Will one cheat day mess up the entire week I worked hard?

I've been debating on having one day a week where I make it a cheat day. By cheat day I mean no worrying about what I'm eating and I just eat whatever I want the whole day. Will this mess up my progress I made all week? I'm not sure if I could limit myself to one cheat meal a week once I start eating unhealthy it's veey hard to stop. So it's easier to make the whole day like that. I had one day last week that was my cheat day I did fairly well and ended up only making one meal out of the whole day an unhealthy one and also didn't go to far beyond my daily calorie goal. The next 5 days I did consistently well staying on top of my exercise and eating right. My cheat day is suppose to be on Saturday, however today I could not resist temptations and I decided to switch the cheat day to today and completely went over board eating a lot higher amounts of calories than I usually do. Felt guilty then had the bright idea to also step on the scale (I was 151 yesterday weighed myself early) and now I'm back to 153. I'm felling really upset with myself for this set back and was wondering if this day of over eating messed up my past 5 days of hard work
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Replies

  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    Feeling*
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    It really depends on what you eat that day. It very well could eliminate the deficit you worked for all week. Or it could actually make you gain if you end up eating a weekly average that is a surplus. Or it could just reduce your deficit and lower your weight loss a bit for the week.

  • GMAC2016
    GMAC2016 Posts: 249 Member
    Depends. If you eat so much that you equal all your deficit it will result in no progress. But if you just eat at maintenance it will slow you down but won't stop your progress.
    The gain you see is water. Cheat foods are likely high salt as well which means you hold more water but that will pass. You won't gain 2 lbs unless your cheat day included huge butter and bacon sandwiches. Water will drop off fast when you get back at it.
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    What is your deficit daily? Do you work a treat in each day? I do and usually dont feel the need to 'cheat'.
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    My diary is free to view for anyone who wants to see
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    CICO rules. I eat light all week long but on the weekend I let go. But I am still in a deficit!
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Based on your statement that you find it hard to stop eating and your current weight, my guess is that a weekly no holds barred cheat meal will negate your other 6 deficit days.
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    GMAC2016 wrote: »
    Depends. If you eat so much that you equal all your deficit it will result in no progress. But if you just eat at maintenance it will slow you down but won't stop your progress.
    The gain you see is water. Cheat foods are likely high salt as well which means you hold more water but that will pass. You won't gain 2 lbs unless your cheat day included huge butter and bacon sandwiches. Water will drop off fast when you get back at it.

    Not sure if I have ate over my deficit or not. I've probably ate about 500 to 600 calories over my goal amount today
  • murp4069
    murp4069 Posts: 494 Member
    A cheat day or meal can erase any deficit you e created and stall your progress. Of course it all depends on how many calories you are actually consuming. For some, it's much easier to eat what you want all the time, but in reasonable portions that fit within your goal. Or eating less during the week and saving the extra calories for a cheat meal. If a cheat day or cheat meal leads to binging for you, you may want to reevaluate the way you are eating the rest of the week. Meaning eating those foods you consider "unhealthy" during the rest of the week but controlling your portions instead of confining yourself to only "healthy" foods. If you are too strict, you may binge. You'll have to figure out what works for you long term so once you lose the weight and go into maintenance, you won't start gaining again.

    I personally keep my calories a bit lower during the week and save the extra for the weekends when I know I tend to eat more. I still stay within my weekly goal and I'm losing as expected. I also don't deprive myself of what I want to eat, I just eat what I want in a portion that is appropriate for my calorie goals.

    As for the scale going up the next day, weight fluctuations are completely normal and should be expected no matter what or how much you are eating. Once you've been tracking long enough you'll be able to see patterns of weight and loss.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    edited May 2016
    One whole day of eating whatever you want could easily use up all the calorie deficit you spend the previous 6 days creating. When a single restaurant dinner can easily put 2000 calories and 2000 mg sodium into you, the temptation of reckless abandon should seem less delightful. How long have you been using mfp to log your food and count calories? If this is less than a month since you began and is your first cheat day, then go ahead and have it, but accurately record everything you eat so that you can know exactly how much pain you have to go through to deal with this reversion. Weekends are the time I take Mrs out to a nice restaurant. I can find stuff at most every place to fit on my plan and I don't call 'a nice meal that fits my plan' a cheat.


    OK, now that I've read your whole post ... You can be sure that you had too much sodium and you are going to retain excess water for a week. Don't feel bad about that. Just be patient. Unless your incredible day of excess netted an extra 3500 calories plus whatever deficit you'd assembled in the week prior, you will not gain 1 pound of fat from this. I haven't looked at your food diary, but I will say that if you're fairly new to this logging journey you probably don't have a good grasp of nutrient-dense low-cal foods and thus you probably had developed a deficiency of several nutrients the craving of which exacerbated your eating today.

    And now I've looked at several days of your diary. Counting last Saturday's 2 calories over plan and adding several days of severe under-eating to get to today's pizza party, you still have 932* calories of deficit to your plan and your plan is going to have another 1000 or so deficit to your TDEE. You are doing fine for the week and you'll lose some fat. You just won't be able to see it on the scale until the excess sodium works off in a few days.

    * Assuming of course that you accurately recorded each thing you ate.
  • babyphoenix
    babyphoenix Posts: 20 Member
    I did this for about...a decade? And my weight never went down consistently. Even though I didn't think I ate that much, it was enough to halt any progress I could have made. I wanted so badly to be able to eat at least one day without caring about calories, but have finally accepted that I can't do that any longer. Plus I always felt like I had a 'food hangover' the next day, feeling sluggish and tired. Some people can have cheat days...I need to plan ahead and make sure it fits in my day's calories.
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Based on your statement that you find it hard to stop eating and your current weight, my guess is that a weekly no holds barred cheat meal will negate your other 6 deficit days.

    I agree with this. I'm 4 1/2 months into this and if I really want to eat more, I exercise like crazy, but still keep my eating at a deficit overall.
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    mkakids wrote: »
    What is your deficit daily? Do you work a treat in each day? I do and usually dont feel the need to 'cheat'.

    I'm not sure what my deficit is honestly. I have had plenty of leftover calories the past couple days between 200 to 300 from what you diary says. And I do have a 1 or 2 fiber one desserts after dinner that's kind of like a cheat snack for me daily.
  • llbrixon
    llbrixon Posts: 964 Member
    Nope! Count it as a maintenance day and get back on track as soon as you can
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Based on your statement that you find it hard to stop eating and your current weight, my guess is that a weekly no holds barred cheat meal will negate your other 6 deficit days.

    Alright I guess no more cheat days for me then
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Just log everything and do the math. 3500 calories = 1 pound. If you're set to lose 1 pound a week, it's a 3500 calorie deficit per week, so 500 calorie deficit per day.

    So if you eat 4000 calories over your goal on your cheat day, you'll wipe off your deficit. If you eat 1000 calories over your goal one day, you'll just lose a bit over half a pound that week, etc...
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
    edited May 2016
    Don't sabotage your whole week with a cheat day. Do a cheat meal where you have 2-3 hours where you get to eat whatever you want. If you're truly eating healthy you'll feel like *kitten* when you eat something unhealthy so to be honest your cheat meals will likely get healthier every week.

    But eat healthy for 2 weeks before your first meal. Then you may have them weekly.
  • GMAC2016
    GMAC2016 Posts: 249 Member
    Measure everything, even on cheat days as best you can. You may be surprised how many calories you take in when you aren't watching. Beer is my weakness, 2 beers nullifies my days progress but now I know that so I can compensate. Measure, then you will know, even if you don't really want to know...
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Based on your statement that you find it hard to stop eating and your current weight, my guess is that a weekly no holds barred cheat meal will negate your other 6 deficit days.

    Alright I guess no more cheat days for me then

    You can have a 'cheat', it just needs to be logged accurately to assess if you are maintaining a weekly deficit. If you are, and are happy with your rate of loss...then great! If not, and your not losing or not losing as quickly as you would like, then cut back the cheat day (either in quanity or frequency).
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    So eating smaller portions of foods i like every now and then while still staying in my goal amount of calories to eat is better for me if I want to continue to lose weight? I didn't know that one day could mess up the hard work I've made the past couple of days
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Just log everything and do the math. 3500 calories = 1 pound. If you're set to lose 1 pound a week, it's a 3500 calorie deficit per week, so 500 calorie deficit per day.

    So if you eat 4000 calories over your goal on your cheat day, you'll wipe off your deficit. If you eat 1000 calories over your goal one day, you'll just lose a bit over half a pound that week, etc...

    Thank you for explaining that! I wasn't sure how to figure out my deficit.
  • murp4069
    murp4069 Posts: 494 Member
    So eating smaller portions of foods i like every now and then while still staying in my goal amount of calories to eat is better for me if I want to continue to lose weight? I didn't know that one day could mess up the hard work I've made the past couple of days

    That is a strategy that many people find the best. That's how I approach it and lose consistently. It's really about what works best for you, and based on your posts it sounds like it is a strategy you should try out to see if that helps you stay within your daily and weekly goals.

  • Jcl81
    Jcl81 Posts: 154 Member
    edited May 2016
    Yes, if it's a ridiculous amount of calories. I see this in lots of people consistent for five days then blow it on sat and sun. All a person has to do is eat extra calories like two whoppers from Burger King and that could throw of a pound loss for a week.
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    One whole day of eating whatever you want could easily use up all the calorie deficit you spend the previous 6 days creating. When a single restaurant dinner can easily put 2000 calories and 2000 mg sodium into you, the temptation of reckless abandon should seem less delightful. How long have you been using mfp to log your food and count calories? If this is less than a month since you began and is your first cheat day, then go ahead and have it, but accurately record everything you eat so that you can know exactly how much pain you have to go through to deal with this reversion. Weekends are the time I take Mrs out to a nice restaurant. I can find stuff at most every place to fit on my plan and I don't call 'a nice meal that fits my plan' a cheat.


    OK, now that I've read your whole post ... You can be sure that you had too much sodium and you are going to retain excess water for a week. Don't feel bad about that. Just be patient. Unless your incredible day of excess netted an extra 3500 calories plus whatever deficit you'd assembled in the week prior, you will not gain 1 pound of fat from this. I haven't looked at your food diary, but I will say that if you're fairly new to this logging journey you probably don't have a good grasp of nutrient-dense low-cal foods and thus you probably had developed a deficiency of several nutrients the craving of which exacerbated your eating today.

    And now I've looked at several days of your diary. Counting last Saturday's 2 calories over plan and adding several days of severe under-eating to get to today's pizza party, you still have 932 calories of deficit to your plan and your plan is going to have another 1000 or so deficit to your TDEE. You are doing fine for the week and you'll lose some fat. You just won't be able to see it on the scale until the excess sodium works off in a few days.

    OK yes I haven't eaten 3500 extra calories today. And yes I'm still fairly new I've been logging in 9 days now. I have been trying to eat a variety of many healthy foods.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member

    OK yes I haven't eaten 3500 extra calories today. And yes I'm still fairly new I've been logging in 9 days now. I have been trying to eat a variety of many healthy foods.

    I recognize that and clearly you're being conscientious about trying to eat healthy food. Adding more healthy food to get closer to your mfp goal will help you conquer cravings and bingeing. There are many delicious and yummy ways to do that. You don't need to eat more lettuce.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    edited May 2016
    OP

    You have to be confident, basically know with certainty, that you will limit with the other days. You can't be upset or negatively emotional over a few lbs gain because negative emotions can cloud your judgment or sabotage your progress. Doubts can also destroy the enjoyment of your "cheat day".

    My approach is simple. I enjoy dining all the way when the opportunities arrive. The opportunities I set are special events, the foods/places I really really like, or when I just lost too much wt; and I just eat less, exercise more on the other days, which isn't hard at all because it removes the burden of looking for foods, counting, logging, there's actually more time for other things; there's no craving or I can just enjoy it next time; I find exercising in the energetic state very easy; and ultimately you do what you like. When you do something you actually like, it doesn't feel hard. I'm not missing out on birthdays, Mothers Day, Father's Day, etc.

    So far it's working because the opportunity days are fewer than the regular days. Probably won't work for Oprah because everyday is a special day for her!! :)
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    GMAC2016 wrote: »
    Measure everything, even on cheat days as best you can. You may be surprised how many calories you take in when you aren't watching. Beer is my weakness, 2 beers nullifies my days progress but now I know that so I can compensate. Measure, then you will know, even if you don't really want to know...

    Yes I've been logging almost everything in for today even though it makes me cringe to see it. My cravings are mostly from any types of junk foods and fast food. I ate that for so long I crave it some days really bad and some days I'm fine.
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member

    OK yes I haven't eaten 3500 extra calories today. And yes I'm still fairly new I've been logging in 9 days now. I have been trying to eat a variety of many healthy foods.

    I recognize that and clearly you're being conscientious about trying to eat healthy food. Adding more healthy food to get closer to your mfp goal will help you conquer cravings and bingeing. There are many delicious and yummy ways to do that. You don't need to eat more lettuce.

    Yes, I use to binge many days before starting this journey. Hopefully I can pick back up on a better note tomorrow.
  • theresahopeveal
    theresahopeveal Posts: 38 Member
    Will drinking more water help rid my body of the excess sodium I've consumed today?