Cheat day once a week?!

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  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    once a week? hell no. maybe once every month or two.
  • rgohm
    rgohm Posts: 294 Member
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    I like the idea of planning a cheat day or as one poster said a cheat hour. I have noticed if I have a cheat day I get crazy, I prefer just a cheat meal.
  • QueenJaneRoughly
    QueenJaneRoughly Posts: 26
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    For me, cheat days are the offramp to 24/7 Bingeville and 30 lbs. of uncontrollable weight gain.
  • larryc0923
    larryc0923 Posts: 557 Member
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    If the idea of a cheat day a week works for you then go for it, just remember to log it and be certain to keep your weekly average net calorie amount below your target and you should still be good.

    For me I do not like the idea of a cheat day because I am trying to establish a long term eating and exercise habit that will first reduce my weight to a healthy amount and then maintain it for the rest of my life. So everyday I am eating what I like and want. Ijust make certain it is under the calorie target. I try to work out regularly but if I have a special event/large calorie intake day then I workout (preferably on that day) more to compensate. This has been successful for me for 8 months and managed to lose about 50 of my target 84lbs. However, probably won't really know for a year or so.

    Thanks.
  • WinnerVictorious
    WinnerVictorious Posts: 4,735 Member
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    I've been reading articles out of fitness magazines that a cheat day once a week is actually a good thing. It says to eat double the calories you normally do and eat whatever you want (but no alcohol, if there is kiss the cheat day good bye). The articles say that it actually helps to ramp up the metabolism and help keep you from falling off your diet by allowing you to eat the things you crave as a reward for your hard work through the week. What are your thoughts? It sounds like a good idea, but I want to know if anyone has tried this method?

    the metabolism part is bunk, but the rest is actually not incorrect. if you set aside 1 day a week where you will allow yourself to eat what you want, then the cravings from that week will be easier to resist, knowing that on a coming day you can indulge the craving. however, odds are you won't want all of your cravings by the time that day comes around. it helps you stick with the program on the other days and can also help keep you from eating everything you crave. just make sure to log your "cheat" day too. even if you know you'll be over, you'll need the info for your weekly and monthly averages. eventually, you won't need the "cheat" day to be as often. it's the feeling of deprivation that leads to binging. if you know you're not depriving yourself, the urge to binge will lessen as well.
  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
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    I've been reading articles out of fitness magazines that a cheat day once a week is actually a good thing. It says to eat double the calories you normally do and eat whatever you want (but no alcohol, if there is kiss the cheat day good bye). The articles say that it actually helps to ramp up the metabolism and help keep you from falling off your diet by allowing you to eat the things you crave as a reward for your hard work through the week. What are your thoughts? It sounds like a good idea, but I want to know if anyone has tried this method?

    the metabolism part is bunk, but the rest is actually not incorrect. if you set aside 1 day a week where you will allow yourself to eat what you want, then the cravings from that week will be easier to resist, knowing that on a coming day you can indulge the craving. however, odds are you won't want all of your cravings by the time that day comes around. it helps you stick with the program on the other days and can also help keep you from eating everything you crave. just make sure to log your "cheat" day too. even if you know you'll be over, you'll need the info for your weekly and monthly averages. eventually, you won't need the "cheat" day to be as often. it's the feeling of deprivation that leads to binging. if you know you're not depriving yourself, the urge to binge will lessen as well.

    I agree. Having a cheat day will not ramp up your metabolism. I think it's just a mental thing - that you can

    Some people prefer to just have a moderate 'indulgence' every day or couple of days, others might eat very healthy all week and have one day where they indulge. At the end of the day, it's still calories in vs calories out. So if you're creating a deficit of 200 calories a day for 6 days, then have a massive cheat day and eat 2000+ calories over your TDEE then chances are you're probably going to cancel out the deficit and maintain your weight (or maybe even gain).
  • bdamaster60
    bdamaster60 Posts: 595 Member
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    I've been reading articles out of fitness magazines that a cheat day once a week is actually a good thing. It says to eat double the calories you normally do and eat whatever you want (but no alcohol, if there is kiss the cheat day good bye). The articles say that it actually helps to ramp up the metabolism and help keep you from falling off your diet by allowing you to eat the things you crave as a reward for your hard work through the week. What are your thoughts? It sounds like a good idea, but I want to know if anyone has tried this method?

    the metabolism part is bunk, but the rest is actually not incorrect. if you set aside 1 day a week where you will allow yourself to eat what you want, then the cravings from that week will be easier to resist, knowing that on a coming day you can indulge the craving. however, odds are you won't want all of your cravings by the time that day comes around. it helps you stick with the program on the other days and can also help keep you from eating everything you crave. just make sure to log your "cheat" day too. even if you know you'll be over, you'll need the info for your weekly and monthly averages. eventually, you won't need the "cheat" day to be as often. it's the feeling of deprivation that leads to binging. if you know you're not depriving yourself, the urge to binge will lessen as well.

    agreed. However the cheat day will give the metabolism a kick, but not to the extent people believe it will e.g. 1 cheat day will double your metabolic capacity. Highly unlikely, chances are it will only increase it by only 10 - 15%. Cheat days will set you back, but if you've been strict during the week, think of it as 1 step back to take 6 steps forward. Don't worry too much if you gain 2 - 4 lbs after the cheat day, if you've been depleting the whole week prior then most likely its water retention. Personally I don't like the idea of cheat days as opposed to refeed days where I can track the calories accurately while still receiving the same benefits of the cheat day.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
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    Everyone must find whatever works for them and what keeps them "on task" for the long haul. If that's "cheat days", then have at it.

    I don't have "cheat days" as the name implies that there is some rule I need to break-which there isn't. "Cheat days" as a designated time to eat what I want implies that the remainder of the time I am eating things I don't want-which is not true. I am in this for the long haul and have worked to find a way to incorporate balancing the "bad" foods into my overall diet. Like everyone, I have good days and bad days, and sometimes the bad days are very, very bad. But I don't need to plan bad days, they happen often enough when life springs up and throws a curve ball. So I don't do "cheat days", but many do. It's all in finding what works for you.
  • taylorwaylor
    taylorwaylor Posts: 417 Member
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    Eating double your cals?! Yeah, i don't think so.... I don't believe in cheat days. I think that you should stick to healthy living and occasionally allow yourself to eat a meal that you want or something.
  • watfordjc
    watfordjc Posts: 304 Member
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    Calorie cycling (one day in calorie surplus, a couple - or several - in deficit, repeat) can work just like carbohydrate cycling can work.

    Personally, I have trouble eating at maintenance if half of my meals for the day are what I'm usually eating at the moment. Even when I was gaining weight it was very rare for me to eat more than half of a 15" pizza if I had eaten something else that day. My cravings are factored in but some of them I just ignore (like ice cream and quiche) because I usually fancy something else. English muffins with poached egg and butter is nice, but so is wholemeal bread with poached egg and cottage cheese (and I usually have the stuff for the latter either at home or in my shopping basket anyway).

    I prefer to aim towards my target calorie deficit, and if I'm going out for the day I say to myself "today is a maintenance day" (on such days I typically end up being too much in deficit because of the extra walking and skipping meals).

    Calorie cycling and carb cycling are more for those experiencing a plateau or don't have much fat left to lose. It's in the same area as protein shakes and pre-/post-workout meals - if you want to switch from a banana to a Mars bar post-workout to see if it has a better effect, try it. If you're OK with the trend you're on and the medium-term results, stick with it. If you're bored with what you're doing, try something different.

    ETA: Eating at maintenance for a few days, a week, or a couple of weeks is another way some people deal with plateaus.
  • abbyface
    abbyface Posts: 15
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    I tried this for awhile and for me, psychologically, it just didn't work. I hated thinking that I was restricting myself during the week and working up some kind of "reward" at the end. It caused me to develop an unhealthy relationship with food-- as if the healthy stuff was something I had to suffer through before I got to the "good" stuff. It made it really difficult to enjoy what I was eating at the moment, because I was always thinking about the cheat day and how ~*wonderful*~ it would surely be.

    Nowadays, I'll address cravings in moderation and budget in the calories. A cookie here, a small piece of cake there. If I know there's going to be a party or a night out coming up, I'll plan for that and eat a little cleaner to bank a few calories, then moderate my intake during the actual outing, too.
  • LetsMakeupXtina
    LetsMakeupXtina Posts: 627 Member
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    I would love to have a cheat day once a week.. and maybe it works for some... for me, once I have one cheat day it will go on for several days after... as soon as I get off track it is so hard getting back on it.. not worth it IMO :)
  • TheConsciousFoody
    TheConsciousFoody Posts: 607 Member
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    I don't plan on cheat days, this whole change for me is a lifestyle change. Will I have a piece of cake on my birthday? Yes, but not a massive piece. Plus with the calories I eat now and what I can eat back due to exercise, I can eat whatever I want if I portion it right. I'd rather stay within my daily calories though and find special treats here and there that fit into my daily intake.
  • justme9717
    justme9717 Posts: 104
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    I am with the idea of cheat day....but that doesn't mean that I'd go over the top eating Double calories!...just eating whatever I was craving for the whole week..any one thing that I have been dyinggg to eat...(even if it's of..like..500 calories or above) ..one cheat day is fine...also..it keeps you going for the whole week...you feel like.."yeah I gotta keep moving for the whole week to have that cake at the weekend" sorts..keeps you motivated..:)
  • doyewole
    doyewole Posts: 25
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    I just started with MFP at the beginning of this week I started eating more well balanced meals and more fruit .I had a cheat day last night actually I had Zaxbys a five piece wings meal with fries a few sips of sweet tea and later that night some hot chocolate and a Mabey 8 ping pong sized sugar cookies . I woke up this morning feeling crappy bloated and miserable . So I decided since I find it hard to eat all my calories Ill have a little bit of something thats naughty. I'm not denouncing cheat days but I know that mine did not work for me

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