Free day????

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meg1hirschi
meg1hirschi Posts: 39
in Food and Nutrition
Is it helpful or harmful??? Im trying to decide if i should have 1 a week or what not. Would love your input!!!
Thanks
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Replies

  • Dee_84
    Dee_84 Posts: 431 Member
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    I am not really a fan of "free days" or "cheat days". It's so easy to go overboard on those days, thinking "I've been good all week I deserve those pancakes for breakfast, pizza for lunch, chicken wings for dinner and ice-cream afterwards".

    I nice meal every once in a while though, even going over your calorie allotment won't do a lot of harm. A whole day can be a totally different story!

    If it helps you to stay on track I would say, pick ONE meal a week where you eat more/not as healthy as usual. Maybe a nice weekend breakfast with french toast and bacon, or a plate of nachos while watching your favorite football team.
  • meg1hirschi
    meg1hirschi Posts: 39
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    Sounds resonable to me
  • Rogue_Minx
    Rogue_Minx Posts: 71 Member
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    Especially when you're just starting off, a whole *free* day can be really detrimental. Your body can feel deprived so you'll want to eat everything! And after a day of eating all the old foods you used to, it can be IMPOSSIBLE to get back on track when the next day rolls around. I speak from personal experience.

    However, one *free* meal a week is different. I reserve mine for dinner on Saturday nights. While I don't go crazy, I allow myself to eat something I REALLY want, but in moderation. Yesterday, I had two slices of bacon cheeseburger pizza. I didn't go over my calories for the day, and this morning, the scale hadn't gone up. I don't feel bloated either.

    What I do is to eat something I really want and then follow it with A LOT of water. I feel like this flushes out my system faster though I don't have any idea if it actually does or not.

    So in short, no free DAY; just a free meal.
  • edennew
    edennew Posts: 231 Member
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    I'm glad you brought that up, because it's something i've wondered for myself. I agree with it being possibly harmful- and I think one higher cal meal periodically is a great idea. Personally, I find that it is the mental concept that I DESERVE a treat or cheat day that gets me into trouble. That is how i justify overeating and it also makes the concept of eating healthy feel like a punishment. I am going to try to make every day interesting and healthy food-wise so I like what I am eating all the time.
  • tommygirl15
    tommygirl15 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    I consider this a lifestyle change, therefore don't have cheat days or meals. I just try and keep it within my goal, regardless. If I go over, I don't fret... it is what it is.
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    I have a free day every Friday.
  • Helen_Luvnlife
    Helen_Luvnlife Posts: 230 Member
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    I use free days all the time and think they are helpful. I was told to take them once a week by a personal trainer. She said it helps keep your metabolism up. I also find they help with cravings. If I am craving pie, I can tell myself I can have it on my free day. Keeps me from breaking my diet. The one thing I do though is I go out and have that piece of pie. Then I don't have a whole pie sitting around the house to tempt me
  • Christine1110
    Christine1110 Posts: 1,786 Member
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    Not for me...I wanted the fat off asap! If you work off 3500 calories in a week, and then you have a free day and eat a extra 3500 calories which isn't so hard if your eating out & drinking....you wasted your week of working out. I do it rarely....everyone has to have some fun!!
  • seriouslytrying
    seriouslytrying Posts: 8
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    Don't do it. I did it for my birthday - week off. And pretty much all the healthy habits were gone and also now I'm craving carbs and sweet goodies which I didn't before. I'd say go for a bite of a cookie when you feel like it but don't over do it. It's about learning to discipline yourself and really not want the bad things anymore.... Now if I just listened to myself, I wouldn't have reversed all the good things that I have gained in the past month!
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member
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    It depends on what works best for you. From the very beginning of my weight loss ~journey~ I've used the whole weekend as a "free day". It's been really helpful for me and has probably been the number one factor that has kept me from giving up, to be honest. If I have a craving for something "naughty" during the week, I don't go crazy thinking about it because I just tell myself it's fine, I'll have it on the weekend. It takes my mind off the craving, and sometimes when the weekend comes I'm completely over it and don't even want whatever I was craving anymore anyway.

    During the week, I always eat at a deficit, so when my free days come, I'm not actually going over my calories for the week. Lately, I've been keeping a spreadsheet to track my calories on a weekly basis so I know how much I can relax things on the weekend without going over. Also, I make sure I always exercise on my free days to help balance things.

    So it depends on you, really. Some people find it more helpful to avoid temptation all together. But for me, it's been amazingly helpful. :)
  • joroso19
    joroso19 Posts: 1
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    Ive lost 105 lbs in 6 months , ive had cheat meals mostly once or twice a week , as to cheat days , only if I'm at my grandmothers house ,and even on those two occasions i always do portion control. the key is portion control. and just cause u cheat , do not stop you work out. the key is to limit intake and burn calories .
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    It depends on what works best for you. From the very beginning of my weight loss ~journey~ I've used the whole weekend as a "free day". It's been really helpful for me and has probably been the number one factor that has kept me from giving up, to be honest. If I have a craving for something "naughty" during the week, I don't go crazy thinking about it because I just tell myself it's fine, I'll have it on the weekend. It takes my mind off the craving, and sometimes when the weekend comes I'm completely over it and don't even want whatever I was craving anymore anyway.

    During the week, I always eat at a deficit, so when my free days come, I'm not actually going over my calories for the week. Lately, I've been keeping a spreadsheet to track my calories on a weekly basis so I know how much I can relax things on the weekend without going over. Also, I make sure I always exercise on my free days to help balance things.

    So it depends on you, really. Some people find it more helpful to avoid temptation all together. But for me, it's been amazingly helpful. :)
    Great response. Reasonable and balanced.
  • BonyToni
    BonyToni Posts: 25
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    Great question. I am trying to gain weight. And, please don't laugh, it is in fact very difficult to consume enough calories daily. It is hard to stay motivated. But, to answer the original question.....

    Personally, I don't have free days. I could potentially lose any gain I had made and I wouldn't want that. I.am no scientist but reckon that any one trying to lose could potentially experience the opposite and gain their hard earned loss.

    And, I also agree with other posts. Firstly, Like many MFP users, I am having to commit to a long-term change in eating habits. If I took a day off, I wouldn't eat that breakfast that I never feel hungry for. Neither would I force myself to consume 100g of mixed fruit and nut each day.

    To take a cheat day would, in my mind, not help me achieve my long-term goal. So, I am going to choose not to take one. That way, if and when I have a bad day, I will understand that to be the case. I won't give up, I will do my best and accept the fact that I am only human and change is hard to achieve.
  • lightweightdiva
    lightweightdiva Posts: 41 Member
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    What has been working for me this time around is to have one day a week where I still track my calories, but go over up to 500 calories. Most of those calories are used for alcohol, so I don't feel like I don't get to have any fun, but by still recording everything I eat it keeps me mindful (and keeps me from delving into the cheese drawer when I get home)

    I think it really depends on what your mindset is like. I'm an "all or nothing" kind of person so if I have a free day, I won't just eat what I've been craving... I'll pick the foods with the highest calorie count just because I can. It's a big reason my weights been yo-yoing around.
  • angiechimpanzee
    angiechimpanzee Posts: 536 Member
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    I don't really believe in cheat days anymore. I've tried that method before but instead of focusing on making healthy choices every day and enjoying those choices, I found myself looking towards the day when I could just eat anything, which isn't really healthy.

    Instead I now go by a very broad 80/20 rule. My goal is to have 80% healthy food every day or every week. If One day I decide I want a candy bar, and the rest of my day or week has been squeaky clean, then I can of course have that candy bar. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is. But I keep it occasional like that, and I try to never let junk food make up more than half of any day's intake.

    To me, its better to try and integrate your favorite foods INTO your healthy lifestyle. Being very strict all week and then saving one day to just binge out to your heart's content is telling yourself that healthy eating and having your favorite foods can't be done in combination, which isn't true.
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
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    A whole day of cheating? Not in a million years.
  • DeMarraDontStop
    DeMarraDontStop Posts: 342 Member
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    I don't like the idea of a whole free day, now one free meal a week this would anything outside of any normal meal anything for me and still within my calorie goal (try anyway). For instance, I don't eat pasta everyday so my free meal maybe a chicken fettucine in Alfredo or a piece of cake but again in my calorie goal for the day.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    I take cheat days but I don't go on reckless binges. Might be 500 over TDEE or on rare occasion 1k, but usually they're just days where I don't feel like keeping track.

    As for whether or not you should, I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer.

    The bottom line is that over large periods of time, you need to create an energy deficit. Cheat days will counteract that in the short-term, but if this means greater long-term compliance then they can be very useful. But that's an individual thing that will vary from person to person. Some people might use a cheat day just as an excuse to pig out.
  • TuDominicano
    TuDominicano Posts: 120 Member
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    A good week off is always good, especially if youre following a program.
  • angiechimpanzee
    angiechimpanzee Posts: 536 Member
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    A good week off is always good, especially if youre following a program.
    It shouldn't really be a "program" though, thats the thing. It should be a lifestyle. Saying you're following a "program" to lose weight supports the notion that you're going to be off it & go back to your old ways once the weight is lost, which always ends badly.

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