Does cheating help or hinder?

jezahb
jezahb Posts: 73 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I posted another topic about plateauing and how I don't want that to happen...and how tricking your body is a good way to stop it.

So on that subject, does anyone else have great success with cheating? So far I have had unbelievable success with it. I diet for a couple weeks, then cheat for a day or two...and each time it seems to jumpstart my metabolism and the weight pours off. This last time I had a harder than usual time getting back on track, I was at 232 and I decided to cheat. The cheat turned into a slide that last 4 days of eating poptarts, pasta and all that is yummy and bad. I gained 4 lbs in less than a week and wanted to die I was so mad. Now, 6 days later I am at 230.8 lbs. I went back to normal dieting, not massively restricting, and when I dared to step back on the scale my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. No idea how I not only lost what I gained but also an extra 2 lbs....but wow.

TL;DR Does anyone else notice cheating on your diet seems to payoff with bigger faster losses when you get back on track?
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Replies

  • faceoff4
    faceoff4 Posts: 1,599 Member
    I has for me for sure and I know others who feel the same way. I definitely feels it give the metabolism a boost but also feel it is key to having a sustainable diet plan. Gives you something to look forward to so you are not just constantly eating healthy and risk falling off the program. So I am a big believer of it!
  • Thena81
    Thena81 Posts: 1,265 Member
    i pleasure and it hinders. dont give in! go doll!
  • xDawnsgrace
    xDawnsgrace Posts: 436
    i'll have 2-3 thousand calorie "cheat" days every few months, and sure, i'll gain weight that next 2-3 days, but then i'll drop off double that weight within the week. So i'd say it helps. Plus, my cravings go away until the next cheat day.
  • nope31
    nope31 Posts: 174
    R u logging the food you eat when your "cheating" or eating food that's not in your daily week to week meal plan?

    Could be all the carbs.
  • dlanoux
    dlanoux Posts: 112 Member
    I try not to "cheat" per say, but then again.....I do not have any food that is totally off limits. For me this works. I just try to make healthy choices that are part of my diet (lifestyle). So, with that being said.....sure I have candy or a piece of cake every now and then. But, the amount of the candy and cake are limited! (Ex. now, as a treat....I may have 10 M&M's instead of a king size bag.)
  • jezahb
    jezahb Posts: 73 Member
    i'll have 2-3 thousand calorie "cheat" days every few months, and sure, i'll gain weight that next 2-3 days, but then i'll drop off double that weight within the week. So i'd say it helps. Plus, my cravings go away until the next cheat day.

    Exactly! I gain a lb or so while cheating, and then lose 3! It is insane, I also feel more motivated and happy after.

    I do log the calories I eat on cheat days, though sometimes it is hard to since I hate seeing the red minus calories but I know it is still better to at least be conscious of how many more calories I am taking in while cheating.
  • moondawg14
    moondawg14 Posts: 249 Member
    Your diet? Neither.

    Your marriage? Hinder.

    Seriously? Sometimes "cheating" on your diet takes some of the pressure off, as long as you don't beat yourself up over it.

    "Cheating" every day is going to hinder your progress.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    I've never cheated so I have no idea. I did fine without needing to do so.
  • mperrott2205
    mperrott2205 Posts: 737 Member
    I have a cheat day every Sunday, which I normally consume about 2500-3000 calories on like a Pizza Hut. Still lost weight.
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
    Why not cheat all the time and eat what you want every day. Then you won't have to worry about a silly diet.

    On the other hand if you want a lifestyle change, where do cheat days make any sense forever? Like some above I've never cheated or felt the need to cheat, I eat what I want, but within my calorie goals which I have never gone over and I've lost 54 lbs in just short of five months. You don't need cheat days, you're only cheating yourself.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    i'll have 2-3 thousand calorie "cheat" days every few months, and sure, i'll gain weight that next 2-3 days, but then i'll drop off double that weight within the week. So i'd say it helps. Plus, my cravings go away until the next cheat day.

    That's called a re-feed & that's what it's supposed to do. It's meant to make you drop more over the next few days. Pity that didn't work for me. Oh wait...it only made me feel like absolute crap for 2 days till it was all out of my system & my food was back to normal.

    Never again.
  • pluckabee
    pluckabee Posts: 346 Member
    It helps some, it hinders others.

    Personally I don't do them. Sometimes I'll eat over my calorie limit but usuallybecause it's a special occasion and I don't view it as a cheat, that's just living life as it comes along.
  • jimshine
    jimshine Posts: 199 Member
    I allow them once a week. But I only allow myself to take from my deficit and not exceed what maintenance would be at this weight. This way I am only delaying loss of what I have, not adding fat.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I do it but the point is that it's less calories in than out over days, weeks, months or the year and you will lose so why not if it's what you need to do to keep on track long term. I'd hate to never go over my calories.. sounds very boring.
  • Synapze
    Synapze Posts: 499
    When i started here i had cheat days one a week. Kept loosing and thought life was great, but it catches up to you. Well for me it did.

    What ive learned during the 6 months doing this is that i dont need a cheat day. Just be smart about the way you go about your day.

    Such as, Chocky fix - I have a chocolate Protine Shake to curb that now. Whack in some grinded down oats and its think and filling.

    Salt/Butter Craving - Popcorn. A full overloaded desert bowl is only 30g and around 150cals.

    I swapped icecream for sorbet. A lot of people wont do this, but i quite like it.

    If i want something sweet and fruity, i make a Banana/Mango/Mixed Berry smoothie with lots of ice. Do it right and its thick and creamy and just YUM! Nom Nom it with a desert spoon. ")
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    When i started here i had cheat days one a week. Kept loosing and thought life was great, but it catches up to you. Well for me it did.

    What ive learned during the 6 months doing this is that i dont need a cheat day. Just be smart about the way you go about your day.

    Such as, Chocky fix - I have a chocolate Protine Shake to curb that now. Whack in some grinded down oats and its think and filling.

    Salt/Butter Craving - Popcorn. A full overloaded desert bowl is only 30g and around 150cals.

    I swapped icecream for sorbet. A lot of people wont do this, but i quite like it.

    If i want something sweet and fruity, i make a Banana/Mango/Mixed Berry smoothie with lots of ice. Do it right and its thick and creamy and just YUM! Nom Nom it with a desert spoon. ")

    blood orange gelato is THE best thing ever and way lower in calories than icecream!
  • DocMarr
    DocMarr Posts: 132 Member
    I achieved my target last August and have been maintaining my weight to within a pound for the past year. I believe that having 'over' days are extremely important. Constantly eating to deficit makes your body believe that there is a lack of food and your metabolism starts to slow down to match the decreased food supply. So, I have two days a week when I eat 'over' my calorie goal (by about 200-400 calories more than I expend), and on the other five days of the week, I eat up to or just under my total (ie what I expend - usually about 2000 calories). I just make sure that my overall calorie total balances out over the week.

    However, I think 'cheat' days are self-defeating if by that you mean people setting out to gorge themselves on crappy foods. Having gorge days with 100% crap just makes your body feel awful. It also doesn't help you manage the food properly. So building a small amount of indulgent food into your week (80/20 rule) instead of denying it totally and then bingeing on it, is a much healthier way to go.

    Like others have said, I do build certain indulgences into my calorie total, and keep them contained to less than 20% of my food intake. That way you stay 'sane' and you don't feel deprived, but it is sustainable and doesn't mess with your body chemistry.
  • araviel
    araviel Posts: 19
    I 'cheat' all the time, so long as it adds up in the total budget (both kcal and macro) in the end I really couldn't care less.
  • action_figure
    action_figure Posts: 511 Member
    I don't think this question can be answered properly without understanding what one means by "cheat"? Do I have days where I allow myself less healthy choices and a few more calories? Yes, periodically. Do I have days where I just set out to gorge myself on as much fatty, high sugar food I can shove into my face hole before midnight? I did once. It was awful. Never again. I felt like ****. That's self defeating behavior.
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    I think most people make a significant adjustment to account for it to get the loss after. When they do this in studies where the subjects are fully monitored, it doesn't happen; they have a set back from it. The metabolism does drop slightly when dieting. For overweight people it is generally 4% to 10%. When you have this cheat day, you will still be at that lower metabolism. If you make the slight adjustment back to normal then it will be the deficit eating that takes advantage of the slightly higher metabolism for a few days until it slows again. But because you so badly want to prove this wrong, you will make an adjustment over the next few days and come out ahead and that's a good thing...
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    I 'cheat' all the time, so long as it adds up in the total budget (both kcal and macro) in the end I really couldn't care less.

    Pretty much this.
  • RetroSnowflake
    RetroSnowflake Posts: 168
    I don't think it helps me. Yes, if I do 'cheat' then I'm ready to kick the next day's *kitten*, but that's probably the only way it helps.
  • happieharpie
    happieharpie Posts: 229 Member
    I began working on my weight problem a little over 2 months ago because of a potentially significant health issue. Because of this mind set, cheatin' on my eatin' means nothing but cheating myself.

    I have a major cheat food, unsalted mixed nuts, built into my eating plan every single day, so I always know that I'll have a structured eating opportunity with a food that used to provoke binging.

    So far, so good- 20 pounds gone, and NO Cravings. First time in over 50 years I've felt this comfortable around food.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    I don't think this question can be answered properly without understanding what one means by "cheat"? Do I have days where I allow myself less healthy choices and a few more calories? Yes, periodically. Do I have days where I just set out to gorge myself on as much fatty, high sugar food I can shove into my face hole before midnight? I did once. It was awful. Never again. I felt like ****. That's self defeating behavior.

    This. I need how I eat to be sustainable for my life. That means that I need to be able to celebrate with others, I need to be able to eat "festival foods" sometimes, etc.

    People think of food as treats and celebration because for most of human history, feasts were relatively rare. Even when I was a kid, restaurant meals were rare (and when we had them, the portion sizes weren't so ridiculous). So my goal is to eat more like that -- to acknowledge that treats are only "treats" if they're not daily occurrences, to enjoy eating more for certain special days with the knowledge that other days are about eating less (think of the historical cycle of "fast days and feast days" imposed by the Church, for example). I think of my goal as an average, and if I'm over one day, and under the next, it can all work out.

    So yeah, it helps. But its' not a scheduled "today is my cheat day so I'm going to buy a bag of Doritos and eat the whole thing." It's not a scheduled day. Its the knowledge that if I take a (rare) day trip with my family to the Big City with all the awesome restaurants, going over my goal in order to try that awesome dessert isn't going to be the end of the world.
  • chezjuan
    chezjuan Posts: 747 Member
    It helps some, it hinders others.

    Personally I don't do them. Sometimes I'll eat over my calorie limit but usuallybecause it's a special occasion and I don't view it as a cheat, that's just living life as it comes along.

    This is how I see it too. No specific, planned "cheat" days, but if I go out for my anniversary or someone's birthday, I'm not going to worry about going over. I just make sure that there aren't too many "special occasions" in a row...
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    It helps some, it hinders others.

    Personally I don't do them. Sometimes I'll eat over my calorie limit but usuallybecause it's a special occasion and I don't view it as a cheat, that's just living life as it comes along.

    This is how I see it too. No specific, planned "cheat" days, but if I go out for my anniversary or someone's birthday, I'm not going to worry about going over. I just make sure that there aren't too many "special occasions" in a row...
    This is how I feel also. I did have to raise the bar on what special means, particularly at the office (someone on my team's retirement is special, a celebration of another team's milestone or Friday donuts are not). I think the idea of planning to go over just to change up the diet is a recipe for disaster for a lot of people.
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    I may go off my diet by eating slightly over maintenance for a week or two. When I go back below maintenance, the weight flies off.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    For those that say the weight comes off faster/easier following a cheat/refeed, how long does that accelerated weight loss last? How how far over maintenance do you go (if you even track/log)?
  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
    I used to "cheat" every weekend, by which I mean, I ate crap and didn't log it. Now I "cheat" on random occasion, but I log it. Usually for special occasions or because I want to be able to fit these indulgences into my daily life when I'm doing maintenance.

    Thing is, as my body adjusts to my healthy eating plan, when I eat outside that plan I don't feel so great for a day or two. So my planned cheats are getting progressively healthier.

    For example, yesterday I ate out with friends. It was lunch and the calories were listed on the menu. I got a pork chop, eggs and potato. A few months ago, I would have had the chicken penne pasta--at least 400 more calories and who knows what ingredients were in that sauce.

    I do believe that, for many people, occasional cheat days are great for weaning ourselves off the old lifestyle, getting through the diet, and adjusting for the new maintenance lifestyle.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,989 Member
    Cheat days are for those who haven't figured out how to lose weight while eating what they like in moderation. Till they do, they'll always cheat.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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