How many "cheat" days can you have a week and still lose weight?
tishie1
Posts: 19 Member
I have been having 3 cheat days a week where I don't count calories and I gain ALL the weight I lost ( the previous 4 days) back everytime. Has anyone else has this happen? How many days a week have you found that you can go off myfitnesspal and still lose weight in the long run?
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None. I can eat back a whole week's deficit in one meal if I give myself the chance.0
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I don't have a cheat day per se. I do have 2-3 days a month where I count all my calories, but allow myself to go over my allocation. I eat 150-200 or so calories on average under my net calorie goal, so I have like 5000 calories saved up each month. If I go 2000 calories over 2-3 times a month, I am still within my overall goal.
I think 3 cheat days a week is probably too much. And log on your cheat days. It will help you cut back on how much you go over on those days. Or just lower your deficit each day, so you have less of a need for cheat days. The days I go over are due to alcohol or large dinners when I am out with friends. Most other days, I stay under fairly easily. I do have a relatively large allowed calories though (1880 per day) and I eat closer to 2k calories each day once you factor that I eat back ~75% of my exercise calories.0 -
I don't do any. Why? Because it only hurts me in the long run.
Do I eat over my MFP goal? Sure. I'll go over. Sometimes to maintenance level calories and sometimes even a little over that. Since it is logged and counted though, I can see how I need to adjust my week and plan ways to fit those days in. If I don't log, then I don't know how much I ate and it's really hard to balance out the unknown.0 -
I always log.
My appetite goes up premenstrually so I eat at maintenance for a few days then, and take this opportunity to have some higher calorie meals.
Other times when I want higher calorie meals I earn them via exercising more.0 -
Rather than having regular cheat days I prefer to work the foods I love in every day. I have wine nightly, chocolate most days, chips often. That's not to say that I never have days where I really indulge, I do, but those are usually a special event or a once a week splurge meal. Using the app you can track your weekly deficit and I prefer this approach to make sure that the indulgences do not negate my deficit..0
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Why 3 cheat days a week? Are you even in a deficit?0
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ariana_eatsandlifts wrote: »None. I can eat back a whole week's deficit in one meal if I give myself the chance.
This0 -
Uhh....why would you want to do that? Why not just set your goal for 1/2 or 1 pound per week and lose it for good? It will give you more calories to eat which will help you avoid those cheat days.0
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ariana_eatsandlifts wrote: »None. I can eat back a whole week's deficit in one meal if I give myself the chance.
For real. I even have a low goal during the week and if I eat at maintenance on one day during the weekend, I'm barely in a deficit.0 -
ariana_eatsandlifts wrote: »None. I can eat back a whole week's deficit in one meal if I give myself the chance.
This. How weird jennifer417- you just posted exactly the same as what I was about to do: jinxMFP0 -
I eat whatever I want within my calorie limits, workout and if I create a deficit I lose weight. It is that simple. Don't need to cheat.0
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7...................well I eat what people would call "cheat" food. Ice cream, candy, chips, hot dogs, etc.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I can eat a whole months worth of deficit in 3 days so I choose not to have any cheat days0
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So you are halfway committed to losing weight, but holding on to the style of eating that made you overweight in the first place
You are sticking to a defecit 4 days but eating in surplus 3
It will never work
You could try intermittent fasting ...but what you're doing now isn't it....so eat at maintenance calories 4 days and 500 calories for 3... But I'd strongly suggest just eating food to a defecit across the week, logging everything accurately and moving more
I don't ever cheat, but I eat any food at all within my calories so feel no urge to0 -
You're only cheating yourself - especially by not logging, because then you have no idea where you stand (or where you should stand). I also think that logging can help prevent the excessive surplus. Now don't get me wrong, I too have days when I'm in the red (depending on what my week is like I have 2 or 3) but since I'm logging I try to always make sure that even if I'm in the red, I'm still under the built in deficit for my goal. There has been two days since I restarted 3 weeks ago that I've been in a "total" surplus (that is to say, over my calorie burn) but I'm aware of it and mindful of it going forward.
So regardless of how you end up eating ("cheat meals" or not) I would really suggest logging it. I would also suggest working in some of your favourite treats ("cheats") into your existing plan.
Or, is it the lack of logging and the freedom it gives you that you like? Try to pre-log everything and pre-package where possible so that you "don't have to think about it" for that day, since it's already done. I do that, and although I might have to adjust during the day, it helps a lot because I don't have to take time when I'm eating to update and search for items or weigh them etc etc.1 -
I have been having 3 cheat days a week where I don't count calories and I gain ALL the weight I lost ( the previous 4 days) back everytime. Has anyone else has this happen? How many days a week have you found that you can go off myfitnesspal and still lose weight in the long run?
None. Why would you not track what you are doing so that you make good choices. Sounds like you are"dieting" and so you are feeling deprived. Then you splurge and binge. That sets you up for failure. Plan everything. Set modest goals. This will take time to do it right. This is about a permanent change in lifestyle. Not about short term deprivation.0 -
I try not to have cheat meals. Maybe a couple times a month. Otherwise if I have more I start undoing all my hard work.
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So you are halfway committed to losing weight, but holding on to the style of eating that made you overweight in the first place
...
It will never work
Your actiouns say you don't really want to lose. You sorta do, but not really. Not intensely. Why make yourself miserable. Just give it up until you are so sick and tired of being overweight that nothing will stop you. Then it won't be as much of a burden.0 -
I'd say none, if you really want to lose. But if you're having crises, we're all humans, you go ahead and break your rules, but burn extra calories till the end ofthe day.. If you burn half of what you log, you'll lose
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4 or 5. Go with 4 to be safe.0
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7...................well I eat what people would call "cheat" food. Ice cream, candy, chips, hot dogs, etc.
Me too.
I never go over my calorie limit.
I don't deprive myself.
I eat "junk"; I eat "healthy"; I eat whatever I feel like within my calorie limit. I make room for treats.
21 kg lost in 6 months and counting.0 -
ariana_eatsandlifts wrote: »None. I can eat back a whole week's deficit in one meal if I give myself the chance.
This. I will let myself eat to maintenance and store calories up over the week to allow for more calories at other times. 3 cheat days a week would probably have me gaining!0 -
Yes, I'm confused by your approach. This is what works for me: I always log, but not always with the same goals...
1) Most of the time, all the regular boring days, I try to be at least a few hundred calories below my total calorie allotment including exercise calories earned. Every 7-10 days I'm usually a wee bit over one or two of those days but remain comfortably under for that week's average. Logging these residual deficits, even if they're small, is very satisfying.
2) On predetermined circumstances, eg family vacation, 4th of July BBQ, etc. I log but plan to eat at maintenance. I try to fit in a lot of activity at the same time & I figure these are my calories to spend, I earned 'em! This probably accounts for a month to six weeks out of a 52 week year... Doing this right now while I'm in DC.
3) There are 3-4 days that are just huge calorie bombs. Thanksgiving. My birthday. I haven't encountered some of these yet... I had one day like this on my daughter's birthday. I don't fight these days but I do log them accurately and marvel at just how high the over runs can go, effectively wiping out the calorie savings of the previous week. MFP helpfully announces when I close my journal out for that day 'If every day were like this you would weigh XXX lbs in five weeks!' and that XXX number is higher than any weight I have ever weighed in my life!!! Yikes!!! Scares me straight every time & I am grateful for the normal days to return...
Imagine your eating is money: So you budget & spend only cash four days a week, but for three days you spend without limit on a credit card? Can you see how the over runs on the credit card days could easily outstrip the modest savings of the cash days? You need to dilute the damages there. Maybe plan to log one day at maintenance every week. If you must have a log-free day to psychologically blow off steam, I would say no more than one day a month.0 -
while I was actively trying to lose weight, none. I didn't need them.
My goals are different now, but even if I have a day where I decide to eat everything in my pantry, I will still weigh and log it all. Having that data is essential to me.0 -
I have been having 3 cheat days a week where I don't count calories and I gain ALL the weight I lost ( the previous 4 days) back everytime. Has anyone else has this happen? How many days a week have you found that you can go off myfitnesspal and still lose weight in the long run?
Um ... yeah. That's how I got here in the first place.
But for the first 4 months here, I did not cheat. At all. No cheat days. Then I reached my first goal and took a 1-month break. And then I was back at it again. Since then, I have had one celebration day where I went over my calories by about 300 calories. It was my husband and my anniversary. That's it.
If you want to lose weight ... stay within your calorie limit.
If you want to eat more ... exercise lots.0 -
As pretty much everyone has said already, no, I don't cheat my own diet. I eat at maintenance sometimes, or, like last night, I eat extra calories that I save up over the week. I log every single day.0
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Maybe once a month when PMT kicks in but I'll still log it all.0
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If your strategy isn't working, then change your strategy. The bad news about this deal is that there's no way to cheat. Your body isn't aware that you wish those calories weren't counting because you don't monitor them. lol The great news about this deal is that the solution is simple and doable.0
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I have been having 3 cheat days a week where I don't count calories and I gain ALL the weight I lost ( the previous 4 days) back everytime. Has anyone else has this happen? How many days a week have you found that you can go off myfitnesspal and still lose weight in the long run?
You're basically wasting your time. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have days where you go over your calorie limit, but at least track them so you know what's what. I have bad days, recently it has been both my daughter's and wife's birthdays. On both days I exercised in the mornings so that I could enjoy a nice meal and drinks with them. I don't want to spoil their days by being Mr boring, but equally, I don't want to spoil my progress.
Like anything, if you're not in the right frame of mind, you won't achieve.0 -
I have been having 3 cheat days a week where I don't count calories and I gain ALL the weight I lost ( the previous 4 days) back everytime. Has anyone else has this happen? How many days a week have you found that you can go off myfitnesspal and still lose weight in the long run?
So this happens everytime? and you didnt think to change your strategy? I dont think youre committed to losing weight yet. Maybe wait until you are, because all you are doing is depriving, then binging. Which isnt healthy0
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