Do you ever feel forced to have a cheat day?

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  • looseseal
    looseseal Posts: 216 Member
    I've been going like gangbusters the past four weeks, eating on plan, exercising more, lost 6 lbs. Yay for me. Got sick Wed and yesterday .... low grade fever (enough to knock me though), sore throat/eustacian tubes/head. Felt. Like. Crap. yesterday. I was also starving so .... I never touched my weight loss log, my exercise log, my other apps that help me and .... I ate. Like a piggy. I even ate some Easter candy that I hadn't touched AT ALL. And ... that was yesterday. It's done, it's over. I feel better today (no fever so the aches are gone), pulled my itouch back out, started logging at my first sip of coffee. Don't quite have the energy to go full blast on exercise but am going to attempt a dog walk. Maybe two.

    Your trip is only for two days. You can go hog-wild, stay totally on track or compromise. Stay on track for two out of three meals or eat whatever you want but only eat half of it. You can compensate by really cutting back before you go, exercising more, and getting right back on track the minute you get home. Eating off plan for a few days won't derail you but what can keep you offtrack for longer than you'd like is the whole mental thing of it. If you eat off plan while on vacation just make sure you nail it 100% back on plan when you get home. That's the real challenge, imo. Have fun!

    Oh yeah, one more thing. Sometimes I can be totally on plan, exercising, etc and the scale just doesn't seem to budge much. I'll go off plan (like being sick or out of frustration or for whatever reason) and within a few days the scale just drops down. Almost like my body went 'oh hey, you do still know how to consume mass quantities. Ok, we're not starving I'll let go of some of this fat that I've been hanging on to 'just in case'." Weird.
  • kristenveganvixen
    kristenveganvixen Posts: 87 Member
    Not forced but I do feel kinda guilty about it when lots of special occasions happen at once. Maybe do a fast day 5;2 style to try and balance it out a wee bit? x
  • ejoy77
    ejoy77 Posts: 19 Member
    Why not just eat a reasonable quantity of food, which may or may not be above your MFP calorie budget, but which is enjoyable and guilt-free? I don't think it has to be an all-or-nothing deal, like either you strictly stick to my calorie budget, or you binge-eat and make yourself feel guilty about it afterward. Just be reasonable. Eat if you're hungry, but don't gorge yourself. Enjoy delicious things, but more importantly, enjoy the time with family. And meanwhile, don't worry about the calorie count for a couple of days. Two days won't ruin you. Then, when the time is over, go back to tracking.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,064 Member
    I eat what I want, just fit it into my day.
  • RunsOnEspresso
    RunsOnEspresso Posts: 3,218 Member

    One being since we are all going (me, my girlfriend and daughter) and we never go on trips, I feel like we are supposed to have a fun care free time and do fun things like....eating at every new restaurant we come across. Ordering pizza in the motel. Getting some delicious calorie dense breakfast every morning.

    My boyfriend and I try to eat local when we go on vacation. We like to try all those hole in the walls or places we don't get at home. I tend to eat more than I normally would. Once home I get right back on track and I usually haven't done that much damage. If we have a big breakfast we often skip lunch. It all works out in the end.

    To me vacation is a break from every day life. I have fun, I eat what I want, I don't track my food. I most definitely don't feel guilty about it. If I ate like that every day, that would be a problem.
  • ZestyItalian2
    ZestyItalian2 Posts: 12
    There's only so much damage you can do in two days. You'll probably gain some water weight too if you go heavy on the carbs and salt, but that'll come back off quickly.

    Problem for me is that a cheat day or weekend too often turns into a bingy tailspin - I always pull out of it but it often takes the better part of a week. If you can keep it to two days off the wagon and then tighten back up, good on ya. Again, you can't really hurt yourself too much in two days, and a gluttonous weekend may actually refresh your resolve anew when you go back to your regimen.
  • Lindzpnc
    Lindzpnc Posts: 98 Member
    It does feel a bit like an excuse to binge and get all off track for a longer period of time, and will include guilt. Can you meet yourself 1/2 way and enjoy new places, have fun, but make better choices than the old days and stop eating when you are satisfied, even if it means throwing out food? Please don't think I'm judging...this is my own voice of experience speaking. As I read your post, I was hit with all kinds of feelings that I could see myself going through if I did that...guilty, hopeless, overwhelmed...you name it. Enjoy your trip however you handle the food! :)


    If you're feeling guilty about eating while on vacation...or anytime for that mater, you don't have a healthy relationship with food.

    Made me chuckle... Most Americans don't.... And obvious if were trying to loose weight its because we have a problem with food however miniscule it may be

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