cheat night always seems to turn into awful weekend

My favorite weekends have been those where I was ready to spend a couple of evenings eating dinners with my wife not thinking about what or how much I ate but instead calmly controlled myself and enjoyed light, healthy meals instead. The Monday mornings afterwards were refreshingly fabulous. That contrasts with those rather hellish Monday mornings I used to have almost weekly. Given a moment's thought about those choices, there's no contest for me.

I don't have any 'cheat' meals... I don't see the point. I spent all my life stuffing my face and who did it cheat? Myself. I feel like we need to learn to live around food and

If you end up going out for dinner once in a while and decide to have dessert, awesome. I just think we need to relax around food

instead of hanging out for these sorts of things.

I agree with the above. I never quite got the idea of "cheat" meals. I try to maintain a healthy diet throughout the week, and it includes small portions of sweets at this point (I have reached my goal). When I was actively trying to lose weight, I logged everything. Usually one night a week we ate out, and I made it a point to log what I ate, even if it included a serving of french fries, or a piece of cake (food that I usually didn't eat). So yeah, there was one night a week that I might have been over my goal by as much as 300-400 calories but I never looked at it as an opportunity to order everything on the menu that appealed to me. The next morning was "game over" and went back to my healthy eating plan.

I was having this issue. Then instead of a cheat meal I've started allowing myself a cheat "item" so to speak. If I get up and go to the gym before work, then I can have that beer or that snack later in the day. What finally started clicking for me was seeing how many calories of what I exercised that one snack would take. You just need to stop beating yourself up over it. You've made great progress, so don't allow the guilt you're feeling from preventing you from continuing!

I don't know what your situation is, but what helped me on weekends (as I'm a weekend binger) was I got a second, part time job. The extra money is nice, and that's an extra day a week I'm not at home looking at my cabinets and picking at them. Maybe this is a bit extreme, but it's been working great for me (and staying on my feet for 8-10 hours that extra day burns tons of calories).

I don't like the term "cheat". It implies something I should feel guilty about, so I really don't think in terms of "cheating". I generally eat pretty clean and I have incorporated into my lifestyle some treats that taste like luxurious indulgences to me, but are actually beneficial foods.

I use a lot of healthy fats, which I think is KEY to not needing "cheat days". I eat avocados, nuts, seeds, salmon, etc...and I add coconut oil or avocado oil to a lot of the foods I eat. The fats help keep me satiated for extended periods of time and my energy levels are through the roof.

You can add coconut oil to lots of foods. I make my salad dressings with it, add it to smoothies and my raw, cacao shakes (Mmmmm, chocolate!), I add it to my canned tuna (Packed in water tuna), to give the tuna a nice fatty mouth feel.

Figure out ways of making beneficial, chock full of nutrient foods, sinful tasting to you. There are so many great ideas and MFP members post a lot of great recipes too.

My latest revelation...
I love my one, 16 oz. cup of coffee each morning. It is a ritual I do not want to give up. For the last couple of months, I've been creating my own, high-protein coffee creamer, using Tera'swhey Grass-Fed Organic Whey supplement and almond milk. AWESOME and creamy! Today I experimented with added a teaspoon of coconut oil to the creamer when I mix it. Holy cow! I wouldn't have thought my coffee could taste any better than it already had, but this was the best. So, now I've found yet another way to incorporate a healthy fat into my daily intake.

I bet it would be great for making chai tea too. I'ma try that next.

Who needs cheat days?

As part of my daily calorie allowance, I make room for treats (sweets or takeout) so I don't feel the need to "cheat". I understand where you're coming from though - so maybe just don't put yourself in that situation if you know it will tempt you.

I got some great advice on this forum that really helped me re: cheat days.
Don't plan them. If you plan a cheat day then you'll have time to gather supplies and fantasize about all the goodies you'll plough through. Plan to keep on your diet and stick to it as best you can. If you do happen to fall off the wagon (and everyone on this site has!), don't punish yourself emotionally, that will make things worse. Use the binge as motivation to work harder in the following days.

One other thing I've learned that's really helped me is the wonderful world of egg whites! I boil up a bunch of eggs, discard the yolks and snack on the whites during the day. Great low-cal hunger killer for us salad-dodgers!

My suggestions would be to either:

a) Cut out "cheat days" entirely. No cheat meals, all healthy all the time.
b) Have a cheat snack / meal every day and slowly cut back. Seems to me like you're missing your usual diet so when you get a chance to go back to it you're going nuts!

Keep at it lovely, you can do it! :bigsmile:

Thank you so much. I have a problem with fast food myself. I know my eating is connected to emotions. It's not like I really want the chocolate or the McDonald's its like something to make me feel better, but it makes me feel worse in the end. I like what u said about giving up soda. I'm going to challenge myself to not have any soda. I've tricked myself into thinking its ok as long as its coke zero. Thanks I needed to read that

I allow myself a "treat" every week, which before I dieted would commonly be ice cream or a slice of pie. Lately I've just been getting a fruit smoothie from Orange Julius and hubby gets ice cream. Well last night I decided that I've been busting my butt all week and deserve that slice of pie. Got my favorite - peanut butter cream. Took a couple bites and... I was disappointed. It just wasn't good. It tasted like I eating spoonfuls of sugar, it was sooo overly rich and sweet. I couldn't even finish it. It's amazing how your tastes change once you don't have that sugary junk for awhile.