"cheat" days

I don't have a 'cheat day' however, I also haven't cut EVERYTHING I love out of my diet.
I've just been more conscious of my calorie intake, as well as my portion sizes.

I don't have cheat meals or cheat days.

I eat what I want, when I want. I make sure it fits into my calories for the day, I eat it, I log it and I move on.

For me, knowing I can have whatever I want - whenever I want it makes me realize this is less of "diet" and more of a lifestyle change. I like knowing I can eat it when I want it vs having to wait for a special meal or special day.

I don't like to look at it as "cheating" because that makes it a diet and not a way of life. If I eat a bit too much one day, though I still don't pig out, I go back to my normal eating the next day. Personally, the "cheating" isn't worth it to me. I've worked too hard for too long to blow it off because I decide to go back to eating in the way that made me fat in the first place.

I don't do cheat days anymore. I have found that I can't always handle it. Instead I found a few things that satisfy my cravings but are healthy foods. Also the more excercise I have gotten in a day the less I crave bad foods. Me and a pint of chunky monkey is a recipe for disaster. It is crack to me.

I'm with Pink_turnip on this one. My diet consists of tasty AND healthy food items. We have baked chicken wings and baked sweet potato fries every Sunday, but it doesn't seem to interfere with anything. If there weer a day that would be considered a cheat day, it's the day that I literally don't have a meal planned or don't have any food here and we have to eat out or order delivery. Even then, we try our best to make wise choices. Ultimately, there's no planned cheat day.

Another good scenario: A family member passed away. After the funeral, there was food. It's considered rude to some if you don't eat their food... cheat day.

The only planned cheat days I have are for holidays. The first was my fiancee's birthday, the next was the 4th at a friend's house. The next will be at the state fair. These are important events in my life I'd rather not spoil worrying about my calories. They don't come along every day. Some days I'll satisfy a craving and make it work into my day, very rarely I'll go over my calories by a lot for eating something bad unplanned.

Honestly, I have them for special event days and so forth. Holidays and parties etc. And I still lost 56 lbs, and made it to my goal- (altho now I want to lose a little more haha) so I guess it wasn't detrimental to my weight loss. The key is, to make sure they aren't frequent. For instance, one month I had parties and events both days on the weekend 3 weeks in a row. I choose 2 out of the 6 that I thought I'd like to be a little bit of a piggy at. The rest I stayed closer to diet mode. And even when I cheat now, I eat far less because my stomach has shrunk so to speak. I definitely will never over-eat even when cheating. When I feel full- I stop.
Like others said- MODERATION.

I think if I didn't do it from time to time I would feel cheated out of enjoying life. Having said that in the beginning of the whole weight loss venture I did NOT cheat, it was only after I started getting on a roll and doing well. Thus building my metabolism and also frame of mind. Do it too soon and you'll just do it too much!

I have cheat meals on occasion but like some of the other posters, I have NOT cut all my favorite foods from my diet. There's no need if you can handle moderation. Or I make subtle changes to a favorite meal to make it better for you. For example, I love sloppy joe's but if I use lean ground turkey instead of beef- that helps a bit. If I'm going to have a cheat meal, I eat light all day and exercise as much as I can that day plus I drink a ton of water before and after to help with any sodium. :O)

I don't cheat... I plan. For exampe, we went to the fair last night, so I planned my day out to make sure i had the calories left for a funnel cake! (I only planned for half, I ate a third) so, i figure if I exercised the calories or saved them, that's not cheating, it's beating the system!

I'm with MindyBlack. I used to have them, but I would fly off the wagon. I'd think, "I only have one day to eat whatever I want", so I'd eat way too much of really bad foods, & then I'd have trouble getting back on the next day. Now, I plan ahead. For instance - I'm going to my parent's house this weekend, & we almost always go out for ice cream Saturday night. I will do a 5.5 mile run/walk in the morning, & order a mini or small blizzard instead of a medium. Then I can have my ice cream & eat it too without feeling guilty or getting off track. I'm sure there are many people who can have cheat days or meals without a disaster. I'm just not one of them!