"cheat" day???

Cheat, free, whatever days (picky people here as to what it's called) work for me. I'm good Sunday-Friday, like you're mentioning. Now, Saturday morning, I stick to the usual. Lunch and dinner...they're treats, sometimes. It just depends on what's happening that day, where I'm choosing to eat from and if weight loss is still progressing.

It's an individual thing. Try it and see if it works. Be forewarned, changing your lifestyle to being good 6 days a week, can wreak havoc on the system for that one day. Some get sick, crampy and a real mess.

Good luck.

It is an individual decision. I won't do them. For a couple of reasons.

First, there is strong possibility it would set me up for derailment. If I do eat something I wouldn't normally eat (like going out for the kid's birthday and having pizza, I am physically ill. My stomach and intestines, not to mention my mind are messed up for days. This is even with making fairly healthy choices of what was offered.

Second, for me this is a lifestyle change,not a diet. Now that is not to say if I know I am going out or having a special occasion happening, I won't plan ahead for it.

Having said that, I don't plan to have a cheat day, off day or whatever you want to call it. Not a good idea for me personally. But for some, it works.

I think it all depends on you. Can you have one day where you eat lots of junk but then go back to your normal eating the next day?
I just fit everything I want into my calorie goal and if I need to then work out more than usual to help cover.

To me a free or cheat day would be a day I'm not tracking or going to care. If I'm out of town for a day or two for a girls weekend or DH and I get away by ourselves, then I'll try to make the best choices and not over eat but not going to feel guilty if I don't lose that week. But thats an occasional thing. I have 3 kids so its hard to get away :laugh: .

I don't do the one day a week thing because I'd rather spread it out through the week or have one big meal out of the norm instead of the whole day.

You can always try the one day a week thing to see if that works for you.

I don't have a specific cheat day per say, but I do allow myself to eat out every once in a while. I am working on the life style change, but I also know that I can't cut anything out of my life, otherwise I will end up binging on all junk food. If I know I am going to have something that is not low in calories, I do plan for it and will have fewer calories throughout the day and make sure to get a good work out in.

As long as you track your calories, I feel that it is OK to go over the calorie goal every once in a while, as long as it is not by too much. If you don't pay attention, that one cheat day can override all the calories that you were careful about during the week.

That's what I'm doing now. It helped me break a platueu I had, so I'm just keep it up. I maintain an 800-1000 calorie deficit six days a week and then one day I try to eat ALL my calories. I haven't actually been able to eat them all though - but I can get within 200, and that's close enough.