Cheat Days

chicorac
chicorac Posts: 34
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
Do you guys have a day of the week you specify as a cheat day? I haven't but was told by a few people I should incorporate a cheat day.
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Replies

  • MyaPapaya75
    MyaPapaya75 Posts: 3,143 Member
    i dont ..I eat what I want and always stay accountable and have one serving
  • MindiKat
    MindiKat Posts: 49
    I just posted the same thing! We want to go to an restaurant that only offers choices that will wreck my diet. I could just not go but that means I'm giving up quality time I'm not willing to do quite yet for my diet.
  • Aries03
    Aries03 Posts: 179 Member
    Bump...Help!!!
  • RCKT82
    RCKT82 Posts: 409 Member
    I don't have a cheat "day"... but I do allow myself one cheat "meal" a week for keeping my head in the game for every other meal. I don't always redeem that coupon every week, but I allow myself the go ahead to do so if I wish.
  • a_dawn
    a_dawn Posts: 47
    I just started Monday, and honestly, I don't WANT a cheat day. But, I understand about going to a restaurant where there's nothing healthy on the menu. Instead of a cheat "day", how about a cheat "meal". Just because you go over at a meal doesn't mean you have to make a day of it. But that's just my thought. Good luck everyone!
  • JLervold86
    JLervold86 Posts: 93 Member
    I eat what I want in moderation and ensure that 6 days a week I do not bust my goals BUT I do allow myself 1 cheat meal each week, usually on Saturdays. It's the once a week that I go out to eat and dont feel guilty if my numbers bust by a bit for it....it gives me a meal to look forward to each week and keeps me healthier making wiser choices knowing that it's on the horizon :o)
  • sometimes_blondie
    sometimes_blondie Posts: 241
    I always go to Cousin's Subs on Thursdays at work. I didn't want to abandon my ritual, but instead made a few adjustments to accomodate my calorie allowance, and then did a good workout when I got home. I didn't feel left out, and also didn't feel like I wrecked my diet.
  • jaelwoman
    jaelwoman Posts: 81
    I will do a cheat meal that is high in protein and carbs and low in fat. Plus I add in a reasonable dessert. Mmmmm...saving mine for Monday evening!
  • sometimes_blondie
    sometimes_blondie Posts: 241
    I know how you feel though! I almost fell off my chair when I looked up Qdoba's burritos!
  • HollyMcCaw
    HollyMcCaw Posts: 154 Member
    I think one bad meal a week isn't going to hurt. I always look at it this way... If an overweight person with very bad eating habits ate one low calorie healthy meal per week they are not going to lose weight...so someone who eats well all week long is not going to gain weight by one unhealthy higher calorie meal..
  • JennieMaeK
    JennieMaeK Posts: 474 Member
    I don't think you necessarily have to incorporate a cheat day if you don't want to. I don't have one, but I know myself and a cheat day will turn into a cheat week. That being said, I don't really deny myself anything either. If I can work it into my calories for the day than I'll have that piece of chocolate, or chicken with skin, or whatever. I just make sure I watch portion control and stay accountable.
  • sarahlyzzibeth
    sarahlyzzibeth Posts: 108
    I don't usually schedule "cheat" days, but I kind of take them as I need them. But, I think having a few sensible indulgences every once in a while is what keeps me from going overboard when I do cheat. For example, if I were to permanently deprive myself of chocolate (which is pretty much my favorite thing on the planet), then I just know that one day, I would gorge myself on it. Instead, I make sure I can incorporate a sensible amount of it into my daily diet plan (my current obsession are the mini ice cream cones that lots of brands are coming out with lately. They are about 130 calories each and they help me get my fix, yet they don't wreck my diet.) Yet, I know there are days where counting calories isn't plausible or I just don't want to, and those are my cheat days. (Such as when I go out to eat and I haven't looked up the nutritinal information beforehand or if I eat at a friend's house and don't know how certain foods are prepared, or even a holiday such as Thanksgiving or a 4th of July BBQ) I feel that my good habits that I do daily, such as allowing small indulgences will keep me from binging and will make up for whatever "damage" I do when I'm not counting.
  • mosneakers
    mosneakers Posts: 343 Member
    I only have a cheat meal. For me, a cheat day would make me feel horrible the next day - and could possibly turn into a cheat week. . I've learned that eating bad food makes me feel bad (emotionally and physically). I've gotten to the point that I WANT to eat food that's good for me (I seriously can't believe that I just wrote that because it doesn't sound like me - but I did, and it's true!!!). Love MFP!
  • Angela_MA
    Angela_MA Posts: 260
    i dont ..I eat what I want and always stay accountable and have one serving


    Same here I eat what I want, but stay accountable and within my goals for calories and try to maintain within my macro nutrients.
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
    absolutely not.. It defeats all the hard work youve done and makes it easier to lapse back into a non-diet lifestyle... If I want a piece of chocolate, I have one, if I want chips, I have a serving (or half a serving). If I want fried foods, I have them... Its all about moderation, portion control, and staying within your calories. If having a fried food will put me over my fat, I dont have it, if having a piece of chocolate will put me over sugar, or increase sugar on an already high day, i dont have it.... etc..

    this is about a lifestyle change, not a diet, so whats there to cheat for?? Im not on a diet--Im living--and having cheat days would mean that there is something to be cheating on...and there isnt... im simply living my life.
  • bmw4deb
    bmw4deb Posts: 1,324 Member
    Who do you cheat with a cheat day??? YOURSELF!
    I work to hard to keep my self on track i don't want to be
    the one to sabotage myself.
    All restaurants serve vegs and some type of salad I
    would think.
  • bmw4deb
    bmw4deb Posts: 1,324 Member
    absolutely not.. It defeats all the hard work youve done and makes it easier to lapse back into a non-diet lifestyle... If I want a piece of chocolate, I have one, if I want chips, I have a serving (or half a serving). If I want fried foods, I have them... Its all about moderation, portion control, and staying within your calories. If having a fried food will put me over my fat, I dont have it, if having a piece of chocolate will put me over sugar, or increase sugar on an already high day, i dont have it.... etc..

    this is about a lifestyle change, not a diet, so whats there to cheat for?? Im not on a diet--Im living--and having cheat days would mean that there is something to be cheating on...and there isnt... im simply living my life.

    Well said !
  • enchanted428
    enchanted428 Posts: 8
    It totally sabotages your diet. I used to have cheat days, but then you feel like since its a cheat day you can eat anything! I say everything in moderation. If you know your going to a party, try eating beforehand so you can splurge a bit on cake!
  • MindiKat
    MindiKat Posts: 49
    One of the posts just really put it in perspective for me - I just quit smoking a few months ago. I couldn't "cheat" and smoke one cigarette and I certainly couldn't go out on a Friday night and drink with my friends, buy and smoke a pack of cigarettes and hop back on the wagon the next day. I'm not equipped to do that and I doubt my eating habits will work that way either.

    So to go eat crap tonight and have a cheat night is like buying a pack of smokes and telling myself that I will get back on the wagon in the morning. This time I quit smoking because I didn't cheat even once, never bought another pack after my quit day and really adopted a true discipline. Maybe I need to suggest another place to eat. :( I guess it depends on who you are and what t ype of personality you have. (I know I have zero willpower.)
  • fsugirl26
    fsugirl26 Posts: 207
    Anytime I go out to a restaurant or have a cheat day, I gain anywhere between 3-5lbs. I know it's mostly water retention, but it still takes forever to get rid of! Definitely not worth it!!
  • annarface
    annarface Posts: 77 Member
    I've never had cheat days, not even now when I'm maintaining which drives my family mad because I refuse to eat anything that isn't good for me. But to be honest, I don't want anything that would be considered a cheat, if I don't fancy eating it or crave it, why should I? Surely eating something more nutritionally beneficial to me, that I WANT to eat, is going to be better. Just now that I'm maintaining, I get to eat a higher quantity of the foods I enjoy, which is a bonus for me. I don't see why I should eat something I don't want for the sake of it.
  • NoWeighJose74
    NoWeighJose74 Posts: 581 Member
    Personally for me, cheat days typically end in disaster. I've yet to actually calculate one, but I know it wouldn't be pretty. Also, for me, a cheat day can easily develop into 2 cheat days. Or the space between cheat days begins to drop (instead of every 3 weeks, it becomes every 2, then eventually every week).

    This is just a failure in willpower and motivation on my part though. Everyone is different.
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    I personally eat what I want when I want... and so far, that has resulted in an almost 20 pound loss.

    The way I look at it, is the more that you deprive your self, the more your just setting yourself up for failure later on. So if I have really been thinking about a "cheat" food, then I have just one serving. Once I have that one serving, its done and over until I get a major craving again.... and for me, thats not for months at time.

    I feel its easier to stick to healthier eating, if you know that you can eat what you want but just in healthier versions.
  • mirandamatte
    mirandamatte Posts: 130 Member
    Who do you cheat with a cheat day??? YOURSELF!
    I work to hard to keep my self on track i don't want to be
    the one to sabotage myself.
    All restaurants serve vegs and some type of salad I
    would think.

    Sorry as a passionate lover of food I would NOT go to a great restaurant and order a bowl of lettuce, no thanks.
  • joannbuist23
    joannbuist23 Posts: 127 Member
    If you do decided to "cheat" be prepared, the scale will go up. I was one pound away from my goal so I figured I deserved a cheat day, afterall I hadn't had any soda, chips, candy, fast food or any junk food in over 2 months. Well long story short, I ended up gaining like 5 pounds because my one cheat day turned into 2 and so on... Anyway it took me almost two weeks just to get back to where I was.
  • katt742
    katt742 Posts: 196 Member
    I think one bad meal a week isn't going to hurt. I always look at it this way... If an overweight person with very bad eating habits ate one low calorie healthy meal per week they are not going to lose weight...so someone who eats well all week long is not going to gain weight by one unhealthy higher calorie meal..

    Wow...I never thought of it that way! *high five* lol
  • chauncyrenayCHANGED
    chauncyrenayCHANGED Posts: 788 Member
    I NEVER schedule a cheat day. That's just silly to me. But I plan to eat well every day, so that whenever a co-worker or friend wants to go out, I can without feeling guilty.
  • mirandamatte
    mirandamatte Posts: 130 Member
    and to add I don't schedule them but a couple times a month they happen.
  • bmw4deb
    bmw4deb Posts: 1,324 Member
    Who do you cheat with a cheat day??? YOURSELF!
    I work to hard to keep my self on track i don't want to be
    the one to sabotage myself.
    All restaurants serve vegs and some type of salad I
    would think.

    Sorry as a passionate lover of food I would NOT go to a great restaurant and order a bowl of lettuce, no thanks.

    I love food as well, however a salad is much more than lettuce if ordered properly
    red lobsters can really get me in trouble!
  • booboosaw
    booboosaw Posts: 2 Member
    I dont think you need a cheat day ..I just dont deny myself everything....I do my best to stay in calorie goal ..so if that means i have to do a extra workout , i do it ... You should be able to enjoy yourself without busting your goal... I just weigh my desires if i really want that extra piece of chicken or that dessert Ive been craving, I weigh that against if I have the time or desire to do that extra workout ...
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