Eating Unhealthy on a weekend, how much damage does it do??

How many calories over are we talking about?
If it's somewhere like 5000 calories, it's bad.
It it's 500 calories, I wouldn't really worry about it.

I read an article about a successful weight loss story in Men's Health magazine, and they actually encourage the occasional cheat on your diet (i.e. the 1 day a week you can eat a crappy meal or indulge in your favorite dessert). Aside from the obvious pleasure benefits involved, there were some metabolic reasons in the article as well. But overall, the article's main message was that having your one cheat day was something you'd use to keep yourself sane and on course for your fitness goals overall. I hope this helps a bit!

My weigh in day is a cheat day and that's pretty much every week. I don't go over board and I don't stuff myself silly but I get my venta mocha with peppermint and I have a dinner where I'm not as worried about portion sizes. I tend to still ask for no butter or oil on breads if I get a burger or something, but I get fries rather then a salad or steamed veggies. I normally eat a pretty small healthy lunch but I'm pretty sure I'm well into if not over my maintenance calories by the end of that day. I will weigh the next day and be up 2-5 lbs depending on how salty the meal was but I'm down the next week 1-2 lbs from my last weigh in. The week I actually didn't eat out (I stay within my calories but I eat out WAY too much) I dropped 4 lbs just from all the salt. Anyhow (sorry, I got side tracked :laugh: ) I've done this for years. When I lost 30 lbs before I got pregnant with my daughter I had a cheat day and I've been doing it for the past year that I've been working on the 50 lbs I've lost. I know me, and I know I need that once a week to not feel deprived or eat what I've been craving or just not have to think too hard. I do, however, think that I would eventually not crave these things if I didn't eat them as often. Since I don't eat much fast food if I happen to go to Mc Donald's and get chicken nuggets (use to LOVE them) they taste disgusting and leave a greasy feeling in my mouth. So eventually I know I have to give my cheat day up, but at this point they work for me and don't hurt the scale too badly. It does sometimes get tiring to feel like I'm working really hard just to make up for my cheat day, but it's worth it most weeks.
I have found if I work out really hard the day before and the day after (I do Jillian's Boost Your Metabolism DVD both days) it's a lot easier to get it off and the scale shows a lower number from my last weigh in a few days later. This is my first week that my food cheat day is not my exercise rest day, so I'm sure it will help to work out the day before, of and after.
Sorry to ramble, but I hope this helps. Drink lost of water too :drinker:

I do a cheat day or two about every 2 weeks. It actually seems to kick start my metabolism when I stop losing. If you're gaining and not recovering from it, you might need to adjust something. If the weight is still going down every week, don't worry about it.