Who Allows Themselves a "FREE DAY"?

I don't have a cheat day, I have a cheat moment. If I'm doing really well on calories for the week & have been craving something more than 48 hours, I'll allow myself a taste, like a mini hershy or 3 hershey kisses, but never a whole regular candybar. Never a full soda any longer. I feel the hardest part is cutting out the soda. But I'm actually doing it!!

I agree about the smell of fast food. I don't even really like the smell of bacon anymore, which was heaven before. lol, but french fries, chicken, all that fried food smell does make me nauseous & I've only been doing this actively consistently for 3 weeks. it's awesome that I see everyday & consciously think about the fuel I'm putting into my body. I never realized how close to a biggest loser audition contestant I was starting to seem like before I started this I never paid attention, it's crazy how distorted my sense of "food portion" was.

I'm not on a diet. I started a major lifestyle change back in January of this year that would continue for a long time. Then it will be habit. There are no good and bad foods. Just better choices. Experience has shown me time and again that it is better to feed a small craving then to hold it back until it becomes a binge. But that's just me.

What s the point of a free day? I'm trying to get somewhere. My body only needs x amount of calories a day to achieve a goal. Deciding not to worry or log seems so silly to me. I have changed my eating habits forever. I have had higher calorie days, but I balance it out with exercise or lower calorie days. A free day seems like trying to hold on to those horrible old eating habits. They did my body no good. It would be like I'm not caring about my body. Not caring is what got me here in this predicament in the first place.

I allow my self to have a kind of cheat day but I dont go all out and eat anything or everything. Its can be so easy to get you off track. I believe in rewarding yourself for all the hardwork you have done.

I don't intentionally give myself free days...sometimes they end up happening (black friday comes to mind - and my last overnight shift - all in one day). On those days, either I'm up for 24 hours straight and end up going over my goal by 300 to 400, or I just make some really poor decisions because I'm not logging as I should be. I've found that if I intentionally plan a free day, my free day from week one ends up being back to back with my free day from week two, and then what's the harm of having one more? Yea...vicious cycle, so I try to not even do them...

Wow. All this negative thinking around taking a diet break once a week is amazing. Who cares? I mean even if it did slow down your progress by one day, and in the big scheme I don't believe it does because it helps to keep your metabolism from adjusting to the same calories daily, but even if it did... this is a lifestyle for me. I am not on a diet, so nothing to cheat on. I don't CHEAT, I eat normally or above normal one day a week actually I basically took a diet break over the past few months due to a very stressful busy season at work, and some medical issues, so I ended up having 3~4 days where I was eating around 3000 to 5000 a day ~ in a row ~ and then eating at restriction for 3~5 days. So basically maintained. Then I realized, this is LIFE. This; is how the average person maintains. They may eat a lot one day out with friends, but eat less the next to compensate. Nope, no diet here. And as my busy season winds down, I am still about 6 pounds less than I was about 3 months ago. I.e., during the really bad times, I still saw an avg of 2 lbs per month loss ~ at the worst. Having an avg of 3 Cheat days, if you will, a week. It is all relative. I can live like this forever. I may have months where I lose 10, and months where I lose 2. Overall I am still losing weight, and more importantly learning how to keep it off. I don't want to lose 130 lbs. Get to the end and not have learned how to keep it off. I am learning that as I go, and it is very liberating to know that having 150 Cal's over in a day is not the end of the world ~ and neither is having 3000 over in a day. Life goes on. Every day is learning. Getting to the end faster and being perfect on the journey isn't going to guarantee lifelong results. Learning how to get and stay there forever, even if it takes a little longer, is vastly more important to me. Good luck to us all!

Edited to clean up auto corrects from the tablet lol

A free day for me is 3-4 glasses of wine on Saturday. Other than that since I started eating healthy 5 months ago I dont want to eat unhealthy it doesnt feel nice any more!

I'm not on a diet. I started a major lifestyle change back in January of this year that would continue for a long time. Then it will be habit. There are no good and bad foods. Just better choices. Experience has shown me time and again that it is better to feed a small craving then to hold it back until it becomes a binge. But that's just me.

Totally agree!!

I try to have everyday be a freeday, so I dont feel like I'm stuck in a gerdhamprison. I prefer for food not to control me anymore, its too stressful.

I eat whatever I want every day :bigsmile:

Why undermine your hard work and resolve during the other six days?

I still have nice meals. I just make sure the calories balance out by the end of the week. You can eat a little less one day and a little more another without it affecting the weight loss.

I am starting to consider having a "free day" a week. I am almost at the end of my weight loss ( 5-10lbs to go depending on how I feel once I lose the next 5). i am getting tired of the 1200 calories a day after 8 months straight of it. Meal wise its ok but I am wanting more freedom to have a decent snack now and then. For 3 weeks in a row I went upto 1500 for one day each week. I used to feel guilty about that but now I'm realizing its making it easier to keep going. I never plan on going nuts for an entire day but I am going to give myself some freedom at this point.

I do have a free day but just like someone else said, the more free days I have the less I like them & look forward to them; because my system has gotten accustomed to the way I have been eating that I just feel YUK afterwards. I do it because if you don't give yourself the freedom just like someone else said you will go on a binge and never return which means you will never lose the weight. This is NOT a diet its a change of lifestyle so if you still want those foods and don't want to feel guilty on a tracking day give yourself a FREE DAY to not track and feel guilty because if you deprive yourself of something you want - sooner or later you are going to go back to the way you were because you DON'T like the strictness of not getting what you want.
(I don't know if that makes sense - I seem to be a little wordy!) :-)