'Free meals'

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Is it okay to have the odd evening without dieting ? Lots of wine and yummy food once in a blue moon or will I end up wanting lots of them haha
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  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    OP... have you read the stickies? Because I think you haven't... do you understand how CICO works?

    If you stay in a caloric deficit... you will lose weight.

    If you want to have a day where you don't bother counting calories, then do it if you want to.

    These are all questions which could have been answered by reading the stickies...





  • vespiquenn
    vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
    edited September 2015
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    Everyone has a different philosophy on this. I personally do not have cheat days. I have days that I go over, but I log them and move on. But I do not do this often. Sometimes life has fun opportunities, and I'm not going to give up my life just to see results at the short term. I'm a Wisconsinite, so I love my beer. It happens.

    With that being said, some people do find a lot of success eating at maintenance for a day to a week or two. Kind of like a "break" from dieting. You just want to make sure you are eating at maintenance though. Although one day going over isn't going to affect much, too many of them can hinder your weight loss rate, leading to disappointment. But it's up to you how you do it. I have seen success from all areas of the spectrum on this.
  • phillytoast
    phillytoast Posts: 42 Member
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    OP... have you read the stickies? Because I think you haven't... do you understand how CICO works?

    If you stay in a caloric deficit... you will lose weight.

    If you want to have a day where you don't bother counting calories, then do it if you want to.

    These are all questions which could have been answered by reading the stickies...


    None of that made sense to me at all but whatever.


  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Only you can answer that.
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
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    For me the answer to that question is no. As far as I am concerned you are either all in or you are not yet serious enough to be ready to lose weight. "No cheat days", no binges, no crazy overly restrictive goals, no bad foods, no "eating clean", no low carb or high protein. Just CICO. 24/7/365 until forever.

    No whining or complaining, no making excuses and no blaming other people for your own failures.

    Just do it.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    My body doesn't use the food as a free so I don't treat it as free either. I log it for balance.
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
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    OP... have you read the stickies? Because I think you haven't... do you understand how CICO works?

    If you stay in a caloric deficit... you will lose weight.

    If you want to have a day where you don't bother counting calories, then do it if you want to.

    These are all questions which could have been answered by reading the stickies...





    Maybe she didn't realize there were...stickies.

  • AspenDan
    AspenDan Posts: 703 Member
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    OP... have you read the stickies? Because I think you haven't... do you understand how CICO works?

    If you stay in a caloric deficit... you will lose weight.

    If you want to have a day where you don't bother counting calories, then do it if you want to.

    These are all questions which could have been answered by reading the stickies...





    Seems pretty patronizing..it's totally fine for someone to ask a question that's been answered many many times...the point of forums is to have an actual conversation, not read something written 4 years ago.

    OP, I'd say have a night a week, or month or whatever that you don't care much about calories..but still try to log it. In my experience, even on "cheat" meals, when I log, that helps deter me from just going completely overboard.
  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
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    For me the answer to that question is no. As far as I am concerned you are either all in or you are not yet serious enough to be ready to lose weight. "No cheat days", no binges, no crazy overly restrictive goals, no bad foods, no "eating clean", no low carb or high protein. Just CICO. 24/7/365 until forever.

    No whining or complaining, no making excuses and no blaming other people for your own failures.

    Just do it.

    Who whined, complained, made excuses, spread blame, or failed? And who set crazy, overrestrictive goals, except you? There's nothing in CICO that means you must maintain a calorie deficit 365 days a year. But have fun pretending to be a warrior.
  • gardenbikefamily
    gardenbikefamily Posts: 43 Member
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    For me its a lifestyle. Healthy eating is just a permanent fixture. Calling something a "cheat night" gives it too much power. I choose what to eat & try to make those foods healthy ones. Having wine is ok in my opinion. Just don't let it lead to a landslide of unhealthy choices.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
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    Probably 99% of the questions that get repeatedly asked here could easily be answered if anyone thought to actually use the Search feature.

    But they don't and they won't so life goes on. :)

    To the OP: If you have free-for-all days, your body doesn't know that and you could easily undo the previous week's restraint and then some.

    If I pig out, I prefer to be honest about it. I log and move on. That way, if my weight loss reaches a plateau, I have realistic information that will help me figure out not only what went wrong, but how badly. ;)
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    There's no such thing as a free lunch. Dinner, maybe, or breakfast. Just make sure it's not lunch!
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
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    Who whined, complained, made excuses, spread blame, or failed? And who set crazy, overrestrictive goals, except you? There's nothing in CICO that means you must maintain a calorie deficit 365 days a year. But have fun pretending to be a warrior.

    Awww did I touch a nerve?

  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    For me the answer to that question is no. As far as I am concerned you are either all in or you are not yet serious enough to be ready to lose weight. "No cheat days", no binges, no crazy overly restrictive goals, no bad foods, no "eating clean", no low carb or high protein. Just CICO. 24/7/365 until forever.

    No whining or complaining, no making excuses and no blaming other people for your own failures.

    Just do it.

    So, if someone wants to take a day off once in a while, they're not serious about losing weight and should just continue to stuff their face all day every day and keep gaining until they ARE serious enough?
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    Options
    OP... have you read the stickies? Because I think you haven't... do you understand how CICO works?

    If you stay in a caloric deficit... you will lose weight.

    If you want to have a day where you don't bother counting calories, then do it if you want to.

    These are all questions which could have been answered by reading the stickies...





    Seems pretty patronizing..it's totally fine for someone to ask a question that's been answered many many times...the point of forums is to have an actual conversation, not read something written 4 years ago.

    OP, I'd say have a night a week, or month or whatever that you don't care much about calories..but still try to log it. In my experience, even on "cheat" meals, when I log, that helps deter me from just going completely overboard.

    Might seem patronizing but there are countless threads on this which could be found by using the search feature...

    The stickies provide pretty much everything you need for weight loss. That's why they're stickies. They're timeless.
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
    edited September 2015
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    For me the answer to that question is no. As far as I am concerned you are either all in or you are not yet serious enough to be ready to lose weight. "No cheat days", no binges, no crazy overly restrictive goals, no bad foods, no "eating clean", no low carb or high protein. Just CICO. 24/7/365 until forever.

    No whining or complaining, no making excuses and no blaming other people for your own failures.

    Just do it.

    So, if someone wants to take a day off once in a while, they're not serious about losing weight and should just continue to stuff their face all day every day and keep gaining until they ARE serious enough?

    Did you notice the first two words in my post? FOR ME.
    This is what I require of myself. What other people chose to do or not do is their problem. However sharing personal choices can often give people ideas on what to do with their own. Your reaction to my post about MY choices might be something you should take a closer look at.

  • vlovell24
    vlovell24 Posts: 61 Member
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    Yowza.....be nice everyone.
    Cheat days are not a great idea, as you can easily eat up your weekly deficit with one day of super binge eating. But, what if you logged it? I have been doing 1200 cals for a long while now, and yesterday I was super hungry. I ate like a horse....or so I thought. Once I logged my food, it was only 1800 calories. So, I felt better knowing that I hadn't blown anything. I just ate at maintenence for one day. Big deal.