Cheat day?

DevaFae
DevaFae Posts: 17
edited September 19 in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard mention of a "cheat day" where the diet is abandoned for a 24 hour period and you can eat anything you want. This is supposedly going to help your metabolism stay active and not slow down. Does anyone know if this is actually true? I mean, to me, sitting down after a hard week of dieting and eating a bag of cheeseburgers, fries and a milkshake isn't going to help you at all. Its seems rather counter-productive. :huh: Any ideas?

Thanks! :smile:

Replies

  • DevaFae
    DevaFae Posts: 17
    I've heard mention of a "cheat day" where the diet is abandoned for a 24 hour period and you can eat anything you want. This is supposedly going to help your metabolism stay active and not slow down. Does anyone know if this is actually true? I mean, to me, sitting down after a hard week of dieting and eating a bag of cheeseburgers, fries and a milkshake isn't going to help you at all. Its seems rather counter-productive. :huh: Any ideas?

    Thanks! :smile:
  • MrsTomy
    MrsTomy Posts: 504 Member
    A whole day of cheating could be bad...you could eat enough to actually gain (if you tried hard enough). What i do (or try to do) is eat a bad meal a week. So...you have been craving pizza? Have pizza one night, even if you go over on calories. If you eat reasonably the rest of the day, it would be very difficult to eat enough in one meal to sabotage the rest of your week! If you are feeling guilty about it you cuold even exercise extra to allow for the extra calories!

    Good luck!
  • Chellekk
    Chellekk Posts: 421 Member
    I don't think a cheat day means that you can eat anything you want. It means you can cheat by going over your calorie total for the day, but I wouldn't go over 1000. My cheat day means I go out to eat, but only go over by 500 or so. Set a limit or you will go over by a lot and eat what ever.
  • Lettuce13
    Lettuce13 Posts: 22
    I agree with the idea of a "cheat meal" rather than a day of cheating. If I exercise more on a day like that I feel that I am at least offsetting some of my "cheating."
  • lessertess
    lessertess Posts: 855 Member
    There are some advantages of a "cheat day" but you need to be cautious. If every day of the week you have a 500 calorie deficit and then on day 7 you go over your calories by 2500 then you'll be seriously slowing down your weight loss. Think of it more as a cheat meal not a day. Indulge but don't binge. Also, you don't necessarily need to do it every week.

    It is nice to take a day off occasionally and not worry too much about your calories.
  • mdebroy
    mdebroy Posts: 30
    I always found cheat days very important actually. But keep in mind that you shouldn't eat like three cheese burgers and a super size milkshake, but on cheat day don't feel bad about going to a restaurant for dinner. don't feel bad about that doughnut. Just try to keep it in line. Don't gorge until you puke either just have a treat because you deserve it. Also make sure you stay active it helps. Cheat day is that day of the week you can look forward to and know that chocolate bar you have been drooling over you can have. (Or if you're like me you think you want it then you try it and it was not nearly as good as you remembered it being...I still haven't been able to eat processed foods) good luck!
  • sarabear
    sarabear Posts: 864
    My cheat day is Saturday, I don't go overboard though, I just pick something that I've been wanting, fries, pizza, cheeseburger, only a small one, like a jr whopper, I'd LOVE to eat a regular whopper but that's going overboard. I think that if you totally cut out all the foods you enjoy you are going to binge on them sometime, prob sooner than later, then that's when it gets bad. I once went like two months without junk then bam one day I went all out, whopper, fries, chicken nuggets, the whole nine yards. I on the other hand feel like crap after I eat it, tired, and more hungry because I ate junk, and low on fuel.
  • fjtcjt
    fjtcjt Posts: 199
    I have in the past and I am currently on a similar diet with the cheat day. It is difficult for some people to stay on track for a 12 week period or longer with a strict diet so by allowing one cheat day a week, it gives a person a short term goal to shoot for. During the week a person may be less likely to cheat if they know in a couple of more days they can have that bowl of ice cream or a piece of pie...However, if you don't cheat once a week you should see results faster. The cheat day may help with the metabolism, but it still adds those extra calories that need to be burned off before you get to burning the fat. Also, the net calories for the entire week should remain under your goal caloric intake for the week no matter how you decide to diet if you want to lose weight. Of course, these are my opinions only. Body-for-Life uses this strategy and the results speak for themselves. When I did this a few years back, I had great results. My cheat days were not tons of extra calories, but this would be the day that I might have that beverage while watching football or I might actually eat some fries with the burger knowing that I would be good and clean the next six days.
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