Does cheating help or hinder?
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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.0 -
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.0
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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.0 -
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.0 -
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...0 -
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.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...0 -
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.0
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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)?0
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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.0 -
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
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
I was stuck at a plateau and then gave in to a Culver's Double Cheeseburger (no fries) and lost 5 lbs. Of course I waited about 3 days before I logged that loss just to make sure that my scales weren't just messing with me.0
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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.
that pound is water. You can't gain a pound of fat with a cheat day or cheat meal unless you go over your maintenance level of calories by 3500. For the average woman that would be consumption of around 5,500 calories in a day. Even then, your body is going to do every thing it can to burn off that energy. To gain fat and lose fat requires sustained deficits or surpluses...not one day of over or under eating.0 -
I don't have "cheat days" I just eat what I want but keep it in my calorie goal.0
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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.
Exactly. I don't beat myself up if I go way over my calories. I am doing this as a lifestyle and sometimes in life you want to eat 800 calories of delicious dips at a party! And then the next day I go back to my regularly scheduled healthy foods and exercise because that is how I live my life now--the 1,000 calories of junk are an exception.0 -
Yes I cheat - it keeps the metabolism guessing and it's been working. Just FYI - a lot of the gained weight from the 1 or 2 days of consecutive eating is the fact that the waste is backed up in your bowels for a day or two - then your body takes care of it in a day or two. Remember, to gain about a pound you would have to have eaten your maintenance calories + about 3,000 more calories - easy to do, yes - but rarely do we eat so many more calories that we gain 3 or 4 pounds from just one or two cheat days!0
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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
Nice...^^^This I like!0 -
I would say hinder....lol Unless its once in awhile... Depends how much cheating it is though...0
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I don't like the expression "cheat days". To me there is no such thing. Some days I might eat more but I don't consider it cheating... I just have to deal with the numbers in vs. the numbers out.
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OP here.
To answer the good questions some of you have asked, I will tell you exactly what I mean personally by "cheating". Generally when I cheat I only end up going about 200-300 calories over my goal for the day or two I cheat. A typical non cheat day for me is bacon/eggs for breakfast (you people who are anti bacon can say what you like, but I have been obese my entire life and only when I started to eat a big protein and fat filled breakfast did I start to lose quickly), usually a greek yogurt for lunch with or without granola and chicken breast with a veg for dinner. If I craved a sweet dessert I would satiate it with either a super small portion of froyo or a cup of hot tea with sugar and cream.
On my cheat days my breakfast would be something like a large dunkin donuts latte, a everything bagel with reduced fat plain cream cheese and a donut. Lunch would be a poptart and maybe some chocolate and dinner would be something healthy usually with more cheese or butter than usual. So not horrible whole day of candy, pizza and sugar but certainly not healthy. The big thing for me on cheat days is carbs, since I avoid them as much as I can during the dieting days when I cheat I tend to fill myself with them.
To answer the person who asked when I cheat how long the accelerated metabolism lasts....I am not sure. I do know however after 1-2 days of going over by about 200-300 calories and then going back to dieting I tend to weight myself a week later and have lost usually between 2-4 lbs. I usually lose about 1-2lbs if I don't cheat.
I did some research after I posted this and found out that it makes scientific sense that I lose more after dieting. Leptin, the hormone that signals to your body if you are fat or not, decreases when you restrict calories. When Leptin bottoms out your dopamine goes down, your cravings go up and your metabolism slows to a crawl. Even just one cheat day raises your leptin back up for 24-48 hours, plus the endorphins you get from cheating allows your body to burn more with less cravings. The secret according to research is to splurge on high protein, high carb, low fat foods and no alcohol. The article that explains it best is here http://greatist.com/health/cheat-days-explained0 -
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
How is that response helpful in any way? That makes it sound like you are bragging. Good for you? I am not sure how I can eat the things I love (like bagels, kitkat bars, donuts) in moderation without going over my calories. They are amazing, but not filling at all. I find responses like this to be unhelpful0
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