another cheat day post

I have seen so many threads on cheat days. I don't understand the concept, but then again I don't believe in "dieting" either. I am making changes to maintain a healthy lifestyle change.

If you want something, make sure it's in your calorie allotment. If it's not, throw in some extra cardio for that day.

Or, just eat whatever you want, however much you want, log it in, and pay the consequences of eating way too much.

Maybe you won't gain weight from the "cheat day," but what about the psychological games that come with this? You tell yourself now that it's just one day, but when it works out okay you soon want another pig-out day, and then another. I say this because I used to be big time on cheat days once a week, that turned to more than one day a week,until I finally gained 30 pounds back over a five year period (see, I didn't have those cheat days every day ).

Also, your stomach will probably hurt once done with your cheat day because it's not used to holding so much food.

Really, you can do whatever you want, but I challenge you to get rid of the diet mentality and see this whole thing of logging food and exercising and learning about nutrition as a lifestyle change rather than a diet.

For example, I planned last week on our trip to see aunt and uncle. I could not resist one of her traditional homemade brownies-the frosting is a large chocolate bar melted on top and then spread so pretty across the brownie top. :bigsmile: :bigsmile: Do you think I was going to turn this down? No way! I had ONE small piece, that was it. That day I went over my calories, but I had saved some exercise calories up that week for the big day. I had planned ahead.

Yesterday, I had brought a banana to work for my afternoon snack. When snack time came around, I didn't want the banana, I wanted a snack bag of mesquite barbeque chips from the deli across the street. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, but then I gave in. Why? Because I'm not on a diet and I don't deprive myself. I bought the chips and enjoyed every single bite (it was the sodium I was after). Logged it all and didn't go over calories.

All food is good, enjoy it!

water weight from higher sodium meal/treats.. that is it.. 1 day won't make you gain more than 1 lb in fat.

Just log everything so you see how much you eat and where you end up.

You would have to eat 3,500 calories over your TDEE to gain one pound of fat in one day, correct? That is an awful lot of food.

In my opinion, cheat days are all about that silly diet mentality, which I had for years.

The only way to see if 'refeed' days work for you personally... is to try one!

Personally, I have at least two or three a month. It's fine... I'm still losing over the longer term. It's just a case of whether you can get back on track afterwards, I suppose.

Good luck!

If every day is enjoyable, you never have to have a cheat day because you never want to cheat. so enjoy your food everyday.

This 100%.

If every day is enjoyable, you never have to have a cheat day because you never want to cheat. so enjoy your food everyday.

Exactly. I think of "cheat days" as a concept that sounds like "planned binges", which is exactly why I changed my lifestyle to begin with. I do not binge anymore, whether by plan or by happenstance. I enjoy treats from time to time, but I do not plan to have whole days of treats. YMMV

I do try to incorporate treats into my intake everyday. Unfortunately, I tend to be someone who is triggered by particular foods and finds it extremely difficult to stop. I can't just have a bit of chocolate and just stop so I find it more beneficial for me to just avoid having a snack size chocolate around or something because I'll just end up having of the 'snack' size chocolate to constitute a regular size chocolate.

I am the exact same way. I finally accepted it and have found a successful way to enjoy those treats and move on from them. Embracing that this is who you are opens the door to find ways to make this "flaw" work for you.

You can have a "cheat week" and it not have any major effect on your overall, long range goals IF you know how to stop and get back on track for your goals.

I spent a lifetime thinking of weight loss as a divide between "good days" and "cheat/bad days". All that did was help me drift toward the forbidden, fall into endless "cheat days", eat a ton of sweets, and gain a ton of weight. I am SO blessed to be over that thinking. If you're doing what's right for your goals the vast majority of the time, those splurge moments are a drop in the bucket.

This is exactly what I needed to hear today, Thank you

Maybe I have the wrong mentality, but if you want something and make a choice to eat it, imho, it is not cheating, it is making a choice. We all make choices about what we eat,when we eat, every day of our lives. We should be learning how to eat in a way which will allow us to maintain our weight when we get where we want to be!! Having something we want, isn't cheating, it is making a choice!!! If you can think of it this way, you may be able to have that snack sized chocolate, or one donut, or one scoop of ice cream, on a regular basis!! That way, you are making the choice to eat what you want, within healthy limits!!

Glad you enjoyed your day and I hope this doesn't sound 'judgie' as this is not what I am trying to convey/ I eat plenty of stuff that is unhealthy, in limits, when I choose to!!! I have been at this since March and so far it is working for me!!! I don't however, eat entire bags of cadbury mini eggs in 2 days, or 8 mini chocolate bars in one day, lol.