Cheat Days? Can someone explain?

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Stary714
Stary714 Posts: 110 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So today was the first bad day I've had in about a week in a half and it just make me curious about cheat days. If you have one day of the week where you don't count calories couldn't you just eat back 1,000-1,500 of 2-3 hard days work? I know it's suppose to keep your body from starvation mood and revamp your metabolism but I'm just not getting the science here. I really don't want this to ruin my progress. Can someone please explain this? :(

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  • TurtleTape
    TurtleTape Posts: 254 Member
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    You don't go crazy on cheat days, you just take a day and maybe eat up to where you have no deficit for the day. If you are on one pound a week, you would have to eat 3,500 calories extra in one day to cancel out your deficit ON TOP OF your regular non-deficit calorie requirement. Cheat days aren't really about "starvation mode" or metabolism, it's just having a day where you don't have to worry about having a treat. For me they help curb the urge to binge on bad foods, having one day a week to look forward to makes it easier to stick to my goals.
  • laylaness
    laylaness Posts: 262 Member
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    I typically don't have cheat days, I just work what I like eating into my daily goals. I've found much less temptation and binging this way. And I always log everything, whether it's a whole pizza or 30g of lettuce, the best I can.
  • bob_day
    bob_day Posts: 87
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    If you learn to enjoy you regular diet, you won't need
    any cheat days. Limit your "cheating" to Thanksgiving,
    Christmas, and maybe New Year's Day.
  • kitty0889
    kitty0889 Posts: 7
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    It's possible you could eat back that much, but you would have to really be eating a lot! That would be 1000-1500 calories ABOVE your TDEE, remember. Your usual daily calories, if you use MFP's recommendations, are already a deficit of several hundred cals. Obviously you don't want to go hogwild on your cheat day, but it's pretty safe to eat what you want. Cheat days help you stay strong the rest of the week--I had an In-and-Out milkshake without guilt yesterday because I knew I had stuck with my diet last week and would stick to it this week. So enjoy yourself! :)
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    I don't do cheat days..if I want something I try my best to fit it into my calorie and macro goal for the day ...if I go a little over no big deal, but I don't blow out my diet once a week just to "cheat"....
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    I don't do cheat days..if I want something I try my best to fit it into my calorie and macro goal for the day ...if I go a little over no big deal, but I don't blow out my diet once a week just to "cheat"....

    ^ This.

    "Cheat days" mean different things to different people, but if you hit maintenance, no big deal, if you ruin everything you've accomplished over the prior 3 weeks, it is a big deal.
  • Stary714
    Stary714 Posts: 110 Member
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    Yeah, I usually go out to the barn and ride/work with my horse and at try to take my dog out for a walk every day but it was rainy and humid today :/ What I was worried about was that I just had a cheeseburger and chips for dinner when I had like 400 cals left...

    So I feel less guilty now but definitely still highly agitated by the red numbers.

    Thanks you guys :)
  • LilRedRooster
    LilRedRooster Posts: 1,421 Member
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    Generally speaking, I don't find it a great thing to just have a day where you're allowed to "cheat", because most people will spend the entire week feeling like they're restrained, missing out, and rather unhappy, and when they get to that one day, many tend to go buck-wild.

    It's also not very easy to maintain long-term, because it requires planning, and doesn't have a "normal" feel for everyday life.

    I eat what I want, when I want, I just make sure it's not a ton of it. Log it in, and move on. Every now and then, I'll have a gorge-fest. So what? It's fine to have a gorge-fest every now and then, so long as you're not doing it every day. What helps me feel like I'm living a "normal" life and not a "diet" one is allowing myself to have whatever I want, and enjoying it in small increments. Because then I don't have to feel "guilty" for anything, because there's nothing that's "bad" or only reserved for one day.

    Food is fuel. Food is also fun. There's a balance, and for me, reserving one day a week tends to drive me a bit nuts and doesn't give me a good balance, so I allow myself to enjoy it, and find that I need less to get enjoyment.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    I don't do cheat days..if I want something I try my best to fit it into my calorie and macro goal for the day ...if I go a little over no big deal, but I don't blow out my diet once a week just to "cheat"....
    THIS.

    I work what I want to eat into my calorie goals. It makes things much more sustainable for me.

    Plus, I can eat ice cream everyday. :P
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    Cheat days are a bad way to live your life, and it can ruin all progress.

    Fit all foods into your calorie/macro allowance and bam.. you never need a cheat day again, and you can sustain this for the rest of your life.
  • xilka
    xilka Posts: 308 Member
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    I don't take cheat days but I do go WAY over on weekends.

    Just make up for it other days.

    I take Mondays to have a higher-than-usual deficit.
    Sometimes Thursdays too, especially if I know there's going to be a party or a meal out on the weekend.

    So, you can have your cake and eat it too... just plan a way to make up for it.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
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    they may not work for you, but they work for me. and, cheat? nah, Only reason to call it cheating is if i was cheating myself out enjoying my life.
  • Heyyleigh
    Heyyleigh Posts: 268 Member
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    Cheat days are a bad way to live your life, and it can ruin all progress.

    Fit all foods into your calorie/macro allowance and bam.. you never need a cheat day again, and you can sustain this for the rest of your life.

    what he said! No such thing as a cheat day. No such thing as starvation mode either.
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
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    I suppose it depends how one defines a "cheat day"

    Like today for example, for the first time in a month, I had a Chinese take out. I hadd near enough 300 grams of friend chips, and a container of chicken chow mein. The calorie count came to around 1120 calories, had quite a bit of fat in it (80% of my daily allowance) and quite a few carbs. I got in 30 minutes of interval training today, which gave me an extra 342 calories (measured with a HRM, not a MFP estimation) and I was still under my overall calorie allowance for the day.

    That Chinese take out I ate could be classed as a cheat meal, because it goes against the whole concept of healthy eating, but it won't have stunted or set back my weight loss. In fact, it will have probably shocked my metabolism into burning more fat due to the unexpected fluctuation of calories that one meal will have provided.

    A cheat meal/cheat day will make no difference to your overall weight loss. You didn't get fat by eating 1 unhealthy meal, you got fat from having an overall unhealthy lifestyle.
  • Stary714
    Stary714 Posts: 110 Member
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    So you all seem to have different views. I guess I don't like it because I feel like I'm not keeping up the progress and cheating myself. And I guess that the lesson learned today is to keep up with planning meals the day before
  • eskiadas
    eskiadas Posts: 45 Member
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    I don't do cheat days..if I want something I try my best to fit it into my calorie and macro goal for the day ...if I go a little over no big deal, but I don't blow out my diet once a week just to "cheat"....


    ^^This
  • SerenaFisher
    SerenaFisher Posts: 2,170 Member
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    I don't do cheat days..if I want something I try my best to fit it into my calorie and macro goal for the day ...if I go a little over no big deal, but I don't blow out my diet once a week just to "cheat"....


    ^^This
    This kind of. But I still call them "cheat days" because it makes them sound much more fun.
  • glitterstreet
    glitterstreet Posts: 144
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    I have a cheat day once a week but I ensure that it fits into my weekly deficit.When beginning my weight loss journey I made the mistake of looking at my calorie deficit on a strictly daily level and I found that I never allowed to indulge once in a while because I was so terrified of being over my calories for the 'day'. However, now I've started looking at it from a weekly perspective, I lower my calorie intake on days I don't feel particularly hungry (Mostly Mondays) and a little bit the rest of the week so I have room on the weekend to eat more, but within limits.

    I think a cheat day can have alleviate the psychological impact that a diet can create, it can make you feel less restricted and more inclined to carry on the diet for a longer time. However, the impact of a cheat day, in my opinion, depends entirely on the basis on the weekly deficit you have incurred. For example, you could eat 2500 calories on a cheat day but cut out calories during the week and still maintain the week's deficit, or have 5000 calories and maintain an average calorie intake that causes you to maintain.

    Occasionally, I'll allowed myself little treats during the week like a small chocolate bar but I find that this isn't the best method for me because they tend to trigger me to eat more.
  • Deadlay
    Deadlay Posts: 135 Member
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    I have a cheat day once a week but I ensure that it fits into my weekly deficit.When beginning my weight loss journey I made the mistake of looking at my calorie deficit on a strictly daily level and I found myself never allowing to indulge once in a while because I was so terrified of being over my calories for the 'day'. However, now I've started looking at it from a weekly perspective, I lower my calorie intake on days I don't feel particularly hungry (Mostly Mondays) and a little bit the rest of the week so I have room on the weekend to eat more, but within limits.

    I think a cheat day can have alleviate the psychological impact that a diet can create, it can make you feel less restricted and more inclined to carry on the diet for a longer time. However, an impact of a cheat day, in my opinion, depends entirely on the basis on the weekly deficit you have incurred. For example, you could eat 2500 calories on a cheat day but cut out calories during the week and still maintain the week's deficit, or have 5000 calories and maintain an average calorie intake that causes you to maintain.

    This, and the person who mentioned that starvation mode is false. Applause.

    If you want have a "cheat meal" or eat less the day before and the day after a cheat "day" if you really need one. You gain and lose weight week to week so one huge cheat day could really affect your week...or read what the guy posted above who was much more articulate than me.

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