What's Up With "Free Eating Day"?

jsuh1993 wrote: »

I heard people talking about giving 1~2 days of the week to just let go and eat whatever you want. Of course, tough cal counting during other days. What is the purpose to this? And what function does it serve? Wouldn't it just undo everything from the week?

I gave it a week a try, but ended up consuming 3500 in one day. Could have eaten more, but I am not sure how spreading out 3500 cal throughout the week would help..

It depends. I'll use an example with my stats:
My TDEE (how much my body burns per day including calories burned exercising) is around 2,000 calories according to my Fitbit. If I ate 2,000 calories each day, I would theoretically maintain my weight (plus or minus a few pounds that is water/food/constipation weight).

Let's say I look at my calories from a weekly view instead of a daily view. Each week, I would burn about 14,000 calories. If I ate 14,000 calories within the week, I would maintain my weight. While looking at it from a weekly view, I have the freedom of eating more or less than the 2000 calories I burn per day, as long as I roughly average out to my 14,000 weekly TDEE. This means that, for instance, I can eat 1,500 calories Monday through Friday (5 days a week), and use the extra 500 daily calorie deficit to eat 3,250 calories both Saturday and Sunday.

Of course, I would gain weight if I started eating more than my 14,000 weekly TDEE. Let's say I ate 1,2000 calories Monday-Friday and then ate 6,000 calories both on Saturday and Sunday. My weekly calorie intake would be 18,000 calories, and I would therefore gain approximately 1.15lbs a week.

The big thing with those "free days" is that they assume that you've been eating significantly fewer calories in the days leading up to it (many programs that use it might tell you to consume 1,200 calories 5 days a week and then you can eat "whatever you want" the other 2 days). 5:2 intermittent fasting works this way, where you have 5 days eating a higher calorie amount (often to your TDEE if you're shooting for weight loss) and 2 days where you're eating significantly less (often 700-900 calories -this is what creates your calorie deficit).

Psychologically, many people find that having those 1-2 "cheat days" to be helpful in sticking to their calorie goals during the week, while other people find that they would much rather eat the same calorie goal every day. Personally, I don't do "cheat days", but that is because I know that once I start "cheating", it will be difficult for me to "get back onto the calorie deficit wagon". I'd much rather fit those "cheat day" treats into my everyday diet.

Yeah I don't get it either. I do have those, but it's more like once every 2 months and it does wipe off my deficit for a week (small deficit) and I still have to restrict myself or I'd wipe two weeks' deficit...

I guess the people for whom it works are people who eat too little during the week already and have a lot to lose (so their TDEE is higher), and don't necessarily have such a huge appetite, so they still manage to keep a good deficit.

This is also known as a Cheat Day, and it doesn't work for me. Who am I cheating?

If I have a day that I go over on, I simply log it and move on. Having a designated cheat day every week can make you feel deprived on the other 6 days and can be a recipe (pun intended!) for failure. I make room in my calories every day for treats, and eat them in moderation in the overall scope of a healthy, well balanced nutrition plan.

Edited to add: I think the only difference here is that the infamous Cheat Day has been re-named to a "Free Eating Day," instead to make it sound beneficial and appealing. Problem is that it's waaaay too easy to undo everything you achieved on the other 6 days. Even more so if, as is suggested in the OP, this happens on two days every week.

I find I do better when I don't do a cheat day--It is better for me to eat a small amount of whatever I am craving and fit it into my daily calorie budget instead going crazy on a "cheat day"...sometimes cheat days become cheat weeks, at least for me.

Usually once every other week I like to eat something that would definitely not fit my calorie/macro goals. Sometimes that one thing is a whole pizza, a pint of ice cream, a giant frozen yogurt, whatever I'm craving. I don't log it, and I make sure everything else I eat aside from that fits my goals. It keeps me sane.

PeiDub wrote: »

Usually once every other week I like to eat something that would definitely not fit my calorie/macro goals. Sometimes that one thing is a whole pizza, a pint of ice cream, a giant frozen yogurt, whatever I'm craving. I don't log it, and I make sure everything else I eat aside from that fits my goals. It keeps me sane.

I'm not disagreeing with your choice to eat it, but why wouldn't you log it?

I have cravings, and if my mind wants it, my body is going to move heaven and earth to get it;) with that said, I'm mindful of what I'm eating, and if I know I've gone over my calories for the day, I take a minute to look back through my week and realise that I generally have about 200 uneaten calories a day. I don't fret over it anymore because I'd give up and think that 'I've ruined everything' true diva style;) . I now accept that my body sometimes wants something sugary or fatty or naughty, but it's got to be worth it now, where as before mfp, I could eat half of my daily calorie allowance by 7.30am just making the kids pack lunches..