Cheat Days

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hbarnesccs
hbarnesccs Posts: 59 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys! I was just curious as to how you viewed your cheat days. Do you schedule them? Do you just decide a random day of the week is going to be a cheat day? Do you have cheat days at all? What constitutes a cheat day?
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  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    I don't have "cheat" days.... How do you cheat on, or with, food? It's just food. "cheating" implies there are good and bad foods, which I dont agree with either.

    I make food fit my macros. I have a "meal plan" I stick to during the week (made up by me), then have different foods on the weekend because I have more time to plan and cook, and I have a different schedule. I cycle carbs, so have days with higher carbs which allow for more "fun food" if I want it....
  • Pelamblue
    Pelamblue Posts: 177 Member
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    Mines normally a Friday, ( fatboy Friday) where I have a naughty meal like a take away and the rest of the day just eat what I fancy but be aware of what I'm eating, ie not eating 10 chocolate bars
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
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    Your calorie deficit doesn't care about "cheat days".
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I just work what I want to eat into every day so that I don't feel the need to have a day off.

    I've only been using MFP for a little over a month. I'm sure I'll have some non-compliant days in the future. I'm planning to log everything and then spread out some extra deficit into the following days.
  • samgamgee
    samgamgee Posts: 398 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I used to do 'fat Friday' and eat whatever, more of a mini binge tbh, but that was when I was restricting more than I am now, it wasn't very healthy or successful in the long run. Now I fit in fast food and booze into my daily calories, I'm losing well and feeling good! I don't feel the need to do cheat days cos I'm not feeling deprived.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    You need to decide what you mean by a cheat day
    i.e
    Are you eating within your allowance i.e going up to maintenance.
    Exceeding maintenance?
    Not counting and eating what you like?

    Is that for a meal or for a whole day?

    How often are these cheat days happening, every week, month special occasion?


    As pointed out above your calorie deficit doesnt know its cheat day, so every extra calorie (counted or not) is one that your body will need to burn If you want weight loss. As long as you accpet the slowing of your journey and want to take the hot, then knock yourself out. If you have them on too regular basis imo you start to sabotage the whole effort. Your diet and your choice, but id rather get to taraget faster. If I ever had one then it would have to be a special event B day / Christmas/ event/ major target. I normally make up the calories from elsewhere so its more of a controlled splurge. The only other way I might cheat is if I was feeling meh, in which case I might eat but fully accept the consequences and get down the gym to work it off. Exercise is the big equaliser in that case.
  • IvanOcampo
    IvanOcampo Posts: 226 Member
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    I don't have "cheat days".. If I feel like ice cream, or a burger, or pizza, I simply fit them into my macros....
  • Pelamblue
    Pelamblue Posts: 177 Member
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    Let's not over complicate things and get all anal about fitting it in to our macro's... A cheat meal/ cheat day to me and probably most other people is that big fat slab of cream cake or some fish and chips or something that the little devil on our shoulder is poking us a saying ' eat it '. We know it's bad and in most cases probably has little nutrition value....but so what.. We only live once and I'm not going to worry about my macro's on cheat day.
  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
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    I've had success by keeping within a daily calorie range rather than a calorie limit. If something comes up where I want to eat, I just do it and then compensate the next meal or next day. So if I have a few slices of pizza, I'll stick to the lower end of my calorie range the next day. Some days I eat less just because I'm busier and it's easier, so I have a few extra calories to play with during the week.

    I guess I've always done this anyway, but now I make better choices overall.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,126 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Cheat days are how I got here in the first place. :lol: I ate reasonably well during the week, but let myself go on weekends. It took 4 years to gain 15 kg, and now I'm trying to get rid of the 15 kg.

    So ...

    1) I eat good food within my calorie limits so I don't need to cheat. By good, I not only mean low cal and yet nutritious, I also mean food with lots of variety and flavour.

    2) I exercise a lot. When I cycle 90 km, like I did yesterday, I have lots of extra calories to play with. Yesterday, I had a cauliflower & cheese pie + a large apricot custard tart for lunch. Then I had a chocolate ice cream bar from the nearby convenience store after the ride ... good recovery food. I also had quite a large dinner. But I worked for it all.

    None of that is cheating. No need to cheat! :)
  • sharkmeat00
    sharkmeat00 Posts: 8 Member
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    I prefer a refeed day over a cheat day....getting a taste of something you really been craving can corrupt a diet plan. About the days I usually go off feel. When my muscles look really flat then I'll have a refeed.....
  • smae1980
    smae1980 Posts: 794 Member
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    I try to stay within my calorie goal and eat healthy foods every day. Cheat days for me are special occasions such as birthdays and holidays. I still try to be "reasonable" meaning not eating everything in sight and I try to log everything to see how I did for the day, but on those days I don't concern myself with staying within my calories. My cheat days aren't often so they're not really detrimental to my overall goals. On "regular" days if I want to eat certain foods I just make sure they fit in my calorie goals for the day or just eat a little less the next day. It's been working for me so far
  • oilphins
    oilphins Posts: 240 Member
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    I'm a 45 year old male and I have my so called cheat day every Saturday. A cheat day for me doesn't mean I go on an eating binge but I do intake a lot more calories. Everyone needs a day to sort of "let themselves go" so to speak. I still do a 15 k run or have a workout that day as well and burn between 800 to 1000 calories on Saturdays. Especially in the summer or if your on holidays, you need that day to have a cheat meal or two, maybe a beer or whatever you usually don't have on your other days. Everyone's different in how and what they eat everyday. I allow myself only 1600 calories a day 6 days a week, and I need that so called cheat day. I've been doing this for a long time and still maintain my weight where I want to be. It's the ONLY day I don't log what I eat. It's been working for me. And having one cheat day a week will not cause you to gain weight back provided your still exercising and logging the other days.
  • hbarnesccs
    hbarnesccs Posts: 59 Member
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    Thanks for all of the responses! I honestly was just really curious about how other people viewed cheat days, as it's a term that's thrown around a lot but everybody latches on to their own definition. Sundays are my "day", because we always have a potluck lunch at church, and I am not one to turn down free food! Everyone works hard to prepare food to fit the theme. A lot of it is healthy, as we bring a lot of leftover farmer's market food, BUT I don't want to be rude and turn down food people bring, or have to count calories in homemade food. I enjoy what I eat, go back for seconds, and even have a dessert, but I don't stress over it! I don't log these days, either. I do take a run on Sunday afternoons if the weather is pleasant.
  • Pelamblue
    Pelamblue Posts: 177 Member
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    Good answer
  • ChaseRobinson85
    ChaseRobinson85 Posts: 3 Member
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    Can you all just shut up about what you call it, or how you 'prefer to reference it'. Nobody cares. Some of you guys way over think things and regurgitate lines from your beloved health mags. She (the OP) had a question about cheat days. Have a cheat day and make it awesome. Go to work and be disciplined 6 days a week and then eat as your heart desires. Just make that cheat day about eating what you want. It's great for your soul. If you listen to some of these guys you will burn out, hbarnesccs.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I had a cheat day by mistake yesterday! It was planned what I was going to eat, but once I started logging it all, it was much worse than I thought (I hadn't had this meal in 6 months) then I ate cookies and milk to top it off.. LOL..

    Actually it was good for me to get off the deficit for a day..
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    cityruss wrote: »
    Your calorie deficit doesn't care about "cheat days".

    This.

    I keep a bigger deficit to make up for the days I end up eating more (because there's a special event or we're going out or I'm just hungrier). But typically I just have small treats in my calories.
  • Pelamblue
    Pelamblue Posts: 177 Member
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    ChaseRobinson85 wrote: »
    Can you all just shut up about what you call it, or how you 'prefer to reference it'. Nobody cares. Some of you guys way over think things and regurgitate lines from your beloved health mags. She (the OP) had a question about cheat days. Have a cheat day and make it awesome. Go to work and be disciplined 6 days a week and then eat as your heart desires. Just make that cheat day about eating what you want. It's great for your soul. If you listen to some of these guys you will burn out, hbarnesccs.

    Ha ha ha ha, message of the post!!! well said that man!!!!
  • avskk
    avskk Posts: 1,789 Member
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    I don't have cheat days, exactly, but I do save back calories throughout the week so I can have a good booze-up at the weekend if I want to. If I weren't saving calories during the week I wouldn't splurge, though; one good "cheat" day can undo a week of effort pretty handily.

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