Possibly dumb question:

get used to the decreased calories and plateau. Is this legit? Any time I see a friend with a cheat day, they eat about 4000 calories because they said the more they eat, the bigger the shock. Have you ever heard of this or tried it?

Way to much to answer in a short response here. Cheat days are for your "Mental" health more than for your physical health. When you are dieting or maintaining...if they help you eat better and more consistently and stick with your plan, then add them in.

To date (and I read a lot about dieting, food science, etc) I have not seen any supported studies about the physical aspects of shocking your system and cheat days.

It's hard to put food science - or any science for that matter - into simplistic forms without over generalizing...but here goes:

Your body takes in energy. If it uses up all the energy you take in (measured in Jules by the way) -- but we'll say kcals - then you don't typically gain weight or lose.

Cheat days of 4000 calories (depends on their weight) seems a bit excessive to be honest. Cheat with foods you crave to have, but don't go overboard. Extra consumed energy is stored as glycogen - (sugar in the liver to be used later) - but when your stores are full you make triglycerides (inflammatory agents that lead to heart disease and stroke) and fat (as anyone with a fatty liver).

Excess sugar can occur from either eating too much (and not needing it - unless your M. Phelps) or eating a lot of a particular substance in a short time.

Take for example eating an entire box of candy, then pasta, then rice as your meal. Even if your calories weren't threw the roof you just took in a lot of substances/energy/sugars/glucose at one time. If you don't go right out and use that energy right up (run 8 miles) you certainly won't need to store a bunch either unless you were really active the night before. So if your stores are relatively full, that sugar load all at one time is converted to triglycerides and fat.

Spread the same sugar out over longer periods of time throughout the day (ie foods with low glycemic loads - complex carbs) or spread out eating them, and you'll use more of the sugar during the day to fuel your work and store less theoretically as fat and triglycerides.

So back to your question about "Binge"/ Cheat days. If you just consume things you want (Pizza/ice cream) but not that much...then you're mental healthy may be better and you won't do yourself in. Go overboard with calories and you will gain weight. Take in the wrong kinds of excessive calories and you get fat deposition and higher triglycerides.

Hope that helps!

Not a Nutritionist, but read like one. LOL

I don't do cheat days, but not for any moral or philosophical reasons. I just never feel like cheating because I don't generally deprive myself. Plus, why would I deprive myself all week just to blow it all and cancel out my hard work on the weekend? I just eat sensibly (and deliciously) all the time. :drinker:

I occasionally have days that I don't log - like when I'm backpacking in the wilderness or on major holidays, but it's not because I'm "cheating." It's more because I'm usually not the one cooking on holidays and I'm too lazy to guess what's in the food I'm eating...plus, it's only a day - it's not gonna matter in the long run.

Some people seem to need a regularly scheduled cheat day to blow off steam, or whatever, and that's fine. But cheat days are not a requirement. Do what works for you!

The research summary reported recently by the NYTimes on people who lost and kept it off says they don't do 'cheat days' or splurge on weekends or holidays.

Some days they may go over, but they don't 'cheat' and they do make their calorie goals every week.

This 'shock your system' thing is just wishful thinking, IMO.

(I don't think eating maintenance is a 'cheat' - it's just eating maintenance that day. A 'cheat' day is a plurge or high day.

My lap band surgeon allows me one cheat meal a week.