Cheat Day Woes
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eyeshinebright
Posts: 51 Member
I generally don't think about cheat days until they spontaneously happen (for example, cake at work for someone's birthday, or the impromptu 'let's go out for a couple drinks' night).
However, I tend to feel really bad afterwards. I feel guilty and wretched emotionally. I usually get over it once I realized it didn't affect my progress much or at all, but does anyone else feel this way?
However, I tend to feel really bad afterwards. I feel guilty and wretched emotionally. I usually get over it once I realized it didn't affect my progress much or at all, but does anyone else feel this way?
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Cheat days (or what I call refeed days) are critical to long term weight loss. Slot them in at least biweekly and enjoy!0
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Interesting article, I'll do some more research on this.
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Save the guilt for things you should actually feel bad about. The negative self-talk is worse for you than the cake.
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It's called life. It's gonna happen from time to time. Just accept it and move on. In the grand scheme of things, it's a drop in the bucket.0
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I go for a weekly deficit. This allows for a lot of spontaneous things to come up that I don't feel guilty over. And I have no issues saying no if I've already had a few too many spontaneous things that week. As this is (for me) about real life and doing this the rest of my life. I will probably always have some ups (mmmm cake, wine, chocolate) and downs (days when I stick to my diet) with my weight so being mindful, tracking, and learning to enjoy moments as well as know when to say 'no thanks' is just part of the whole scheme of things.
I am also learning (slowly) that a couple bites are the real yummy parts and that stuffing my face doesn't make it any better, so I now take a little bit of everything I want (instead of my HUGE portions I used to have, and I of course still log it)****...
****Disclaimer I haven't learn this re: wine yet (ha ha ha)
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Charlot4444 wrote: »I go for a weekly deficit. This allows for a lot of spontaneous things to come up that I don't feel guilty over. And I have no issues saying no if I've already had a few too many spontaneous things that week. As this is (for me) about real life and doing this the rest of my life. I will probably always have some ups (mmmm cake, wine, chocolate) and downs (days when I stick to my diet) with my weight so being mindful, tracking, and learning to enjoy moments as well as know when to say 'no thanks' is just part of the whole scheme of things.
I am also learning (slowly) that a couple bites are the real yummy parts and that stuffing my face doesn't make it any better, so I now take a little bit of everything I want (instead of my HUGE portions I used to have, and I of course still log it)****...
****Disclaimer I haven't learn this re: wine yet (ha ha ha)
Haha, that makes sense! I try to go for much smaller portions when cheating now, I still feel bad but I'm going to try to break myself out of that. Wine is tough but so lovely
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Cheat days (or what I call refeed days) are critical to long term weight loss. Slot them in at least biweekly and enjoy!
For you, maybe. Not for everyone.
If by "cheat day" you mean a whole day to just eat whatever I want and not log it, I don't do those because one cheat day usually leads to two, then three, then four....
I do agree that it's important to not be too restrictive, so instead of cheat days, I incorporate treats in my daily menu. I have dark chocolate almost every night, for example. On Friday night, my husband said "We haven't gone out for ice cream in a while. Let's do that tomorrow" so I planned my Saturday accordingly.
Sure, sometimes things come up unexpectedly. But then I try to do the best I can without going overboard and make up for it with exercise or eating less the next day.
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I don't have cheat days because I think that does set us up for negative feelings and guilt about the foods we are eating. I work the foods I love in every day or every week or every month. I tend to have more indulgent weekends so I bank some calories during the week so I can use them on the weekend, but I don't call them cheat days because I don't find that mindset helpful. I also do have occasions like you're describing OP, where I have something spontaneous that takes me far over my calorie goal, but I know these things are part of life, and they are fun, and I'm not willing to give things like that up. Plus I know it really doesn't detail my progress in the grand scheme of things.
OP is the plan you are on too restrictive, and that's why you feel that these unplanned outings should make you feel guilty? What kind of daily deficit do you have, and when you go over, how far over are we talking? It's possible you still have an overall deficit for the week.
Lose the feelings of guilt, that doesn't sound like a healthy outlook about food... It's just food. It shouldn't make you feel guilty.0 -
During my first 16 weeks here, I did not have a single day where I went over my calorie limit. None.
If I wanted to eat more, I exercised more to compensate. For example, I had half a small cheesecake on my birthday in the middle of that ... but I cycled about 60 km first to compensate for it.
I lost 15 kg in those 16 weeks.
Then I took a month off logging, but still did a lot of exercise, and debated about continuing with the diet or not. That helped ... it actually showed me how my tastes had changed. I didn't want so much sweet or salty stuff. Tried to eat lots of donuts ... couldn't do it. Tried to eat a whole bag of chips ... couldn't do it.
I decided to continue the diet, and for the next 16 weeks, I did not have a single day where I went over my calorie limit.
I lost 11 more kg in that time.
Then I started taking diet breaks now and then, and have more or less been maintaining. So it's not forever. For me, sticking with it for 16 weeks at a time is doable. I know there's an end to it so I can refuse the foods that don't fit into my diet now, and know that in just a few weeks I can have them again. 0 -
I gave some thought to your comments and the article. I think the OP was thinking more about guilt related to the occasional sweet treat that comes with lots of processed sugars and guilt as opposed to what this article discusses, liptin/carbs and refeeding.
From what I gather this article actually says avoiding "bingeing" on things like cakes and sweets and whatnot, but carb-loading to get liptin levels back up to kick start weight loss again. So you and OP not exactly thinking the same things as far as I can tell..
However I enjoyed the article and had no idea refeeding was essential and will definitely consider how to incorp this as it is a scary notion from the "never done it before" perspective.
OP- The cakes for bdays and ocasional treat isn't going to kill overall progress. You changing how you look at them is the first step in getting rid of the guilt. Don't think of it as cheating, cheating is naughty. Think of it as saying yes once in a while and remember to log it and move on with your life. My yes days can be as awful as cheese fondue and wine in excess. Talk about sodium and calories X,x. Log it and move on and enjoy the fact that you enjoyed it 0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »I don't have cheat days because I think that does set us up for negative feelings and guilt about the foods we are eating. I work the foods I love in every day or every week or every month. I tend to have more indulgent weekends so I bank some calories during the week so I can use them on the weekend, but I don't call them cheat days because I don't find that mindset helpful. I also do have occasions like you're describing OP, where I have something spontaneous that takes me far over my calorie goal, but I know these things are part of life, and they are fun, and I'm not willing to give things like that up. Plus I know it really doesn't detail my progress in the grand scheme of things.
OP is the plan you are on too restrictive, and that's why you feel that these unplanned outings should make you feel guilty? What kind of daily deficit do you have, and when you go over, how far over are we talking? It's possible you still have an overall deficit for the week.
Lose the feelings of guilt, that doesn't sound like a healthy outlook about food... It's just food. It shouldn't make you feel guilty.
I usually try to fit the cheat meals into my calorie goals. I'm currently on 1320 calories a day. I don't pay too much attention to macros other than getting enough protein and fiber in. So the guilt mostly comes from the fear of not being able to stop cheating I guess? I'm still relatively new at watching my food intake so closely, about two months or so. I get worried that I haven't formed the necessary lifestyle changes yet and that worry increases whenever I cheat.0 -
I gave some thought to your comments and the article. I think the OP was thinking more about guilt related to the occasional sweet treat that comes with lots of processed sugars and guilt as opposed to what this article discusses, liptin/carbs and refeeding.
From what I gather this article actually says avoiding "bingeing" on things like cakes and sweets and whatnot, but carb-loading to get liptin levels back up to kick start weight loss again. So you and OP not exactly thinking the same things as far as I can tell..
However I enjoyed the article and had no idea refeeding was essential and will definitely consider how to incorp this as it is a scary notion from the "never done it before" perspective.
OP- The cakes for bdays and ocasional treat isn't going to kill overall progress. You changing how you look at them is the first step in getting rid of the guilt. Don't think of it as cheating, cheating is naughty. Think of it as saying yes once in a while and remember to log it and move on with your life. My yes days can be as awful as cheese fondue and wine in excess. Talk about sodium and calories X,x. Log it and move on and enjoy the fact that you enjoyed it
Thank you... as some others have mentioned, I think I sometimes have a not so great relationship with food. When I was younger, around 12-13 I used to starve myself. I've learned from that and have never done it again, but my weight has definitely yo-yoed since then. Also my self-image issues are kind of terrible right now. It's going to take some time to get used to all of this since I'm relatively new to healthy eating nearly 100% of the time. I was never really horrible, but I definitely used to splurge a lot more.0 -
The birthday cake at work was actually me yesterday. I wanted so badly to say "no thank you", but didn't want to be rude. I ate the smallest piece of black forest cake and felt so guilty that I spent extra time on the treadmill last night burning calories. Realistically, in the big picture, one piece of cake won't make the pounds re-appear and I know that. It is funny how your mind plays guilt tricks on you. We are all on a weight loss journey but we shouldn't be food miserable all the time. A treat is just that...a treat. We all deserve a small treat every now and then. Don't beat yourself up about it. 0
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I think in short the existence of cheat (binge?) days correlates with one's discipline. Some people can fit in 2 of those days a week while others can't in 2 years.
My brother in law, who's fit, doesn't count calories. When we get together he just eats until he's full but then I was told that on "regular" days he just doesn't bother to eat. Some people just don't put much priority in eating.0 -
I just had an all you can eat yesterday after losing 8 lbs last month, and I felt it was the end of world... No all you can eat this month0
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eyeshinebright wrote: »I generally don't think about cheat days until they spontaneously happen (for example, cake at work for someone's birthday, or the impromptu 'let's go out for a couple drinks' night).
However, I tend to feel really bad afterwards. I feel guilty and wretched emotionally. I usually get over it once I realized it didn't affect my progress much or at all, but does anyone else feel this way?
Here's a new twist to consider - I wonder if you are feeling physically bad and interpreting it as feeling emotionally bad? I feel physically bad after overly sweet supermarket birthday cake and when I've had too much to drink (for me) the night before.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »eyeshinebright wrote: »I generally don't think about cheat days until they spontaneously happen (for example, cake at work for someone's birthday, or the impromptu 'let's go out for a couple drinks' night).
However, I tend to feel really bad afterwards. I feel guilty and wretched emotionally. I usually get over it once I realized it didn't affect my progress much or at all, but does anyone else feel this way?
Here's a new twist to consider - I wonder if you are feeling physically bad and interpreting it as feeling emotionally bad? I feel physically bad after overly sweet supermarket birthday cake and when I've had too much to drink (for me) the night before.
Haha, sometimes I feel physically sick so yes it does tie into it. However I'm not sure if it's my guilt causing me to feel sick as I happen to feel physically sick for other reasons some times (anxiety, fear, etc).
I think also when we're not used to eating overly processed foods anymore, it can wreck havoc on our systems.0
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