Cheat Day

Cheat days infer that you are on a diet rather than making a change to a healthier lifestyle. Rather than planning in a total cheat day have a slightly higher calorie consumption on other days but keep it constant.

To me, a "diet" is a deficit in daily calorie intake in the hopes of losing weight. A "lifestyle change" is shifting away from unhealthy eating and fitness habits, and moving toward a more healthy, natural lifestyle. (And one does not necessarily have to be overweight to need a lifestyle change.) I, personally, am doing BOTH a diet and a lifestyle change right now. I'm not just shorting myself around 800 calories per day, I've also cut out a whole laundry list of unhealthy foods such as dairy, red meat, artificial sweeteners, breads, etc. Even if I can squeeze those things into my daily calorie budget, I don't do it. Just because they're low in calories or because you can "afford" the calories, that doesn't mean they're healthy choices. Once I've lost all the weight I intend to lose, I will no longer need to diet and will return to something closer to a maintenance calorie intake (2,000-ish calories/day), but I will not reincorporate those unhealthy foods into my life (that's a lifestyle change, not a diet). That's what my monthly Cheat Day is for me -- it's a reward for the lifestyle change, not the diet. It's not necessarily a day to go over on my calorie budget or to skip logging my foods, it's a day to indulge in those no-nos so that I don't go completely crazy eating relatively boring foods the rest of the month.

As you can see, everyone has their own approach which works for them. I guess it depends on your personality and goals. There's no point having a cheat day and eating back your entire deficit for the week, so if you think this could happen, don't dedicate a whole day to it.

I personally couldn't do the little and often treats thing (especially not where I work! There are treats brought in everyday) as I would lose nothing. But if that works for you, then great.

Trial and error is the best way to approach it, like most things in life!

I wouldn't call it a cheat day. I eat absolutely whatever I want (within reason lol) on Saturdays and Sundays. Then I eat at a larger deficit during the week to make up for it. I wouldn't say it was a requirement for me, I would actually much prefer to just eat the same amount of calories everyday of the week. But everyone in my family and friends goes out on the weekend to lunch or has a BBQ or throws a family get together. You name it I am there surrounded by friends and family and good food. So rather than skip them all, I just eat at a much larger deficit during the week to make up for it. Even when maintaining I do the same thing now. where I'll pig out on the weekends with my friends and family, then eat 1,500 calories a day the rest of the week to maintain.

Life doesn't cease to be fun and tempting just because I'm losing weight. I'm willing to make sacrifices so that I can be a part of it.

I don't think of it as a cheat day. I listen to my body. If I really crave a cheeseburger, I make it a quality burger (not McDonald's) and don't do it too often. I treat myself to one whole donut every 3-6 months.
Most of my diet is pretty healthy so if I crave something less healthy once in a while, I allow myself that. I may try to do a harder workout that day, but I don't like to think of it as cheating.

Several years ago I lost 70 lbs on WW. Being analytical by nature, I went back after I had reached my goal weight and reviewed the previous year. What I found was that the weeks that I had lost the most weight were weeks that I had stayed on track every day except for one (I either had a day with extremely high points, or I had completely forgotten to log a day). I didn't completely binge out on these days, but I also didn't worry about the extra calories I was consuming.

I think this helped me on several levels: 1) I'm not a nutrition expert, but my theory is that it gave my metabolism a little kick eating those extra calories one day a week, 2) it gave me a break from obsessing over calories, points, etc, and 3) It kept me from getting "burned out" by feeling like I was missing all my favorite foods I used to eat.

So yes, I do think that a *cheat* day is a good thing. I don't necessarily "plan" mine, but I usually do have a day, about once a week (usually on the weekend) that I just don't worry about it; i.e., I go way over my calorie goal.

I don't have cheat days. I fit anything I want to eat or drink into my calories for the day or week. Some days I eat low calories while other days I eat high but my calories always balance out at the end of the week.