Cheat Days....

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Fit_Vixen
Fit_Vixen Posts: 201
in Food and Nutrition
When you all have a cheat day, do you all cheat on a rest day or your regular workout day? And although it's a cheat day, do you still set limits or just go all out?!?! What works best for you? I would love to know. :)

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  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    No cheating. I find ways to balance foods I want with foods that fill my macros.
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
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    Depends on your overall diet hun. Cheat days/meals etc are diet dependant and depend on how depleted you will be of glycogen.
  • Bull2707
    Bull2707 Posts: 106
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    Cheat days everything is in portions. I choose sundays due to football with family and friends. However I like to make healthy snacks with the normal football snacks. I have pizza but with the right choices for me. Yes I drink beer too!! Then on Monday I am back in the gym working out and running with no guilt. I like to workout but I like to live too!
  • Nikki143
    Nikki143 Posts: 491 Member
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    My cheat days are usually saturday or sunday & I still excercise! I don't neccesarily go all out, but I treat myself & acknowledge my limits .. It worked for me 2 years ago when I lost 50lbs!! :smile:
  • Ichristini
    Ichristini Posts: 66 Member
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    Last night I had pizza for the first time since July, when I started MFP. But it was a high workout day (1000 calories burned) so, I earned it! Thats my method of cheating, I "earn" my extras, or cheats if you will. Good Luck


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  • HeavyLiftGirl
    HeavyLiftGirl Posts: 1,267 Member
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    Rest day.
  • DanaB1019
    DanaB1019 Posts: 2
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    I'm with the poster above. When I have my "cheat days", it's when I either have already burned a large amount of calories, or will be later in the day, that way I can kind of pig out, and still stay under the technical calorie limit.:smile:
  • Pedal_Pusher
    Pedal_Pusher Posts: 1,166 Member
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    My motto is if it works for you, use it.
  • battynat12
    battynat12 Posts: 55
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    I used to do a cheat day, now I am trying to limit it to a cheat meal once a week. It helps that I can go out with friends and not have to count calories, or if there is a holiday. For example, Thanksgiving dinner will be my cheat meal for that week. It makes life a little easier.
  • karrielynn80
    karrielynn80 Posts: 395 Member
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    I will generally have a cheat meal, rather than day - and i still get my workouts in. If i go off the "grid" for several days, i try to stay away from tons of carbs - simply b/c they make me feel bloated (then again that motivates me to get back into the swing of things ;) ) ... generally tho, i stick to my macros m-f & don't log s&sun - in my head i try to stick to my macros, but i don't know 100% b/c i don't track.... lets me feel like i'm less restricted.

    although crappy food & me are starting to have less & less of a "amicable" relationship... anyone else notice that after eating clean / healthy for a good bit?
  • Jenny111372
    Jenny111372 Posts: 87 Member
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    Now that I'm at my goal weight, I'm a little more lenient with "cheat days". Before, I would always feel "guilty" if I went over my calories so I always made sure I worked for that "cheat" so it wasn't really "cheating". Now, I will usually take a day a week or every other week and eat what I want without watching the calorie limits to an extent..lol. I mean, I'm not gonna go balls out and go over my limits by the thousands..but if I'm over around 300 to 500 then it's ok. I guess I always look at it as, I'm not cheating anyone but myself so I have no one to blame for the "consequences" of "cheating" so I can't B---- and moan when the scale shows an increase or my clothes feel a little tighter.. But, I've never "banned" any food since I've started this journey so I've never really felt the need to "cheat" that often. Good luck in whatever you do! :)
  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
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    I am maintaining my weight now but occasionally I will go under my goal weight so when I do I will have a cheat day to gain back what I didn't want to lose.

    Sometimes I will just eat an extra 100 calories though instead of a whole cheat day, it just depends on whether we are eating out or eating in lol.
  • IRISHMAS
    IRISHMAS Posts: 2 Member
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    The french fries just don't taste as good as you think they are going to.
  • Debbe2
    Debbe2 Posts: 2,071 Member
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    No cheating. I find ways to balance foods I want with foods that fill my macros.

    ^^This^^
  • LittleMissDover
    LittleMissDover Posts: 820 Member
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    My 'cheat days' tend to be when there's a meal out that I can't get out of so they don't happen every week, just as and when. Tonight I'm having Chinese take away as it's my daughter's birthday and that's what she wants but I have managed to fit what I'll order into my goals, Saturday I'm out for an Indian meal for a family member's 21st and that's unlikely to fit in my goals so I shall just eat light the rest of the day and not go overboard.
  • MdmAcolyte
    MdmAcolyte Posts: 382 Member
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    I cheat on Wednesdays. Its either date night with my Hubbs or we are having a dinner party (Wednesday night plans help break up the week for us). Usually its just for dinner and drinks though since Im pretty good the rest of the time.
  • SVCat
    SVCat Posts: 1,483 Member
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    I am past the days when I would make a specifc day a cheat day. I look at it as eating for life so I don't restrict myself to a cheat day. I am still losing, perhaps not as fast as I would like, but I'm losing. So if we have a work luncheon, I'll eat...but I make sure to exercise portion control.

    I find it that when I cheat for breakfast, it really affects me all day and I end up messing up the entire day...to the point where I am really out of control or better said, to the point where I let go of self control.
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    Cheat days everything is in portions. I choose sundays due to football with family and friends. However I like to make healthy snacks with the normal football snacks. I have pizza but with the right choices for me. Yes I drink beer too!! Then on Monday I am back in the gym working out and running with no guilt. I like to workout but I like to live too!

    ^^^ My kind of logic. My cheat days are also on Sundays- I'm always there cheering on my Steelers with beer in hand :drinker:
    If there's the typical "football" foods (pizza, wings, buffalo chicken dip,etc.) I'll have a slice of pizza and 1 or 2 wings, but then I'll also add in some veggies with yogurt-ranch dip or some sliced fruit. I usually eat something fairly substantial (and healthy) prior to the festivities so I'm not drooling over all of the greasy food. My approach is only a small portion. That way I won't be totally deprived and p*ssed at everyone else while they're huffing down their wings.
  • MissJenova
    MissJenova Posts: 258
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    Sunday Funday!

    I don't excersize on Sunday's and I allow myself to eat without a thought. Mind you, I work my *kitten* off all week to earn that Sunday though. If I mess up during the week, well there goes my cheat day.

    It's all about balance! I don't go way overboard when I have a rest day, but I don't track anything. My brain needs to relax every so often :wink:

    And that's what works for me! :flowerforyou:

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