Cheat Days

not a cheat day, more like a a meal or a ´treat´... Sometimes I eat a candy, or grab a chocolate, or maybe eat a small slice of cake. I dont go with cheat days, id feel awful after it.

Some people are advocates of eating whatever you want for a meal or a day. My take is healthy is a lifestyle - and there will be times that we eat things that are not "on our diet". A piece of birthday cake, a drink with friends, etc. To me this isn't a cheat - it's part of my life. My take (having studied nutrition and lost over 100 lbs) is that an intentional "cheat day" is only cheating yourself out of your health.

Good luck with your weight loss journey!

For me a cheat day is any time i don't record something I ate that would put me over my calorie goal for the day. It is a bad habit and can kill your diet (insert the word lifestyle change). Be true to yourself, record everything that you eat, it is the only way MFP works correctly.

^^^ This

But also, if I'm having date night with my hubby or it is a special occasion or something, I might eat a little more than normal or forego calorie counting for that day/meal. In fact, that is part of my hubby's deal...he will not complain about all the healthy food I make if I don't calorie count on date night ;P It is all about having everything in moderation!

I don't like the idea of calling it "cheat" because hopefully you are in this for life. Which is why I am getting to my next point;

I know in my life I will never stop eating pizza or never have ice cream ever again. That is where moderation comes in. I allow myself one meal where I still count calories but will allow myself to have something out of the ordinary like a loaded baked potato with my steak or a dessert to share with the hubby. It is always on saturday and the condition in my life is I have to have my morning workout classes done to do so. I wouldn't say go batsh*t crazy. Sitting down for a meal of fried foods will make you feel bloated and if you weigh in the few days after that, forget it. You'll be bloated from the salt. I do not eat fast food and don't recommend that either.

You should allow yourself something special, something you know you will not get but on an every few week/month basis.

when i started out i thought cheat days would be fine. After 3 weeks of once a weak cheat days i realized i was just harming the healthy habits i was creating. Now i find just allowing myself one thing here and there is the way to go for me. Of course you're going to have times where you go overboard, just don't get down on yourself and use it as an excuse to quit. When ever i get the urge for something i know is really bad for me i'll look up it's nutritional info on the app for my phone. That is usually enough of a shock to steer clear of it. After you build the healthy eating habit you'll find you won't even want to have any cheats cause it makes you feel sick or bloated.

Well that's just my experience with cheat days. Everyone is different

I don't think you should think of it as a "cheat" day. I think that brings up bad thoughts and thinking that if you have one sugary cheat you failed on your diet. When I used to think of having a cheat day or meal, I would usually end up eating way too much junk food. Now I think of it as I get to allow myself a few more calories than usual and I feel better emotionally/physically.

It's all about moderation.

Like was mentioned, there are some foods that I will never be able to exclude all together, but they are not good for me. Wings and beer in particular. I don't eat them as often as I used to, but when I do, I don't worry about what they are doing to me. I eat till I'm done. This might not be the best approach, but it keeps me focused the rest of the time. I do the same with exercising. I get up early all week to exercise and by the end of the week, I need a couple days off.