Cheat days

If you work your chips and sweets into your weekly allowance, it's not cheating. I usually bank LOTS of calories (unintentionally) over the week and COULD technically eat 4-5k calories on sundays...but I rarelay do.
And this would not be a cheat day, since I banked them. I would advise for counting, since not counting could lead to weight gain if you lose track and eat more than you should on one or two days and within your goal the other 5 or 6...

You shouldn't have any cheat days - who or what are you cheating?

You do realise you are allowed to enjoy your food 7 days a week?

I always try to stay as close to my maintenance goal as I can, so I don't regularly have "cheat days."
That being said, with maintenance I do have a weight range I like to fall between. If I end up weighing more than this amount, then I'll go back to really watching what I eat to make sure I'm accurately logging everything and fall back into this maintenance range.
If I end up weighing less than this amount, then hallelujah I get to enjoy myself and eat more! I ended up being 0.2 lb under my range all last week (I waited it out to make sure it wasn't going to fluctuate back up), but when I saw it continue to fall I enjoyed a nice pint of Ben & Jerry's last night - their full fat Cinnamon Buns ice cream! I took out a little bit of it to share with my family and bring the calories of the pint to 1,100, and ate it when I would have originally enjoyed my 400 calorie dessert I save for myself every night (so I went over my goal by 700 calories). If 3,500 calories = 1 pound, then 350 calories = 0.1 pound, and to gain back that 0.2 pounds, I ate this 700 calorie surplus. And I loved it.
Now, you don't have to get as scientific with this as I did (I over-complicate things when I get bored), but just give yourself a range, do whatever it takes to stay within it, and as long as you feel happy and healthy maintain this lifestyle - whether it includes cheat meals or not! Everyone is different and has different things that work for them

I only have a "cheat" day where I eat more of what I want when I just can't stick to diet calories. But I track as much as possible and stay around maintenance and the day is usually unplanned. I try to get in as many diet days as possible until one of these days hit where I have uncontrollable appetite.

I'm working up to maintenance (actually lost half a pound since i started) and I typically do what I consider a cheat day every sunday or saturday. I just eat what i want and stay under budget. the other 6 days i eat what i want but i make sure i get enough protein in addition to staying under budget. Last weekend i ate a bunch of cookies and ice cream for breakfast, then pizza for lunch, followed by eggs and sausage for dinner.

Anytime you eat more than you burn, you'll have to make it up eventually or you'll gain weight. If you have a day when you know you'll eat more than you burn that day, eat fewer calories before and/or after that day to make up for it. And if you are counting calories you should keep counting, so you'll know how much you need to cut back on other days.

There is no "cheating". Nothing is off limits for me I just work them into my calorie allowance.

If I know I have an event coming up I just eat a little less leading up to it and also up my exercise.

I think you should cheat every day; just make sure you log it in so that you can calculate exactly how many pounds you have gained.

AldrinYeo wrote: »

hey guys! How many cheat days should I have a week to maintain my weight? And how do I tackle a cheat day? Do I just not care and eat chips and sweets or should I still count calories? Thanks!!! Add me! Always ready to encourage and always in need for some =D

I like the option of cheat days because they give me structure. Yes its great to organically eat whatever you want whenever as long as its reasonably portioned and you follow the calorie in and out system, but a cheat days gives you a great reason to plan and look forward to something you really enjoy and not have to worry about anything about the back of your head, it is as mechanical as you want it so you don't have to think about anything and just follow through - life outside of a diet / health and fitness change is already hectic enough, the last thing you want to have to really 'think' about is the whole balancing calorie aspect of things.

I compensate quite simply by just eating healthy and exercising consistently during weekdays like how you don't go on a binge drinking fest during your weekdays as you're working/studying, and save that kind of enjoyment for the weekend. Weekends I enjoy a cheat meal.

I don't go all out because those cheat meals can turn into weekends and slowly you will lose momentum. I may eat 1,200-1,500 all week and then weekends I'll have a cheat meal each day and a sweet item. But its a meal, meaning I won't suddenly inhale 50 cookies and a pint of ice cream. I'll have a serving or max two (rare) of ice cream for example and for example if I'm having an eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce and a caffe latte I'll have that, but I won't suddenly throw in 2 super fattening sides just because its my cheat day.

Its all about realising you will have a cheat day EVERY WEEK indefinitely so you don't have to behave like every meal is your last meal.