A cheat day is not ok!

I would disagree with this topic. Setting aside one day a week where you and the family or you and your spouse enjoy movie and pizza night, or you go out to a nice dinner, and enjoy a dessert together, or 100's of other food centric entertainment options is not only healthy but it is part of the spice of life, and very much part of human interaction and social development and maintenance.

I dont care who ya are that ****s funny....you ordered a Triple Red Eye Americano...and chased it with a red bull what did you think was going to happen?

WHY ARE PEOPLE USING ALL CAPS IN HERE? I HAVE A COFFEE BUZZ AND IT'S SCARING ME.

WHY ARE PEOPLE USING ALL CAPS IN HERE? I HAVE A COFFEE BUZZ AND IT'S SCARING ME.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :drinker: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Sugar is definately a SEVERE addiction, to those that are truly addicted. Just like hard drugs you are destroying your body and ignoring all the warning signs. No adult should ever develop diabetes except maybe in some very rear cases. Knowing that you are killing your body and giving yourself an incurable disease is a minor addiction? There is no getting around sugar, and while I do believe a cheat day is an appropriate fit to a healthy life style, I also think we are a sugarfied nation...we eat waaaay more sugar than we need, and Im talking about the white refined stuff. Refined sugar used to be a luxury for the rich now it is simply a filler to cover up the ****ty flavor of factory produced sub par baked goods, crappy soft drinks, and a whole slew of other empty calories that we should be staying away from 90% of the time. People with sugar addictions have severe withdraw symptoms to include emotional instability, extreme lathargy, head aches...the list goes on and on. That is not to say that on special occasions you shouldnt have a piece of cake and a scoop of ice cream, moderation is King.

sugar is an addiction.

Mabey its an addiction,but if it is its a minor one.I have yet to see people stealing,lying,or selling themselves for the money to buy a candy bar.I think to compare a sugar addiction to something like herion,meth,or cocain is crazy.
you can be addictied to sugar but you will not go to any length to get your fix and it dosent change you personality as greatly as drugs

I actually enjoy healthy food. I like lean proteins, fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains... But I also enjoy pizza, cake, brownies, pie, boneless buffalo wings, chips & queso. And there's room for all of it in my life.

I had half a DiGiorno pizza yesterday, and was still under calories. Over sodium, but it's not something I do every day. Once a week, usually. :laugh: I'm losing weight and getting healthier at a much faster rate than anytime I tried to cut all "junk" from my diet.

My mental well being is just as important to me as my physical one. Carbs make me happy. Cheese makes me happy. Cake makes me happy. I'm not going to deny myself that. I can't say "this is good" and "this is bad." It's all food and it all serves a purpose in my life.

If what you're doing makes you happy and is working for you, that's great! But don't assume it's what's right for everyone. I'm not going to become a martyr to fit in smaller jeans.

If I DON'T allow myself to have the occasional treat...then I crave it till something really bad happens (like dq cookie dough blizzard...) If I know what my weaknesses are, then I don't overindulge..it's personal preference..and I agree ..I think you comparing it do drug rehab is completely wrong..we are not in rehab..we are changing a lifestyle...which I honestly do not believe you can never ever ever eat sweets again in your whole life..so why cut them out completely when you're trying to lose weight? It's all about moderation and knowing what you want and can or can't do.

Sundays were my cheat day, and I still do go overboard. But you are right. I take 6 days trying to lose the weight I gained on Sunday

dont call it a cheat day! i call it a metabolism booster meal. I personally have found that my body responds to my weightloss better when I "trick" my metabolism by eating high calories. Now it doesnt have to be high calorie bad food, it can be high calorie healthy food, but either way no one should judge anyone for the choices they may or may not be making. good luck to everyone!

sugar is an addiction.

Mabey its an addiction,but if it is its a minor one.I have yet to see people stealing,lying,or selling themselves for the money to buy a candy bar.I think to compare a sugar addiction to something like herion,meth,or cocain is crazy.
you can be addictied to sugar but you will not go to any length to get your fix and it dosent change you personality as greatly as drugs

The reason you "have yet to see people stealing,lying,or selling themselves for the money to buy a candy bar." is because sugar is cheap and prevalent! If coke was cheap as sugar, and legal, it wouldn't be the problem drug it is today. It would be a different problem drug. I must say I have seen some very ugly scenes fighting over chocolate! In 2000 illicit drugs (heroin, cocaine and amphetamines) caused approximately 223,000 deaths (3 percent of all drug-related deaths) world wide. the World Health Organsation website says

# More than 220 million people worldwide have diabetes.
# In 2004, an estimated 3.4 million people died from consequences of high blood sugar.
# More than 80% of diabetes deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
# WHO projects that diabetes deaths will double between 2005 and 2030.

please if someone didnt have any money what so ever they would not go to any lengths to have sugar,crack cocain is VERY cheap you can get a rock for 2 bucks not much more than a candy bar.IMHO comparing sugar addiction to drug addiction is crazy.Im not going by deaths here. Cigarettes are addictive I know I smoke I do not consider them as bad of an addiction as drugs because once again I have yet to see anyone selling themselves or thier whole personality change from not being able to have one.
being cranky and moody is not a personalty change in my book.

I have to wonder if the psychology of a "cheat" day is what messes some people up. They think they failed by eating pizza. They don't realize the weight "gain" the next day is just from sodium and will be gone in a day or two. So they get down in the dumps and eat more.

Realistically speaking, it takes a LOT of calories to gain a pound. Around 3500 calories above normal maintenance. It's not easy to do that in one cheat meal or even cheat day. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's a LOT of food for one day. Since you'd likely have a deficit every other day of the week, one day of a total pigout might make you break even for the week, but wouldn't undo weeks of work. Unless you let yourself think you did.

For me, having nothing off limits means there's no possible way for me to fail. Also, having my health and non-scale goals be my primary goal (in my case, it's being able to compete in 5k and keep up with family members who are long time runners) means that as long as I keep working toward that goal, it doesn't matter if I lose or not each week. I'm getting stronger, I'm getting healthier, and the weight will follow. Or it won't. If I'm eating well and physically strong and fit, the number on the scale doesn't much matter. If my body is happy, healthy and strong at a number above what I think it should be, so be it.