What does "cheating" mean to you?

I don't allow myself a cheat day but I do allow myself to have one nice meal out a week. I plan for it in my calories for that day so I don't go over. If you allow a whole cheat day and eat crap the only thing you are cheating is yourself. I understand we all want that piece of candy or cake every once in awhile but do it in moderation and not every week.

I usually allow myself one cheat day a week, I'd go crazy if I couldn't! I too go out to a nice place to eat and not eat necessarily "bad" foods, just eat more carbs (they are my vice!) I love a good pasta dish, so that's what I usually have, or I'll have a serving more of wheat thins and spinach dip (another one of my vices), but don't get too crazy. It helps that I have food allergies and can't indulge in a lot of the foods that I once would, and I also don't have a lot of nasty junk food in my cupboards and fridge. A cheat day shouldn't be an all day binge, just a little treat, self control is key!

On my cheat day ( i usually use my weekend) I try to stick to the usual stuff, but will tend to go over on the booze. I just use it to remind myself that its not the end of the world to go over my 1800 calorie limit. I also use it to spur myself into being better at the gym the next time.

my boyfriend and I go see his parents every weekend and his mom CAN COOK. she cooks 3 meals a day, usually belgian waffles or homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and lunch and dinner both have dessert. (somehow shes not fat either!) I cheat on WHAT i eat, obviously, but I eat small portions to make sure I'm staying under my calorie goal. I also know that I cant snack between meals like this without ruining my whole week.

I don't allow myself a cheat day but I do allow myself to have one nice meal out a week. I plan for it in my calories for that day so I don't go over. If you allow a whole cheat day and eat crap the only thing you are cheating is yourself. I understand we all want that piece of candy or cake every once in awhile but do it in moderation and not every week.

I feel the same way!!! Once I got going and noticed results I did not want a cheat meal anymore. I still have some but not like I did before. Good Luck!!

Yes, I allow one cheat day. But its not an excuse to consume 2000 extra calories. Like you I eat something that I normally wouldn't eat during the week. For example, maybe a good quality steak. I might even treat myself to a pizza, but limit myself to just a couple of slices. It worked for me because I lost weight doing this, a total of 30 pounds.

I dont plan for cheat days...but if there is a day that I go over I guess you could say I consider it a "cheat"day and make sure that any other days in the week are right on point..but I try my best just to stick within my cals...my cheat vice is a dark chocolate Dove candy bar...which I havent had in over a month...I bouth one Sunday and only ate 2 of the squares...so this has become an accountability of a lifestlye that I am learning to deal with...Sometimes at work when we have in-services and the reps bring chocolate I also have a few pieces...and I log them and they usually make me go over by cal and fat grams..but its only once in a while...so I deal with it but dont necessarily look at it as cheating...so I guess I can say I dont plan for cheat days but I do have days when I go over...Thats life!!!

I believe a cheat day is fine as long as you can get back into the routine. I use to allow myself a cheat day - on the body for life program they allow you one cheat day per week and I was like your friend I would eat mcdonalds for breakfast haha and I dont think it gets any worse then that, then uin the same day I would have cchips. This time around I am not doing that. But I will say that I lolst 15 pounds even with my one cheat day per week. I am this time trying a different approach and I will have a cheat meal once per week and thats about it.

Its actually good for your body to have a cheat day but not a binge day.

I do have a cheat day, once a month. I have no intention on limiting myself on these days, but I have no urge to go savage or anything. Last time what really added to my calories was the Kahlua, but I did have a nice lunch out with a friend that was over the calories that I would have normally eaten as well. Originally, the idea is to just let myself go wild like the old days, but (luckily) I'm smart enough not to.

I allow cheat days but they aren't scheduled - I thing one day a week is probably ok tfor most people. I tend to go by social occasions and find I am not so hungry anyhow these days with all this healthy eating. This weekend I am off to a sugar shack for a maple leaf breakfast - now that will be a cheat day but probably not that bad - it will be pancakes, maple syrup and bacon. Hopefully it will be followed by lots of walking - I always walk after I cheat!! I think it helps.

Last week I did go to a restaurant. My friend and I each had a soup and split a main dish at a thai restaurant - yummy!! But just drank water and no dessert so probably not too bad. Anyhow, since then lost 2 pounds so maybe it was good for me.

Everyone has different "cheat" patterns. I think if I craved chocolate cake, yes, I'd have it once a week. I am a big chocolate fan but I find my daily 1 square of LIndt Chocate 85% cocoa (50 calories) fills my craving.

Great to hear everyone's cheat ideas - I like the one of not exceeding 2000 calories on a cheat day.

my best friend and roommate and i have what we call Fun Food Fridays. we started it in college because we worked at the same place on campus, and it was a movie rental place, so we basically were stuck in the building from 5pm to midnight on friday nights because no one else wanted to work that night and we'd make it less boring by ordering in from somewhere fun while we worked. (we rewarded ourselves with food a LOT in college, but we're getting better and better every day about not doing that!)

anyways, now we just have our friday dinner meal set aside to have something not so good that we've been craving (chinese, pizza, mexican, etc), and we try to watch our portions (so we don't make ourselves sick overeating like we used to) but don't sweat it if we are over a little bit that night. we also have slightly less healthy options of certain foods or healthier versions of less healthy foods on the weekends (if we are craving them) just to keep our sanity, but we still try to watch our calories/portions and workout on saturday and sunday to balance it out (friday is our day off from working out).

its made all of these lifestyle changes a lot easier, especially because we don't mind taking it slow. especially for me, because i have a bit of a binge eating problem (but my roomie doesn't so much).

We do allow ourselves a dessert each night, also IF WE PLAN ACCORDINGLY and have the calories. we've both had bad days both during the week and on the weekends, and we still will every now and then because we're human, but this is our plan and our goal each day. it gives us that wiggle room to be human and not feel guilty about it

I don't really consider anything "cheating" because that means you are doing some wrong and I don't consider eating extra calories on occasion "wrong". It's not realistic to think that I will always eat within my calories after I get to goal so I don't know why I should expect myself to do so now.

I don't plan or schedule a high calorie day or meal but they happen sometimes and I don't consider that a failure, cheat or mistake! Log it all and move on. It's life and there will be speedbumps. You just have to keep moving forward! :bigsmile:

My husband and I have an off day each week (I hate the word "cheat"!) We do ours opposite - he has an eating frenzy, I watch what I'm eat but not as careful for a meal or two. I tried mine his way and I threw up at the end of the day. My body won't let me binge like that anymore. For me, it's more realistic to have a nice meal or two one day a week. If I ate everything I wanted I'd spend all my time trying to lose the same 2 pounds. I'm trying to change my lifestyle, and my lifestyle won't involve being able to eat whatever I want, but it also doesn't include me only eating salads for the rest of my life. Once in awhile works best for me, but I think it's a personal decision.

I allow myself a cheat item, my shopping day is Saturday and it is also a gym day for me so if I am good all week I will allow myself a dark chocolate mocha at caribou coffee. It is like sweet heaven after a long week.