Cheat days

Don't hold me on this, but I've read having a cheat meal once a week is what most consider completely fine. It's just not to use it on the same day as a rest day is all the warning I've ever garnered.

Would you recommend a cheat day once a week-with/without exercise on that day or would it just jeopardise weight loss?

only if you are a cheater

I have a cheat meal and on a different day I only do light intensive workouts, this makes sure I don't get bored and I don't overwork my body.

Having a cheat day always helped me and ususally when i would go back and look at what I ate I ended up not really cheating to bad but just telling myself i had a cheat helped me.

To me there is no point of a 'cheat' day... I know some of the meals I used to eat would put me right back on the road I was on before. I started this to be healthy and change my lifestyle...not to cheat.

I do still go to bars and drink... I do not do it every week or every other week... I might do it once a month...Everyone likes having a DD. Night before last we went to the bar, I had two shots and then we went to McDonalds afterwards...I had a single cheese burger and left it at that... I don't nessicarily cheat but I don't deprive myself. I still go to all the same places i went before, its just not at the frequency of before nor do I sit and eat the entire plate. I simply make healthier choices now so there is no need to cheat for me.

I do not believe in the concept of "cheat days". If you bite it, you write it. If you want to eat something, eat it, log it and move on with no regrets! IMHO, it's only cheating if you do not log it.

Would you recommend a cheat day once a week-with/without exercise on that day or would it just jeopardise weight loss?

Generally it is recommended only a cheat meal; however, some do a day and some do nothing. If you do a day it is going to affect your loss long term and my feeling is that you are only cheating yourself. I generally reserve cheat meals only for special occasions, like birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Today is my birthday and I'm going to allow myself some cake or ice cream or whatever after dinner. This happens maybe once per month at most and I log everything.

Sunday's are my cheat days. I also take a break from the gym.
You MUST have a cheat day. You'll go freaking nuts! :noway:


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I have cheat weekends. I mean I don't eat overly horrible but I eat way above maintenance it hasn't affected me in the least. So I train hard and eat clean all week then weekends I eat what I want

I have a cheat day and I would definitely recommend it. No one is an angel so there is no way you can be good all the time so if you allow yourself to be bad for one day then the other 6 you can be really good. It hasn't hindered my weight loss. I wish to lose weight slowly and my way. Yes its a lifestyle change not an overhaul. All major fitness people like olympians etc have cheat days as it can in fact help your metabolism and long term fitness. So go ahead have a cheat day just be good for the other 6 days

If you are trying to lose weight I'd say for every 3lbs you lose reward yourself but only weigh yourself once a week and in the morning on an empty stomach and bladder! If you were on a bulk I'd say once a week

i HATE the phrase 'cheat day'. if its cheating then no, you shouldnt be doing it!

however, when i was losing weight i stuck religiously to my 1200 cals each day but had one 'treat' meal per week where i ate what i wanted, and it didnt hinder my progress, i lost 12lb in 12 weeks.

I agree.

Who are your cheating? Your body knows what you ate.

Fine to figure out when you'll eat a bit differently... a higher limit for a meal or a day, or a special treat. As someone else pointed out, if you eat something regularly, it's no longer a special treat it's a regular food.

If you consider what you eat as a short-term diet rather than a lifestyle change, your results are also likely to be short-term. So figure out what you can live with for a long, healthy lifetime.

Good luck!

A cheat meal is good if you need it, but use them wisely. If you know you have something coming up that's going to make it difficult to stay within your calorie goals **cough** Christmas **cough** then ramp up for that to be your cheat meal. Pu_239 has a great chart above that can help you have a "cheat" meal without ruining what you've been doing.

I knew I was meeting friends for Brunch last Sunday, so all week I cut back a couple hundred calories a day (kept myself above 1200 but below my daily calorie goals) so that on Sunday, I could eat what I wanted without too much concern. I still only had 2 pieces of bacon and passed on the cheesecake, but I didn't feel like I was depriving myself, had a great time with my friends, and still lost a pound that week!

There is evidence that flexible dieters are more successful long-term. Too lazy to go grab the link but Lyle McDonald has an excellent article on flexible dieting worth googling.

This is why I like zig-zagging my calories and having a weekly target rather than striving to hit a daily one. I have days where I've eaten so clean that my calorie intake is a bit on the low side. Add to that, intense exercise totally stifles my appetite. So it's easy to "bank" calories during the week to "spend" for going out to dinner or to a social event where I can enjoy a splurge or two without going over my weekly target. I still attempt to track (although sometimes it's just a wild guess and I try to guess high) but if I do eat into my deficit a bit, no big deal.

I have also read studies that show that people who have naturally stayed slim over their lifetime naturally do this in order to maintain their weight. I figure I should practice eating like a slim person now so I know what to do when I get there.

To each their own...for myself I don't have any cheat days-if I want something, I make it work and fit into my calories for the day, if it doesn't I won't have it or I'll work my day around it the next day. When I met with my personal trainer they told me to have a cheat day once a week, I decided not to do it cause then it makes me think of this as a diet and it's not