st century America...they still adapt the same way. Meaning that since humans are built to withstand periodic famine without serious damage to our health, your body can tolerate occational drops in caloric intake. It is only prolonged caloric restriction that will cause your body to enter "starvation mode" and hold on to weight. If you are consistantly getting far fewer calories than recommended you should consider how you might add some healthy ones back in. I find drinking a glass of skim milk a good way to get in lots of protein and nutrients without the bulk of eating another meal when I am a little low on calories.

As for a cheat day, I personally try to do a cheat meal instead. I find that if I give myself the permission to cheat for the whole day i tend to get out of control and cheat day turns into cheat weekend or week. I've lost 140 lbs. in the last year and a half, almost 5 in the couple of weeks I've been using fitnesspal (67 more to go!), so for me it works. Different things work for different people Find what works for you.

sweetteacher123 · January 2010

First, you really should be eating back most of your calories, even exercise ones, so your body burns and you don't feel horrible. As for a "cheat" day, yes, you should. But make sure it is a day, not every day! Haha! The Body For Life fitness program builds in a cheat day every week. I also think if you didn't eat back all of your calories on one day, you could add those over the course of the week to another day to "cheat".

jcrider · January 2010

Thanks everyone for your replies!

I will probably start taking a cheat meal here and there. I dont know if I can do 1 a week like some, but maybe 1 everyother week

dogmeat · January 2010

If MFP gives you 1200kcal/d, then you definitely shouldn't leave days under this. A single day here and there probably won't hurt, but if it becomes a habit, it will slow down your weight loss.

The reason why your body doesn't get "used to" the lower energy intake in a healthy diet is that the decrease is small enough to not trigger a response from your metabolic system. If you're constantly above the suggestion, then your body will catch up to what you're attempting, and will fight you all the way.

Having a "cheat day" - hitting your maintenance level or slightly above - is a good practice even if you didn't feel like it (nuts are an easy way to get easy, healthy calories if you have problems reaching "cheat" levels). There's some anecdotal evidence that it helps to avoid plateaus.

It's still a good practice to log the cheat day calories. It takes away some guesswork from where your progress should be at.

Some people dedicate one day a week for that, some prefer a day every two weeks. More than that would mean a slower progress, which could be demotivational for some (and no, you shouldn't "make up" for the cheat days during normal days).

"Cheat" Days?

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