Cheat days advise
ariela569
Posts: 22 Member
TGIF
I'm good with my diet plan all week but Friday is weigh day and my cheat day. What tends to happen is that it spills into the weekend and turns out to be a 3 day free for all. This seriously sabotages my weight loss every week. The obvious solution is to cut out the cheat day, but I feel I might overeat during the week instead. Any advise welcomed ✌️️
Thank you
I'm good with my diet plan all week but Friday is weigh day and my cheat day. What tends to happen is that it spills into the weekend and turns out to be a 3 day free for all. This seriously sabotages my weight loss every week. The obvious solution is to cut out the cheat day, but I feel I might overeat during the week instead. Any advise welcomed ✌️️
Thank you
1
Replies
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Zig-zag your calories. I eat a little lower during the week to "bank" calories for the weekends. On weekends I'm basically eating at maintenance.....so it's not a free for all.4
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TGIF
I'm good with my diet plan all week but Friday is weigh day and my cheat day. What tends to happen is that it spills into the weekend and turns out to be a 3 day free for all. This seriously sabotages my weight loss every week. The obvious solution is to cut out the cheat day, but I feel I might overeat during the week instead. Any advise welcomed ✌️️
Thank you
You are setting yourself up for the reality of failure every single week in order to avoid a possibility that is based on a feeling. That's illogical. Raise your calories slightly all week long to average out to a sustainable deficit and then stick with it. Alternately, raise your calories slightly all week long except for Friday, when you eat at maintenance. Then stick with it.3 -
TGIF
I'm good with my diet plan all week but Friday is weigh day and my cheat day. What tends to happen is that it spills into the weekend and turns out to be a 3 day free for all. This seriously sabotages my weight loss every week. The obvious solution is to cut out the cheat day, but I feel I might overeat during the week instead. Any advise welcomed ✌️️
Thank you
You are setting yourself up for the reality of failure every single week in order to avoid a possibility that is based on a feeling. That's illogical. Raise your calories slightly all week long to average out to a sustainable deficit and then stick with it. Alternately, raise your calories slightly all week long except for Friday, when you eat at maintenance. Then stick with it.
^This is great advice! Rather than cheating all weekend eat slightly more through the week and fit those "cheat" foods in.0 -
Exercise some self control?5
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Either eat less during the week so you can have 3 high calorie days on the weekend, learn to nip the cheat day in the bud after Friday, or stop having cheat days. Whichever seems to work best for you.2
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I have a cheat meal... not a cheat day. Pick a day of the week when u can cheat on 1 meal only but stick to ur diet on all other meals. This has worked 4 me.4
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crystalmorrison378 wrote: »I have a cheat meal... not a cheat day. Pick a day of the week when u can cheat on 1 meal only but stick to ur diet on all other meals. This has worked 4 me.
Agreed. Have a cheat meal, not a cheat day - it's bound to set you back, or worse.2 -
TGIF
I'm good with my diet plan all week but Friday is weigh day and my cheat day. What tends to happen is that it spills into the weekend and turns out to be a 3 day free for all. This seriously sabotages my weight loss every week. The obvious solution is to cut out the cheat day, but I feel I might overeat during the week instead. Any advise welcomed ✌️️
Thank you
You are setting yourself up for the reality of failure every single week in order to avoid a possibility that is based on a feeling. That's illogical. Raise your calories slightly all week long to average out to a sustainable deficit and then stick with it. Alternately, raise your calories slightly all week long except for Friday, when you eat at maintenance. Then stick with it.
Exactly this...if your deficit is reasonable and sustainable you won't need to overeat on weekends or have "cheat days" or whatever.0 -
If you cancel your cheat day, but it causes you to overeat a bit during the week, will that net you less calories than a 3-day free-for-all?0
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TGIF
I'm good with my diet plan all week but Friday is weigh day and my cheat day. What tends to happen is that it spills into the weekend and turns out to be a 3 day free for all. This seriously sabotages my weight loss every week. The obvious solution is to cut out the cheat day, but I feel I might overeat during the week instead. Any advise welcomed ✌️️
Thank you
You are setting yourself up for the reality of failure every single week in order to avoid a possibility that is based on a feeling. That's illogical. Raise your calories slightly all week long to average out to a sustainable deficit and then stick with it. Alternately, raise your calories slightly all week long except for Friday, when you eat at maintenance. Then stick with it.
^This is great advice! Rather than cheating all weekend eat slightly more through the week and fit those "cheat" foods in.
That is good advice for some, not so good for others. You could also eat less during the week to allow for overeating on the weekends. As long as the calories average out to a deficit either will work. It's just a matter of preference.1 -
You have 14 lb to lose. Set yourself up for a calorie deficit of 250 each day and have fun each day.4
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »TGIF
I'm good with my diet plan all week but Friday is weigh day and my cheat day. What tends to happen is that it spills into the weekend and turns out to be a 3 day free for all. This seriously sabotages my weight loss every week. The obvious solution is to cut out the cheat day, but I feel I might overeat during the week instead. Any advise welcomed ✌️️
Thank you
You are setting yourself up for the reality of failure every single week in order to avoid a possibility that is based on a feeling. That's illogical. Raise your calories slightly all week long to average out to a sustainable deficit and then stick with it. Alternately, raise your calories slightly all week long except for Friday, when you eat at maintenance. Then stick with it.
^This is great advice! Rather than cheating all weekend eat slightly more through the week and fit those "cheat" foods in.
That is good advice for some, not so good for others. You could also eat less during the week to allow for overeating on the weekends. As long as the calories average out to a deficit either will work. It's just a matter of preference.
You're right that it doesn't work for all. I figured the OP restricted too far during the week causing an over eating issue on weekends. That's why I thought increasing calories through the week might make things more sustainable. Restricting through the week with higher calorie days on weekends (planned and accounted for) can also work for many.0 -
No to days where you cheat.. this is bad.. Have one planned "indulgent" meal and call it a day..
Calorie cycling is not fun during the week .. so I would just eat maintenance on this one day.
eta: I do not do any cheating while I am in a deficit, this is just a suggestion.1 -
Don't have cheat days ... eat a couple hundred calories more each day instead ... still staying below your maintenance level ... and then you won't have a reason to loosen the cravings monster that stays with you throughout the next few days.1
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I prefer NOT to plan cheats. For me, it's self-defeating. I prefer to let them come to me; that is, when something truly scrumptious comes along, I make a choice on the spot. Like a slice of homemade Key lime pie. Or an extra helping of a truly exceptional pulled pork. Or a 16 oz. steak instead of a 10 oz. Like that. Much easier to manage, I think. Having said this, I don't typically hang around places where there are lots of baked goods...
The other thing is special occasions...birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc. These only tend to come around once a year, or once in a while, so I can indulge for one meal, and get on with it.3 -
That's great realistic doable advice, thank you0
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Don't have a cheat day. Incorporate things you feel are "cheats" into your every day...0
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Personal anecdote:
Years back I used to have a "cheat day", assuming the "fun" foods I ate were "bad" but the foods I'd eat all week (chicken boob, veggies, the usual lineup of "clean eatin' diet foods") were fat burnin' good. I'd burn out every time.
Started incorporating, as @jemhh suggested, a few more calories and fitting what I like within it, while sticking to those goals and adjusting as necessary.
My diary these days is a daily cheat day diary. I want chocolate chip cookies? I'm eating them. Chips? Hot damn! Nutella? Spoon it up! (Granted, my calories have been increased, which makes indulgence a little easier).
The trick is these items are taken within my caloric baseline. We could argue about my eating habits being HEALTHY all day long... but aesthetically, I'm the leanest I've ever been while eating my fair share of food that's generally maligned to "making you fat".
In short, just saying cheat days, I feel, are dumb- there's just no need for them if you're calorically on track.4 -
I'm guessing you workout a lot? That too factors into it. I'm on 1200 cal diet plan, it's restrictive but I feel I need to shake things up. I have 20 lb to lose and I ain't messin around... except cheat days0
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A diet I was on a few years ago allowed 2 "golden tickets" a week, to be eaten on the weekend. They weren't two meals, but 2 foods that you missed and wanted to eat that didn't fit into the eating plan (which was low carb.) I could have a beer and a bowl of ice cream, or a baked potato, or pizza - but I couldn't have everything I thought I was missing. It made me think about what I really wanted and what I didn't. Did I want to waste one of my treats on a piece of birthday cake when I don't even like birthday cake? If we were out to dinner, did I want to waste it on fries?
What I got out of that diet was that treats should be something special, not an every day occurrence. Since I have a sweet tooth, it is too easy to get back into the habits that make me fat, like ice cream every day, or cookies when I'm hungry, etc. I also didn't have the sense that any food was completely forbidden, but I needed to think before I ate about how much I really wanted to eat it.4 -
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My advice on cheat days is don't have cheat days. Or even cheat meals. Just eat what you like within your calories, and stick with it. On days where you do have a little too much, just log it and move on. I find that having a designated day for "cheats" tends to make me feel like I can go overboard, so if I don't ever allow for that, then days where I indulge a little too much aren't nearly as often as they would if I allowed for them every week. When I'm having an off week or even month, i'll just try and stick to maintenance and fit in more walking.3
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I work my butt off all week, I like to burn 1000 calories a day. I also like to fast sometimes. but weekends I party hard, and I have always been maintaining., enjoying red wine now.0
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Cheers to the weekend0
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conquertheself wrote: »
No, it helps you keep a consistent calorie deficit and allows you to eat more on designated days. It doesn't help any more than eating the same amount of calories each day. Weekly, monthly and beyond it averages out the same. It will "help" with weight loss if it keeps you from negating your deficit by "cheating" one day a week.4 -
1. Get the concept of a cheat day out of your head if it means not tracking. On Friday and Saturday I typically eat more than other days because I go out for dinner and possibly drinks. I like to enjoy myself but I track everything.
In the app there is a week view. I set my week to start on Friday and when Sunday comes around I can see where I'm at. If I'm say, 1000 calories over my weekly net target, I can either eat less some days to make it up, add some cardio or a combination of the two. Works great for me.
It has also been great for getting me out of the daily pass/fail mentality as it relates to diet and has really engrained a more holistic approach2 -
I don't do "cheat meals" anymore because I ended up where you are everytime and have been at the same weight since January! So now, I save some calories at the end of the day to have a sweet treat that fits into my calories everyday. If I want it and I don't have the calories I work out to "earn" then. Been doing this for 2 weeks now and it's been going great! Even during the weekend I stick to 1200 calories sometimes ill go up to 1500 or so, but I'm still in deficit so it's not a big deal.2
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I'm having a cheat day now with my boyfriend because he just finished one of my exams and I'd like to celebrate with him. We're going to have pizza and garlic bread soon
However, I will also be going to the gym with my friends in the afternoon. Yes, I probably won't burn off all those calories from lunch, however, it will lessen the impact and it would be closer to my calorie goal than if I didn't exercise. I make up for it as well through deficits over the week, so at least my net calorie total for the week would still be within my goals.
If you are having trouble with cheat days, however, I suggest you start small and have "cheat meals" instead. That's what I usually do anyways. Even with the cheat meals though, I try my best for the other meals of the day to be less calorie-dense so I can fit it as close to my calorie goal as possible. Hope that helps 2
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