Cheat days, what's yours like

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  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    lithezebra wrote: »
    cookielover_96 wrote: »
    Thin_Beauty94 wrote: »
    You cheat days are sad. Seriously y'all need to live a little

    Yup agreed

    "Live a little" is what fat people say to you when you lose weight and you don't want to eat French fries or dessert or whatever it is they're trying to get you to eat so you'll be just like everyone else. Some of us need to stick with our good habits, almost all the time, because it reinforces the harder, but healthier, way of eating.

    Ok that makes me sad, lol. Can't imagine having to eat that way all my life.

    I don't go around being sad about other people's choices, but if I did, I would think that eating treats was a poor substitute for other pleasures.
  • ipastorsally
    ipastorsally Posts: 28 Member
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    I do my best not to cheat on a particular day, but if something like the farm show comes up, I enjoy the day, count the calories, share a serving, and balance with exercise for a few days after to burn extra calories. A cheat day would be not logging anything because I know I'll beat myself up for over splurging.
  • Larissa_NY
    Larissa_NY Posts: 495 Member
    edited January 2016
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    snowflake930 wrote: »
    Larissa_NY wrote: »
    snowflake930 wrote: »
    Larissa_NY wrote: »
    Why would you need a "cheat day" when you're at maintenance? I thought the point of those was to take a diet break.

    Sometimes I overdo the tacos and margaritas on a special occasion, but I'm not going to stuff myself just because it's Saturday. That seems weird to me.

    If you addressing me about the "Why would you need a "cheat day" when you're at maintenance?" It is because I can not, nor can anyone on maintenance, at least that I know about, eat above maintenance calories, without regaining weight.

    I wasn't addressing anyone in particular, and your answer doesn't seem to have anything to do with my question. Yes, if you eat too far over maintenance consistently, for long enough, you'll gain weight. What does that have to do with cheat days and why you'd need them if you're not restricting your calories anymore?

    But I am restricting my calories @ maintenance. I don't eat like I did pre-MFP, not anywhere near it. Just so you realize, some of us do not have to eat too far over maintenance to gain weight. And yes, I am restricting my calories. I do not have cheat days. I eat at or below my maintenance calories. I am only eating about 300-400 more calories per day than I did while I was losing. I could easily eat more than double what I am eating at maintenance.

    JW, why do you think such a high percentage of people regain all of the weight they lost, and some gain even more than they lost.

    Honestly? I always assumed that either (a) they lost the weight doing the Cabbage Soup diet or some such nonsense, and didn't learn useful things like portion sizes, caloric and nutrient density, or the concept of sometimes foods; or (b) depending on how overweight they were, they spent too much time memorizing the number of calories in six grams of carrot cake and not enough time dealing with the issues that caused them to eat enough to sustain two full-grown adults to begin with.

    I'm small, female, and over 45, so I don't have a whole lot of wiggle room with regard to calories either, but there would be no way I could consistently eat twice my maintenance calories. I'd just get tired of eating that much. Of course people who were very heavy can't eat like they did before they lost the weight; it just never occurred to me that anyone might actually want to. So this thread has been educational in that regard.

    I'm going to edit this and say that it sort of sounds like I'm being snarky, but I'm not. It just really is endlessly fascinating to me that obese people and normal-weight people think about food so differently that it's like it isn't even the same substance.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    lithezebra wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    lithezebra wrote: »
    cookielover_96 wrote: »
    Thin_Beauty94 wrote: »
    You cheat days are sad. Seriously y'all need to live a little

    Yup agreed

    "Live a little" is what fat people say to you when you lose weight and you don't want to eat French fries or dessert or whatever it is they're trying to get you to eat so you'll be just like everyone else. Some of us need to stick with our good habits, almost all the time, because it reinforces the harder, but healthier, way of eating.

    Ok that makes me sad, lol. Can't imagine having to eat that way all my life.

    I don't go around being sad about other people's choices, but if I did, I would think that eating treats was a poor substitute for other pleasures.

    Like what... fitting in a size 0 dress? Which I'll never be able to do with my frame anyway...

    But more treats for me!
  • ARGriffy
    ARGriffy Posts: 1,002 Member
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    I have some days where I just want to go out with my friends, eat a really good quality burger, some fresh fries and maybe a rack or 14 hour smoked ribs (not all together, wish I could!) and I just don't log it. I know that it's a big number, I also know it wont make a blind bit of difference to my maintenance what so ever :)
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    lithezebra wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    lithezebra wrote: »
    cookielover_96 wrote: »
    Thin_Beauty94 wrote: »
    You cheat days are sad. Seriously y'all need to live a little

    Yup agreed

    "Live a little" is what fat people say to you when you lose weight and you don't want to eat French fries or dessert or whatever it is they're trying to get you to eat so you'll be just like everyone else. Some of us need to stick with our good habits, almost all the time, because it reinforces the harder, but healthier, way of eating.

    Ok that makes me sad, lol. Can't imagine having to eat that way all my life.

    I don't go around being sad about other people's choices, but if I did, I would think that eating treats was a poor substitute for other pleasures.

    Like what... fitting in a size 0 dress? Which I'll never be able to do with my frame anyway...

    But more treats for me!

    Enjoy your treats, and good luck with your maintenance, @Francl27 . It isn't a contest to be a particular size, just like it isn't necessary to put people down for exercising self control. However, fitting into your ideal size, whatever it is, and staying that way, is worth a few small sacrifices, to me.
  • mommarnurse
    mommarnurse Posts: 515 Member
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    Some days I eat more calories than others. Today I was just downright HUNGRY all day. It's alright. It all evens out over a week or so.
  • monetfuge
    monetfuge Posts: 43 Member
    edited January 2016
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    tracefan wrote: »
    I won't cheat until I reach my goal.

    This section is for those maintaining their goal. I haven't reached mine I'm just messing around in topics that are non of my business yet. I ran across yours and it made me look :neutral:

  • cookielover_96
    cookielover_96 Posts: 177 Member
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    lithezebra wrote: »
    cookielover_96 wrote: »
    Thin_Beauty94 wrote: »
    You cheat days are sad. Seriously y'all need to live a little

    Yup agreed

    "Live a little" is what fat people say to you when you lose weight and you don't want to eat French fries or dessert or whatever it is they're trying to get you to eat so you'll be just like everyone else. Some of us need to stick with our good habits, almost all the time, because it reinforces the harder, but healthier, way of eating.

    My family tells me to "live a little", and I agree with them. I have good habits and know what is bad. I don't like the idea of depriving myself the foods I enjoy. A little bite won't kill you, it's mainly up to the person themselves to control HOW much they consume.
  • monetfuge
    monetfuge Posts: 43 Member
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    cindyb327 wrote: »
    i cheat once or twice a week and usually go over about 400 to 700 calories. i usually just eat more food instead of sweets. sweets make me feel tired, etc..

    Is that you in that profile picture? Dang Girrrrlll!!! What you say about cheating again bc I want what you're sayin'! Proof is in that puddin'
  • Cortneyrenee04
    Cortneyrenee04 Posts: 1,117 Member
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    No cheat days for me. If I want something, I eat it (or some of it). I only eat things I love so it always feels like cheating.
  • smilezishere
    smilezishere Posts: 106 Member
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    I've recently come to realize that cheat meals (not necessarily the whole day) are a necessity to keep me sane. On a maintenance diet, clean eating and working out for weeks straight eventually makes me feel weak and lethargic. I do a combination of heavy lifts, HIITs, and long distance cardio. Doing cardio seems to be ok for the most part. Occasionally the HIITs and more frequently lifting heavy just makes me feel like im dragging my feet. I need that recharge.
  • smilezishere
    smilezishere Posts: 106 Member
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    Just to share my last cheat meal a few weeks ago:

    Pizza tots (yes, pizza toppings - sausage and pepperoni- on top of tater tots!) and a 1/2 lb burger with bacon and avocado =)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I don't have "cheat days" or "cheat meals"...I have days when I'm over on calories and days when I'm under. Most days are pretty packed with nutrition but some aren't or include more "junk" than usual. I don't really view any of that as wrong so I don't perceive what I'm doing to be cheating.
  • smilezishere
    smilezishere Posts: 106 Member
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    I don't perceive it as cheating either. It's just that meal that has more "junk" than usual is just labeled ubiquitously as a "cheat" meal.
  • Dreysander
    Dreysander Posts: 294 Member
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    Just commenting to say that I really, really dislike the notion that someone who's a size 0 has more "self-control" than someone who's a size 2 or a size 10. Not everyone is built to be a size 0. I know I'm not. I weigh 125 lbs at 5'4 and I'm a size 6ish due to a lot of extra skin. No matter how much "self-control" I have I will likely never be a size 0, nor do I want to be.

    The sheer judgement coming from some posters in this thread that assume someone like me is lacking in "self-control" is appalling.

    Have fun up there on your high horse.
  • spzjlb
    spzjlb Posts: 599 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Same as @cwolfman13 and @smilezishere - I don't have "cheat" days. I always pay attention and when I go over my calories, well, I just go over my calories. Of course, I splurge now and then - usually with wine and chips or other junky snack - but I don't consider it cheating. It's just a day when I go over my calories and I keep that in mind the next day when I'm working out or step on the scale.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I don't have "cheat days" or "cheat meals"...I have days when I'm over on calories and days when I'm under. Most days are pretty packed with nutrition but some aren't or include more "junk" than usual. I don't really view any of that as wrong so I don't perceive what I'm doing to be cheating.

    I'm with this guy ^
  • Angelszophia
    Angelszophia Posts: 127 Member
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    My carb allowance is low so, every time I go over it's a cheat. I, however, consider it really a cheat when I eat cake or ice cream.
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,472 Member
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    weekends only, I eat whatever I want and I drink quite a bit of booze as well. fun times. its worth it as I work my butt off hard during the week!

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