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Cheat day..yes or no?
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I really think it's a mental game/ trap to have a cheat day. We can be doing great for the whole week and then wreck all of our progress easily in a day by overindulgence. I feel strongly about being in control of your choices and conscious of the outcome. There is nothing wrong with having a piece of cake or chocolate if you really want it. Just count it. Ask yourself if it's worth it. Be aware of the calories and fat.
It's just living life. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to live healthy and happy. So find that balance that lets you do that.
I have known people that went on diets and plans that I knew would work and they complained about them not working. What they would then mention is they would have a cheat day and eat a tub of ice cream, a whole pizza, pancakes, bacon, and drink the night away. In that one day they completely ate their previous success!
Your plan only works if you stick with it.
Yesterday I had a very social day and went over my calories a bit, but I was still careful. I will stay in my range this week and walk a little more and be fine. No guilt, just life. We drink lots of water and dance on to the beat of our own drummer!
I learned long ago to decide what I want most and make it fit into my plan.
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I have a cheat day once a week. basically I just eat the number of calories I need for maintenance on that day, the extra 500+ is nice to have, and often I don't even make it. It hasn't stalled my progress, it keeps me less cranky, and honestly I feel like it's showing me what I will eat like when I am at maintenance. Forming habits now to last a lifetime.
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I was told you need a cheat day to keep your metabolism ruining smooth. I didn't start incorporating cheat days until I hit goal though. I was determined to get my 80lbs off. Now I have a weekly dinner out, with an appetizer, dessert & drink .... it gives you something to look forward to for all the hard work you do during the week. As long as you stay within reasonable calories count and get right back on it the next day---very good choice I think. So yes!
Keep up the great work!2 -
addily1986 wrote: »When starting my diet I thought to myself "I'm not sure I can do this...I need a cheat day." Now my mind is telling me yes cheat day! ...but it's telling me to cheat every day so I'm trying not to listen.
What are other peoples viewpoints on a cheat day?
Dieting is hard work any time of the year you do it. But it feels especially hard for me in the summer because of all the fun social things happening. I mean have you ever tried to float the river without a beer? BORING.
I would say do a cheat day after you've reached ur goal. Doing cheat days while working towards goal weight is just setting yourself back. If you do have a slip up then you might start to keep eating cheat day foods and fall back into bad habits . It's easier to control the eating habits after you've reached your goal and you'll know how much work it takes to get that weight off. It's also a easier way to suppress those cheat day cravings that got you to the point your at now trying to loose all the weight if you wait til you accomplish your goal first.
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dont do a cheat day do a cheat meal once and a while, and as long as it fits your macros you should be cool0
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I try not to schedule my cheat days but if I happen to be out with a group of friends and I want a burger and fries I will knowing that I did well during the month kind of makes up for that 1 bad meal I had0
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No cheat day. I work too hard for that. I have a cheat dinner. The night after I weigh in, if I've lost, I have what I want.0
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You can fit a "cheat meal" into your weekly deficit. I personally do 2 lower calorie day below my normal deficit so that on saturday I can have a higher caloric meal than I could otherwise "afford" with my goal.3
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Okay guys and what if I am eating healthy but every now and then I eat a thin slice of sacher cake or any cake? Not a full massive slice of cake but like a paper thin slice of cake.... Is that a cheat day???0
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Okay guys and what if I am eating healthy but every now and then I eat a thin slice of sacher cake or any cake? Not a full massive slice of cake but like a paper thin slice of cake.... Is that a cheat day???
Does the cake fit in your calorie goal for the day? If so, I wouldn't call that cheating. Does the cake fit your calorie goal for the week? If so, I wouldn't call that cheating. Does eating the cake take you out of a deficit for the week but you are not exceeding your maintenance cals? If so I wouldn't call that cheating...
Bottom line, it really doesn't matter what you call it. If you want the cake, can fit the cake into your calorie goals, it doesn't derail your overall progress, it tastes good and it makes you happy... why wouldn't you eat it? Call it a cheat day if it makes you happy but I don't care for the term. I also don't consider this a "diet" either, it's just the way I eat.
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From my past weight loss attempts I know that PLANNNING a cheat day is a big red NO. I end up falling off the wagon and struggle to get back on under all those calories i ate. Besides, there will be days where you go somewhere and eat out. They come along inevitably. THAT is what I want to give into. If I have cheat days, then inevitably on that day I go out I end up with an impromptu second cheat day.
However, choosing a day off every now and then is fine. I'll probably try to make it so the extra calories are offset by my deficit.0 -
i have never had a cheat day in 10 months. I have had cheat meals or cheat snacks but a whole day..nope. For me its the fact that i have come too far for that kind of stuff
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I plan a cheat meal/day once a week
When cutting, I find it essential when under 10% or fat loss stalls.1 -
Cheats on macros: ok.
Cheats on calories for an entire day: dangerous, dangerous game.2 -
Let's go back to why burger and fries is a bad meal. Oh, how I wish it wasn't. But the potatoes are so high in carbs, and they fry them in oil, and cover them in salt. Yikes. Then the burger is fatty, the bun is carb high, the cheese, the ketchup, oh my.... when I lose 15 pounds I'm having a donut. When I lose 20? Burger and fries.0
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I don[t do an entire cheat day but I'll do a cheat meal every now and again. Most of the time my cheat meal is dinner so every now and again, maybe at least once a month i'll treat myself to chinese food or pizza. I try not to make it too much of a habit though because it can quickly get you off track.0
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Let's go back to why burger and fries is a bad meal. Oh, how I wish it wasn't. But the potatoes are so high in carbs, and they fry them in oil, and cover them in salt. Yikes. Then the burger is fatty, the bun is carb high, the cheese, the ketchup, oh my.... when I lose 15 pounds I'm having a donut. When I lose 20? Burger and fries.
that's a cool way to motivate yourself- setting food rewards for hitting your goals.0 -
DisruptedMatrix wrote: »
10% bodyfat (for men, not sure what thay equates to for women). The lower you get, the harder your body fights to keep what fat it has, so you have to start doing all kinds of screwy things. 12 day runs of RFL followed by two day refeeds are a common example that works very well.2 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »DisruptedMatrix wrote: »
10% bodyfat (for men, not sure what thay equates to for women). The lower you get, the harder your body fights to keep what fat it has, so you have to start doing all kinds of screwy things. 12 day runs of RFL followed by two day refeeds are a common example that works very well.
RFL? refeeds? Thanks for answering!0 -
DisruptedMatrix wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »DisruptedMatrix wrote: »
10% bodyfat (for men, not sure what thay equates to for women). The lower you get, the harder your body fights to keep what fat it has, so you have to start doing all kinds of screwy things. 12 day runs of RFL followed by two day refeeds are a common example that works very well.
RFL? refeeds? Thanks for answering!
RFL=rapid fat loss. It's a protein sparing very low calorie diet. I won't go into the details, because people on these boards often go crazy when you bring up very low calorie diets (even protocols that are proven safe and effective). If you google Lyle McDonald RFL you can find the answer to both of the things you asked about.0 -
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trigden1991 wrote: »
@jhajni I don't think of you eating a piece of cake as a cheat day, or even a cheat meal. I think of it as you making a food choice that happens to be a piece of cake that day.
When I hear the word cheat what comes to mind is someone on a 'diet', which my mind is no longer geared toward. We talk about changing eating habits, moderation and then all the sudden someone asks if it's OK to have cheat days (not referencing anyone in particular). Why do we consider eating food as cheating? Who the heck are we cheating? :laugh:
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DisruptedMatrix wrote: »From my past weight loss attempts I know that PLANNNING a cheat day is a big red NO. I end up falling off the wagon and struggle to get back on under all those calories i ate. Besides, there will be days where you go somewhere and eat out. They come along inevitably. THAT is what I want to give into. If I have cheat days, then inevitably on that day I go out I end up with an impromptu second cheat day.
Planning a higher cal day (I assume that's what you mean by cheat day) was never a problem for me when I was losing. When I first started I usually planned Saturdays to be a bit higher cal, and the planning was helpful, as I was able to make sure it wasn't more than maintenance (usually it was still quite a bit under) by planning the whole day, not just my dinner. Also, I guess my go out to dinner plans are often known in advance (at least at the beginning of that week).
The bigger thing of course is not seeing extra calories as a reason not to get back to plan -- seems like black and white thinking (I'm dieting perfectly or not at all), which for me was always a problem and getting rid of that was an important part of making the whole thing sustainable longer term.
Not saying that what worked for me had to work for you, but a lot of the anti "cheat" day (you will not be able to cut back again) posts seem to assume this is so for everyone, and I think that's clearly not the case, so just using this one to reply to.However, choosing a day off every now and then is fine. I'll probably try to make it so the extra calories are offset by my deficit.
Yeah, this is what I did, I built it into my week. Not really necessary once I had more exercise calories, but at first it was really helpful to have a slightly higher cal day to work with once a week.0 -
billglitch wrote: »i have never had a cheat day in 10 months. I have had cheat meals or cheat snacks but a whole day..nope. For me its the fact that i have come too far for that kind of stuff
For me "a cheat day" (although I don't use the term) means a day over maintenance (or if dieting, a day over your planned calorie goal). Since I zig zag calories and also, you know, there are holidays and so on, I find the idea that one has come "too far" to ever eat over maintenance or a particular calorie goal for one day to be puzzling, or at least not something I relate to.
Also, I don't get the distinction between meal and day -- usually if I have a high cal day, it's because of one meal. I wouldn't go nuts at every meal (or even want to, even on something like Thanksgiving most people have pretty small non main meals, I'd bet, even if they also end up eating all day with appetizers and pie, maybe that's what you mean). Anyway, I just also wouldn't insist that if I were going out to dinner I must eat almost nothing beforehand to make up for it, just to make sure the whole day wasn't a "cheat" (or high cal day, as I prefer to think of it). Also, since I don't care how many cals I have in any particular meal (although I have averages) not sure what cheating for a meal would be. I guess for me not eating veg or something, but I prefer to be a bit more flexible than to call anything different from my usual goals and pattern a cheat.1 -
Hearts_2015 wrote: »trigden1991 wrote: »
@jhajni I don't think of you eating a piece of cake as a cheat day, or even a cheat meal. I think of it as you making a food choice that happens to be a piece of cake that day.
When I hear the word cheat what comes to mind is someone on a 'diet', which my mind is no longer geared toward. We talk about changing eating habits, moderation and then all the sudden someone asks if it's OK to have cheat days (not referencing anyone in particular). Why do we consider eating food as cheating? Who the heck are we cheating? :laugh:
Personally I hate the phrase cheat meal but it is what is commonly used on here. Mine are nearly always structured re-feeds (or at least thats what I tell myself) :P1 -
trigden1991 wrote: »Hearts_2015 wrote: »trigden1991 wrote: »
@jhajni I don't think of you eating a piece of cake as a cheat day, or even a cheat meal. I think of it as you making a food choice that happens to be a piece of cake that day.
When I hear the word cheat what comes to mind is someone on a 'diet', which my mind is no longer geared toward. We talk about changing eating habits, moderation and then all the sudden someone asks if it's OK to have cheat days (not referencing anyone in particular). Why do we consider eating food as cheating? Who the heck are we cheating? :laugh:
Personally I hate the phrase cheat meal but it is what is commonly used on here. Mine are nearly always structured re-feeds (or at least thats what I tell myself) :P
As are mine, and I draw a clear distinction. A structured refeed is a short term overfeeding done for the purposes of hormone stabilization and glycogen replenishment. A cheat meal is an excuse to delve back into the eating habits that made the person a saddie/fatty to begin with, usually approached with the excuse of "zomg I need it otherwise I'll shoot kittens because willpower is hard."3 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »billglitch wrote: »i have never had a cheat day in 10 months. I have had cheat meals or cheat snacks but a whole day..nope. For me its the fact that i have come too far for that kind of stuff
For me "a cheat day" (although I don't use the term) means a day over maintenance (or if dieting, a day over your planned calorie goal). Since I zig zag calories and also, you know, there are holidays and so on, I find the idea that one has come "too far" to ever eat over maintenance or a particular calorie goal for one day to be puzzling, or at least not something I relate to.
Also, I don't get the distinction between meal and day -- usually if I have a high cal day, it's because of one meal. I wouldn't go nuts at every meal (or even want to, even on something like Thanksgiving most people have pretty small non main meals, I'd bet, even if they also end up eating all day with appetizers and pie, maybe that's what you mean). Anyway, I just also wouldn't insist that if I were going out to dinner I must eat almost nothing beforehand to make up for it, just to make sure the whole day wasn't a "cheat" (or high cal day, as I prefer to think of it). Also, since I don't care how many cals I have in any particular meal (although I have averages) not sure what cheating for a meal would be. I guess for me not eating veg or something, but I prefer to be a bit more flexible than to call anything different from my usual goals and pattern a cheat.
I also zig zag calories and I love it!0
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