To cheat or not to cheat.

bymyslf892 · October 2012

I usually have a cheat day once a week, and by this I mean I eat whatever I want whenever I want and I don't log any of it. I have found that the longer I do this not only do I not feel the need for a cheat day, but I also feel guilty about putting such bad things in my body just because I want them ( plus I have started logging cheat days to monitor myself more)
Does anyone else deal with this? Do you have cheat days? What does a cheat day look like for you? How often do you have cheat days.
BTW these cheat days have not slowed my weight loss or kept me from losing.

metacognition · October 2012

I've noticed that if I cheat it is when I am very tired, hungry, run down and have not planned my calories well for the day (for instance I'll eat a large meal six hours before bed and use all of my calories up too early.)

What I do when I want to cheat I simply what I want but log it into my calories for the day. Some foods are so high in calories I have to keep them out of my diet entirely, or find an alternative. But there are also great junk foods that are packaged in small sizes (lunchables snacks, easy mac microwavable, ice cream cookies in 100 calorie bags, etc.).

When there are certain foods that I will binge on, I will keep them out of the house.

If I eat an enormous amount of food in a cheat, I find it extremely hard to stick to 1200 calories the next day. It's almost as if your hunger hormones turn on and your body says "we're out of famine, time to store up while the food is around" I find it easier to have a lot of little cheats each week, and to keep my calories steady, than a big cheat on one day.

As long as you are still losing weight, it really doesn't matter if you have the cheat day or not. I think that eating some junk food some of the time is really not bad for losing weight, because I don't know anyone who eat perfectly all of the time. The good thing about eating healthier is that you get used to the better stuff and feel less of a need for the junk.

DesireeLovesOrganic · October 2012

I don't do "cheat days" but if I want something, I try to find a healthier modification of it or just have a smaller amount. I eat dark chocolate every single night, 3 pieces....58 cal. LOL

ElizaRoche · October 2012

i dont have a whole complete cheat day.. If i want something that i normally dont eat, i just workout a bit more that day and I eat it without feeling guilty. As long as I stay in track with my daily calories, im cool.

AliciaAnne1984 · October 2012

I have 'treat' days occasionally. It's usually a day that I'm going out for dinner. Yesterday I really wanted to bake so I had treat day and I log it to keep me accountable (and just for my records). I love to bake and it's great having homemade treats because they are particularly delicious and you know exactly what is in them.

It hasn't slowed my weight loss at all and I find I want treat days less and less anyway. I think completely depriving yourself of treats is a good way to 'fall off the wagon' so to speak.

Masterdo · October 2012

The mental game is the real place where the infamous "Everyone's different" really applies for weight loss and lifestyle changes.

The most important thing is to stick with the general change in your lifestyle. If for you that means a cheat day once a week, or for someone else a night out once a month, or for someone else a permanent retreat into a Tibetan monk monastery to insure complete dedication... whatever works.

If you stick with this long enough, enjoy the lifestyle change and pursue fitness goals, you will eventually find that you won't need or want these cheat days as much anyway. It'll happen naturally if they get in your way, and if they don't, then all's fine anyway

The only thing I would potentially change would be to log them anyway, but I'm a pathological data freak, so maybe it's not a good idea.

withchaco · October 2012

I have my weekly splurge meal. I don't call it a cheat. I PLAN and LOG everything, and make sure my macros are good (i.e. enough protein and fiber, sodium/ sugar not too crazy).

I also keep it reasonable by staying near my maintenance calories. I know how easy it is to wolf down 4000+ calories in a SINGLE MEAL by making the wrong choices. That's more than one pound of fat gained from that single meal. I'm not going to do that to myself anymore!

Calorie deficit makes me constipated for some reason. My theory is that my body is trying to squeeze out every last nutrient from the little food I give it, hence the food stays longer in the bowels... Weekly splurge meals help both with my energy level and my regularity issues.

In addition to splurge meal days, I eat treats throughout the week if I'm craving them and can work them into my calorie/ macro budget.

apocalypsepwnie · October 2012

I don't usually plan them but will go out for dinner once every 2-3 weeks.
So I enjoy myself, make good-ish choices but I don't paw over the menu trying to find the absolute lowest calorie thing there. If I go over, eh. I'll make it up during the week. No biggie.
My days are more just to prepare me for life, not writing everything off because of one meal/day, learning how to adjust other things to fit this in and not being that person who can't go out because they are 'on a diet'.

Sure, we had a day out with my derby league for a fundraiser and I brought my own lunch. But they understand and don't mind. Besides, I find bbq sausages gross. I would have been sick eating them. Give me some pasta or a cake and I would have been all over it hehe.

2ndstar2therite · October 2012

My weekly cheat day makes it really easy to keep on track the rest of the week. Anytime I get a craving for something that I wouldn't normally eat, I just tell myself I can have it at the end of the week if I still want it. Sometimes I do still want it, most of the time I don't. I keep my daily calories a little lower the rest of the week to make up for any excess on cheat day... sometimes I go over by a couple hundred cals at the most and I don't feel bad about it because I know I've planned for it. I stay within my calories and maybe some of what I ate wasn't so great for me, but I'm pretty healthy at this point and think my body can handle a cupcake.
Now that I've been doing this for over a year my cheat days aren't usually too bad... sometimes I just use it to treat myself by ordering in or something, nothing that's bad for me, just something I don't have to cook myself.
But if you're not feeling the need to have it as much, and feel really bad about the indulging, why not cut it back to every other week or once a month?

SoDamnHungry · October 2012

As times goes on, I find I make better choices on actual planned cheat days and don't make myself sick.

Of course, I have unplanned binge days and those are just a nightmare.

wildapril · October 2012

I had one huuuuge cheat day this weekend and I logged it, although I didn't want to. But instead of thinking, "I am so ashamed of eating three pieces of toast with butter, two cans of fish, chocolate, etc," I thought, "Heh, yeah, that bread was good. How much did I eat? Three whole slices. That was a ton of carbs, and it was delicious!" And the next day, when I was craving bread again, I thought, "You just had three huge, wonderful pieces yesterday. Remember those, but you don't need any today!" I didn't feel as guilty anymore - I cherished my "cheats". And I think that helped me not to cheat again.

bymyslf892 · October 2012

Thanks everyone this is really helpful! You guys are awesome!

To cheat or not to cheat.

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