How often do you cheat?

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Replies

  • kbow_
    kbow_ Posts: 1 Member
    Don't be fooled. Anyone here telling you they don't cheat is a modest liar. First of all, everyone has their own definition of "cheating" since all diets and weight-loss goals vary. For me, I try to stay away from dairy, carbs, and gluten. My definition of a cheat meal would be having something I don't incorporate into my everyday diet, such as a serving of pasta or ice cream.

    When you cheat, make it something you wouldn't normally have, but do so in moderation. Savor two cookies instead of the box. Eat out and get a burger, but get water and opt for a side salad rather than fries.

    To answer your initial question, I cheat 1-2 times per week. When I cheat, I do so in moderation, and am sure to exercise that day.
  • chrislee1628
    chrislee1628 Posts: 305 Member
    I try to fit everything into the allocation of calories, but if I go over, I exercise more that day, or the next day if late at night to make up for it

    sometimes you just need to, to make it none boring and keep you going
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,585 Member
    edited June 2016
    But is it cheating if you still log it?

    In my world, no. :) To me, cheating means eating something not accounted for and not planning to account for in your diary (if you log). So, usually, I'll eat handfuls of cereal or mini marshmallows or that extra reeses piece because of this little "there are like 3 times as many orange reeses pieces in a bag than yellow or black" game I play with myself and either not log it or just log an estimate because I didn't weigh them beforehand.

    But I've never deliberately had a cheat meal because I know my limits and....I can't not have limits. :)
  • vikinglander
    vikinglander Posts: 1,547 Member
    This:
    Zipp237 wrote: »
    There is no cheating. There are only choices.

    I let the "cheats" come to me. If I come face-to-face with a slice of chocolate layer cake in my office cafeteria, meh...not so tempting. But at my brother's 50th birthday party...yeah, maybe. There has to be a good reason.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,771 Member
    edited June 2016
    I don't cheat. I make deliberate decisions to eat healthy and within my calorie goals or to say "IDGAF". If IDGAF, I had better be ready to accept the consequences....

  • AnnaNicoleFriend
    AnnaNicoleFriend Posts: 5 Member
    Oh dear, I cheat quite a bit! Try not too more than once a week but sometimes you have a lot of dinners out and I'm not about that salad life
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
    I have IDGAF days about 4 times a year (anniversay, Canada Day, birthday, Xmas). I still weigh and log those days and it's mostly going with high sodium foods. It's about mental health for me.

    I do eat mostly what I want, just not the amounts I want or the exact types I want (have HBP, so lowish sodium) for the rest of the year.
  • chrislee1628
    chrislee1628 Posts: 305 Member
    my current daily calorie allocation is 1520, some days I go over, some may call it cheating, some not, but the days that I go over, if still time left in the day, then I just get on the exercise bike and work it off, if not, then I work harder the next day to make up for it
  • Alarae21
    Alarae21 Posts: 171 Member
    I have 'unhealthy' food from time to time, but I haven't actually strayed past my maintenance calories for the day so I guess it isn't a cheat?

    I allow enough calories for mini indulgences while keeping my calorie deficit. I eat chocolate everyday. Not the healthy dark chocolate either, the delicious milkybar/snickers/twin/curly wurly kind. I love my work chocolate drawer
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
    Cheating is a choice!!!!!
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
    Crosstobear, I told my doc that I was on a diet and trying to watch my caloric intake. His response was to not worry about dieting during recovery, that conversely, eat normal and not eat to lose weight, since my hip would need those nutrients and calories. My PT said the same thing. I don't see how that is so hard to understand. If I was extremely overweight I would guess the doc might not address the diet thing since recovery is not long compared to the time it takes to lose enough weight for the weight loss to help your new hip. Just common sense in my opinion, but that's just me I guess......
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
    Also Crosstobear, if you are extremely overweight, or overweight period, it makes sense to try and lose as much as you can before a surgery and involves bearing weight, like on the ankle, knee or hip. Which is why I stared a month early to lose what I could. If you carry less, there is less stress on that new part the doc put in or the existing part the doc repaired. I doubt a doc will say "Don't worry about your diet" without you bringing up your diet in relation to the surgery. However, I think a wise doc would advise an overweight person to lose as much as they can before surgery. It is just common sense, in my opinion only.
  • VegaGirl11
    VegaGirl11 Posts: 4 Member
    I am 42 and this is my third go around of trying to earnestly lose weight. The first two times I denied myself everything. I convinced myself (or tried to) that I never wanted pizza or a cheeseburger again and both times I fell off the wagon. This time around I am at 55 pounds off and for the first time I'm not miserable. If I have a craving for example pizza, I don't pick up the phone and dial delivery right away, but I do give into my temptation. Then I go right back on my plan. I am very careful with it. If I splurge or cheat I try for the next few days to eat exceptionally clean, but I don't make myself feel guilty or beat myself up over it. I think allowing yourself those little endulgences occasionally is normal. It means you're human. The way I look at it this time around is that my goal weight is 145, so I need to eat the way a typical 145 pound women might eat. I know it isn't the way I was eating before I started this journey!!! One other thing I would like to mention is the occasional times I have had a cheat day, it has had a very positive effect on my weight loss. It's almost like it kick starts my metabolism. For example, I was experiencing about a 3 week plateau and I always weigh myself on Thursdays. I decided to cheat a bit on a Saturday and the next Thursday I had dropped 3 pounds. The following Friday I had a bit of a cheat again and again the next Thursday I dropped another 2 pounds. I don't recommend cheating once a week as I do think your body would grow accustomed and see it as the "norm", but I truly don't think am occasional chest hurts.
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
    I agree with you VegaGirl, and like you this is my third go around, and I am experiencing the same things you mentioned. I think possibly the only problem with weighing only once a week is that let's say for whatever reason you weigh the same or maybe more on that day then the week before. If you had weighed the prior day, or the next day, you might see a lower weight then the aberration that happened to hit on that weight day of the week. Some people don't like to weigh daily since it can be depressing, but I think it is more depressing putting a weeks worth of work on the hope that the weight day is truly reflective of your weight. Then again, if you don't worry so much about week to week swings, but more look at your weight monthly, then it really does not matter is you weigh once a week. Plus, we know when we are losing because our clothes start fitting better. But this is why I weigh each day, and I put my results on a graph with a pencil and ruler connecting each days weight. My graph is consistently on the downward slope, which is the goal (since my goal is to lose a pound a week), but if I look at each 7 day period individually, it is amazing the swings that appear both to the upside and downside. Today was my lowest weight yet, but had I had my weigh in day being Sundays only, I would have seen that my weight was not where I had worked hard for it to be, not knowing that the next day (today) while in itself possibly an aberration, might more accurately reflect my hard work in showing a really good loss of weight for the last 7 day period. Just my thoughts on daily weighing versus once a week weighing. Daily weighing can be too stressful for many people though. But for me this is not a short term effort this time, it is a long term effort, yet still, I like to see on a daily basis if my daily efforts are paying off, versus maybe seeing that I gained weight by just weighing one day a week. And there might be that occasional occurrence where the prior week was an aberration to the downside (which resulted in euphoria on that day), then the next week might have been an aberration to the high side, combining for a disastrous one week swing in a large weight gain, where in reality, I might have really been losing weight, however I just happened to hit the weight day on the wrong day two weeks in a row. Just my thoughts......
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,817 Member
    pluthera wrote: »
    How often do you cheat on your diet and is it beneficial?

    I never cheat on my diet.

    I really don't see the benefit in doing so.

    In fact, for the year or so prior to coming here, I ate well during the week and lost a little bit of weight, and then ate whatever I wanted on the weekends and gained that little bit of weight back ... and sometimes gained a little bit more. Ever-so-gradually I became overweight.

  • typeitdaily
    typeitdaily Posts: 3,323 Member
    edited June 2016
    Never. I fit all my foods and snacks I enjoy into my day. It is a lifestyle change for me not a diet. I always log everything I eat and hold myself accountable.

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