Cheat days

It's different for everyone.

Personally, I don't have specified treat days. It's more like, if something comes up in a week, like we go out to dinner or something, I just don't stress out about it. Or if I REALLY crave something I wait a few days to see if it's really that big a deal, and then if I still want it I let myself have it. Don't worry about the calories. But don't turn a "cheat day" into a full day binge. Most of the people I've talked to, including myself, do best with one "cheat meal" or "cheat dessert" once a week or every few weeks.

LOG IT! Just saying. Seeing the dent in your calories will help you realize that a treat is exactly that, and that there is a reason you don't have it every day.

I usually use Saturday or Sunday for my cheat day and I have lost 16 pounds since October. I don't go crazy overboard, but I am not so hard on myself. I need to do this to keep myself out of a rut. Keep in mind progress over perfection when it comes to weight loss.

I like that saying..."You're body is logging anything you're not." Because, it is, isn't it? So, may as well record what you eat whether it's a cheat day, a cheat meal, or just a treat. It also helps you figure out what is too much for you. What's that point where you just fall apart, feel so terrible, and just eat everything in sight that sounds good? We all know that point. That's why we're fat hahaha

By logging it you can look back and admit where you went too far or if you only ate a little more than usual you can say "that was great, I fetl fullfilled, but didn't really blow the target."

I don't like cheat days. They lead to cheat weeks for me. I just have a treat - a few pieces of justins dark chocolate peanut butter cups or a frozen yogurt or maybe a cheeseburger out with my husband when we don't have any kiddos with us. I record it, and get back on track.

Look at your weekly calorie total. Eat enough to get yourself up to your weekly calorie goal (this is usually 3,000-4,000 calories on cheat day for me). And absolutely log it. Otherwise, you risk really screwing over your deficit.

Per my trainer's rules... if I eat lean for 6 days, I get a cheat meal, but nothing too crazy... like my regular light supper and then a cheat dessert... But at the moment I'm working at a calorie deficit and the reason for the cheat meal is to stop my body from adjusting my metabolism .... I spent a decade getting fat by nearly starving myself, so for my body, starvation mode is a concern. I do think that everyone's body is different.

I've had over 45 years of cheat days. this is why I am fat. if i am going out i make sure i do some extra cal. normally I know what i will be having and plan my day around that meal

I do like the idea of using up the cal you haven't used for that week, makes sense.

personally the only person you are cheating on cheat days is yourself and i have personally been cheating my whole life and i think i am better than that

sometime to remember is if you have a slip up, not to beat yourself up coz it is one day and you haven't slipped all the way back

small steps does make a diff

I had agree'd when I started no cheat days... I could have a cheat meal once a week, today is day 10 and I have not had one yet, yesterday I thought I could have killed someone for a cheat meal but then this morning I stepped on the scale and saw 5 pounds lost and I thought who needs a cheat meal. So for now I am going to keep going but I think if you're feeling like you could fall of the wagon you should go for the cheat meal, if I had a cheat day I would binge eat and that is habit that I have thrown in the trash.

I had agree'd when I started no cheat days... I could have a cheat meal once a week, today is day 10 and I have not had one yet, yesterday I thought I could have killed someone for a cheat meal but then this morning I stepped on the scale and saw 5 pounds lost and I thought who needs a cheat meal. So for now I am going to keep going but I think if you're feeling like you could fall of the wagon you should go for the cheat meal, if I had a cheat day I would binge eat and that is habit that I have thrown in the trash.

awesome way of thinking, and btw well done

Seems everyone has an opinion on this. Personally, I try and not have cheat days. I think it works best for me this way. When I do binge, I record it all. Every last calorie. I want to remind myself why I'm doing MFP in the first place. I want a record of it all. My target is 1780 calories a day, and when I have days where I binge, I go up to about 2500 - 3000 calories.

I don't have pre-specified treat days. I try to keep my treats within my limits (like I had a bowl of ice cream yesterday, delicious and still in my macros!) but if I'm at Happy Hour with my friends or out to eat with my family or something like that while I don't binge, I won't deny myself, knowing I'll probably go over. One day isn't going to reverse my progress unless I manage to eat like 20K calories in one day.

Also, and more importantly to me, I know I'm not going to give up burgers or chicken pot pie or ice cream, etc for the rest of my life. I'm just being honest, it's not going to happen for me and if I did try to deny myself my favorite foods, well, it doesn't end well for me personally.

I don't see this as a diet, I'm trying to make a lifestyle change to eat better so I'm incorporating my 'treat' foods into it. Because high calories foods are going to be in my life. At family dinners, parties, weddings, funerals, conferences, etc and I think it's best to incorporate them and know how to handle them rather than freak out when face with those foods and no alternatives.

I'm 63. When I was in my 30s I lost 50+ pounds on Weight Watchers. I never "cheated". Eventually I grew lax and started eating "normally". Over time I gained all the weight and then some. At my heaviest I weighed 235, about 10 years ago. I got a bit of a wake up call due to some upper back pains that turned out to be gallstones. I was scheduled for surgery and met with the doctor who would perform the operation the day before it was scheduled. He said, "so you want to have your gall bladder removed, eh?" I said no, but I was told I must. He said not necessarily. I could change my eating habits instead. Cut way back on fatty foods. So, I did. I cut out deep fried foods and things like fatty soups. I mean soups where you cook the meat and add in other stuff, instead of chilling the cooked meat and broth and removing the fat off the top, then adding other stuff. No more creamy soups, etc. I did lose some weight along the way and stopped having gall bladder attacks but didn't lose a lot after the first 10 pounds. I ate other junk that didn't bother my gall bladder, especially lots and lots of carbs.

So, this past fall I learned my blood pressure was too high. That was the wake up call I needed. I decided to change how I eat. This time around I am not going to eliminate every single food. Instead I'm using portion control and making smart choices. I know how to eat, thanks to the old fashioned, pre-points-system Weight Watchers, but I no longer consider any food bad. I do know what I cannot keep in my house because I know what I can not have just 1/4 cup of. That stuff must be eaten somewhere I cannot eat my fill.

It is such a relief to know that I am not putting off eating any particular food until I reach such and such a weight. This is a whole different mind set for me.

Last week I spent most of the day in a hospitality room at a school. I'm a bus driver and took some kids on a day long trip. I new lunch would be provided and I figured I could eat something then log it. When I walked in the hospitality room, where we bus drivers and teachers would hang out for the day while the kids participated in the event, I found boxes of donuts and some beverages. Now the donuts did not call to me because I was not willing to trade that many lousy calories for a quick sweet treat and I had eaten a good breakfast before I left. I didn't take a coke either for the same reason, but I took a bottle of water.

A couple hours later someone arrived with a cheese/meat tray with some crackers. Now that was much harder to resist. Eventually I ate 3 crackers and several pieces of sliced ham and roast beef. It was delicious. I also tried some cheese dip.

I don't know if that cheese dip would be a cheat meal but I just found the closest thing to it in the database and logged it. They served pizza or hot dogs for lunch! Yikes. I chose a hotdog and bun with some chips and logged those. Not at all what I have been eating the past few months but I just did it. I managed to just squeak by on my calories for the day by for the first time using one of those Healthy Choice steamer bowls for supper. I much prefer home cooked foods over those things but it was one of those days.

I kind of rambled here, but my point is, I am so much more relaxed knowing I didn't "blow my diet" by eating things that I hadn't planned on that day.

The exact weighing and measuring and calorie counting of MFP is really helping me.

I also appreciate everyone on the message boards who constantly say drink more water. I have made an effort to do this and it was hard at first but I can tell it is helping my body. My weight loss is quite slow but I think I'm getting in the groove finally and losing about a pound a week which is wonderful.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for all your ideas, support, experience and encouragement.

Oh, I forgot to add something else. On valentines day my husband gave me a small box of my favorite candy: chocolate Bavarian mints. Because I knew I could work this into my daily plan I did not eat them all at once!!! Each one was 55 calories, so I ate one a day for about 3 weeks. It was great. Such a big deal to know that was possible. Yay!

I used to have a cheat day once a week when I just ate what I wanted, logged it, usually felt guilty for a while, then got back on track the next day. Since then, I've cut down on cheat days considerably and swapped days for meals/snacks. Eliminated the guilt and allowed me to see much better results overall. Some days just throw things at you that you can't anticipate; it's a good idea to be flexible and not beat yourself up when life leads you to cheat. In moderation, of course. )