Cheat days

depends on what you call a cheat day. If a cheat day is "stuff your face till you vomit" then no xD Haha some people think this is fine

A cheat meal once a week is a FANTASTIC idea tho keeps you on track. Plus we want to live life happy! Yummy foods make me happy :]

I think a cheat "meal" is better then an actual cheat day. You definitely deserve a cheat meal if you work hard but don't allow yourself to go too off track if you decide to make it a cheat day.

I'm pretty sure you said in a previous post that you eat what you want and don't obsess over it, so I'm not quite sure what a cheat day means to you.

I don't think you need a whole cheat day.
But I do think people should allow themselves indulgences(in moderation) to avoid binging.
I usually allow myself a couple pieces of Dove Dark chocolate pieces everyday. I let them melt in my mouth so I can savor the chocolate. It helps me a lot.

My friend Chris was just telling me a few days ago that he and his other friend have a "Fat Tuesday" every week, and they don't go by there regular dietary restrictions. Chris seems to be doing very well on his weight loss journey.
I definitely don't think you should go all out and eat absolutely everything you've been craving for the last few weeks, but I think a day of just less strict eating isn't horrible.
Make sure, though, that you'll be able to wake up the next day be back on track. Don't let a cheat day be your down fall!

ditto I have a cheat meal once a week and would suggest it as it helps starve off cravings or random binges.

and a cheat meal is where you have one meal a week where you don't worry about calories

and you are supposed to log your cheat meal I do

The word "cheat" means that be dishonest and deceiful. It means that we are not truthful to ourselves and to our desire to embrace and continue in a healthy journey, so I think that we should call it a "treat" day, not a cheat day.

It sounds better and it means that we are having something (in moderation...), that we don't have/eat every day.

Anyway, that is the way I think and I don't expect that too many people will agree with me. Be happy!

I guess tomorrow is a cheat day for me.

I'm so far 800 under for the week. I know I'll be over tomorrow from drinking and eating out. Do I care? No. I have 2200 to gobble before any exercise I may do, before I start to be over for the week. :drinker:

to me, cheat (or treat) days continue the emotional message that food carries. if i let go, i go over on carbohydrates, not a good idea in my case, so I stick to a way of eating that makes me feel good. hence, no cheat days. i find they're not worth it, and they re-awaken cravings I am controlling nicely otherwise. so, it's not a solution for me. also i think the body can't "guess", or be "tricked". we "trick" ourselves, in "cheating". that's something I am no longer prepared to do.

I'm very extremely strict on myself. I eat healthy mon-sat and sunday I splurge. so its ok to have one day where u dont behave it doesnt hurt anyone. but i will be trying the diet mentioned above thanks for the heads up on that one

What I did while on my weight loss journey last year (from February to November) was each day I stuck religiously to having only 1310 calories which was my target each day, most days not reaching this. I used to drink alot of coffee and skinny lattes / cappuccinos however cut this to limit myself to two per day while losing weight. My cheat days were two in a week on a Wednesday and Saturday, which were usually the same. On wednesday I would visit "Abrakebabra" here in Ireland which is a Kebab takeaway (only reason is they have a midweek €5 per meal offer!) and would have a Doner Kebab and Chips (Fries) or a Chicken Baguette (loaded with Mayo and chilli sauce) with garlic mayonnaise on the side... and I also allowed myself to have as many coffees as I liked on these days.

On a Saturday I would normally have went to a chinese or indian restaurant with my partner and had a huge meal, sometimes starter main and dessert , sometimes only main etc but I would usually splurge out. I have still lost almost 5 stone by utilizing this, and it seems to work. I think its because you work so hard all week, and lose the week, but if your gaining say 2lbs by having two cheats or whatever, your loosing an extra two by the rest of the week.

I dont know how exactly this works, but for me it did.. And even though I'm not as conscious of how much I eat ( i still do log alot) while now im trying to maintain my weight, I still do tend to have two breakout meals per week, or even have an extra fish and chips takeaway during the week if i feel like it.

I dont like calling these cheat days or meals, instead i call it my "Breakout day"

I have a "cheat" day at times. What day it is varies. I had Burger King last night because it was on the way home from the vets, quick and I wanted it. It put me over my calories for the day but I'm not going to worry about it. I figure if I eat healthily the rest of the time the occasional rubbish isn't going to be a problem. Thoughts of a life where I can never have cake make me a sad panda :frown: