Cheat day?

cjusticeg
cjusticeg Posts: 90 Member
edited September 22 in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone else allow themselves a cheat day? If so, how often? and what are the restrictions, if any?

Replies

  • Suzy12
    Suzy12 Posts: 284
    I don't "allow" it - it just happens. And generally the results are horrible. (Can you tell I just came off one???)
  • laurasimmons
    laurasimmons Posts: 575 Member
    I only have a cheat meal, not an entire day. Having an entire day can screw up everything you have worked on all week. With that one meal I don't restrict anything. I will usually have whatever it is that I am craving including desert or a glass of wine.
  • MartiWillett
    MartiWillett Posts: 103 Member
    I allow myself one cheat day a week, but I only cheat on one meal, usually dinner!
  • Rjperron
    Rjperron Posts: 150
    I never plan for them because I find, for me, that I end up overindulging a little too often (as in, "oh I'll go over 200 cals but it won't count as my cheat meal", or "I can have 1,000 cals in fried foods because it's my cheat meal"). Instead, I just cut myself a little slack every so often when I want an extra drink or on special occasions.
  • lastchance2010
    lastchance2010 Posts: 494 Member
    I also agre. I have more of a cheat meal than a cheat day. My meal of choice is very high in calories....so I do also make sure that I eat healthy breakfast and lunch so come dinner I can ENJOY. I also do my workouts through the day to burn as many cal's as I can enjoy, then...I make sure that in the next couple days I'm gonna beef up my routine to "offset" the damage of the previous day. OH big thing for me too..I don't "cheat" right before a weigh in. I weigh in Monday or Wednesday so I would have my "cheat" meal Thursday or Friday! Good luck and I hope that ramble made sense... :laugh:
  • iamstaceywood
    iamstaceywood Posts: 383 Member
    I usually allow a cheat 'item' lol. I'm really strict with myself and it leads to the occasional fall off. Like yesterday, I had a christmas tree cake. And friday, i had a crispy strawberry banana cheesecake from the ihop i work at. It was delicious and fried and bad bad bad. But, it worked into my calories fairly and i still hit the calorie deficit i wanted to be in. It could have been worse.
  • JosephTucker
    JosephTucker Posts: 65
    Yes, I sometimes have a cheat meal or just the whole day. Mentally it does me good and also gets my body out of a rut
  • trejon
    trejon Posts: 203
    Friday is my "FRY" day! Being Southern I love Fried Catfish with the works :love: . On that day I can have anything fried that I desire and as much of it as I want :explode: . I allow myself no guilt from this day :embarassed: . Dieting gets old and life is short :yawn: . Depriving yourself only makes you want something more.
  • myukniewicz
    myukniewicz Posts: 906 Member
    i give myself a "cheat meal"... not a whole day. i have a feeling that would lead to something very catastrophic. lol
    and my "cheat meal" is normaly on the weekend when i go out
  • michelearnold
    michelearnold Posts: 32
    I don't take cheat days or cheat meals. I just eat what I want that day or at that time and count the calories/add them in to my diary. When the day's calories are gone, I stop eating. Has worked for me so far.

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  • patio1313
    patio1313 Posts: 169 Member
    Sure...Like my nutritionist always tells me...LIFE HAPPENS...You should never feel like you have to AVOID certain foods because then you feel like you are depriving yourself...The key is always moderation but occasionally I think that it is good to have a day where you just don't worry about it...it kind of TRICKS the body so you don't hit plateaus...Just don't make it a big habit, make sure after you have a "Cheat Day" that you get right back on track the following day
  • kjensen15
    kjensen15 Posts: 398 Member
    Friday is my "FRY" day! Being Southern I love Fried Catfish with the works :love: . On that day I can have anything fried that I desire and as much of it as I want :explode: . I allow myself no guilt from this day :embarassed: . Dieting gets old and life is short :yawn: . Depriving yourself only makes you want something more.

    MMM fried catfish with some hush puppies and coleslaw!!!

    Now I'm craving that!! :laugh:
  • sblowes
    sblowes Posts: 66 Member
    I have a strategic day (every 4th day) where I push up my calorie intake by like 20%. That way it's on purpose, and not a cheat day, and it tricks my metabolism into not getting used to the low calories.
  • Dencrossgirl
    Dencrossgirl Posts: 501 Member
    When I go out or go to a friend's house for supper, then that will be my cheat meal. Sometimes every week, or every two weeks, I eat all the bad stuff but I NEVER feel stuffed. Portion control is the way to go, because I personally am not going to say no to everything for the rest of my life.
  • emmyvera
    emmyvera Posts: 599 Member
    i do a cheat meal as opposed to a cheat day. i find that if i "let myself go" a whole day, i feel bloated, i miss my exercise routine and just make bad decisions throughout the day. then the next day i just feel guilty. i don't like that feeling.

    there is a commercial that always sticks in my head. it's for some kind of healthy food in the morning, can't remember. but the point is: if you start out making good decisions early in the day you are more likely to stick to them all day long.

    i allow a cheat meal or snack, make sure i get exercise and make sure i drink lots of water....since that cheat may have much more sodium.

    e.g. last week we went for mexican dinner. i thought smart having 2 chicken soft tacos, but i cheated with a little chips and queso. since i new i was going to mexican, i ate light all day. this way i still came in around my goal and if i don't make it, i know that i was close and made an effort. i also worked out prior to dinner, which made me feel more on my game.

    everything in moderation i say. and one whole cheat day would just be too much for me to handle.

    good luck!
  • emott84
    emott84 Posts: 108
    I take Sundays "off" from logging (sometimes, I'll log but not stress about what I'm eating).
    I find that I'm not off-the-rails that day though. I'll allow myself a weekly treat, like a bowl of chips, but it's not like I'm consuming double the amount of calories. It's just a day to be normal and not think about it. It's worked out fine for me thus far, but everyone is different!
  • cjusticeg
    cjusticeg Posts: 90 Member
    Yea, more so a cheat meal I suppose is what I meant. I don't think I could ever cheat my whole day. Now, even when I eat one bad thing, I feel bad. However, I have planned a day in a few weeks that I get to have a cheat meal, and I think mcdonalds is coming my way.hahaha.
  • Tanya761
    Tanya761 Posts: 146
    I don't "plan" my cheat day/meal, it just happens. For example, I had a good healthy breakfast at home, but stopped at my parents and my mom had made some chicken wings, dry ribs, and fries for lunch (Baked-but still not good), so I allowed myself to have some, but used a small plate, and only started with a few items, had lots of water, and after eating only a few of each item, I was still hungry, so went back for a few more. When I was full, I stopped. I just know me, if I would have filled up a plate, and finished it so I didn't "waste", so only taking a few at a time helps me. I guess a guilty day/meal along with portion control really isn't too bad once and awhile, you just have to make sure to get back on track! I spent the rest of that day Christmas shopping, and walking all around the mall, so I didn't feel too bad after all! Lol.
  • PJ64
    PJ64 Posts: 866 Member
    I use a cheat day. I used to do the "Body for Life" workout and the author actually encouraged it. I stick to one day a week and I eat whatever I want for that day.
  • LoserCruiser
    LoserCruiser Posts: 184
    I do a cheat meal once a week, usually its fridays because that is when I meet up with a bunch of my friends at MCDONALDS with our kids for a playdate! I LOVE McDonalds, lol! If I do a cheat day I can be up 5lbs in one day, no joke, I did that on the weekend, then I have to starve myself the next day to take it off, lol, so I learned my lesson, a cheat MEAL not a cheat DAY!
  • shawnnshinta
    shawnnshinta Posts: 37 Member
    You can't cheat on just a meal!
    It won't work.
    That one meal you will find yourself adding up on your chart after all.

    Make it a full day, and don't add up any calories.
    Just log it as a "free day".

    I do have a "cheat day" which I call a " free day" , as in a day you don't have to work, as oppossed to day where your doing something wrong.

    All of us deserve a break, as long as we are working for it. you work 6 days, rest on the 7th.
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,021 Member
    I think a whole day is fine for someone who has achieved their weight loss goal and is in the maintenance phase or someone who only has a few more pounds to go and is trying to ease into maintenance. I know a lot of people who do that, and it seems to work well for them. But I still have about 30 more pounds to lose, and I have personal reservations about cheating for an entire day. It's a mental thing for me, I think. I'm terrified of falling back into my old habits.

    But I definitely allow myself one meal per week where I can eat anything I want. I think it's critical to surviving a "diet." When I first started dieting, I didn't have a cheat meal, and I held out for 10 weeks before I binged on pizza one day. I think my body was in shock for 2 or 3 days after that, and I never want that to happen again.

    This is just me, though. Obviously some people can handle it. I'm just too much of a control freak to cheat for a whole day.
  • superwmn
    superwmn Posts: 936
    Yes, I sometimes have a cheat meal or just the whole day. Mentally it does me good and also gets my body out of a rut

    I also do this. I have free meals for special occasions (birthdays/anniversaries/parties) and free days on major holidays (Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years). I take no more than one free meal OR one free day each week. Some weeks, I have no events or holidays and don't take a free meal/free day.

    I've also found that free meals and free days can stimulate weight loss (don't weigh in the following day, obviously, but five or six days after a free meal/day I'm frequently down a pound or two from my pre-free meal/day weight).

    If I'm taking just a meal, I ensure it's at the end of the day. Makes it easier for me to stop at the meal.

    I also don't put myself in physical pain. It's not a contest to shovel everything in that I can. It's just a day or a meal that I don't track. Part of being flexible and living life.

    Charmagne
  • Marlys101
    Marlys101 Posts: 100
    I don't plan them it just happens. This time of year is really tough for me. I feel guilty after I go over my calorie limit for the day and try harder the next day. :-)
  • howardrw
    howardrw Posts: 80 Member
    I have a cheat day, and it is always on Sunday. On that day I just eat what I want to and that is my relax day as well, where I don't do any workouts.

    That following Monday, I am right back on the my eating plan.

    From reading everyone posting, some people only cheat with one meal while others like myeself do it for the whole day.

    I do feel that you need to as one person stated get out of a "rut". Sometimes you need to just enjoy yourself.

    Now I know that for some it is hard to have a cheat day only to go back on the diet plan.

    For me it has helped keep me going........

    Ho[e everyone stay the course.....
  • akeys5862
    akeys5862 Posts: 5
    That commercial is soooo true!!! I always think of that in the morning before I make a bad decision!:laugh:
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