Cheat Days - Are You A Believer?

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  • Marksman21
    Marksman21 Posts: 126 Member
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    I believe in it, and I've still lost weight steadily. It handles cravings. Its the one day you don't have to work on the diet and just enjoy yourself.

    Granted, don't feel invited to do 4x your calorie intake, but a high spike one day isn't going to hurt you. 1 pound, maybe 2, it'll come back off in a few days and you're right as rain.

    I WILL admit, this will slow your progress by a little bit, but since when has Diet and Excercise been a fast, easy road?
  • 23SVM88
    23SVM88 Posts: 47
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    hell yeah they work! diets plateau as much as exercising does, and instead of derailing my diet by going back to my old eat everything self. i get to enjoy one day a week


    I agree with this, the cheat day can help with plateaus, you don't need to go all out and go overboard, but just eat some higher calorie foods, I usually have pizza or fast food for a meal on a cheat day, or alcohol is a good one to use on a cheat day!!
  • Wabbit05
    Wabbit05 Posts: 434 Member
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    I'll have an unhealthy meal every week but to just let loose on calories, I can't do it. It sets me back everytime.
  • triathlete5301
    triathlete5301 Posts: 182 Member
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    I don't believe of anything as "cheating". What we are doing here is changing our lives. Yes, at some point you will be at the goal weight and need to maintain, but I would say that you should give yourself a break here or there. You will ultimately feel like you are "missing" something, and your "diet" will fail.
    If you have a hearty sunday dinner, just don't overindulge. I would make better choices- instead of all starches and red meat, make sure you eat vegetables. This way, you are still "dieting" and focusing on your goal, but you aren't being so strict with yourself that you become agitated.
    Just a thought :smile:
  • AmyP619
    AmyP619 Posts: 1,137 Member
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    I believe in cheat days. This isn't a diet. This is a life style change for both my husband and I. If we want to do this for life, we need to find a way to do it without depriving ourselves and making ourselves go insane. We usually do 1 cheat meal a week. I still don't eat everything I want. I still try to choose something a little healthier on the menu, but a cheat meal means that I don't beat myself up if I go over my daily goal by like 400 calories. We're not expecting to hit goal over night. Yes, a cheat meal might set me back a couple of days, but I get the foods I've been craving all week, and I'm a happy camper. I've still been losing at a healthy rate. I don't believe in eliminating all good meals, unless you're actually trying to lose a bunch of weight in a short period of time for whatever reason. I know this is going to take me a year anyway, so I refused to drive myself insane by not allowing myself a treat here and there. It isn't realistic to never eat out again for the rest of our lives, so we look at it as a lifestyle and a way to make our bodies healthier AND happy!!
  • clairecandoit11
    clairecandoit11 Posts: 62 Member
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    I don't like to think that I am being deprived of things, but that I CHOOSE not to eat certain foods regularly! When I have a get together or dinner out with friends, I just plan my day around it. I try to eat pretty light during the day and just snack so that I have more calories for that certain thing I want to eat! I also make sure to DEFINITELY work out hard that day! It is all about BALANCE! Also, even if I cheat, I log it so that I am accountable for it.
  • joymelanson
    joymelanson Posts: 37
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    I don't like a planned cheat day, but if I know that there will be a sepcial event that involves eating like Thanksgiving, I will plan my calories to be able to enjoy that special meal. Life will always present situations where you have to make choices about your calorie intake, planning to deliberately cheat sounds like trouble to me. You should be able to enjoy almost anything within moderation.
  • dg730
    dg730 Posts: 62
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    I cheat every day but I stay around my calorie goal. I cheat every day so I will not feel the need to binge.
  • Weebs628
    Weebs628 Posts: 574 Member
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    If I want to eat something, I work it into my calories for that day. There are some days where I just don't care and need a break. I still log it, but I guess that would be my "cheat" day. I usually don't do that, because I pretty much eat whatever I want on a daily basis.
  • BellaSteffani
    BellaSteffani Posts: 11
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    There are times when you crave something so badly that you feel you'll crawl out of your skin if you don't have it. Yesterday, it was cake mixed with ice cream for me. So I had some, but I made sure that it was in moderation. Yeah, it was a lot of calories and fat, but it wasn't the normal amount that I would eat, and I made myself work out extra in retaliation. In my opinion, it's all about balance. If you are craving a burger, eat one! But make sure you walk an extra mile or go to a fitness class. To me, it makes the cheat worth it because I know that I've worked for it.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    I "cheat" every weekend, but I'm pretty good during the week and try not to eat my exercise cals back, I lose half a pound a week on average although starting to lose quicker. I call it the week day diet, I just try not to go over 2000 cals a day Sat and Sun, to be fair it keeps me sane and I lose so I'm happy and it fits with my lifestyle. :)
  • BetterCrazyThanLazy
    BetterCrazyThanLazy Posts: 336
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    if i want to eat more
    i work out more
    cheating on your diet is a slippery slope...

    ^^^This^^^

    Well, at least I try to stick to this thinking, but of course there are days when you don't get to workout but your appetite is out of control so you declare it a "cheat day" and move on.
  • RiverMelSong
    RiverMelSong Posts: 456 Member
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    I, personally, don't do cheat days. It's too easy to destroy all my hard work in one sitting :tongue:
    On the other hand, if I start depriving myself of food I love I know I will cave eventually and fall off the wagon.
    My secret is to just make sure I stay within my 1500cal limit each day, and still eat all the things I like.

    Take today for example: I had steak and chips for dinner worth 700cals, and 2 glasses of wine worth 200cals. That's 900cals for dinner!! But the rest of the day I made sure I only consumed 400cals so I'm still well within my limit. :smile:

    I just plan ahead so when I do decide to eat steak or pizza I eat less during the day or exercise more. Plus that way I get to look forward to it all day! And I don't have to wait all week for a cheat day. :happy:




    Edit: fixed calculation error
  • Stepmom1
    Stepmom1 Posts: 155 Member
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    I do. Only one day a week and its not a whole cheat day, but a "cheat meal." For me its all about self control. If you don't have it, then I wouldn't go there, but it works for me. I've obtained great results. So, if you can do it, do it. IF you can't, then don't. :smile:
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    I don't think they hurt me as long as I keep it under control. When I'm really bad I have stomach problems from them. They've lost some of the appeal...
  • mulderpf
    mulderpf Posts: 209 Member
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    I like to call it splurge days rather than cheat days. I still log everything, but unless I went WAY over, I don't let it bother me or let me feel guilty. I just move on and forget about it (until I stumble across it when I look through my history of course :D).
  • Becoming_A_Butterfly
    Becoming_A_Butterfly Posts: 2,534 Member
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    It depends what will work for you. Maybe just test it out and see. I personally love fitting in a cheat day once a week, after my weigh-in, as long as I work out that day and get 100% back on the plan the next day. If you struggle with getting right back to it after a cheat day, then it will likely just cause problems, but I find it is easier to stick to my meal plans all week if I know there is a built-in day that I can relax just a bit.

    I get tired of the "don't use the word cheat" war cry I always see on these threads. Who cares what you call it? Try it, modify it to work for you, scrap it if it doesn't help you, and call it whatever you want.
  • DontWeightStartNow
    DontWeightStartNow Posts: 58 Member
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    I believe in them. And I follow the "Fit For Life" Bill Phillips program and he believes in them too. Once a week on Fridays I eat what I want and I take a break from exercising. Although I don't pig out all day and night, I will stick to the plan during the day, and then enjoy dinner out with my family or pizza and wings for dinner in. One time I had severe ice cream cravings (I don't usually eat ice cream period) and gave into the craving and binged somewhat. It got it out of my system, and I was right back on track and immediately lost any gain the following week. The key is to forgive yourself and get back on the train. Deprivation is not the answer. Binging isn't either, however I do believe there is a happy medium. If I knew that I could NEVER have any of the "bad" stuff to eat for the rest of my life, I would be really really depressed! Also, since I no longer eat until I'm stuffed (hate that feeling) I only eat until I'm satisfied and somewhat full which means I eat way less than I did in my fatter days. Although I just joined MFP and show "0" weight loss, previous to this I lost 40 pounds and have managed to keep it off for 4 years.
  • amydee714
    amydee714 Posts: 232 Member
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    This is not a diet for me. This is my new life. That being said, I have one *planned* cheat meal a month. For October it was my daughters birthday and I ate Sushi (which was quite a treat!). For November it will NOT be Thanksgiving, but rather a night out with a friend.

    Planning the day in advance has many rewards including:
    a) keeping me from having too many of those days and falling back into old habits
    b) giving me somthing to look forward to
    c) and has never affected my weight loss for that week/month

    Depriving myself for the rest of my life is not feasible, but neither is going back to my old way of life.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    I usually go over my calories by a little bit (100-200 cals) on the weekends. I try to exercise a little more to make up for it. Once in a while I'll go over by a lot (300-500, I've never gone over more than 500) and that's when I feel really guilty and it stalls my loss. I haven't done that in a while. You gotta live a little, and 1290 calories every day without ever going over would probably make me pretty miserable after a while :/ but it all depends on if you can spare a week without a loss, etc.

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