Can someone explain a cheat day
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sgthaggard wrote: »Probably because I'm not satisfied eating at a constant deficit. I have to make sacrifices and constant sacrifices wear on a person. I certainly have no plans to do it for the rest of my life.
I think if you're working on a tight margin between maintenance and a deficit (short people holla!) this one really holds true.
I try not to do cheat days or meals too frequently because something like a slice of pizza and 2 craft beers really chews into my weekly deficit. Eating out is really hard to negotiate when your meals need to stay around 400 calories.
For instance one thing I really enjoy are creme-filled long john donuts from a local bakery. Sometimes people bring them into work. Based on calorie counts for commercial donuts of a similar size, they probably have around 400-450 calories. So basically if I want one (and it's hard for me to stop at a bite or a half or whatever because they're delicious). And it is wearing to have to constantly do that mental math. Like where can I cut those calories or burn them off?
Still, life happens sometimes and if you have any semblance of a social life you can't always be on point with your macros and calories. So yeah. There has to be a balance somewhere. I tend to just eat the thing if I really want it (and do I really want it or am I eating it because it's there?) and cut something else out later to make up for it. I just try to be conscious about the choices I make in the long run over time to make those decisions.
Either I'm going to do an extra couple workouts, or skip a meal somewhere to fit that donut in occasionally. But I don't tend to do things like eat the donut and then eat up to maintenance or over without taking something away to compensate.0 -
I have cheat days, and I plan them on days that I do a lot of exercise. Last weekend I went for a three hour hike and I had a burrito, beer and a few chips and salsa for dinner.
Is it the food I should be eating all the time? No. But the extra exercise allows me to eat the food I don't normally do and not feel bad - which is a good compromise for me
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I have cheat days, and I plan them on days that I do a lot of exercise. Last weekend I went for a three hour hike and I had a burrito, beer and a few chips and salsa for dinner.
Is it the food I should be eating all the time? No. But the extra exercise allows me to eat the food I don't normally do and not feel bad - which is a good compromise for me
This is also what I do. My cheat days are on my exercise days, and still I try not to get excessive.0 -
I personally do not like the mindset of "cheat days". I look at it this way, some days I am over my calories and it is what it is.
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sheldonklein wrote: »I don't have cheat days as others seem to use the term, but OP's view of losing weight as some sort of monomaniacal pursuit that's compromised by any indulgence is not healthy. It's like viewing a day off work as compromising your career goals.
I love this analogy!0 -
The way that some people do cheat days wrong (in my opinion - you are entitled to do whatever you like with your body!) is to have their cheat day and have unlimited portions.
Many of us like to say that there are no good or bad foods, but this ignores the practical side of things. For example, a pound of chicken wings that are fried and sauced often clocks in at 900+ calories. If you crave chicken wings, it's hard to fit that in to a restricted diet - you can't typically order 4 wings, and if you do, it's not going to satisfy your craving. Another example would be a milkshake. If you're dying for a thick, creamy shake, you could try to fit it into your daily calories (no bad foods right?) but at 600-1200 calories for something with zero nutritional value, that's pretty hard to rationalize.
So you eat wings and get a milkshake on your cheat day.
The thing is, you can still have reasonable portions. Just because I'm allowing myself to go over my limit and have wings and a shake, doesn't mean that I need to eat until I'm sick. You can eat a pound of wings and get a small shake and be at 1500 calories, or you could eat three pounds of wings and a large shake and be at 4000 calories. How much damage your cheat day does depends on whether you eat a normal portion of abnormal foods, or an abnormal portion of abnormal foods. When folks announce that they have a scheduled "eat until I want to vomit" cheat day, well THAT I can't understand.0 -
SwankyTomato wrote: »I personally do not like the mindset of "cheat days". I look at it this way, some days I am over my calories and it is what it is.
Holy heck, someone's talking sense in here!
There are no "cheats" or "days off," your body logs it all. The problem is when you fall into that "I'm on a diet, poor me, it's awful" mindset, you are setting yourself to fail.
Just look at your calories and exercise on a weekly timeframe. Some days you're higher than others. Just aim to make your weekly calorie count a deficit if you are trying to lose, in the ballpark of your TDEE if you are maintaining, and a bit over if you're bulking. Have fun. Like your food. The end.0 -
sheldonklein wrote: »I don't have cheat days as others seem to use the term, but OP's view of losing weight as some sort of monomaniacal pursuit that's compromised by any indulgence is not healthy. It's like viewing a day off work as compromising your career goals.
QFT!0 -
Cheating is 100% of the time - bad.
FOOD IS NOT A REWARD!!
If you are still looking at food as a reward, a friend, a comfort, a social filler, a punishment or anything other than fuel you are not on a permanent lifestyle change, you are on a diet.
It is like an alcoholic having a cheat day. Would you recommend that for someone trying to quit drinking? We are all trying to control habits that are destructive. We are not addicted to food, we are addicted to the reward of food. We have to deal with the negative relationship we have formed with food. We abuse it. We use it for things that it is not intended for. When we are sad we eat, when we are happy we eat, when we are bored we eat, when we want to meet friends we pick a restaurant, when we need love, happiness, or comfort we turn to food and that is a cycle we have to break to be successful. Allowing yourself a cheat day to reward your efforts defeats the goal of breaking the abuse cycle. You just reinforce your body's association of food = happiness.0 -
To cheat or not to cheat is that the question?
I eat what I want for the most part. But I do have some days when I do step outside the lines but I try not to do that often nor do I stray too far. If for instance it's a special occasion, then I might exercise more so that I'm not actually cheating, I'm able to eat what I want without any concern.
So perhaps that might help you.0 -
It's where you sleep with one who is not bae.My understanding is one day a week or month you just eat what you want as In not count calories etc.
From the sounds of it this seems like a gateway to undoing all your weeks work.
Are you meant to just relax a bit and maybe eat to maintenance or a bit over? Or is a cheat day all about eating as much as you like and not feeling guilt or remorse?
Say on a normal day your eating 1300 and maintence is 1800. On a cheat day would you tend to eat 1800ish or 2500+
For me a cheat day, going over would be like undoing the past 2-4 days of eating less/exercise.
I would prefer to lose an extra chunk of fat than eat enough to undo the previous day's work.
Seems like cheat days are popular but just reminds me of the song that goes one step forward two steps back you don't get very far like that.
Or maybe I just misunderstand what a cheat day is.
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Allowing yourself a cheat day to reward your efforts defeats the goal of breaking the abuse cycle. You just reinforce your body's association of food = happiness.
Damn straight, happiness is *kitten*! And what's the deal with kids having fun playing? Life isn't about playing and kids shouldn't associate playing with happiness! Playing is about the biomechanics of physiologically induced beneficial health changes, PERIOD. Same with cartoons - if I see my kids enjoying cartoons I slap them to discourage happiness, because media is for LEARNING ONLY. On Christmas my family celebrates with a group bonding session shared over public criticisms for self-improvement and diclosures of our retirement savings plan details with no exchange of gifts or any happiness, because we are a pragmatic family, just as god intended.
/sarcasm.
Being happy from eating food is bad because we are addicted to rewards? How is that different from being addicted to pleasure from play time, entertaining media, or gift exchanges?0 -
You just reinforce your body's association of food = happiness.
Everything I eat makes me happy. I'm not putting a damn thing in my mouth that doesn't bring me enjoyment. (Take that however you want.)
That doesn't mean I eat nothing but cookies and ice cream, but I'm not going to never eat cookies and ice cream again, either.
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It's where you sleep with one who is not bae.My understanding is one day a week or month you just eat what you want as In not count calories etc.
From the sounds of it this seems like a gateway to undoing all your weeks work.
Are you meant to just relax a bit and maybe eat to maintenance or a bit over? Or is a cheat day all about eating as much as you like and not feeling guilt or remorse?
Say on a normal day your eating 1300 and maintence is 1800. On a cheat day would you tend to eat 1800ish or 2500+
For me a cheat day, going over would be like undoing the past 2-4 days of eating less/exercise.
I would prefer to lose an extra chunk of fat than eat enough to undo the previous day's work.
Seems like cheat days are popular but just reminds me of the song that goes one step forward two steps back you don't get very far like that.
Or maybe I just misunderstand what a cheat day is.
I'm wondering what kind of calorie burn I'd get for smacking you for using "bae."0 -
I had to. I had to.0
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I'll take their heads!
The heads of the maids?
The heads of the maids or their maidenheads, take in what sense thou wilt.
They'll take it in sense that feel it.
- Bill Shakey, reporting from the Bellagio.0 -
I logged every day when I was very fat and starting out here, but in recent months I am near my target weight and allow myself a couple of days off a week generally, as well as holidays. As long as my calorie deficit and macros are sensible the days I log and I stick close to them, I haven't had too many problems continuing to lose.
And if you track your weight regularly its easy to know when things are going pear shaped and be that little more strict for a while until things get back on track.
But I do think one should break the back of their weight loss before doing this regularly.0 -
The concept of a cheat day is basically a scheduled binge fest...If you are not on a crazy deficit you should not need this.
I would suggest practicing moderation and reevaluating your diet.
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For me, "cheat" meals or days mean I am going to consume something I normally wouldn't because it doesn't fit my macros or ideal criteria for my sustainable lifestyle and weight loss. For me, this had included a date night for beer & burgers, but I ate sensibly the entire day leading up to that meal. Ive also had cheat days, which involved a beer and cheese festival so that was just a day of enjoying whatever was around. Clearly, one meal or one day is not going to undo all my work. Even if I DID consume about 4000 calories my cheat day (between all that beer and cheese I imagine I came close), I have a TDEE of about 1900, so being over 2100 calories for the day mean I still didnt eat enough to gain a full pound. So, I didn't really UNDO anything.0
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I think it just depends on the person and their lifestyle. Sometimes I want a brownie, but thats like 500 calories. Cant have that on a regular basis. I'm 23 and I like to drink. Cant have a bottle of wine on a normal day cause thats about 700 calories. Or if I wanted Panda Express...thats also 700. Those things are saved for cheat days or meals because I cant afford to do that all the time if I want to lose weight.0
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i don't like the term "cheat day" because it puts a negative connotation on the rest of your dietary habits. If you cheat, it's because you're rebelling against some restriction that you don't truly accept or value.
Rather than adopt a diet you don't truly accept, learn a little about nutrition and establish a healthy lifestyle (including dietary routine) that you CAN accept. Then there is no need to "cheat."
For me, this has meant to learn portion control, and find things like subbing zucchini cut into strands for pasta, and subbing quinoa for rice. I'm not totally cutting out carbs, i'm not avoiding any food group. All i'm doing is NOT stuffing anything in my face without consideration. I eat within a healthy caloric intake for my body, and lose 1/2 - 1 lb per week.
When i do over-indulge, there is no guilt; i don't 'make up for it' by punishing myself later. In fact, i take pleasure in noting that my over-indulgences now are remarkably healthier than my routine a year ago.0 -
I don't really do 'cheat days' unless it's a holiday/birthday/occasion of some kind.
That being said, there have been days where I ate my entire calorie allowance in Smartfood popcorn, Reese's Pieces or french fries. Whole Foods has these Endangered Species candy bars that I'm totally in love with so I have one every Sunday.
The way I see it, if you really want something, find a way to fit it into your calories.. If you end up going a over a little, just eat a little less the next day.
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The concept of cheat days does not appeal to me...if you eat dramatically more you can easily erase an entire week's deficit...especially if, like many people on this site, you don't like large deficits to begin with. I believe the way you eat should be long term ...you should eat in a way that makes it easy for you to not need to "cheat" from your normal habits. If you need to cheat while losing, how do you stick with it your new healthier habits for decades once your reach goal?
What I do is look at calories on a weekly basis. Depending on your preferences, if you prefer to eat less on most days and more on one or two, then you haven't done any damage at all. I often find that eating a few hundred calories more than usual will result in a large loss in the next few days. Of course, I realize that this is my body releasing excess water it has been retaining...but it was excess water I didn't need to be holding that had been masking the loss of fat. And those few hundred calories aren't really extra...they are just calories I didn't eat on other days.
If you decide to eat to your calorie limit every day and then eat even more periodically, that is fine as long as you accept that you won't lose as much weight as mfp predicts. And you take the risk that you will cheat more and more often and end up causing a lot of damage.0 -
Sometimes I'm over my calories because there's a special meal out, or a party, or whatever. Last weekend I didn't track my food on Saturday or Sunday because I was out of town visiting friends and they eat out a lot. I also drank Saturday night.
I "only" lost half a pound last week. Oh well. I'm in this for the long haul, and that means that I am allowed to enjoy myself on special occasions. If I don't lose weight one week or lose slower than "planned", I don't care.0 -
Absolutely. On limited calories, I'm not going to eat a single thing that doesn't contribute to my happiness.Timorous_Beastie wrote: »You just reinforce your body's association of food = happiness.
Everything I eat makes me happy. I'm not putting a damn thing in my mouth that doesn't bring me enjoyment. (Take that however you want.)
That doesn't mean I eat nothing but cookies and ice cream, but I'm not going to never eat cookies and ice cream again, either.
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I've never had a cheat day, but certainly cheat meals. I've had maybe 5 cheat meals in 9 months, today will be my 6th but if I calculated it right, I still shouldn't exceed my maintence caloric goal.
Cheat meals to me are things that have a high caloric content that even with exercise you can't stay under your weight loss goal. Wing night at BWW for example, or a bbq bacon cheeseburger w/ onion rings0 -
my "cheat days" are planned. I don't just decide one day that I'm not going to count calories. we go out to dinner once a week, on Fridays, so I know that every friday night I'm going to eat a meal that I can't count calories for. Sometimes, I do order a burger and fries or chicken parm. Other times I try to keep it healthier. But I also don't go pigging out all day long just because of that one meal.0
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