To cheat or not to cheat?

what you call "cheating" I just call eating. It's just food

Yep.

tbh, I've found that now that I don't eat "cheat" foods, I don't even crave them! I'll enjoy homemade baked goods on holidays or nice desserts if some special occasion happens and such foods are available, but otherwise I'll have a small Girl Scout cookie or square of dark chocolate every morning and I'm good! I guess that's how I do it- I have a tiny treat almost daily

first thing first! everyone is different. What works for you may not work for others. All i can speak on is my progess which in a nut shell is started Gym in August 2012 and started MFP around october. Been following the calorie goal MFP set up for me, And I used a self imposed metric goal of 50% protien/ 30% carbs/ 20%fat. Since october i been working out 7 days a week and 5 of the 7 days i work out twice a day. I weigh in on sunday evening and sunday night i eat whatever the hell i want. Not really a junk day more like a "junk dinner". During the week i eat good but if someone orders pizza i just try to keep it to no more then two pieces. I've heard that the "junk" kick starts your metabolisum but have nothing to back it up so who knows. All i know is that i'm down 85 pounds and not starving myself to do it. Eating about 1800 calories a day but i eat small meals often so 1800 is alot some days i feel like i'm stuffing myself.

I will say that if your having a problem with "binge" eating i wouldn't advise it as it might lead to continued bad food choices but if you think you can handle eating what ever u want sometimes and are willing to work your *kitten* off to make up for it then do you!

Hi, Amanda.

In my view, it depends.

When I was morbidly obese and only dieting for a short period of time, cheat days made little sense. After becoming more lean and dieting for a long time, they became necessary, for resetting various hormones.

On cheat days, I eat whatever I want and however much I want. Yesterday, for instance, I ate nearly 6,000 calories, including 600 grams of carbohydrates. I spent most of my so-called journey following a very low carbohydrate, ketogenic diet.

Body recomposition is a dynamic process, so the strategies used need to be dynamic as well.

This. I too, follow a ketogenic diet and have refeed days every 1-2 weeks depending on my performance/how I've done that week/any upcoming events. I eat whatever and however much, occasionally drink some delicious beer, and *GASP* don't log anything. I find that doing this keeps me sane, makes me happy, and keeps me motivated to continue on my journey.

I don't have a "cheat" per say...but I do have 2 days a week that I have a much smaller deficit than the other days. I call them controlled high calorie days, even though I am still not over in calories. (My TDEE is about 2150, and my "high" days are around 2000 calories while the "low days" are about TDEE -25%).

I still lose weight because I am in a deficit all the time, but I am never depriving myself of anything. If there is something that does not fit into my calories or macros on a "low" day that I really want to eat, I can rest assured that it will fit in one of my "high" days and I will be just fine.

I had a hard time with "cheat days" or "cheat meals" when I used to do them. When I did that, I tended to go so far over on calories that particular day or that particular meal that it honestly did hurt me. I mean, I would do something like go out to the Cheesecake Factory, have dinner, appetizer, cheesecake, and wine...and easily zap 4000 or more calories in ONE MEAL that way. That pretty much took away my whole week's deficit since I don't have much of a deficit being a small female.

depends what you value more your goals, or short term satisfaction?

80/20. I aim for 80% of my daily calories to be "good" foods and 20% to be treat foods. Every once in a while, I'll have a high calorie day, like once every 2 weeks or so.

I do 2 cheat meals, fri and sat night. But I usually end up feeling physically ill from the onslaught of junk (which is really only ever 2 pieces of pizza or some fries, etc) So I regret it every time. Until the following week. Rinse. Repeat.

I cheat occasionally :noway: I don't have a SO but even if I did, I wouldn't cheat :laugh:
When it comes to food I let myself go and eat at or above TDEE every once and a while specially when there are treats that we don't get very often here in rural Alaska

Thinking about it logically, if you don't cheat at all, you get to the goal quicker but saying that, is it a cheat or is it a treat?
We are welcome to have a treat now and again. Think of it as a treat!

I personally think that having a cheat day is important and necessary to curb your cravings. I give myself two days a month to have 'cheat days' so if there is a special occasion, I can enjoy the food around me rather than feeling required to stick to the same old same ol'.

I don't call them cheat days tho, I think of them as reward days instead. I don't stray off my new lifestyle diet hardly EVER so when I decide to have a reward day, it really is something I treasure. I eat whatever I want and I eat the things I crave most. It allows me to enjoy it and feel satisfied. Then the next day I get right back on and stick to the normal diet.

I don't know if this will be helpful or detrimental to weight loss, but I do know that it will boost your metabolism if it has slowed down from eating fewer calories and it will keep you sane lol. Diets shouldn't be about torture, they should be about goals and compromise.

That sounds EVEN WORSE than cheat days to me. Rewarding yourself for eating healthy by not eating healthy? How odd.

I eat 1800 - 2300 calories a day and allow myself one day a week of up to 4,000 calories. It's a spike day.

I personally think that having a cheat day is important and necessary to curb your cravings. I give myself two days a month to have 'cheat days' so if there is a special occasion, I can enjoy the food around me rather than feeling required to stick to the same old same ol'.

I don't call them cheat days tho, I think of them as reward days instead. I don't stray off my new lifestyle diet hardly EVER so when I decide to have a reward day, it really is something I treasure. I eat whatever I want and I eat the things I crave most. It allows me to enjoy it and feel satisfied. Then the next day I get right back on and stick to the normal diet.

I don't know if this will be helpful or detrimental to weight loss, but I do know that it will boost your metabolism if it has slowed down from eating fewer calories and it will keep you sane lol. Diets shouldn't be about torture, they should be about goals and compromise.

That sounds EVEN WORSE than cheat days to me. Rewarding yourself for eating healthy by not eating healthy? How odd.

I eat 1800 - 2300 calories a day and allow myself one day a week of up to 4,000 calories. It's a spike day.

Yeah, that is a bizarre way of thinking about food.

Do what works for you. I just eat what I want and what makes me feel good. I'm unable to eat lots of things due to intolerances, etc. but I don't think restricting is a healthy or good practice for those who don't need to restrict and ESPECIALLY if one feels the way they are eating is restrictive. For example--If you don't eat grains because you simply don't like them, or they make you feel bad, fine. If you don't eat grains because you think you must do that to lose weight, but you really miss your bread, rice, etc. you're setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.

Eat in a way that is sustainable (you can and will continue it even after you've reached your goal), makes you feel your best, and will support your activity levels.

I've eaten clean and exercised daily and I only lost 5 pound a month... my doctor flat out told me she doesnt want me eating like that and she wants me to have pizza and a candy bar etc within reason.. meaning eating boneless skinless low sodium unprocessed natural chicken breast measured to 3 oz with 1/2 cup of brocolli and a 1/2 cup of wheat germ is not a sustainable way to lose weight...

Now I eat basically whatever I want within my calorie goal.. i figure if doing everything by the healthy book only got me 5lbs a month lets see what eating "normal" foods can get me....i have 12 days before weigh-in so we shall see....

Cheat days are absolutely necessary. If I didn't have a day once a month or so where I could enjoy a large fish fry, or eat half a pizza, or some other awesome-but-horrible thing, I'd die from food boredom. Or from obesity-related health problems when I fail to lose the weight again because I tried to give up all my favorite things cold turkey.