Cheat days - ruined an entire week

Personal preference, I guess. I have tried both ways. Yeah, it sucks to lose a week of progress (probably a little TOO much cheating) but you gotta find a way to go for the long haul. Remember, you never stop dieting. Once you meet your goal, you have to find a way to live life and maintain your goal. I am hoping that being careful during the week, and eating sensibly on the weekends I will be able to maintain the fluctuations in weight to a 5 lb variation. We will see! Good luck.

I think the term "cheat" is not necessarily helpful. It's unnecessarily negative, like saying foods are "bad" or "good" - foods have no morality.

Do I think a day here and there where you eat outside of your prescribed zone could be helpful? Yes, but it depends. For people who low-carb AND train a re-feed day every few weeks can improve athletic performance. For someone who is counting and netting 1200, the added fats especially can prevent hormonal imbalances. For most people who eat moderately I don't know if I see the physiological point, but if it helps you feel like you can continue, do it. Healthy habits for the rest of your life require leniency. Are you never going to eat cake at a friend's wedding or have a pint on St. Pats? Of course you are going to participate! You love life! Learning how to have meals that may be slightly outside your new norm without completely letting it derail you is an important skill to develop.

But that's just how I see it.

I have cheat meals, not a whole cheat day. On my cheat meal, it's usually because I skipped breakfast (happens sometimes on the weekend) so I have to make up the calorie goal. Cheat meals are better than a whole day of cheating. I absolutely HATE the red numbers from eating over my limits.

I don't think you should schedule cheat days, as in one a week or every sunday. It's true that one cheat day for me can ruin an entire week. I try to stay within my goals, but if I absolutely have to have something special/extra I just do it. Next day I get right back to it. Now this doen't hold true if I eat Pizza. For me that it will send me on a week or longer binge. I don't know why, but it's a major trigger food for me.

So I cheated on Valentines day and Sunday slightly (ate maybe 1500 over my dieting calories on each day) and it hindered my weightloss a lot to where I didn't lose anything until today (0.6lbs).... do you guys really think they're helpful? Psychologically, if someone is able to stick with their diet without a cheat day why cheat?

I guess it depends on what you mean by cheat day. Different people have different definitions. To some, a cheat day or meal is just eating foods they feel are less clean, while for others they are untracked days. Eating 1500 calories over your target on two days during the course of a week is a lot, and the fact that you said "maybe" makes me think you didn't log what you ate.

Personally, I refuse to use the word "cheat" when it comes to my eating plan. What's the point? I don't think that eating at one of my favorite restaurants for Valentine's Day was "cheating." It was real life. Sometimes, life includes restaurants. I don't have any completely off-limits foods, so my normal days include foods that other people consider "cheats," just in smaller portions than I used to eat so they fit within my calorie target.

What I will do every two or three weeks, especially on a day when I might go to a good restaurant or hang out with friends, is to allow myself to eat up to my TDEE. I have my target set at a 1.5 pound loss per week, so this would give me up to 750 extra calories. Keeping track of those high-calorie days and logging them means that I'm still below my maintenance level and it doesn't really hurt anything. On Valentine's Day, I was over by 500, but that still left me at a deficit for the day. Since this isn't something that happens every week, it really doesn't hamper my weight loss. I feel that it helps because I never feel deprived. I know I can enjoy the foods I love, within reason.

cheat days probably ruin more diets than help. probably best to stay away from them.

I fit everything I want into my calorie goals on typical days.
If a day like valentine's day, a concert, birthday etc comes and I want to eat more that day, then I will.

I don't schedule 'cheat days', I just don't eat ridiculous amounts every single day.

From what I understand, you can have a "cheat" meal every so often, but not a whole day of splurging.

Was about to say the same. And you should postpone the cheat meal until you have made major progress. I have found that my desire for cheat meals has diminished substantially as I have progressed. It helps that I do not deprive myself and eat healthy food that tastes good and yet keeps me below my calorie goal.

I dont' have cheat days. My "cheat" meals are usually saved for when I go out to eat, becuase sometimes it is hard to stay in calorie goal at restaurants.

But, I do have sweets all the time. Like ice cream, chocolate, etc... I just make sure to moderate it. But...that is me....if you find that having the stuff around is too much of a temptation then get rid of the stuff so that you can stay on track.

Also, btw...you having an uncontollable few days hasn't ruined you unless you let it ruin you. There are plenty of success stories in the forums of people having binge days, but have still successfully lost weight and kept it off.

Stick to one Cheat Meal..not cheat DAY, per week if you feel like you must...dont if you dont want it..its that simple

I don't have cheat days. The idea I think it's not to need them. I'm working hard to make sure my current habits are not a sacrifice, and therefore, maintainable in the long rung. I haven't quit coca cola for example, because I know my life would be much harder without it. Maybe someday I will, but not now, and I still manage to eat within my calorie goals most days, and if I go over it's by around 100 - 200 (which is still a deficit), but then some days I'm also under for about that, so it generally evens out during the week. I have been improving my shape steadily in this way.

It is not supposed to be a cheat DAY it is supposed to be a cheat meal that is why you went over your calorie intake so much and you haven't lost very much at all. Cheats can be okay as long as your not going overboard. REMEMBER it is one meal not a whole day!

Going over your goals for one day isn't going to completely hinder weight loss long term. There is nothing wrong with a "cheat day" as long as it isn't happening every other day.

A "cheat" day for me would constitute eating a maintenance level of calories, not going crazy and eating at surpluses. Yeah...couple days at a surplus can and will definitely mess with your weight loss goals...the more surplus, the more it's going to impact your goals. It's very simple math really. 1Lb = 3,500 calories...if you only have a deficit of 1,750 calories in the week because you had cheat days, you're only going to lose about .5 Lbs. Not to mention, with gradual weight loss goals, it can be hard to see changes week to week due to weight fluctuations that are out of your control...the smaller the weight loss, the harder it will be to see it on the scale in a given week due to natural fluctuations. On that note, it's possible that you've actually lost more than .6 Lbs...or not...my body weight can fluctuate 1-3 Lbs day to day.

I personally don't like cheat days...like I said, I'll go to maintenance if it's a special occasion or something...but it's maintenance...it's what I'll be at when I get to my goal. Splurging and eating surpluses multiple times per week is how I got here in the first place. Being that this is a lifestyle change for me more than anything, surplus eating is pretty much out the window...I do that, and when I get to maintenance I'll be telling myself I can have cheat days and eat a surplus once or twice a week or whatever...then in no time, I'll be *****ing that I'm fat again. Not gonna happen.

I dont believe in cheat days. What purpose does it serve? You ought to eat what you want (within moderation.) And on days where you go overboard - unless you literally ate like a horse (netting 3500cals) you didn't "gain" any weight. You, more likely, gained a lot of sodium induced water retention. Something I hate about eating out, is how long I have to wait til my weight looks normal again.

I have a feeling that cheat days wind up feeling more like binge excuses (that may be just me.) Rather than spend 1 day filling up on crap (delicious but crap) I would rather spread that exact same crap out through the week and fit it into my calorie budget, even if it means working out a little harder cause I haven't had a decent margarita in a while.

Plus "cheat" implies you broke a rule, which you didn't. It then instills a feeling of guilt/remorse which you shouldn't be feeling unless you were sneaking food behind someones back, but that is a different thing altogether. Which then leads to a horrible spiral which may lead to a worse "cheat" day.

You ate out. You enjoyed your life 2 days in a row. So did I, my weight took almost a week to get back to where it was this time last week. I didn't cheat, I just had a lovely meal at home with the family, and then a great night out at a Fab Italian place with the hubby. Nothing cheaty there!

Mindset - adjustments need to be made!
:drinker:

They're not cheat days if you have a 'lifestyle'

it's not a diet - it's a lifestyle. period.

if you eat crap everyday then that's your 'lifestyle'

if you have a piece of chocolate, or 10 pieces one day because you simply feel like it... that's not a cheat day, that's moderation because you won't do it again the next day, will you?

I had pizza on Saturday night after a night of drinking, I don't remember the last time I've done that... maybe 5 or 6 months give or take?! The next day, I had pizza and wings for dinner and I went over by about 200 calories - woop di *kitten*! Who cares?!?! I had pizza again on Monday and Tuesday, 2 pieces each day... am I concerned? No! Why? Because I didn't 'pig out' I had it in moderation.

My lifestyle is generally clean eating. The pizza was whole wheat with pinneaples, green peppers and green olives on thin crust, the wings were fried and had barely any sauce. I wasn't going to shake a fist at it until I had the terrible stomach ache after Either way don't kill yoursel over chocolate, you don't give it to yourself every once in a while, you will over indulge when you do have a serious craving!