Cheat Days?

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  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    Lies. You can't fit those 1600 calories desserts from restaurants unless you don't mind starving the rest of the day :p

    Unless you look at your calories for the WEEK instead of the day. You can easily eat 4,000 calories one day and make up for it with a slight deficit the rest of the week and still maintain your weight perfectly.

    Mmmm, 1600 calorie dessert....
  • Wingg_
    Wingg_ Posts: 395 Member
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    I am curious if you guys log what you eat during the cheat days? because I'm unsure so I don't really have cheat days.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    I am curious if you guys log what you eat during the cheat days? because I'm unsure so I don't really have cheat days.

    yes, log it all.

    I had a carb reefed say on sunday and I logged all 3200 calories….
  • quietair
    quietair Posts: 65 Member
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    @ OP: I like cheat days (and use them) but so far the more weight I lose, the less I want to cheat. I just don't have as much desire for my cheat foods anymore. I've recognized that on those few cheat days, my hunger seems to increase when I've eaten cheat food and I'm not really sated until I eat something nutritious. Knowing that the gourmet cupcake from down the street isn't going to satisfy me makes it less appealing to me, regardless of how good it tastes. lol Your mileage may vary, of course, but I feel like once I get to my target weight, I may not need/want those foods, and thus the cheat days, at all.

    That being said, I keep track of what I eat on those days just for an idea of how much I ate and to not slack on the recordkeeping, but the point is to relax. So I don't sweat the total. I can see how you could cheat with weekly calories, but the idea seems like adding too much paperwork onto what I already do. I'd rather try to make it organic (not in the dietary sense) and have a little sweet when the crave hits and just work it into my daily intake. Again, your mileage may vary. Hope this helps you in some way!
  • kahdxoom
    kahdxoom Posts: 129
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    Eat, cheat and be merry....BUT overindulging too much means cheat twice a month not four times....once a month not twice. Live a little, but keep your eye on the prize! This has worked for me! Otherwise, dieting becomes a bummer.
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
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    I'm another one almost to maintenance and have done a cheat day once a month. I hadn't really thought about whether I would once I'm in maintenance. I do think I will eat less calories during the week, so I can eat a little more on the weekends though.
  • meganjcallaghan
    meganjcallaghan Posts: 949 Member
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    I don't believe in ''cheat'' days. Negative connotation. I also don't believing in saying ''oh...I can't have that'' or ''I shouldn't have this''. I choose to have or not have whatever I want. If I want a pint of ben and jerry's today, I'll have it. It's nobody else's business and it's not going to undo my progress, so....so what? Knowing I have what I want, when I want and I don't have to give it a special label...it's just me eating something...works for me.
  • dlbredesen
    dlbredesen Posts: 122 Member
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    I so agree with this. No food is off limits. Sometimes a big bowl of ice cream is just what I want to eat. Not going to do it every day but some days I am.
  • robinerikson
    robinerikson Posts: 60
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    You guys are really awesome! I am enjoying your conversation and at the same time learning dozen of things about this "cheat day". Gonna follow some of the advice that I think fit to my diet. :smile:
  • Whiskeytub
    Whiskeytub Posts: 96 Member
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    "I am curious if you guys log what you eat during the cheat days? because I'm unsure so I don't really have cheat days."

    Forgot to use the quote tool, but in reply: I didn't used to log on these days because sometimes logging everything makes me feel really neurotic and when MFP shows me the little red numbers I can't help but feel a little bad even though I know the only one here to judge me is me. However, now that I know the phone app has a weekly average/overage pie chart (thanks to you guys) I probably will because it will help me know how many calories to set myself up with over the week. When I was losing weight, as long as I kept losing it worked, but I think maintainance is going to be a bit trickier. As much as I would like to have a MFP-free day once a week, I think I'll hold off on that until I have gotten into a steady pattern where I know I can maintain maintaining.

    As for the semantical aversion to the word "cheat", yeah, I don't really like saying "cheat day" of "I can't", but on the other hand it is the easiest way to express what I'm talking about with the minimum amount of explanation and the maximum amount of people knowing what I'm talking about.
  • jnel90
    jnel90 Posts: 48
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    I do cheat days but later on i feel guilty about it and starting to workout more than my usual workout minutes. Its fun to do it once in a while as a reward for yourself but think about the consequences too.:smile:
  • kluvit
    kluvit Posts: 435 Member
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    Lies. You can't fit those 1600 calories desserts from restaurants unless you don't mind starving the rest of the day :p

    Actually, you can. This is from my diary on a Saturday when I was in weight loss mode with a 1250 calorie per day "budget":

    Cheesecake Factory - Mashed Potatoes , 0.3 serving 124
    the Cheesecake Factory - Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake, 0.4 Piece 420
    Cheesecake Factory - Corn Succotash, 0.3 serving 66
    Fresh Catfish (Average All Brands) - Pecan-Crusted Barbecue Catfish, 6 oz 282
    Cheesecake Factory - Wheat Bread, 0.5 order 55
    g - Butter Pats -Foil Wrapped, 5.7 grams 45
    TOTAL MEAL = 992

    Remaining Calories = 258 + 250 (50cal/5 days deficit from weekdays + 300 exercise = 858 calories remaining for dinner which means I could eat my leftovers from the meal (minus bread, butter, & cheesecake), add a small ice cream cone for dessert, and save the remaining cheescake for the next day.

    This is how I've lived and enjoyed my life while losing weight then mainining at less than my original goal weight for 2 years. It's so routine now, that I rarely have to log because I adjust calories up and down to accommodate for more/less exercise and more/less food throughout the week.

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