Can cheat day cause gain?

xmaplegunmanx
xmaplegunmanx Posts: 47 Member
edited November 28 in Food and Nutrition
This might sound like a dumb question but I'm really hesitant.

Today is my birthday and I am planning on eating at a local restaurant that gives out free birthday meals. I want to get a big cheesy quesadilla and cheesy fries and of course have my cake after. I know this would put me over my calorie intake but because it's my bday I told myself to just let it go for one day.

I will work out and I will count but I'm almost sick to my stomach with guilt and I haven't even eaten anything yet! :(

My weigh in is Wednesday morning and I'm so scared my one off day will ruin my progress.

Is it possible to gain from one day of going over? :,(

Replies

  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    It's a long term thing. Happy birthday and enjoy your day. Having a day off might actually help for a variety of physiological and mental reasons. Enjoy.
  • j3nesis87
    j3nesis87 Posts: 18 Member
    Enjoy your birthday! One day over your calorie count is not going to cause weight gain long-term. Don't feel guilty and as someone else has said, a day off might help, for a variety of reasons.
  • Sheks41191
    Sheks41191 Posts: 90 Member
    It may cause temporary gain, high in sodium you may retain a pound or two of water.

    One day of eating does not cause any fat gain, it's the long term calorie surplus.

    The best thing to do would be to have the cheat meal, skip weigh in on Wednesday and up your water, if you drink 2l drink 2.5l, and then weigh on Thursday.
  • lynnstrick01
    lynnstrick01 Posts: 181 Member
    sometimes a cheat day can actually make you lose weight
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    Yes - expect 3 days to recover.
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    lynnstrick01 wrote: »
    sometimes a cheat day can actually make you lose weight

    No.

    What makes you lose weight is maintaining an overall calorie deficit.

    What makes you gain weight is maintaining an overall calorie surplus

    One day of not eating in an othereise calorie surplus dietary intake will do nothing in regards to appreciable weight loss.

    One day of stuffing your face in an otherwise calorie deficit dietary intake will do nothing in regards to appreciable weight gain.

    Terming something "cheat whatever" does not change this.
  • lynnstrick01
    lynnstrick01 Posts: 181 Member
    When you have been dieting for a period of time, your body sort of "adjusts" to the number of calories you are taking in, and burns appropriately, also the less you weigh the more exercise you have to do to burn the same number of calories. personal experience talking here, When I hit a plateau and quit losing weight, i take a cheat day, nothing extreme, Like a whole chocolate cake followed with a milkshake, but I do take that one day to eat things that i would not ordinarily eat while dieting, and MOST times within 24 to 48 hours after that cheat day I begin to lose again. It has been explained to me and it makes sense that this cheat day sort of SHOCKS the body back into fat burning mode.

    One of the most successful diets I have ever used was a variation of the every other day diet, I actually did every other week instead.. you cut calories to an EXTREME one week, then eat a sensible low fat but otherwise pretty NORMAL diet the next.. then back to LOW CAL and so on. It took a lot of weight off fast, and I stayed healthy and energetic without feeling deprived. The basis of this diet is that it keeps the body in fat burning mode. it never gets a chance to get into that plateau area. (basically it keeps the body confused).. The only problem with this diet, like many others, is that if this is not going to be a LIFE CHANGE, it does no good. Sure I took the weight off, but as soon as I went back to NORMAL eating I put it all back on.

    If you were willing and able to keep up this type of diet, changing up the calorie intake day to day or week to week, you would likely keep the weight off.
  • Pawsforme
    Pawsforme Posts: 645 Member
    edited January 2016
    Well . . . the short answer is that yes, you could gain weight from a cheat day.

    The longer answer is --

    Just looking at math it's relatively simple. An excess of 3,500 calories above your TDEE will cause you to gain one pound. So if you ate (for example) 1170 extra calories above your TDEE you might gain one-third of a pound (about 5.3 ounces).

    Now the scale might show up a larger temporary gain than that. If those extra 1170 calories contained a lot of carbohydrates and/or a lot of sodium you'll retain a bit of fluid. The fluid will go away over a day or three as you return to your normal deficit. You might consider pushing your weigh in day back to Friday. ;)

    In reality a fraction of a pound isn't a significant amount of weight at all. Probably well worth it for the mental benefit of enjoying your birthday. Also, keep in mind that you have to eat a significant number of calories above your current maintenance level in order to gain weight (not above your weight loss deficit calorie limit).
  • blossomingbutterfly
    blossomingbutterfly Posts: 743 Member
    EvgeniZyntx wrote: »
    It's a long term thing. Happy birthday and enjoy your day. Having a day off might actually help for a variety of physiological and mental reasons. Enjoy.

    This is exactly what I was going to say! I second this!
  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
    Yes, it will cause a little fat gain over yesterday. No, it won't ruin your whole weight-loss week, HOWEVER, if you eat big on Tuesday you will have extra temporary water weight on Wednesday. It's just water, it's not a lot of new fat.

    Here's what happens to your fat loss:

    Example: let's say you're normally losing 1 pound per week. Today you have your birthday (I never use the word "cheat") and you are 1500 over your weight-loss Calorie goal (which is 1000 more Calories than you need to maintain your weight). Instead of losing 7/7ths of one pound this week, you will lose 4/7ths of one pound.

    Example: let's say you're normally losing 2 pound per week. Today you have your birthday and you are 1500 over your weight-loss Calorie goal (which is 500 more calories than you need to maintain your weight). Instead of losing 7/7ths of two pounds this week, you will lose 11/14ths of one pound.

  • nlmillervt
    nlmillervt Posts: 242 Member
    @Pawsforme That's exactly how I think of it. It's a mental thing, but I'm a lot healthier when I think of the long haul rather than a single day/meal making or breaking my fitness goals.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Can one day of dieting cause you to lose weight? Same answer the other way OP. As others have said, you'd have to eat 3500 cals above your maintenance level (not your calorie deficit goal) in order to gain 1 lb of fat. You may see temporary water weight gain, from sodium retention, increased carbs, but it should go away after a couple days. You may also want to beware tummy troubles, depending on how you've been eating, all that cheese and fried foods would cause me much discomfort if I were out of practice...

    Enjoy your birthday and don't stress so much about this kind of thing. This is supposed to be a lifestyle change, and guess what? You'll have a birthday every year, and plenty of other reasons to celebrate so you need to figure out how to enjoy those days while still reaching your goals.
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
    lynnstrick01 wrote: »
    When you have been dieting for a period of time, your body sort of "adjusts" to the number of calories you are taking in, and burns appropriately, also the less you weigh the more exercise you have to do to burn the same number of calories. personal experience talking here, When I hit a plateau and quit losing weight, i take a cheat day, nothing extreme, Like a whole chocolate cake followed with a milkshake, but I do take that one day to eat things that i would not ordinarily eat while dieting, and MOST times within 24 to 48 hours after that cheat day I begin to lose again. It has been explained to me and it makes sense that this cheat day sort of SHOCKS the body back into fat burning mode.

    One of the most successful diets I have ever used was a variation of the every other day diet, I actually did every other week instead.. you cut calories to an EXTREME one week, then eat a sensible low fat but otherwise pretty NORMAL diet the next.. then back to LOW CAL and so on. It took a lot of weight off fast, and I stayed healthy and energetic without feeling deprived. The basis of this diet is that it keeps the body in fat burning mode. it never gets a chance to get into that plateau area. (basically it keeps the body confused).. The only problem with this diet, like many others, is that if this is not going to be a LIFE CHANGE, it does no good. Sure I took the weight off, but as soon as I went back to NORMAL eating I put it all back on.

    If you were willing and able to keep up this type of diet, changing up the calorie intake day to day or week to week, you would likely keep the weight off.

    Eating at a consistent calorie deficit every week is just as successful, provided you take logging accuracy seriously, extreme calorie deficits every other week just put you at a higher deficit on average than other diets you have tried. Also you cannot shock your body into fat burning mode! or at least I have never seen any scientific study that says this and with the amount of money in dieting at the moment I am sure it would have been done by now if it worked.

    OP go out and enjoy your Birthday meal, as others have said this is a long term process and if you gain a few lbs then so what, you can lose them again.

    On a more serious note your reaction to a possible gain is not a healthy way to look at things, I mean what happens when you reach your target weight, will you still panic at any slight gain (bearing in mind your weight will fluctuate naturally). Take this opportunity to learn that weight loss is a slow process but should not stop you living your life and enjoying special occasions!
  • lynnstrick01
    lynnstrick01 Posts: 181 Member
    Also you cannot shock your body into fat burning mode! or at least I have never seen any scientific study that says this and with the amount of money in dieting at the moment I am sure it would have been done by now if it worked.

    they have done it.. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/every-other-day-diet
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
    Enjoy it, log it, and get back into your plan tomorrow. As WinoGelato says, you will have plenty of occasions to celebrate. The thing many of us have to learn, is to not let one day become, a week, a month, or years.

    You will be fine. Enjoy your day!

    Have a great birthday!
  • 3bambi3
    3bambi3 Posts: 1,650 Member
    edited January 2016
    lynnstrick01 wrote: »
    Also you cannot shock your body into fat burning mode! or at least I have never seen any scientific study that says this and with the amount of money in dieting at the moment I am sure it would have been done by now if it worked.

    they have done it.. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/every-other-day-diet

    Women's Health magazine isn't a scientific study. And the way the article is written is ridiculous. Eat "whatever you want" one day and 500 the next and you're guaranteed to lose weight? That's not at all how intermittent fasting works.
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
    lynnstrick01 wrote: »
    Also you cannot shock your body into fat burning mode! or at least I have never seen any scientific study that says this and with the amount of money in dieting at the moment I am sure it would have been done by now if it worked.

    they have done it.. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/every-other-day-diet

    Sorry for seemingly hijacking the thread, but please do not quote a womans health magazine as a good source of nutritional and dieting information. I am talking about proper scientific studies by people who are not trying to get a bunch of people to sign up for a subscription.

    At the end of the day all that article is saying is that intermittent fasting works for weight loss and of course it does providing you are in a calorie deficit.

    There are some studies looking at potential health benefits of IF but shocking into fat burning mode isnt one of them
  • PosterPens
    PosterPens Posts: 172 Member
    remember this is a lifetime of choices, so enjoy your birthday with the food youd like. i bet youll eat less of what you think youll want, since you relatively know what is good for you or not. either way, have fun and happy birthday!
  • HARLEYzFIT
    HARLEYzFIT Posts: 20 Member
    Its your birthday, go crazy! If you worry about what you eat 365 days of the year thats insanity. So what if you gain a pound. Its your birthday and you need to enjoy it. Life is about more than that pound you gained on your birthday that you ended up working off later that week. Take the one day and enjoy it as much as possible. I find that stressing about food so much makes it worse in some cases. If you only have 1 day to eat and drink whatever you want once a year I think you are doing better than the rest of us.
  • mattw273
    mattw273 Posts: 6 Member
    one bad day won't make you fat and one good day won't make you thin. Enjoy your birthday.
  • KassiesJourney
    KassiesJourney Posts: 306 Member
    You cant lose the weight in one day, you can't gain the weight in one day. Enjoy your birthday! What's life without a little fun?
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    edited January 2016
    Worry about the process overall. Don't fret over one day. Enjoy your birthday.

    Sure, maybe you lost .1 lbs yesterday and you gain .3 lbs today but if you lose .2 tomorrow and .1 more the next and so on and so on...you're still losing weight overall.
  • xmaplegunmanx
    xmaplegunmanx Posts: 47 Member
    Thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate the reassurance. Off to get Starbucks and spend the day with my family! Thanks for the tip on pushing my weigh in back a couple of days, I'd probably feel bad if I didn't lose much, I think that's a good idea! (On the bright side, my husbands eyes went wide when he saw me in a shirt I haven't worn since September. He said j looked tiny compared to then! Talk about confidence boost!)
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