Cheat days... Your experience

My cheat days are enforced by my wife suggesting we get pizza. Happens about once a month, and I can't resist pizza.

Other than that, I don't really do them. I'll have days when I go over my targets, but I don't have certain days where I just decide to eat crap.

In the beginning, I could not have a cheat meal or cheat day because I didn't have the control yet to stop after that day.
Now being 170 days in and have lost 25 pounds (At the beginning, I had given up a lot but still logged, now I'm about 2 months in being serious about it) I'm finding it much easier to go "yea, I can have a cheat meal" and be able to recover and continue on within my calories the next day. I don't have a cheat day every week, I have them only on special occasions
Edit: please keep in mind I only eat within my calories, not exactly watching what I eat; which means I don't exactly choose the healthiest all of the time lol

Yup I do cheat days, one day a week every week, Fridays are my day.
Probably not a good thing to do really and no doubt many will say it's not good but it's something to look forward to.
It makes the constant counting during the week worthwhile, as long as the digits on the scale keep going down then I'll still allow myself to have them, if the scale starts going up then I'll stop them.
I'm not going to cut back on the few pleasures I have left just so I can lose a little bit more a tiny bit quicker.
Nothing is worth losing my chocolate, cheese and beer on a Friday night

I have cheat days for special occasions.

Normally, I work treats into my calorie allowance, so I don't feel the need for regularly schedule cheat days. But I have several days a year that I just don't track calories. I could be over or under, I don't know. But I just relax and enjoy myself. Those days are major holidays (Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas) and life events (my birthday, my anniversary, family weddings, vacations). It works out to less than one day a month if you average it out. I don't take a day off for every holiday - I tracked on July 4th, Memorial Day, Valentine's Day, etc. And I don't take off for everyone's birthday. Only my own.

I need to stay focused to lose the weight, so I don't cheat regularly. But I also don't want to not enjoy special occasions by worrying about food. It's all in what you do most of the time that counts.

In the past, I considered a cheat to be a food that I believed is not good for me, such as Dr Pepper or Swedish Berries. When I would eat those, I found it was a trigger food for me and I ended up eating more (unless something stopped me like staying at someone's home). A cheat day would turn into a cheat week or month. It didn't work for me.

Right now I would consider a cheat something that would take me out of my macros. Right now, I won't cheat because it would throw me out of ketosis, and I don't want to face the discomfort of getting back into it.

I have had days where I eat more calories than my goal, but I don't consider that a cheat since it all evens out over time.

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I do cheat meals, not cheat days. I've only had one cheat day and it went downhill FAST. One meal is enough for me.

I have a cheat meal once a week, a whole cheat day seems a bit too much for me .

I hope you have a great time and enjoy your friends and everything you eat and drink!!! It wont necessarily slow your weight loss for the following week. I would add in some extra cardio and get right back on track the following day.

i use a social event as a cheat meal, but i just consciously cut back on portion sizes and make sure im only eating enough so that im not full, whether that be two three bites of a rich chocolate dessert or a quarter of a burger. and oh yes, even though its the worse thing ever for me, i drink diet coke or coke zero because it fills me up really well and its extremely low in calories

Yeah I don't call them cheats really because I still try to log everything, regardless if it puts me over or not. If I know there's a social event coming up that will revolve around food and alcohol, I try to plan ahead. I keep a bit more of a deficit the days leading up, and usually can "bank" a good 500-700 calories. I'll usually squeeze in some extra activity on these days as well if I can. I'm usually still a bit over in the end, but over the next couple of days I can usually make up for it. As long as you didn't exceed maintenance in the end you know you won't gain.

I will enjoy myself at these events, but I will usually pre-log my alcohol before I go and stick to that. Then the next day I will sit down and attempt to log what I ate at the event. If it was a lot of chip bowls, dips, finger foods, cheese & crackers, etc and I find it too annoying/hard to remember every bite I ate and try to find entries for them all, I will usually just "quick-add" a guesstimate. Sometimes it could be as much as 1000 calories. But I do try and keep a mental note of the munchies and try not to over-do it. I could pack away soo many snacks at a party in the past. Now I try to stick to the veggie tray if there is one, and limit myself to the chips. If you can engage in conversations away from the food table it helps.

As others said, this is real life. Whether you log it or not the calories were still consumed. The last time I didn't log was my weekend away at a cottage during an outdoor music festival where it was just too chaotic to log everyday. You can still stay on track while indulging a little with friends!

I have cheat days. My expectation is that I will retain 2 - 3 pounds of water weight after a cheat day and it is generally gone within three days. Honestly, it helps make my weeks feel shorter, keeps me focused on the here and now and how far I've come and not so much on the big picture and how far I still have to go.

I do not plan a cheat day, I just don't get the concept of pre-planning a day to cheat. My journey has been a lifestyle change - healthy eating habits <CICO> something physical everyday; if there is a breakdown in there for whatever reason - I keep it moving and get back on track. If I planned for it -I would spiral out of control quickly. I feel I would start looking forward to cheating too much and become less focused on what really needs to be done.

a cheat meal should be fine. A cheat day of "letting loose a little bit" can result in eating more calories and undo an entire week of deficit/progress if not more. Just something to think about when wanting to do it. Im going out to dinner tonight and have no idea of calories at the place im eating so im keeping calories low today and know exactly what to order tonight. Its not the low cal foods items either, its the food i want...

I've never been into cheat days. If I'm on a plan that makes me feel like I want one, at this point I know it's going to end in failure for me because I can't make that division of time & habits work for me personally.

I do think there are ways to not blow your diet entirely without shunning social events. When I have a thing coming up I plan ahead and figure out ways I can eat healthier while I'm there, and I try to eat a little cleaner than usual beforehand. At this point I can't ditch my healthier eating habits entirely though, I'm still ordering healthier foods and not cramming bar nuts and chips into my mouth when I'm out... and I've noticed that when I order say the hummus/pita/veggie appetizer instead of a fried appetizer, others will eat the healthier option more than the fried one too.
You say you're "eating whatever everyone brings" so I assume you're bringing stuff too- so there's no need to mentally give up power over your choices and health.
You can opt to bring healthier options... off the top of my head you could bring a big bag of popcorn instead of chips. Vodka or wine instead of regular beer (that also depends on how much you drink of the wine vs beer thing, and on mixers). Even vodka-soaked watermelon instead of jello shots if it's that type of weekend.