Cheat Days?

I buy the diet popcorn. Wallmart has a light butter kind that isn't bad. And for something like chips. I have the one bite rule. It works for me. (For chips it would be the Three chip rule for chips and french fries) I know it sounds werid but then I can have whatever I want and not feel restricted. I use it in extreme cirumstances, not all the time.

First, cheat days. They work for some, not for others. I'm one of the others. I can easily undo a majority of an entire week's worth of work with a cheat day. However, others do just fine with them. What I suggest is you log it if you decide to do one a week and try to stay at your maintenance calories (so 500-1000 more than your normal day).

Second, substitutions. Most don't work for me either. But I also don't have enough self control for one serving of something. So, what I do is make sure if I'm going to "give in," I do it when I bring that particular food to a party or when others will be around that I'll watch myself and can leave the leftovers behind

I don't have cheat days, cheat meals, etc. Since I follow an "everything in moderation" way of thinking - I eat what I want, when I want. I have learned what is the correct serving size and I follow it. I then log whatever I ate and move on. I find that I do better when I allow myself to eat whatever, whenever vs making myself wait til a certain day to eat it. I think it also helps me with binge eating - because NOTHING is off limits. Granted, there are a lot of things I simply don't eat anymore - but it's because I don't want them anymore.

I personally have a cheat day. I allow myself to have 1 meal of whatever I want. I am smart about it though so I don't completely overdue it. But it helps keep me from feeling like im on a "diet" and depriving myself.

I have a cheat day once a week and just eat whatever I want. I stay under my calories for 6 days a week, and that one day, I just don't care. For me, it's the reason why this is working. I've lost 14 lbs in two months while having that one day off. Could I have lost more by now? Yes. But I'm in this for the long haul. This is a lifestyle change for me. I won't stop eating this way from now on.

We all have certain foods that we crave specifically. The only reason I have had success this time dieting is that by using my fitness pal, I can calculate the number of calories eaten and use the overall calorie goal as my maintenance tool, therefore not completely eliminating something from my diet. The important key here is that if you do feel you need to splurge on something, you can, as long as you eat something with less calories during the other meals of the day. For example, if I know I am going to go out for dinner, I eat very lightly during the day. I will have yogurt for breakfast, salad for lunch w/some veggies or fresh fruit, thus conserving my calories for dinner time. Then, if I go over, I just do some exercise. I love how this website allows you to plug in different types of exercise and it will estimate how many calories you will burn. And it is really estimating based on your weight, because when my husband and I both do the same exercise, he burns more calories than I do because I weigh less to begin with, so it takes less energy to move my body around than his. I usually figure out how many calories the thing I am craving "costs" calorie wise before I make the decision to eat it. That way, I can adjust at the different meals and plan out what I will eat for the day and what exercise is needed to accommodate that selection. I had chips and queso today, but I waited to splurge on that little doozy until the day we had marked off to repair our fence. Digging post holes, tearing down old fence, and building new fence doesn't come up in the list, but "general carpentry" does, and I used that as a close estimate of how much I have been burning today. (WAAH! There's still more to do!) I also find it's good to splurge on things occasionally, as long as it's not very often. I'm one of those that once I get a craving for something, if I don't eat that particular thing I want, I don't feel satisfied or full until I have gotten what it was I was obsessing about. You can also kind of make up for "going over" by eating less the next day or the day before, though you don't want to routinely mess up your calorie goal. Also, cooking the thing you like yourself is generally healthier too. Whip out the grill and make your own burgers where you can pick how fatty you want your ground beef to be, or make your own recipe for your favorite thing (try allrecipes.com) and then substitute healthier ingredients such as fat free sour cream for regular sour cream, substituting apple sauce for oil in baking (makes things even more cakey consistency) or unsweetend almond milk for skim milk (Seriously, just discovered that awesome product 2 weeks ago. I thought I was doing well w/my skim milk, only to find that unsweetened almond milk has only 35 calories a cup, which is less than 1/2 the calories, and also has MORE calcium in it! It's also a bit "thicker" in texture, more like 2% or whole milk. Holy cow!) While I don't use almond milk on my cereal since it does have a slightly different flavor, I have used it for cream based sauces and in place of regular milk when baking. (It's AWESOME for homemade ice cream and in coffee drinks too!) So my basic rules are 1) OK, go ahead and splurge, just make sure you exercise or eat less calories at other meals. 2) Don't splurge very often even with making it up because while your overall calories might still be w/in your goal, you are still taking in excessive amounts of either sugar, salt, fat, or all three, 3) Try to find a way to make the desired item yourself or something that fills the craving sufficiently 4) Modify that recipe with some healthier ingredients. 5) Get to know your own body. I, for example, find that if I splurge on something early in the day I tend to feel hungrier all day long, so I try to save my "splurge" for dinner time. Some people have that reaction to sweet things in general. I also usually crave something salty over something sweet.

Cheat days don't work for me because if I give myself free reign to eat whatever I want, I'll undo all of my hard work for the week. Substitutions CAN work IF you find the right one. In your case, sour cream and onion chips. Have you tried Special K's sour cream and onion crisps? So good! I think a serving is around 27 chips and only sets you back about 110 calories. Give those a shot. If they don't work for you, try the baked version. If subs don't work at all, go ahead and get what you're craving, but be very mindful of how much you're eating. It's totally okay to have some junk food every now and then, just in way smaller doses than before. Get a taste and move on.

I don't have cheat days, cheat meals, etc. Since I follow an "everything in moderation" way of thinking - I eat what I want, when I want. I have learned what is the correct serving size and I follow it. I then log whatever I ate and move on. I find that I do better when I allow myself to eat whatever, whenever vs making myself wait til a certain day to eat it. I think it also helps me with binge eating - because NOTHING is off limits. Granted, there are a lot of things I simply don't eat anymore - but it's because I don't want them anymore.

Me too! As long as you log everything, and make sure you burn the extra calories, then anything is ok in moderation. You want chips? You're just gonna have to move your butt alittle more than day

i have one serving size of what i want and then put the rest away. i'll even put things in my basement so they're not close enough to get seconds. i don't deny myself foods or substitute though because i've learned that i'll eat it anyway so i may as well have it, log it and enjoy it.

I have one "cheat" meal a week. I set this aside in case my friends want to go out to dinner at a restaurant where I can't count calories or if I get invited to eat dinner with my brother and his family. I don't want to NOT have a social life or seem rude when people ask me over for dinner.

However, I make sure that I eat small portions. If I go out with friends I have the waiter/waitress put half of it in a to-go-box before I even see the food. This way I make sure I only eat half. Also I try to make sure I eat the healthier stuff and not the fried or greasy foods.

I am trying to find a way to change my eating habits but still eat the things I enjoy. Even on a regular day I'll eat ice cream or chips, but I make sure I eat it in the right way. I've been doing MFP for just over 25 days and I've lost 19 lbs. It's okay to stray away from your strict diet once a week. Just not make it an all day thing. This time of year people are going to have BBQ parties. You should go and enjoy yourself. You don't want to deprive yourself of the things you enjoy. If you do you're going to go crazy and then eat everything in sight!

If you are serious about doing this journey than you need to find a way to change your life forever. Not just to lose weight, but to find a way of balance. It's not an easy thing. I'm still learning and I suspect I'll keep learning as time goes on.