Do you allow yourself a day off?

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WickyDunn
WickyDunn Posts: 18 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just wondering if people do this? Not go totally overkill with eating everything in sight but do you allow yourself a day when you just don't count?
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Replies

  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
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    No. Even if I recognize that it's ok to go over sometimes, that in th normal course of living I can't be perfect every day, I still log those days that are over, to the best of my ability.
  • pittjenn
    pittjenn Posts: 247 Member
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    A whole day unchecked is a lot of damage for me :)

    Instead, I have more luck allowing myself one meal without worries. So if I have an upcoming date, or girls night out, I make sure my diet is spot-on all week, and let myself have that one meal with no counting. And I try not to do that more than a couple times a month, because it's just too easy for me to go overboard.
  • glwage
    glwage Posts: 375 Member
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    I absolutely do and it hasn't derailed me one bit. It's a sanity issue!
    Of course you can't go completely of the reservation.....
  • carlamenzione
    carlamenzione Posts: 38 Member
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    i still track but i allow myself one cheat meal a week. not a cheat day but a cheat meal. and i usually dont work out that day, which i know i should, but i jus t use it as a day to unwind. its usually sunday
  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
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    I do it every once in a while - especially now that I KNOW what things "cost". I never go overboard but I just don't log it and that's ok. 1 day EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, won't hurt. Now, if 1 day leads into another, into another, then you have a problem.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Nope.
  • Lizabelle1212
    Lizabelle1212 Posts: 252 Member
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    I used to do that. Every Friday, but it was wreaking havoc on my progress because I wasn't paying attention at ALL to what I was eating for that day. This also made it kind of difficult to get back on track the next day, so my whole weekend was starting to be pretty crappy and was undoing all my hard work. So, what I do now is on Friday, just change my calorie goal from "lose 2lb per week" to "lose 0.5lb per week" or SOMETIMES I set it at maintenance, so that way, I get to eat more and it feels like a cheat day, but I'm still staying accountable enough that I'm not undoing any of my progress. This usually results in me weighing less on Monday than I did on Friday, which is a HUGE deal for me. In the past, when I allowed myself a free-for-all on Friday, I'd always start Mondays out weighing a couple pounds more, from all the extra calories plus the bloat than came along with it. It would take me until the following Friday to get those pounds back off.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I took a week without counting at Christmas, but generally not.

    When I was on lower calories I did allow myself one day where I would not worry about going over (although not go nuts or anything, as you said--basically I might go out to dinner and not stress about trying to fit it into my plan), but I still logged. I don't find logging particularly burdensome, though--I think I'd eat similarly whether I did or not, and like to have accurate numbers so I can in theory know my TDEE.
  • Seraphina_Rowan
    Seraphina_Rowan Posts: 179 Member
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    To put it simply, no.

    Everything I do is tracked, I don't believe in the whole ''allowing yourself a day off'' Why? Because your body doesn't know that. But then again I eat whatever I want as long as it fits into my day :smile: But, that is solely my opinion for myself and it's perfectly fine for others to have another view point. If you decide you want to do that then do it, you don't need to get confirmation from others. Do what makes you happy <3
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
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    WickyDunn wrote: »
    Just wondering if people do this? Not go totally overkill with eating everything in sight but do you allow yourself a day when you just don't count?

    No. Although there are days where I will eat and then log later. Even if I eat over my goal, I make sure to log it and move on.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    The only time I didn't count was Thanksgiving Day and the week of Christmas. Otherwise, everything gets logged. If I go over, that's life, such as yesterday when I went out to lunch and had fast food for dinner, thus putting me 400 over my goal. One day enjoying yourself won't do any harm...it's when they add up and restrict you from losing that it becomes a problem.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Sure. It's just life. But, I don't let the excuses or justifications begin like, "Oh, I've already blown it for today so might as well eat whatever I want", or "Well I've already blown it today and yesterday and the day before so might as well start back on it Monday".
  • rides4sanity
    rides4sanity Posts: 1,269 Member
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    I take Sunday off. It's usually date day with hubby as the kids at grandparents after church until evening. I eat breakfast as usual. Then we do lunch out or a movie with popcorn, but I get back on plan the next day. If I crave something during the week. I just tell myself I can have it on Sunday if I really want it. By Sunday, I've often forgotten about it.
  • klkateri
    klkateri Posts: 432 Member
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    I used to take Sunday as a "cheat" day but after taking a cheat month and a half and gaining 10lbs back that I worked very hard to lose prior to the holiday I don't want to take any days off till i lose those ten plus another ten are off!! Then, maybe I'll get back to a once a week or once every other week cheat day but right now with trying to get back on track its just too tempting to fall off again.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    That would defeat the purpose of calorie counting.
  • dfranch
    dfranch Posts: 207 Member
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    There are days I go over, but I always try to log it. If I can I try to make up for it over the next few days. Over the holidays, I'd bank some calories for a blowout day (Thanksgiving, X-mas, New Years).
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    Not any more. Tried it a couple times, found an amazing amount of weight returned! Not just water; takes weeks to burn it back off again. Sigh. I am just too short and old to get away with anything. Sux. I'm learning to locate and appreciate new flavors of tea in order to have that taste satisfaction without ruining my body.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    Not really, although there are occasional days where I might not log beyond breakfast - like over Christmas, or big family gatherings where the food is all homemade, we're grazing all day long and it's just too much to try and guesswork all the foods I ate... :p But no matter what, logging or not, I make sure I'm not stuffing myself - not logging does not equal a free-for-all for me, because I know it will make me feel miserable. I hate that over-full feeling I get when I keep eating beyond satisfied/full, but keep going because the food is yummy. I guess that's a good habit I've developed over the years, stopping when I know I should.

    But yeah - last weekend at my uncle's 80th b-day party, I ate all the foods, enjoyed everything, even had cake - a small piece the first time because I knew I didn't have room for much more after lunch. And hours later when we were all still visiting and having a good time, I had another small piece of cake. :smile: I eat what I want, but in reasonable amounts.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Yes. I don't do it every week or even every month, but a day off once in a while isn't going to hurt anything.
  • Arliah
    Arliah Posts: 266 Member
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    There are days (today is one of those, actually), where I will go out with a girlfriend to a local restaurant that does not list nutrition or calories. What I do in cases like this is to save as many calories as I can for dinner and then log it to the best of my ability.

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