Cheat Days

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WanabeHotMama
WanabeHotMama Posts: 102 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How many of you purposely have "cheat days" throughout your week? If so, how many days per week and do you continue to lose weight? Do you use this entire day to eat what you want or do you pick one meal during that day to "go all out". Same for special occasions- do you stick by your calorie goal or do you disregard that for a special day? Thanks! :smile:
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  • rachelaughe
    rachelaughe Posts: 21 Member
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    I have one cheat day every 1-2 months. Usually coincides with a special occasion, but not always. Sometimes it is its own special occasion :). I eat whatever I want from 12:01 a.m. until midnight that night.
  • Cegrant1
    Cegrant1 Posts: 3
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    I do not have cheat days. Every day counts toward me losing weight. I take two days off every week from exercise. The lifestyle change is most important. Cheat days only bring back days of what got me here in the first place.
  • m00tmike
    m00tmike Posts: 248 Member
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    Well, let me just tell you that yesterday I took a cheat day for the superbowl and I felt like crap all night and even most of the day today! I'm not really sure how the "experts" recomend to go about the cheat day but here is how I do it. I pick one of my days off, either saturday or sunday depending on what is going on, and I dont count calories for that day. I typically try to eat a reasonable portion tho so that I dont totally fall off the wagon. It was worked pretty good so far. I have typically lost 2-4 lbs a week that way.
  • NOLAdy
    NOLAdy Posts: 133 Member
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    I allow myself to not be as strict on weekends. I don't jump off the deep end. In fact, most of what I eat on those days is probably considered healthy to a lot of people. But we eat out a lot and I never really trust restaurants even when they list a healthy menu LOL. And, if we go out with friends I'm not going to be "that person" who sulks and orders some crazy request because they're trying to get something impossible out of those cooks in the kitchen.

    I like sushi, and the rolls I get have some mayo in them. Also Quizno's Veggie Sub is a favorite of mine yet, really not something I can eat often. Sucks too. I used to think anything vegaterian meant healthy.
  • Bigpelly8
    Bigpelly8 Posts: 504 Member
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    I don't plan them, but I don't prevent myself from having one when I deem it necessary!!
  • m00tmike
    m00tmike Posts: 248 Member
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    I do not have cheat days. Every day counts toward me losing weight. I take two days off every week from exercise. The lifestyle change is most important. Cheat days only bring back days of what got me here in the first place.

    I feel this way too. The reason I started doing my cheat days was because a budy of mine said I should. It kinda feels like I'm cheating when I do tho.
  • Lmak5
    Lmak5 Posts: 5
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    For a special occasion or cheat day, we usually pick a meal or even better a dessert to splurge on. I stay away from having a whole of cheating because it can be such a mental setback to see the scale go up. That's what worked for us (hubby and me)!

    ~Laura
  • beask
    beask Posts: 1
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    I look at the week as a whole, if I go over my calorie net goal by 300 one day I make it up the next, or 50 calories for the next 6 days, whatever works. Don't let it get you off if you have a bad day and can't make it up otherwise its easy to give up.
  • angelabf
    angelabf Posts: 16
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    I have two cheat meals per week, ...the dinner meal on Wednesdays and Thursdays when my husband is off. That being said, I've found that if I stray too far from what my body has grown accustomed to, and eat really crappy foods, I will feel just plain awful..... so that has made me kind of stick the norm. I just dont go over board with it, you know?
  • WanabeHotMama
    WanabeHotMama Posts: 102 Member
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    I thought about having a cheat day yesterday but I instead ate my salad first & somehow managed to have one slice of pizza (which was delicious btw) and zero snacks at the party. Not even sure how I managed that! In the end I'm glad I did but I'll be honest- I'm a person who lives for instant gratification!
  • HeartsTurtle
    HeartsTurtle Posts: 57
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    I allow myself 1 cheat day a week, usually on the weekends or for special occasions. I've found that I am able to stick to my diet the other 6 days if I allow myself to indulge a little bit now and again. I do try and keep it within reason and have found that as the weeks go by, I am craving these cheat days less and less and really only go over by a couple of hundred calories. I don't think it's affecting my weight loss at all. So I would say that cheat days are ok... as long as they are reasonable!
  • AmBriCo
    AmBriCo Posts: 24 Member
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    I have a cheat meal every Sunday after my weigh-in its typically when we would go out.. I have still been losing consistently so far. Now if there is a special occasion I will splurge on that day and be strict on Sunday. Also I must say that sometimes (not always) I have my splurge meal and I'm still under calories :0) But it is NOT a binge or over stuffing myself. Hope this helps.. you just gotta find what works for your lifestyle. This works for me!
  • stevemcknight
    stevemcknight Posts: 647 Member
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    1 Rest day a week and 1 carb up 6 hour period a week. During the carb up day and rest day - I maintain the same calories as every other day - I just change the macronutrient percentages to less fat and more carbs on Saturdays. That's my "cheat". A whole cheat day is pushing back your goals a lot. I find that the clients that I have who do a cheat day a week - in reality do 3-4 cheat days a week. One leads to another which leads to another! 1 cheat meal if you're going to eat something really bad - but then adjust the rest of the day to make it right!
  • WanabeHotMama
    WanabeHotMama Posts: 102 Member
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    Ok I have a new question: If you do have a cheat day, do you sometimes "steal" calories from the next day? So, say my cheat day were Saturday, do you ever eat less on Sunday to make up for the day before?
  • BoSan
    BoSan Posts: 3 Member
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    This weekend had a lot of celebrations for Chinese New Year and I know I splurged. My body is repaying my abuse by giving me pain and discomfort. I think that if I plan a cheat day again, it's not going to be so significant.
  • WanabeHotMama
    WanabeHotMama Posts: 102 Member
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    1 Rest day a week and 1 carb up 6 hour period a week. During the carb up day and rest day - I maintain the same calories as every other day - I just change the macronutrient percentages to less fat and more carbs on Saturdays. That's my "cheat". A whole cheat day is pushing back your goals a lot. I find that the clients that I have who do a cheat day a week - in reality do 3-4 cheat days a week. One leads to another which leads to another! 1 cheat meal if you're going to eat something really bad - but then adjust the rest of the day to make it right!


    Makes total sense!
  • localjoe1
    localjoe1 Posts: 1
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    I like to only have a cheat mea a weekl. If you are really getting into fitness and watching what you eat you will notice most resturants are a bad place (even subway). For example: if you have a calorie goal of 1800 a day and you eat healthy for breakfast and lunch and have 600 calories left for dinner you could go out and have a 1800 calorie meal (very easy to do) and just push yourself a little harder on your workout days to make up for it. I like to have everything planed out as to avoid binging and low balling calories. Good luck!
  • gethealthygetfit
    gethealthygetfit Posts: 70
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    I have cheat days every so often, but it is basically when I eat my exercise calories. I mean sometimes it's once a week, sometimes its twice a week, sometimes it's every other week, or less. I try to just listen to my body. Some days I am more hungry then others, and honestly I have to respect that at times. I have a boot camp class once a week, I burn 1000 calories during that hour of intense exercise, so that day instead of eating my usual 1500 calories I might eat 1800-2000. Regardless of when I eat it or what I eat, I never end up in the red. If I know I have something going on that day, a party or something, I make sure to exercise so I have those extra calories if I need them. So to me, they are considered a cheat day, but I guess to other people they wouldn't be. I think it's best to listen to your body, eat more when you need it, try to exercise more the days you are going to eat more, and try not to look at it as a "cheat day." When I think of a cheat day I think of a free for all, I don't think those are healthy. I think moderation is the key and that way you don't feel the need to have a "cheat day." If you allow yourself more when you need it, when you crave it, and exercise those days, there should be no problem. I have lost 12 pounds since Christmas, so I guess it is working for me. :happy:

    Hope that helped...
  • omgitsgarry
    omgitsgarry Posts: 138
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    I've tried having cheat days and my body just doesn't let me have them anymore. I tried having a cheat day yesterday and ordered some beer battered goodies at one of my favorite eatery's. After a few bites, I felt like I was going to get physically sick, so I stopped eating. I actually ended up later eating a salad during the super bowl because I felt so bad about going against my diet.
  • Cegrant1
    Cegrant1 Posts: 3
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    My profile does not tell the whole story. I am down a total of 75 pounds today. I found fitness pal by watching a colleague use it and so I began using fitness pal some 2 months ago. The calorie counting is a constant accountability of all I eat and exercise. If I were to ever consider a cheat day I then log it in and now I have a constant reminder of the "Cheat". My wife and I go out often. At this point I know exactly what I can eat. For example, we went to Tony Romas for Dinner. There is really nothing nutritious there. So we shared a 12 ounce new york strip with brocholi. The strip is lean the brocholii full of nutrients and yet few calories. I survived a dinner party with out cheating.


    To answer another question about carrying calories over. For me --absolutely not. once I click the liitle complete my daily entries thats it. Tomorrow is a new day. I try to have a deficit of 1000-1400 cals a day. Thats betweeem my BMR, food intake and exercise.

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