How do cheat days work?

Maybe, maybe not. For some, they can easily undo their weekly deficit with a cheat day.

I prefer to work cake, pizza, and ice cream into my calories and macros. I have pizza almost every Friday, ice cream a couple times a week, and cake for special occasions IF it fits (I passed a slice up last week because it didn't).

You can't cheat on food. It's food. I eat what I want within my calorie goals, log it and move on.

The concept of "cheat" days/meals has become more and more popular on these forums recently and is, for many, not required and possibly harmful to their attempts to lose weight.

I think that the idea of cheat meals has come from the bodybuilding/fitness competitor world (where there is some - but not as much as some would have you believe) evidence of benefits. IMHO is that for most, they are a bad thing. If you're overweight or obese they are not required (although there will be people who have used them with success) and may derail your loss for the week.

For competitors approaching stage body fat levels (at least sub 10% BF for men), cheat meals are employed to either:

• Give the dieter a mental break from the monotony of diet food
• Restore leptin levels*
• Replenish glycogen to give muscles a fuller appearance**
• Replenish gylcogen to give a boost to subsequent work outs (or recover better from earlier work-outs)

*it's worth noting that the current understanding is that you need longer than 1 meal, or even 1 day to restore leptin levels. I seem to recall reading that it is in the region of 3 to 4 days.
** This would only be employed very, very close to stage time and is likely to be much more controlled than "go out and eat pizza".

TL:DNR if you're fat - forget cheat meals or at least plan the meal and track it to ensure you meet your weekly target.

MarlowJo13 wrote: »

My cheat day is one meal or two small snacks that are "bad". Generally this means a small can of pringles and some candy (those are my weakness!)

So you classify some foods as "bad" and then allow yourself to eat them, but classify that as "cheating"?

Your not a puppy or a 4 yr old

Just show some will power

I'm on about a 3 week cheat meal... Lol. I've been famished lately. It's okay. I'll just call it a mini bulk.

I dont get the rationale behind a cheat anything. If this is truly a lifestyle change (and it is for me), then I cant live one way during the week and another way on the weekend - its like being a vegetarian but eating bacon on sunday!

I dont restrict anything - I find a way to fit it into my calorie allotment - beers, cake, sweets - anything. Cuz I really CAN eat this way for the rest of my life, and cannot live with trying to balance good days and cheat days - thats how I got fat.

You don't have to avoid foods you like to lose weight, just watch your portions and make sure they are included in your calories for the day. Like pizza. I LOVE pizza, so not eating it is out of the question so when I make sure it fits in my alotted calories for the day which could be take out pizza even, just not eating as much as I would if I wasn't trying to lose weight.

That's just it, they don't really work. One cheat day or cheat meal can easily undo all your hard work for the entire week. It's just not worth it. Eat what you love every day, just stay within your calorie goals and you don't need cheat meals or days.

I'm so new to all this, i cant fathom a cheat meal. I did however go to brunch at O'Charley's sunday morning with family. I tried to just "keep it reasonable" and made up for it during the rest of the day.

Since this question comes up quite often here, I figure I will just copy one of my responses from a Cheat Day/Meal Thread earlier this week since it seems relevant... there are a number of different ways of looking at this. Most people here work some indulgences into their overall diet (noun). Whether they do that in the form of an infrequent "cheat" day/meal or whether they work in the indulgences on a more regular basis - most people do not strictly adhere to a life with no "treats".

Beyond the impact of a cheat day/meal on your total calorie consumption, there can be a psychological impact to the concept as well. Some people find that calling things "cheat" meals implies that they are being "bad" and this creates negative thoughts around food (something that many people here struggle with to begin with). Some people find that having those free for all meals/days can set off a binge/restrict cycle, something else that people here often struggle with. Others find that if they are managing a small deficit to begin with, that having a meal or day where they don't track calories at all can hinder their progress, basically destroying their weekly deficit in one meal/day, which can be very discouraging.

Personally, I work the foods I enjoy in on as regular a basis as I can accommodate in my calorie allotment. I have a glass or two of wine pretty much every day, as well as something sweet like a piece of chocolate, a small serving of ice cream, etc. About once a week I have pizza or a fast casual meal like Qdoba that tends to be a little larger than my normal meals, and then about once a month I go out with friends or my husband and have a much more indulgent meal or a big dessert. I plan for those meals and bank calories in the days leading up to them, do extra exercise the day of the event, and log everything anyway. Even if I am over my daily calories quite significantly, I try to make sure that it doesn't put me outside my maintenance calorie total for the week. This has worked well for me, but I wouldn't call any of those things "cheating", but then again, I also don't call this a "diet". It's just how I choose to manage my calories.