If you log cheat days...

If you are committed to a healthy, sustainable lifestyle, then there's no such thing as cheating. Once you see a certain food as "forbidden", it becomes a "diet" and you feel deprived and want to "cheat".

This is how I approach things. I also focus on the week, not the day. On the iOS versions of the MFP app, there's a weekly summary that shows a bar graph of each day's net calories, as well as the average for the week and remaining calories in the week. If I go a few hundred calories over one day, I try to eat somewhat less for another day or two. Conversely, if I do a lot of exercise (like the 100 mile bike ride on Wednesday), I'll "eat back" the calories over a few days, not all at once.

I don't have 'cheat days'. For me the idea of working hard and eating well all week only to have a day where I blow it all out of the water just seems ridiculous. But hey... That's just me and my opinion.

I try to eat under my calorie goal every day but we all have days where we go over. At worst I might go over 300 or 500 calories. I can't imagine what someone would have to eat to go over 4000 calories like someone above said. How is that even possible????

I log EVERYTHING.

I'm trying to push myself to keep logging. I've only just started trying to be healthy again, but when I was working on losing weight before I would give myself cheat days where I would have any/everything I wanted- and basically not see the scale move for that week. When I started logging the cheat days it actually helped me be more mindful- I would still "cheat" but logging helped me draw the line between "enough" and "too much".

Log it so you can look at it and chalk it up as a day where you could have made better decisions

Yes, agreed! Log it...

On cheat days I range from 2500 to 3000 calories, but I don't eat fast food or anything like that. I just have larger portions of what I normally have.

I do one or two cheat meals per week. I log everything out of curiousity. I realize that there are certain "favorite" cheat meals where I can really put away the calories (pizza, soda, and ice cream( whereas others I think of as cheats that really aren't that bad (a fatty steak and potatoes). It helps me because I find that I tend to not go overboard on my cheat days. It is a cheat, not an excuse to binge like I'm never going to eat again.

I don't have cheat days...I have I eat what I every days. I log everyday unless I don't have internet connection, it doesn't matter the occasion.

Hi wildcatta77

Take a look at my diary for today - totally cheated :blushing:

Tomorrow's another day

JJ x

I log days that some may call 'cheat' days. For me the still leave me with at least at 500 calorie deficit usually. But when I am on vacation I will log estimates. I do not bring a scale with me everywhere I go and make people wait for me to weigh out things to get a real calorie target, so I guess at it. I try to keep things in check. Part of this has to be about knowing what your real portion sizes should look like without having to resort to a scale every time. But definitely log everything and make sure you know it was a day you didn't log properly so that if your off for the week you can point back to that day and know it may have been short compared to the real calories you consumed.

I log everyhing. Even my cheat days. I make myself accountable for everything that goes into my body. But when I do have my cheat days or meals I don't worry about it. I don't like the idea of not logging because I don't want to get too relaxed with myself and not log it when I eat something crappy. Then what's the point of logging anything in the first place. I say log it and if you go over every once and a while don't trip.

^^Exactly this! I log every bite, even if it's not good, because I have to be accountable for it. The worst I've gone over is by 700 so far. so I ate 2100 that day. Pizza, wine, and dessert all included in the dinner, but we were celebrating my boyfriend getting into nursing school, so every once in a while, it's ok.

I used to not log my cheat days, but I felt like I was cheating myself. Now I log everything and I am surprised that I am still often times under my calorie goal. I gave up on cheat days because I always felt like I was depriving myself of something, now I eat what I want but in moderation. I do a lot of food swapping of my old choices for new healthier ones. I end up too full to even think about eating anything else.

I don't have cheat days, but what I suspect you are asking is how do I handle logging on days where I intentionally go over my calorie goal.

If I know a special meal is coming where I won't have a lot of control over what I eat (or won't want to control what I eat to any severe degree), I will fast for 24 hours leading up to that meal, and then I eat and drink what I want, and if I'm over, I'm over. I try to be conscious about not having 5 whiskey sours when 2 or 3 will do, but I'm not sitting there counting calories in my head either.

For a special occasion where I know I'll have some control over what I eat, then I plan in advance to make sure my calories and macros are in basically in line with what I want them to be.

But I always log. I just think it's a really bad habit to not log your food on the days when you go over. It's like hiding in the closet and eating an entire batch of cookies, trying to convince yourself that if no one sees you do it, it didn't happen. Do it, and own up to it, and get past it.

ETA: Another reason I think you should log everything, ESPECIALLY the bad days, is because in several weeks or months, if you haven't made any progress or not as much progress as you expected, it's nice to have a reason. And if you've logged everything and you can see that you are undoing all of your hard work every weekend and calling it "cheating," you might be more inclined to change your habits. If you haven't logged those days, it's a lot easier to convince yourself that you aren't doing anything wrong and that you're just one of those "special" people who can't lose weight no matter how hard they try.

I've learned that if I don't log everything (like now) then my eating will get out of control pretty quickly.

I log everything... every day. I allow cheat days, but generally no more than 1/week. Doing it this way has helped me stay on track. If I tell myself I can't have something, there's a part of me that just has to have it, so it "cheat days" or even a "cheat snack/meal" allow me to satisfy that particular desire and still stay on track.
Tracking all of it helps me to see when I'm starting to go off track and reel it back in to get back on the right path. Tracking my food honestly has been the biggest help for me to see why I gained the weight to begin with! I honestly didn't think about what I was eating - that combined with inactivity... well, we all know where that leads!
Overall, I've had success with being honest with myself (activity and eating combined). No sense in pretending that the bad decisions don't happen or make an impact because they do... I've learned that I don't have to do it all perfect, but when I try my best, I see results!

I try not to have cheat days, just the occasional meal (usually one a week) where I eat what I want. I still try to exercise portion control and only eat half of what I'm served or (like at a buffet) just take very small bits of all the things I want to try. The only time I don't log everything is when I'm eating at a restaurant, because I really have no way of knowing how much butter or oil they used, or how much cheese, etc. But then again, I basically only eat one meal out per week. Tonight I was like "f^%# it, I'm having a cheat meal," but I had it at home and I still only ate 450 calories. Totally manageable within my daily limits but I still got to feel like I was throwing caution to the wind. Although it definitely threw my macros off.