Are cheat days bad for your diet?

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  • lisafrancis888
    lisafrancis888 Posts: 119 Member
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    Than
    Digduga70 wrote: »
    lisafrancis888 wrote: »
    I was reading on here that cheat days can be good as they make your Leptin levels go up which Is something to do with burning fat. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will add or comment on this.
    I was thinking of starting a cheat day once a week. As long as over the week you are still in deficit it seemed to make sense.

    lisafrancis888, I believe you are correct, but I too am no expert. I frequent John Romaniello's site and have done his FPFL program with great results. Here is one of many blog post from Roman on this topic;
    http://romanfitnesssystems.com/articles/in-defense-of-cheat-days/

    Hope this helps, if not sorry for adding to the confusion...

    Thanks will take a look.
  • Sydmayn
    Sydmayn Posts: 20 Member
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    saiyuli69 wrote: »
    Okay I'm usually under my deficit for the entire week so I was thinking of making Saturday and Sunday my cheat/relax days? So long as I don't go crazy it's fine?

    A couple times a month I eat up to my maintenance calories. You'd be surprised how incredibly full you feel.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    If you feel the need to cheat ...

    youre-doing-it-wrong.jpg
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
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    I think there needs to be a discussion on everyones idea of cheating because thes. Discussions always lead to ppl acting like they are better than ppl who have a cheat day. My personal idea of a cheat day is eating at or below maintenance usually only 200-300 above my deficit and in the scheme of a week I might go over by 15 cals but, usually end under. I do cheat days because one day a week I just want to eat without thinking of my sodium, protein, carbs and fats. I doubt anyone eats like 11,000 cals in their cheat day.
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
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    Bad for getting results, good for maintaining momentum.

    Cheat days are like putting money in your savings account. Every dollar you save is a dollar not enhancing the quality of your life today. On the other hand, it will allow you to maintain your lifestyle longer into the future. Ditto cheat days - bad for immediate results, good for long-term adherence.
  • hhnkhl
    hhnkhl Posts: 231 Member
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    Nothing wrong with cheat days. I usually have two to three cheat days.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    saiyuli69 wrote: »
    Is it okay to have a cheat day?

    It depends on you if it will be okay or not.
    Some people fixate on calling foods good/bad, eating a severely limited boring diet most of the time and then going crazy on these "cheat days". Those type of people seem to me to burn out and give up their plan more than people who just fit things in regularly or who plan to go over just a little bit.

    For me, it works best to plan and pre-log everything. I eat what I like all the time but I plan for it to fit my calorie goal so it is not cheating in any way.
  • saiyuli69
    saiyuli69 Posts: 46 Member
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    lisafrancis888 wrote: »
    I was reading on here that cheat days can be good as they make your Leptin levels go up which Is something to do with burning fat. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will add or comment on this.
    I was thinking of starting a cheat day once a week. As long as over the week you are still in deficit it seemed to make sense.

    I was actually reading up on this myself and you're right!
  • saiyuli69
    saiyuli69 Posts: 46 Member
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    I was reading an article on daily burn that actually said that cheat days are actually good for you. They also said to cheat on days that you plan to have a big workout
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,951 Member
    edited March 2015
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    I am trying to lose weight, and therefore I do not plan to take cheat days or meals. I'm on a mission.

    However, of course, if I exercise more, I can eat more. I will often eat up to about half my calories back.

    And I don't eliminate foods or restrict myself to salad or anything.

    For example, about a month ago, I ate half a small cheesecake ... and that was OK because I had exercised more than enough to cover it. :)

    That's not cheating ... that's strategic planning.


    And I figure that when I get down to a certain weight, I will increase my calories a little bit to slow the weight loss, and may be able to include more yummy food if I want.

  • FoodFitnessTravel
    FoodFitnessTravel Posts: 294 Member
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    As a collage student, i tend to drink every weekend-not a glass or two of wine but more like four-five cocktails or so. Don't judge, you all know what it's like lol.
    It is at least 1000 calories that i don't need, and they don't bring me any nutrients, they are downright bad for me. But it's life and i have a lot of fun.
    Usually on saturdays i have cheat days. Never ever set me back where i would eat pizza, chocolate, although i still have treats every day just within my calories. Actually it always pushes my weight loss a little as i'm always lighter on Monday than on Friday morning haha.

    Go ahead, enjoy life, think of this as a long term lifestyle. You're gonna drink and eat yummy meals, as long as you are healthy most of the time, it's all good :) It's not a race, getting fit is a long process that's never going to finish if you're serious about it. Even when you get to your GW you won't be like "good now i can eat all i want and lay on couch all day" It's even harder to control yourself when you're maintaining.

    My point was, go ahead. ;)
  • shawnaes91
    shawnaes91 Posts: 60 Member
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    Before when I would have cheat days they would spiral out of hand and I would end up never losing weight. I do cheat meals now but I still make sure I'm within my range of calories for the day.
    So my cheats are probably not even cheating. I allow myself fast food one to two tmes a week and I preplan my food for the day around that one meal.
  • stuffinmuffin
    stuffinmuffin Posts: 985 Member
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    corinic91 wrote: »
    It's all about the net deficit in the end. If you're in enough of a deficit during the week that eating at or even above maintenance one day won't undo all of your other work, go for it. Lots of people swear by cheat days for their sanity. I used to eat 1200/day and then have a cheat day once a week, and it worked for a while. Now that I've been on it for longer, I'd rather have more calories to eat every day so I'm at 1400-1500 / day and don't go all-out any particular day of the week.

    Personal preference, really.

    I've been here 4 years and this worked and works for me, through weight loss and maintenance. I work to weekly calories to allow for high calorie occassions.

  • RougeSara
    RougeSara Posts: 60 Member
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    I don't do cheat days.. I just eat what I want within my calorie allowance. If I want to go over, I work out more and tbh this is the first time I've felt comfortable and confident about 'dieting'.
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
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    I don't generally do "cheat days" - I just eat what I like every day, within my calorie goals. If I have a "cheat," I don't think of it as that, I think of it as real life and it might be, for example, dinner at a great restaurant where I knew I was going to go over my calorie goals. These are on the rare side, meaning I am at a calorie deficit the majority of the time, and the occasional "overboard" (purposefully - I don't feel guilty or anything like that) doesn't cancel the overall deficit out.
  • NoIdea101NoIdea
    NoIdea101NoIdea Posts: 659 Member
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    I think it's all down to personal preference; i have found in the past because i'm a bit of a binger, a 'cheat day' can lead to a 'cheat half the week' few days, so i tend to not plan 'cheat' days. If i have a day where I've gone over my calories i try and compensate for it the next day. Also, i don't not allow myself anything, so by having enough in my daily calorie allowance to let myself have a little 'treat' every day (couple of scoops of ice-cream,a doughnut, some dark chocolate, etc.) i find that i stick to my 'diet' better than having a cheat day.
  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
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    Pu_239 wrote: »
    lisafrancis888 wrote: »
    I was reading on here that cheat days can be good as they make your Leptin levels go up which Is something to do with burning fat. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will add or comment on this.
    I was thinking of starting a cheat day once a week. As long as over the week you are still in deficit it seemed to make sense.

    Leptin is a regulatory hormone, when people start to diet, their leptin starts to go down. The more it goes down the hungrier and the more likely you will binge. As experienced dieters now, this is a common problem with dieting.

    Having frequent cheat meals 1-2 a week, or a cheat day, will cause leptin to go up again, bring you back some sanity.

    Is this saying anything more than that if you are eating so little that you're hungry, you'll feel better if you eat more? Does the rise in leptin levels last long enough to offset the cheat meal calories?
  • scottacular
    scottacular Posts: 597 Member
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    I have cheat meals every so often, a really big one on my birthday, one every so often when performance levels at the gym are suffering, I don't socialise often so if I'm out with friends I'll allow myself something seeing as it's a rare occasion, and Christmas is just an all out eat fest. If you want a regular cheat day, then that's your call. But for me, there's no benefit to relaxing all of the rules and then feeling guilty, stressing over it and feeling bad inside because I've eaten too much.
  • Morgaen73
    Morgaen73 Posts: 2,818 Member
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    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    as long as it doesnt become cheat week, or month, or decade LOL

    lots of people do them. i prefer to eat what i want as long as i am within my calorie goals. i just finished a giant oatmeal cream pie LOLOL 330 calories of happiness (ill be happy when this box of them is gone though! LOL!)

    I fully agree with this. However, I have a cheat day where I eat much more than my calorie goal. If you are on a weght loss schedule (time sensitive) then it is not good because you will lose weight slower. But, it keeps me sane and keeps me from getting bored with the eating plan that i have.
  • jmaidan
    jmaidan Posts: 93 Member
    edited March 2015
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    I'm gonna rock the boat and say that cheat meals are bad for your diet. Consistent eating to reasonable macros will encourage your metabolism to burn fat, the longer you do this, the more 'momentum' you build up. A cheat day halts this momentum... sabotaging your weight loss. It's not ALL about calories in vs. calories out.

    A cheat meal instead of a day would be much better, but better still is neither.

    My philosophy is: everyday is cheat day! Just make sure you hit your macros on a day to day basis and in theory you will keep building your metabolic momentum!

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