Do you have a "cheat day"?

The human body builds a tolerance in everything we consume so every once in awhile to keep the biological mechanisms off guard. I overindulge to the tune of once a week, pig out on everything and everything that I love, SUGARY FOODS!
Baby steps and having something to look forward to each week helps me stay faithful to my mass loss goals.

I had a cheat meal on easter that turned into a 5600 calorie binge.. fortunately within 2 days I was back down to where I was before hand and I dont think my body could digest all of it. In fact I hit a new record low for me this morning. I have noticed the few days I screwed up actually kind of helped me by dropping an extra pound with in the next day or so... not sure if its the dieting, exercise or that I only get 4-5 hours of sleep a day.

I sorta have a couple of cheat days. I eat 1-500 calories under Monday-Thursday, and then use those extra calories on Friday and Saturday. I drink on the weekends, I eat pizza, have a shake, etc. I look to hit my calorie and macro goals for the week, so it isn't actually cheating, its just saving and spending :-p.

As I got closer to my goal, I loosened my restrictions. Weekends pretty much became (and still are) "cheat" times. I eat healthy enough the majority of the time and get enough workouts in...it's all about balance.

A rest day is different to a cheat day, your body needs to rest to repair itself.
See what works for you. I have a day maybe once a month when I'll go out for dinner and not worry about my intake. I think having a whole day each week could affect your weekly total too much, unless you save up for it. Also it's not an excuse to stuff yourself, again you have to keep an eye on the weekly calorie total.
Basically you can do what you want as long as your average calorie deficit is enough to make you lose weight at the desired pace, and you can sustain what you are doing pretty much indefinitely.

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I go over, but not binge out, on holidays. My weight goes back down a week later. I limit these holidays to major holidays, Valentine's day and Mother's Day. Oh, and my birthday

A life without Friday pizza night sounds so sad :frown:

I'm new to this site and new to fitness and healthy dieting in general. One constant I see among a lot of people's habits is that there is a cheat day where you either don't work out, or eat whatever you want, or both.

I would be worried that this would make me fall back into old habits. I want to push through and try to keep on track as much as possible 7 days a week, but I also don't want to deprive myself of my favorite things, like staying in my PJs all day Saturday, and pizza. I know "everything in moderation"...but I would love to hear your stories, experiences, tips, advice, etc. on taking a day off every week. Have you found that it helps or hurts your progress?

Well I eat pizza but reduced cheese and thin crust and not the whole thing lol OK my only cheat days, are special occasions, birthday, holiday those kinds of things. I try, TRY to maintain in my calorie limits otherwise and for that matter even on cheat days I TRY not to go over.

I also do not eat back calories burned, I started out not and then did because I saw so many that did, and boy am I sorry so back to not.

Good luck on your new life journey!

I have a cheat meal once a week that I strategically plan for a social event, but I'm still pretty thoughtful and conservative with my calories so I only go over a little and don't ruin all my hard work for the week.

There's no such thing as a "cheat day" to me. Occasionally, there are days that I go over my goal for whatever reason, but I try to keep those days limited to once or twice a month or less. When it happens, I don't sweat it because I know that overall I'm trying to eat healthy and exercise. One high calorie meal that puts me over for the day every now and then is not going to make me go off the rails because I stay disciplined enough to not make it a habit.

I really wanna answer this bc I loveeee food and mostly food I shouldn't eat lol. I am not a fan of the "cheat day" and the reason is this kind of gives you 24 hours to eat all bad things/portions and that will easily make you fall into bad habits. We work hard to break bad habits and work in moderation. But ya know what? If I see something I want I eat it, I work it into my diet and make sure I pay attention to serving sizes etc. I had a piece of cheese cake the other day but I basically ate salad the rest of the day and when I put together my second salad really wanting something else I reminded myself I did indulge today and I'm not depriving myself everyday, I'm making my diet work for me not the other way around. So as far as working out... since I have gone soo long not working out on a regular basis I commit to working out at least 30 minutes everyday, but I don't really go hard on myself if I miss 1 day a week but any more than that to me is falling back into bad habits for me personally.

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I kinda have a cheat day, but I go days I over eat and then the next day I under eat. I don't do this intentionally, but it happens. I do, also, when we have my step-daughter I don't work out. so every other weekend I don't work out, but I am trying to workout everyday. I only work 2 days a week, so I included in my work out and I am on my feet constantly moving for 8 hours straight. So in my opinion it all balances out.

I have a cheat meal not a cheat day. My husband and I usually go out to dinner on Friday nights and then the movies. We usually walk about 3 miles before dinner (there is a wonderful trail by the art museum!). I usually pick something like scallops or fish and sometimes squeeze in a desert. I feel better that I at least get a walk in before!

Hi, I am not new to working out but I had the issue with loosing weight because of loving food hehe. well I am on a program you might want to look up its called the venus factor. I have stayed the same weight for a few years. I thought it was my age. however started last Sunday and I have lost 3 lbs already. count your calories and yes its not a cheat day its an eat up day to reset your hormone that stores fat called Lipton. Anyway it made sense what the Venus Factor said and had nothing to loose except the weight. anyway my calorie intake a day is 1000 calories and my maintance calorie to reset is 1700 calories. I can eat anything I want as long as I stay under my calorie intake. It does work. read blogs on youtube and research it for yourself. good luck. and make good choices