"Cheat" Day?

I usually have at least 1 day a week when I go over calories,, I always log it though keeps me on the straight and narrow. I would only be cheating myself

yea cheat days only cheat yourself

Yes, I am only human and I allow myself to have what I want in moderation. I try to log when I go out to eat, which shall be tonight. Already logged my calories for it.

I personally dont believe in cheat days. Rather I am a proponent of have a little whenever you want it.

Lets say you are working at a 2000 calorie deficit(so aiming for 2 pounds a week). However you have a cheat day where you eat at maintenance that week. I would rather go 200-300 over everyday and never feel like I am depriving myself.

Way I see it is that willpower is a finite resource at any given time. Every craving that you resist drains your willpower. Eventually it breaks and that is when you see all the posts on people going crazy with over eating that can last for days.

I would rather have a little whenever I want it and save my willpower for the stresses of life. Sure this will probably add a monthish to my weight loss journey, but I have been trying for nearly 18 years so at this point I will take another month to reduce my stress levels.

If I know I'm going to be eating a big calorie meal I try to eat lower calorie food for the other 2 meals for the day. But usually on the weekends I'll have a cheat day where I go way over my calories for the day. One day of high calorie doesn't seem to hurt my weight loss right now. Just have to remember don't do too many cheat days in 1 week. Unless you will be doing the exercise to make up for the extra calories you're eating.

Hello!

I'm sure this topic has been done to death, but I am curious nonetheless...

- Do you have a planned "cheat" day each week?
-If you do have a cheat day, do you log your calories on that day or avoid logging?

I don't have a cheat day I have REWARDS.. and yes log it all, keeps you from going Crazy!?! :bigsmile:

I have used cheat days in the past, more for the mental break to get away from tracking.

I think that conceptually they are fine under certain conditions and they are awful under other conditions and I don't think that you can unanimously label it as good or bad without context.

I think they are fine if:

a) You aren't using it as an excuse or justification to binge.
b) Your need for cheating isn't caused by an over-restrictive diet.
c) Your total intake on the cheat day isn't a substantial detriment to your overall energy deficit.


If it improves long term adherence and you are aware of the above factors (perhaps I'm missing other relevant factors) then I don't see a problem with it.

However, I think it's plausible that there are many people who don't meet this context in which case it could be counterproductive.

I have used cheat days in the past, more for the mental break to get away from tracking.

I think that conceptually they are fine under certain conditions and they are awful under other conditions and I don't think that you can unanimously label it as good or bad without context.

I think they are fine if:

a) You aren't using it as an excuse or justification to binge.
b) Your need for cheating isn't caused by an over-restrictive diet.
c) Your total intake on the cheat day isn't a substantial detriment to your overall energy deficit.


If it improves long term adherence and you are aware of the above factors (perhaps I'm missing other relevant factors) then I don't see a problem with it.

However, I think it's plausible that there are many people who don't meet this context in which case it could be counterproductive.

yeah, in the old days a, b and c would apply to me. I'd eat 7000-10000 calories two days in a row.

I'm curious about this also...(Sorry if I seems to hijack the thread) ^^;;

-Do you bank your calories before the day or do you eat less and/or exercise more the day after?

The only thing I would do is go into the gym the next day and typically smash PR's from all dat anabolic food.

Keep in mind, at least as far as my personal experience, when I would have a cheat day I'm talking about a day between TDEE and maybe +300-500kcals. I am not talking about a 5k surplus or anything like that, resembling a binge.

...Also will it be alright if there are 2 cheat days in a week instead of one?

In my opinion, whether or not it's "allright" depends on conditions I've laid out in my previous response, but my biggest concern would be total energy balance over the week. At some point, too many cheat days = you're not in an energy deficit or it's a really small deficit = slow or no weight loss.

why would you give yourself an ENTIRE day to cheat and undo what you work so hard for the rest of the week?! I get it, you miss your old favorite fried foods, but come on. This should be a lifestyle change, not a diet that makes you want to cheat.

I can understand a cheat meal, but not a whole day

Because there's a very high value, for some people, in simply not tracking food intake and eating what they prefer to eat, strictly for psychological reasons.

Some people can also do this while eating within a range of "reasonable" total calorie intake on a cheat day, not undoing the weeks worth of diet.

This isn't to say that I think everyone should have a cheat day, far from it -- but there are contexts in which it may be a perfectly fine thing to utilize.

I personally dont believe in cheat days. Rather I am a proponent of have a little whenever you want it.

Lets say you are working at a 2000 calorie deficit(so aiming for 2 pounds a week). However you have a cheat day where you eat at maintenance that week. I would rather go 200-300 over everyday and never feel like I am depriving myself.

Way I see it is that willpower is a finite resource at any given time. Every craving that you resist drains your willpower. Eventually it breaks and that is when you see all the posts on people going crazy with over eating that can last for days.

I would rather have a little whenever I want it and save my willpower for the stresses of life. Sure this will probably add a monthish to my weight loss journey, but I have been trying for nearly 18 years so at this point I will take another month to reduce my stress levels.

Yep.

That's my motto. I see waaay too many people grumpy or miserable because they deprive themselves. Its a lifestyle change. You can't say that you will never eat a piece of cake again or only once a month. It doesnt seem to be a fulfilling way of life. I love food too much to do that.

why would you give yourself an ENTIRE day to cheat and undo what you work so hard for the rest of the week?! I get it, you miss your old favorite fried foods, but come on. This should be a lifestyle change, not a diet that makes you want to cheat.

I can understand a cheat meal, but not a whole day

Because there's a very high value, for some people, in simply not tracking food intake and eating what they prefer to eat, strictly for psychological reasons.

Some people can also do this while eating within a range of "reasonable" total calorie intake on a cheat day, not undoing the weeks worth of diet.

This isn't to say that I think everyone should have a cheat day, far from it -- but there are contexts in which it may be a perfectly fine thing to utilize.

I don't believe that my "cheat" day will undo my entire weeks work whatsoever. I think there is a misconception that a "cheat" day will mean a "binge" day - not the case. For me, it simply means one day of not logging. Doesn't mean I'm going to eat like a pig, it's more about the psychological break from counting. Taking an MFP vacation for one day....but not eating 10,000 calories!

Based on my weight loss & gain over the past few years, I've come to understand that I *have* to be strict with my calorie counting to lose weight - but that doesn't mean that I don't find it a bit stressful.

Down the road, when I've got myself into the groove, perhaps I won't need a "free" day - but for now, I think that I do.

Then in my opinion you should simply try it, and realize that if your weight loss suddenly stops or slows way down over the next 2-4 weeks, you're collectively eating too much and your cheat day either needs to go, or you need to reduce intake on your non cheat days to re-create an energy deficit.

My situation is probably different from you guys. First of all, I am in Asia and most of the place, I think 98% of places here don't have nutritional info like it is in the US. So ever since I tried to lose weight, I did stop eating many things, including things that I don't know their exact calories value.

So there are many food I'd like to eat- that I used to eat before I start this journey. Some of them are junk food, I admit and some of them are not but they are high calories (such as Hinanese Chicken rice), some of them just normal food such as noodle soup, roast duck in 5 spice soup or so, but I can't or if I do have to, I'd be stress out for the whole day. However....I just want to have some times for me that I don't have to think about tracking much but I'm afraid that my weight will bounce back.

Also I am in my maintain mode now, everyone are telling me I should stop counting. Yet, if I don't log my food for a day or 2 each week, will my weight bounce back to my overweight self again?

I think I possibly could have think like what the first option is listed for the 1 or 2 weeks, then the week after that then I will probably just goes with me not tracking weighting food.