Will one cheat day mess up the entire week I worked hard?
theresahopeveal
Posts: 38 Member
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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Feeling*0
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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.
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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.2 -
What is your deficit daily? Do you work a treat in each day? I do and usually dont feel the need to 'cheat'.2
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My diary is free to view for anyone who wants to see0
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CICO rules. I eat light all week long but on the weekend I let go. But I am still in a deficit!3
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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.4
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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 today0 -
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.3 -
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.3 -
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.2
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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.0 -
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.0 -
Nope! Count it as a maintenance day and get back on track as soon as you can0
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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...3 -
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.1 -
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...0
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theresahopeveal wrote: »
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).1 -
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 days0
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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.0 -
theresahopeveal wrote: »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.
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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.0
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It totally depends on a lot of factors, mostly how much you're going over compared to how you did the rest of the week.
But you sound a lot like me- I've tried SO many ways to accommodate a cheat meal or cheat day (since, like you, stopping at ONE cheat meal is really hard for me) but I've found that likewise, one cheat day leads to other cheat days, until before I know it every day is a cheat day. Yet banning foods doesn't work for me either! So where is the compromise?
Here are a few things that I've worked on that have helped me:
* Logging the cheat days too. I might not close out my diary to show the world, but I log it. It keeps me accountable and allows me to go back and see what does/doesn't work for me
* Kinda goes in hand with the above: try to save up calories during the week so you can cheat on the weekend and not go over your weekly goal. For example, my goal is 1500 cals/day. If I know I'm going to cheat on the weekend, I'll try to eat closer to 1200-1400 all week so I have extra for the weekend. I THINK there's a way to track based on weekly goals rather than daily but I'm not sure how to do that- you could always do it manually though
* To avoid going waaaaaay over because every meal that day is a cheat: Make your cheat meal a dinner or post-dinner treat whenever possible. If I cheat early in the day, I'm likely to cheat all day. But if I eat light and healthy during the day, I can stick with one cheat meal at night.
* Whenever possible, plan exactly what day and meal will be your cheat. If you have plans with friends or a significant other, let them know! I often tell my husband "I want to splurge Saturday night so that means no pancakes Sunday morning, okay?" or something along those lines.
* Choose healthy "cheats." At home, I might try a Hungry Girl or Skinnytaste.com recipe- where there are healthy versions of tasty "bad" foods I normally would avoid. Eating out I try to choose places with a good variety of healthier options. If you have Cheesecake Factory, their "skinny" menu is incredible- two pages of options, and a huge variety- meat, salad, pasta, Mexican food, drinks, you name it. Of course that also means avoiding the cheesecake- or making it your cheat instead!
* Don't weigh in every day! So many things affect the scale- what you ate, how much sodium it had, if it's that time of the month, if you pooped that day, etc. You WILL drive yourself crazy and feel discouraged and frustrated if you weight every day.
*** Disclaimer: this is what has helped ME and MIGHT help SOME people. I'm not saying this is THE solution. What works for one person might not work for another.***5 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »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.0 -
theresahopeveal wrote: »
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.
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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!!
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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.0 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »theresahopeveal wrote: »
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.0 -
Will drinking more water help rid my body of the excess sodium I've consumed today?0
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