How "naughty" should you be?

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denisegunnels
denisegunnels Posts: 43 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How badly would you deviate from your plan for a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary? One day? One meal? A weekend?
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  • Bobbie8786
    Bobbie8786 Posts: 202 Member
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    One meal. If I do more It messes with my head. Not everyone is like that though. You have to figure out just how far over the precipice you can lean.
  • kiwitechgirl
    kiwitechgirl Posts: 145 Member
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    One meal, but I'd try and come in under goal for a few days before and after so that I had "saved" calories for the one meal.
  • OsricTheKnight
    OsricTheKnight Posts: 340 Member
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    I used to let myself do whatever I wanted on a special day. Then I found that in one day, I could eat enough that it'd take a week to recover and get my trend line back on track. So it became less and less worth it to me.

    In the last four weeks, we've celebrated thanksgiving, my daughter's birthday, and had several meals out. These days, I try to ensure that my splurge days don't exceed maintenance calories at my current weight, but they still show up on my graph.

    Osric

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  • cupcakes_and_cardio
    cupcakes_and_cardio Posts: 369 Member
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    I was doing one "cheat" meal a week and then I thought I could do an entire weekend because it was a special occasion kinda' weekend - wrong. I'll never do that again (or so I'll definitely try) because that made me whirlwind outta' control. One cheat day a week is enough to keep me on track, any more than that and I don't know when to stop.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
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    I used to let myself do whatever I wanted on a special day. Then I found that in one day, I could eat enough that it'd take a week to recover and get my trend line back on track. So it became less and less worth it to me.

    you pay way too much attention to the scale. You're not "recovering" from fat gain, thus, it doesn't matter.

    On a side note, theres way too many events in my life for me to indulge at all of them.

    Letting loose once every week or two has actual benefits. It boosts your diving metabolism and helps bring hormone levels back to proper amounts, amongst other things. This actually results in a better "trend line"
  • Rosieannaxo
    Rosieannaxo Posts: 129
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    For me, one cheat meal works. It's usually on a Friday night or a Saturday morning (hello delicious chocolate pancakes!). I'm still working on control so having that one meal out of the week works well for me. If I had a whole day or weekend, I'd probably have a hard time recovering from it. But that's just completely me!
  • denisegunnels
    denisegunnels Posts: 43 Member
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    Thanks all. I've found that mixing it up at least once a week does best for me so I'm not too worried about a special occasion. I was curious as to how others handle it though. Even while I'm being 'naughty' I've found that I'm still conscious of what I'm consuming.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    One meal and I'd still not go nuts and try and keep it within my calories. I mean if I'm really craving cake, I'll make room for that and make healthier choices on the side. If I want fries, I'll have fries, but with grilled chicken or something...
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
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    I don't think of it as naughty. I splurge at my favorite Mexican restaurant once every few weeks. I normally still stay within or very close to my number goals.
  • jfl5
    jfl5 Posts: 37
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    We went on vacation to the coast this past week. I like seafood, and so I went totally off the rails for five days (~700 to1000 calories over per day). Thing is, I was so active on the beach and jetties, in the pool, etc. that I actually wound up losing a couple of pounds. I never just laid on the beach or by the pool. Oh, I also ran a 5K and ran on the beach.

    It's all relative. If you can't go for broke and enjoy life once in a while, what's the point in all this diet and exercise?

    .
  • ekz13
    ekz13 Posts: 725 Member
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    it's life...enjoy it... have A slice of cake (not 4) have a couple glasses of wine at dinner then (not 3 bottles) etc... enjoy the occasion or party like you would any other, just do it smart. keep tracking and if you go over a bit (not 4k), it won't kill you.
    :happy:
  • harvo
    harvo Posts: 4,676 Member
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    I am disappointed and will now exit the room sniffling....
  • Mutant13
    Mutant13 Posts: 2,485 Member
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    I can spend entire vacations being relaxed about how I eat. But then I can comfortably go months without cheating.
    Each to their own I guess
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
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    I am disappointed and will now exit the room sniffling....

    Me too! That's not the context in which I use the word "naughty" at all...
  • kowajenn
    kowajenn Posts: 274 Member
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    Never more than a meal, and even then I try to budget for it as much as possible. I try very hard to keep my weekly calories within budget. On vacation I relax a little bit, but I still try to make the best choices possible.

    I got very fat by being way too naughty and justifying it with various reasons. :)
  • gdrmuzak
    gdrmuzak Posts: 103 Member
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    If I know I've got a special event/meal coming, then I pay a little more attention to what I'm doing leading up to and/or after the event. If at all possible, I also try to make sure I've got a good calorie burn that day (before or after).

    Also, if there's a choice, I prefer the special meal to be earlier in the day vs later in the day or evening just to allow some activity (natural or exercise) before going to sleep.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    You can be "naughty" ever day if you want..just make sure that you fit it into your calorie deficit for the day..

    the other day I had about 100 calories left so I had half serving of ice cream and a few chocolate chip cookie chip thingies...

    Sometimes I know that I am going to have pizza or some beers or whatever, so I have less for breakfast and lunch and just fit it into my day....IMO this is better than the "cheat" meal mentality where you just gorge/blow out on foods for a day and then try to go back to normal patterns....

    that is my two cents....
  • justal313
    justal313 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    I hopefully knew about the occasion before hand and laid out my day to work around it, maybe that's extra time exercising, maybe that's dialing down the rest of the day, sometimes it's both.

    IF I didn't know and I can't work my day around it, I don't let it throw me. It's just tossing a pebble into the river of my healthy eating. As long as I don't go crazy it won't build up to a dam.
  • elenathegreat
    elenathegreat Posts: 3,988 Member
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    Went on an eight day vacation to WDW...ate and drank with reckless abandon...since my return, I've gotten back within two pounds of my lowest weight before we left. No big whoop!!:bigsmile: :bigsmile:
  • AprilEternity
    AprilEternity Posts: 53 Member
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