Cheating on weekends (sort of)

sweetheart03622
sweetheart03622 Posts: 928 Member
edited September 23 in Health and Weight Loss
I fall apart on the weekends. I eat like an angel all week, stay diligently under my goal, and have lost 2.5 pounds since the beginning of the year. I just chow down on the weekends and don't track it. Here's what I'm thinking. What if, on the weekends, I ate my maintenance calories (an extra 750 a day!) instead of my weight loss calories? I know that the weight will come off a little slower, but I feel like then I could still enjoy a breakfast out or a few coctails without having to spend my entire weekend in the gym. Has anyone ever done this? Does it work?
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Replies

  • buckeyereavis
    buckeyereavis Posts: 56
    what do you drink for cocktails?
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
    I don't know, I tend to eat my face off on weekends too...mostly because I like to sleep as much as possible so I miss two meals by the time I get up. Then I spend all day trying to catch up, and I make poor choices. Mostly because I'm so freakin' hungry I just want to stuff my mouth. Weekends are when we usually order in as well...but if your strategy works, let me know, because I've tried to be diligent on weekends, but it hasn't worked yet lol
  • misssuperstitious
    misssuperstitious Posts: 178
    That's pretty much what I did last year, and I lost 43lb.s. I gained some back, but only because my weekends turned into weeklongs :) That won't happen again!
  • sweetheart03622
    sweetheart03622 Posts: 928 Member
    what do you drink for cocktails?

    Usually just wine or a martini, but when I go out with friends, it's always more than one :laugh:
  • formulated
    formulated Posts: 4
    I have what I call "fall of the wagon days" about twice a month. Those days I don't worry about my calorie intake. It.has had no impact on my weight loss at all. It also helps me stick to my diet cause I still get to enjoy the bad but good tasting food I miss. A thing to remember is you don't gain the weight in a day, you wont lose it in a day either.
  • luv2ash
    luv2ash Posts: 1,903 Member
    If itis a life long lifestyle change you are intending to achieve, then it will not happen by losing it on the weekends. You have to do what works for you according to what your goals are. Good luck to you!
  • rose1617
    rose1617 Posts: 469 Member
    I actually do it slightly differently but not much.
    On the weekdays, I'm usually 1-200 calories under (or more).
    Then on the weekends I'm usually 2-300 calories over (or more, but not much). I've seen consistent weight loss using this method.
    I have found if I stick to a strict weight loss method for too long, I stop losing. Then, once I "cheat", I'm back to losing.
    Works for some (like me), doesn't work for others.
  • sarahtroupe
    sarahtroupe Posts: 164
    Yes i cheat alot on the wkends until recently... I stayed within my cal range and i did'nt gain any weight... Normally I would gain 1 lb and would have 2 wrk it off on Mon!!!! So i have to say I felt good when I got on the scale this morn and it didnt move... Best of Luck 2 U!!!!
  • gangstagirl625
    gangstagirl625 Posts: 187 Member
    if u cheat ur only cheating urself so it is all up to you
  • CelticDragon
    CelticDragon Posts: 66 Member
    For the most part, I don't eat my exercise calories during the week. Sure a few here and there, but not more than a couple hundred. As a result, I feel no guilt when I go a little overboard on the weekend. It's worked so far.

    Try it and seee if it works, if you find eating the maintenance hinders your loss, try something else. We're all different, so what may work for me, may not work for you. Whatever you do, don't deny yourself, that just sets you up for failure because eventually you'll HAVE to eat what you've been denied.

    Remember, moderation.:smile:

    Keep up the good work! :flowerforyou:
  • Rachaely
    Rachaely Posts: 113
    I eat within reason...normally. I drink every weekend, and won't change that. I will however, change what I drink. I lean towards vodka and soda with a lime, or a Captain and diet instead of a margarita or wine.

    As far as food goes, I'm the same way: I wake up later, so I typically skip a meal. I don't make up for it with more meals, but I realize I don't eat as well. I just try to keep it within reason. And, within reason for me is what a "normal" woman should eat, around 2,000 calories. Funny how what a "normal" person should eat seems like SO MUCH MORE than what us "healthy" people aim for!

    I just say, you gotta live. I understand everyone strives to be healthy (I am, afterall, a member of this site as well!), but you still need to enjoy your life, and calorie consumption is part of that. I'm a firm believer that you just can't focus on calories every day of your life. It's a lifestyle choice, and I choose to LIVE on the weekends and be concsious of my decisions at all times.
  • eates
    eates Posts: 334 Member
    It's not going to hurt anything. You'll lose weight a little slower because your overall intake will be higher but as long as calories in is less than calories out, overall then you will still lose weight.
  • orange_avocado
    orange_avocado Posts: 232
    if u cheat ur only cheating urself so it is all up to you

    I wouldn't really call it cheating. As long as you know (like you said) that the weight will come off more slowly and don't let that discourage you, I'd say do what you need to do. Just make sure you're still eating food that is good for you, and not a lot of junk.
  • chrissylittle
    chrissylittle Posts: 1
    Your body is so clever it gets into a routine, I base my lifestyle on 80% heathy and pretty strict eating and excercise and 20% let it go, enjoy/induldge but always watch out for the saturated fats as these cling on to us females. If you eat healthy and excercise regularly your body recognises this and when you have a day when you break it, the body dismisses to a cetain degree if you go back to heathy eating after. I tend to eat more at weekends to but if you didnt have a couple of days to treat yourself it would be boring and you would prob end up giving up anyway. I have a few of the USN diet shakes a week and really think they work ;-)
  • mywiiworkouts
    mywiiworkouts Posts: 5
    eating bad once in a while is okay you won't gain your weight back in just one day.
  • formulated
    formulated Posts: 4
    You have to cheat sometimes, or your body will become calorie complacent. That is why you plateau. The body strts burning only what you take in. You need to keep it guessing.
  • sweetheart03622
    sweetheart03622 Posts: 928 Member
    if u cheat ur only cheating urself so it is all up to you

    I wouldn't really call it cheating. As long as you know (like you said) that the weight will come off more slowly and don't let that discourage you, I'd say do what you need to do. Just make sure you're still eating food that is good for you, and not a lot of junk.

    Yea, that's more what I mean. I feel like the way I'm doing it now, I weigh in on Mondays and am about 2-3 pounds over what I was on Thursday (my other weigh-in date). Then I eat really good on Monday and Tuesday to get back down to that, and then drop on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and then gain it back on Saturday/Sunday... it's a viscious cycle that is making it REALLY slow!!

    I'm thinking I'm going to do a combo here. Try to stay a bit under each day (maybe 100 or so) and then allow myself up to 2,050 (100 under my maintenance cals), which will net me at about 1.25lbs/week (if you do the math... which I did lol). I'm hoping that this will keep me in check. I can still work out more if I want to go out to a big, greasy dinner (still can't get away, I love food too much) but I think this might work for me... stay tuned...
  • rmkorama
    rmkorama Posts: 232 Member
    Yes, I have up to this point not worried about tracking calories or staying under goal on weekends, for a variety of reasons. I do try extra hard to exercise on weekend days, with longer or more intense workouts than I can fit in during the week. I have still lost weight very consistently, though relatively slowly (about 1 pound per week). I'm okay with losing it slowly, and I would recommend experimenting until you find what works best for you. I consider this a solution to keeping my sanity.

    I know consistency is key, but I also know that this is a lifestyle change, and part of that is figuring out how things work for me. As my eating habits have changed during the week, my eating habits during the weekends have followed suit, by inertia. I may not count my calories, and there are weekends when I over-indulge, but overall I simply can't eat as much as I used to. And I also make sure when the weekend is over, so is my indulgence. Monday, I'm back to work, and back on track.

    That being said, I'm aware that it becomes harder to lose weight the closer to goal a person gets, so I know that I'm going to have to work harder at being diligent even on the weekends as I progress. That's on my list of things to do. :bigsmile:
  • SnowBirdDeb
    SnowBirdDeb Posts: 1
    I have been to a dietician and she gave me a calorie limit with some recommendations on how it should be split between different food groups. But it also includes some "extras" to have whatever you want. And the extras can also be accumulated over the week so you can have a bigger meal or treat or whatever. She said don't accumulate over more than a week.

    So for me it's not cheating:wink:
  • buckeyereavis
    buckeyereavis Posts: 56
    what do you drink for cocktails?

    Usually just wine or a martini, but when I go out with friends, it's always more than one :laugh:

    TRY DRINKING BACARDI AND DIET.... its super low in cals... and you can burn that in the am !!!!
    i dont drink as much as i used to and im a steady decline in lbs!!! try it you might do well!
  • LauraKB
    LauraKB Posts: 26 Member
    I've been counting for a few weeks now and have come to a more comfortable place with my weekends. I don't count regligiously. I have similar meals as during the week unless I'm out with my family. At a restaurant, I'll make healthy choices, will splurge on a glass of wine and will pack food to take home... and always skip desert. I don't really count and won't obsess about it - but try to put into practice what I work so hard on the weekdays for.... I don't want it to be a total sabotage! :wink:

    It does slow my weight loss on those two days, but I'm ok with it because it's the long term I'm looking at. Slow and steady wins the race.... sometimes it's slow,and sometimes it's steady!
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    This is pretty much what I did in the beginning. It was especially helpful when I was trying to wean myself off junk food and soda. Knowing I'd get to indulge helped me stay strong. Now, I don't have cheat days. I do go over my calories a little, but it's nothing compared to what I did before. But, I still lost my desired 1 pound per week. It didn't harm my weight loss at all.
  • Spitfirex007
    Spitfirex007 Posts: 749 Member
    Everything is fine in moderation. If you eat health through out the week and then come Sat eat nothing but unhealthy foods, then you are really not doing much to help yourself long terms. Sure you'll lose weight slowly! But you still fill your body with junk. And chances are you will gain that weight back sooner or later.
  • alyssa83202
    alyssa83202 Posts: 334
    I wouldn't purposely do it. It's okay to go over on occasion, but I try to treat weekends the same way I would a week day, especially because I have a lot more temptations on the weekend than the week day. You can give it a try and see how it works out though, we're all different.
  • RaeN81
    RaeN81 Posts: 534 Member
    You should continue to lose because you will continue to have a calorie deficit (albeit a smaller one). I've never done weight watchers, but I think there actually used to be a plan geared towards people with this same difficulty and there were extra points alloted for the weekend (or you could save up points for the weekend or something). Anyways, make it work for you!
  • jbootman
    jbootman Posts: 145 Member
    people who cheat on weekends are called fatso,

    stop it, stop it right now,

    we are addicted to sugar, salt and fat,

    the only way out is to stop, just stop,

    take the weekend in hand, go vegetable shopping on saturday morning and plan your diet,

    plan it,plan it,

    no excuses, no days off,

    now breathe
  • TakeOne
    TakeOne Posts: 345 Member
    Well....I agree with what most everyone has said... For me this is a life style change and needs to be something I can maintain for the rest of my life. I am not going to stop going out on weekends or having a few glasses of wine during the week. You just have to be accountable for your decisions. Don't consider it "cheating" because it really is not. If you eat out or have drinks on Sat. then maybe you work extra at the gym on Sun. or plan a salad for dinner. I think it is just about balance. Good luck to you!
  • Sara1978
    Sara1978 Posts: 213 Member
    Once a week, my friends come over to play D&D, and like stereotypical D&D geeks we munch on pizza or another sort of takeout food and drink some soda or beer while pretending to be wizards and elves and things. My calories are always off for that day, generally over by a couple hundred calories, along with messing up my sodium level and everything else.

    Here's the thing-- I was never morbidly obese. I was actually only a couple of pounds into the "overweight" BMI category when I started using MFP last year. I never felt "addicted" to food-- I just used to make less healthy decisions more often than I do now. I've lost weight not to save my life-- I was never heavy enough to be at risk of any weight-related disease-- but to make myself happy. Hanging out with my friends one night a week and eating unhealthy food while playing make believe also makes me happy, and I would in fact be very unhappy if I had to give up that little sliver of my life. So, for me, it's a trade off. Maybe I would have lost 0.2 lbs more each week if I'd have skipped out on the teen-cuisine geekfest. Is 0.2 lbs worth it to me? Nope. I'm still losing weight, and it is happening at a rate that I find healthy both physically and mentally.

    I'm sure everyone is different in terms of if they can do this or not--- eat some bad food sometimes, only go over by a relatively small amount, and then flip back to healthy eating the next day without any concerns. If there's an addiction component present, they're in a different boat than the one that I'm in. Also, I could see where somebody who is prone to binge eating could turn a night like that into a BIG problem-- when I'm in "unhealthy" mode, I'm eating two slices of pizza and a beer, not downing a whole pizza on my own and chasing it with a bag of chips and a six pack.
  • sweetheart03622
    sweetheart03622 Posts: 928 Member
    Once a week, my friends come over to play D&D, and like stereotypical D&D geeks we munch on pizza or another sort of takeout food and drink some soda or beer while pretending to be wizards and elves and things. My calories are always off for that day, generally over by a couple hundred calories, along with messing up my sodium level and everything else.

    Here's the thing-- I was never morbidly obese. I was actually only a couple of pounds into the "overweight" BMI category when I started using MFP last year. I never felt "addicted" to food-- I just used to make less healthy decisions more often than I do now. I've lost weight not to save my life-- I was never heavy enough to be at risk of any weight-related disease-- but to make myself happy. Hanging out with my friends one night a week and eating unhealthy food while playing make believe also makes me happy, and I would in fact be very unhappy if I had to give up that little sliver of my life. So, for me, it's a trade off. Maybe I would have lost 0.2 lbs more each week if I'd have skipped out on the teen-cuisine geekfest. Is 0.2 lbs worth it to me? Nope. I'm still losing weight, and it is happening at a rate that I find healthy both physically and mentally.

    I'm sure everyone is different in terms of if they can do this or not--- eat some bad food sometimes, only go over by a relatively small amount, and then flip back to healthy eating the next day without any concerns. If there's an addiction component present, they're in a different boat than the one that I'm in. Also, I could see where somebody who is prone to binge eating could turn a night like that into a BIG problem-- when I'm in "unhealthy" mode, I'm eating two slices of pizza and a beer, not downing a whole pizza on my own and chasing it with a bag of chips and a six pack.

    You sound EXACTLY like me. According to BMI, I'm "technically" about 15 pounds overweight, but I'm extremely strong and border on a size 8/10 (which doesn't exactly seem overweight to me, considering I have a friend that is a 14 and is considered a "healthy weight" by BMI). I'm not addicted, I can live without the junk, I just find myself saying "screw it" on the weekends. I want to enjoy my life, but still lose weight. I've kind of decided that I'm going to keep it to 1300 net during the week (I'm supposed to be at about 1400) and then on the weekends let myself up it to 2000 net. The good thing is, I work out harder on the weekends, so I should be able to eat just about anything if I'm careful about it.

    Anyways, thanks for all the help guys! I understand that it's a lifestyle change, but I don't want my life to be about only veggies and lean protein. I like to eat, I LOVE to bake, and I want to enjoy myself... just in moderation :flowerforyou:
  • dshalbert
    dshalbert Posts: 677 Member
    if u cheat ur only cheating urself so it is all up to you

    I wouldn't really call it cheating. As long as you know (like you said) that the weight will come off more slowly and don't let that discourage you, I'd say do what you need to do. Just make sure you're still eating food that is good for you, and not a lot of junk.

    Yea, that's more what I mean. I feel like the way I'm doing it now, I weigh in on Mondays and am about 2-3 pounds over what I was on Thursday (my other weigh-in date). Then I eat really good on Monday and Tuesday to get back down to that, and then drop on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and then gain it back on Saturday/Sunday... it's a viscious cycle that is making it REALLY slow!!

    I'm thinking I'm going to do a combo here. Try to stay a bit under each day (maybe 100 or so) and then allow myself up to 2,050 (100 under my maintenance cals), which will net me at about 1.25lbs/week (if you do the math... which I did lol). I'm hoping that this will keep me in check. I can still work out more if I want to go out to a big, greasy dinner (still can't get away, I love food too much) but I think this might work for me... stay tuned...


    Are you sure that 2050 is your maintanance? It varies so much per individual. If you have a desk job it may be much lower. If you are over 40 it may be much lower. Over 50? blechh. Life ain't fair. I thought my maintance was around 2100 but that what got me 30lbs over weight. Play it by ear. Maybe put in some extra activiets on the weekend to work some of those tasty treats off:happy: :happy:
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