Cheat Days

You can easily fit two pieces of pizza into your calories. The word "cheat" is negative and sets up an unhealthy relationship with food. You're a grownup. You made a grownup decision to eat something. Now you can eat lightly the rest of the day or tomorrow to stay on track, or you can accept that the extra calories will delay reaching your goal (by very little...it was probably 500-800 cals, so equal to one or two days worth of deficit for the average user)

I don't have Cheat days I have Treat days as I deserve them now and then or this would be unbearable...

Two bits of pizza constitutes a cheat day in your mind? Oh my, you're definitely a rookie. It barely constitutes a cheat meal. You're fine, move on.

I don't feel bad about cheat meals, but lately I've found that I'm overdoing it on Friday nights with red wine, which follows into a Saturday where I'm not eating as well as I do during the week.

That said, I don't really care - and neither should you - here's how I look at it:

1) I need 1000 calorie deficit per day over a week to lose 2 lbs weekly.
2) If I'm "good" 5 days a week, that's 5000 calories lost
3) if I eat 1000 calories over my 'goal' calories on Friday and Saturday, then all I've done is *not* lose weight on those days - but I haven't gained weight either.

The risk is when you start going way over eg: a cheat day where you eat 2000 calories more than your MFP goal - which in the example above means my weekly deficit drops from 5000 to 4000 calories.

I'm also doing heavy weight training so i figure a couple of days a week with a calorie boost isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Bottom line: make time/allow for some pleasure in your eating and you'll stick with your overall eating plan a lot longer than if you become uber-strict - but try not to go off the deep-end.

Cheat meal - OK!

Cheat day - no way! (or, not too often!)

Nothing wrong with a bit of pizza! I used to eat 2 pizzas on my cheat day. I wouldn't recommend that though...

johnnylakis wrote: »

No more eating today. The punishment from not eating will be motivation to do better tomorrow

This is SO wrong on so many levels and is a great way to create an eating disorder. Log your pizza (I LOVE pizza, btw) and adjust the rest of your day. What a sad sad life if you can't have pizza- or ANYTHING you enjoy. I think getting your mind right and creating a HEALTHY relationship with food is the largest battle with SUSTAINABLE weight loss. I really encourage you to Google flexible dieting and/or IIFYM and see what you think- you may find this to better suit your needs and NEVER feel like you have to punish yourself again.

Dust yourself off- get your mind right- and carry on!! You CAN do this!!

jcr85 wrote: »

LotusAsh wrote: »

johnnylakis wrote: »

No more eating today. The punishment from not eating will be motivation to do better tomorrow

DAFUQ???

It is true. Proven fact when you punish your self by not allowing any caloric intake for 24 to 48 hours after cheating on your diet you are 17.67% less likely to cheat again at your next meal.

it's also an unhealthy behavior and can cause an unnatural relationship with food. I did that once...never again

cdenae79 wrote: »

Also, what is IIFYM?

If It Fits Your Macros - Macro is short for Macronutrient. MFP allows you to select macronutrients to track along with calories (trans fat, carbs, fiber, vitamins, etc).

Basically, IIFYM, means that any food you eat is just fine as long at you are within you macro limit for the day.

Two slices is going to be, at most, 600 calories. That's a typical Friday night dinner for me, as I try to eat sensibly earlier to use my calories on that. Just fit what you want to eat into your day in moderation. I've never felt the need to cheat because I don't cut foods out.