Feeling guilty after "cheat day"!

If you feel guilty then I don't think this is a mentally healthy approach for you to take. Why not have a serving of a treat daily instead? Whether you could ruin a weeks worth of work depends on what your week is like and what this one day is like but the odds are no, it won't ruin a week's worth of hard work.

How about a cheat meal or 2? I can say I can do alot of damage( I have a healthy apetite) in one day and totally erase and entire week of clean eating! And your probably feelign sick from overeating or eating things your not normally having. I feel I deal better mentally having a meal or to and just feel better in gerneral.

Well, I think you should read Tim Ferris's book The 4 hr body.. he says 1 cheat day is vital it keeps your metabolism from going in to starvation mode!

How about just setting your calories to a healthy amount and work on your issues with food? A lot of people need to learn what food is for and how to eat in moderation. Feeling guilty after eating and feeling like it has undone all your hard work is very disordered thinking. Food is also not a reward for eating healthy all week. This is the cycle that will be your undoing.

Focus on health. Focus on eating foods you like within your calories for the day. When food has all this power, we are powerless to make changes. I wish you the best of luck.

Agree with the poster who said that a cheat "meal" rather than an entire day might be more advisable. Enjoy your indulgence, but maintain control. I've always likened calculated cheating (which is sometimes a necessity- holidays, dinner parties, etc.) to a plane going into a nose dive. The longer you're plummeting, the more effort it takes to pull out of it. For me, a cheat day can turn into half a week or more, which can really reverse progress. A meal is less likely to gain its own negative momentum.

I'm not a nutritionist, but I'm pretty sure there's no actual scientific benefit to cheating vis a vis weight loss. It may slightly jumpstart your metabolism, but that benefit is surely outweighed by the excess calories and havoc wreaked on an unprepared digestive system.

So therefore the benefit of a cheat day or cheat meal is psychological, and therefore subjective. If it brings you shame and regret disproportionate to the pleasure it brings, it may not be worth it. If you're dealing with recovery from an eating disorder, anything that continues the cycle of feast and famine, shame and overcorrection, is probably a bad thing. Maybe keep it to a meal- plan around something, a brunch with friends, a reservation at one of your favorite restaurants, and give yourself no restrictions while you're in that building. When you leave, the regular rules re-apply. Maximize the enjoyment of your cheating, so it feels "worth it" and not empty nullification of your hard work. Also, psychologically prep yourself for the fact that you'll be taking a minor step back- be okay with it- and assure yourself that you'll quickly make that ground back up in the week ahead.

Maybe lessen your cheating. I like the cheat "meal" option rather than a whole day. Or maybe do every other week. I know when I'd been doing really well for four weeks or so I ate a super greasy Mexican lunch and felt awful. Physically and mentally. I still allow myself crap once in awhile, but am trying to keep it to every other week or so.

Cheat day not so much. I feel guilty the days after and it makes me feel sick even thinking about it the next time. I think I only did it twice before(birthday and snow day) I changed it to one meal once in awhile. I usually have a treat on girls night... which is about 1-2 times a month. It's fun to indulge in something everyone loves my friends usually involve something chocolate or cheesecake:happy: I guess it also helps that 2/5 friends are going through the same body images as me.

Well...if you don't feel you need it, I wouldn't do it. If you're craving something, I think its healthy to allow yourself to indulge a little once in a while.

I personally don't do cheat days based on the day of the week or anything. I wait for special events, or random days when I feel I really need it, or for whatever reason something awesome comes up and I want it.

For instance, yesterday was my husbands birthday, so we were out for the day and such and ended up eating out. I wanted a burger and fries, my favorite meal that I haven't had in almost 3 months, and I had it. I had a delish cookie for breakfast, while being at a market event full of baked goods, cheeses, breads, kettle corn....totally brutal to be honest haha. But I left with my 1 (sizeable) cookie. Went out for dinner too, wanted another burger and fries, went for the steak sandwich and fries instead that was really only steak and garlic bread. Not the healthiest of choices but was better than the burger.

In the end I went over and I knew I was going to. But heres the thing, I went over by about 400 cal or so. The day before by 68...but it was "hot lunch," at work and I felt I deserved it, the rest was relatively healthy to eat that day. So basically, I look at my report and yeah it sucks because I hate going over!! I do feel slightly guilty about it and wish to a minor extent that I didn't. At the same time, I didn't go over to a huge extent, in fact both days I would still have technically lost weight in 5 weeks according to MFP just not very much yesterday for sure.

Long story short, I think allowing yourself to go over when you need to as long as it isn't happening a lot is okay. But I think how much you go over is important. Some people say have a cheat meal, some a day, but whichever works best for you is good I think. For me I prefer the day and don't necessarily go insanely over, but just allow myself a little more of what I want while still being reasonable to some extent.

In the end do what works for you and makes you feel good as long as its healthy.

Not to sound rude but after reading some of these..I actually feel worse! If this makes sense. .I almost feel like I am being punished for eating food I dont eat everyday.:(

You shouldn't feel guilty or like you are being punished. But, in my experience, cheat DAYS don't work. When I used to allow myself a cheat day, I would fall off the wagon completely.

I do believe one cheat meal (everyday, or every other day) is a lot more effective if you want to lose weight. For example, if you know you're going to be craving chocolate, then make some room for some chocolate during dessert. If you have to, exercise a little bit more so that you have room for the dessert.

Not to sound rude but after reading some of these..I actually feel worse! If this makes sense. .I almost feel like I am being punished for eating food I dont eat everyday.:(

That's exactly the mindset I was talking about. Why would you do something that makes you feel guilty or like you're being punished? Why not work on those issues by eating at a calorie deficit, but include the foods that you enjoy? You could even look at your weekly calorie totals instead of day to day. I do that and some days I might go over a little, some days I'm under. Using food as a reward for a good week or a punishment because of a bad day is only doing to lead to problems. Work to learn moderation.

instead of calling it a "cheat day" , call it a " day off" You're not cheating anyone on a day off. Just east at a level of caloric maintenance that one day a week. If done properly you could have a treat or two without doing three days of damage to your week of dieting.

I'm one of those people who NEVER does a cheat day. Why would I? Where's the profit in that? I hate that term, by the way. If you eat within your calorie goal you can eat anything you want to.

If you have a medical reason to eat clean and organic food, how does the "cheat day" affect your hypothyroid? I'm genuinely asking here - I don't have much/any knowledge about hypothyroid.