For those of you that have weekly "cheat days"

When I have "cheat" days I don't actually go over on my calories. I only get a cheat day if I lost weight on my weigh-in, and if I did I go out to dinner instead of eating in. But I still stay within my calories, I just might eat something a little less-healthy than usual.

Saturday's are my "cheat day" and I only eat the amount of calories it would take to maintain my current weight, never over. Of course as I lose weight that number contiunes to go down, but I'm still not eating enough to gain any weight. :-) I also do a double workout on my "cheat day" so I get quite a few exercise calories back too.

I stay within the calories, but may not make the best choices. Usually go over on the carbs that day. I don't do it every week, and usually it isn't planned.

Let me preface this by saying that I am not calling anyone a liar (maybe not a good start lol but bear with me)

I don't know how you can have a cheat day and stay under your calorie goal, which for women can be as low as 1200 calories? It has been months since I logged my meals (I became obsessive and I figured I needed to cut myself some slack and just try and be active and do it on my own) but I know that on regular day (non-cheat days) eating meals I made myself I struggled to stay under that amount of calories and I was usually at least a little hungry.

Yet, I see people all the day on the message boards saying that they have no problem and are never hungry....honestly?? I can't be the only one on the margin yet if I use the posts as a gauge I am the abnormal one.

Let's be honest here, eating healthy around 1200 cals/day is hard and most of the time I was on the margins and had to take the dog for an extra walk to be able to eat what I wanted for dinner. And as you can see I have been very successful at weight loss.

To answer your question, my cheat days were usually a cheat MEAL instead and it was something delicious like ginger beef from my favourite Chinese place, pancakes with extra syrup and butter, or a bag of peanut m&m's at the movie theatre and it kicked me way over my calorie goal for the day. but it made scrimping for the rest of the week easier, I didn't feel I was depriving myself like I could have if my cheat was a chicken salad at a restaurant.

my "cheat days" are thursdays (my weigh in day) IF i have lost. and my 'cheating" consists of ONE can of dr pepper that day. i dont drink dr pepper through out the week. just on my "cheating" day

do you struggle to stay under that on an average day? I probably would

I'm not sure if you're talking to me? But the answer is no, I rarely ever go over and I don't find it hard to stay under 1640 at all. I know a lot of people are into snacking and/or eating several smaller meals over the course of the day. Personally I find it much easier and more fulfilling to eat 3 meals that fill me up instead of eating over the course of the day.

It's easy enough to have a breakfast under 300, lunch between 400 and 500, and dinner between 500 and 600.

So on a cheat day my dinner might be 700 - 800 calories instead. That still leaves me under.

OK, OK, I'll be the first. Today was my "cheat" day and I clocked in at just barely under 4,000 calories. Yep. 4,000 big ones. I ate when I felt the slightest twinge of hunger, ate what I wanted, etc. And as you might have guessed, I am feeling quite stuffed at the moment. HOWEVER...tomorrow's training run is 24 miles so I will burn somewhere around 2,700 calories, and to be honest I will probably take in about 3,000 tomorrow. Up until week before last I tried to stay within my calorie limits (2200-2500) 7 days a week, but when I "cheated" I had the best run EVER. So now I "cheat" before my long runs. Real problem will be reeling myself in when training is over! :sad:

My cheat days are on Sundays, the only day off I have with my husband. He has started the weight loss kick too, so we give this day to each other.

I love beer, so that's the only day I drink it anymore. i have cut out drinking all together during the week, so by the time I get to Sunday, just a couple beers does the trick anyways. If I have more, Monday back at work is not pleasant.

When I first started this whole weight loss thing, I would go crazy over my calories on Sundays, but now that I eat a lot healthier, the fattier, greasier foods just aren't as appealing as they used to be. Don't get me wrong, I'll still eat something terribly bad for me if I want it on a Sunday, but I eat less of it now than I used to. I also usually don't want all of my Sunday eating to be unhealthy or fatty anymore. It's not worth feeling like crap the whole day or the next because of the bloaty, salt laden goodies.

Oh yeah, and I don't have a problem sticking to my calories because I make sure I have a huge variety in my diet. It keeps me satisfied so I don't get hungry all the time.

You may not actually know it, but by having a cheat day where you go close to or just over your calorie intake on that one day per week, you are actually doing the 'zig-zag' method, which is where you stick to your BMR for 6 days then on your 'Zag' day you eat to your normal Calorie limit.

What this does is keeps your metabolism ticking along, apparently



Mark

Hmmm i've been known to have upto 4 or 5000 calories on my cheat days, so about 2000 over maintenance. I do workout hard on the morning of that day though and gain about 900 of those back before I even splurge. I feel like i deserve it after behaving for 2 weeks, so it's every two weeks that i will have a cheat / treat day.

My cheat is a dr pepper, soda is BAD! I usually eat something I can count when I go out to dinner. I am starting out so I don't eat pizza. but last night I had a beer and a restaurant blacken fish sandwich. so, the only thing I went over on was salt. I ate all my veggies first(steamed) and didn't even finish the sandwich. I was full all day and was under 600cal which was my workout total.

LOL I love all of you that said when you cheat you only take in an extra 250-300 calories... I should show you how to really cheat! You will easily go over 2000 ! You're doing it wrong

Joking aside,
I try not to give myself "cheat days" I just try to eat as close as I can to my range, and if I go over by a bit then it happens. I go out every weekend drink lots of vodka, eat pizza after the bar and usually one bad meal the next hangover day. However, I do make sure I get a good workout on saturday (and some sundays) and I mix with water or crystal light and I eat very good during the day. I dance my *kitten* off at the bar so usually by monday I will either have stayed the same or gained some water weight, which usually comes off by wed. Even with doing that I still have managed to lose 45lbs. I could have lost it much faster without the weekend madness, but then I would have been miserable this whole past year. Now I am happy if I lose 2lbs a month (on the last 10).

Good luck with your w.l!