Cheat day?

daisyananana
daisyananana Posts: 6 Member
edited November 14 in Health and Weight Loss
I read somewhere that you need to have 1 cheat day to increase back your metabolisme rate. Just wondering based on your real experience, if this is true?

Replies

  • hiyaitschloe_x
    hiyaitschloe_x Posts: 36 Member
    Personally it does help for me, but I only do that every few weeks.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Nope
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    No, only increasing your energy requirement will increase metabolism, generally speaking e.g bigger body, more exercise, more lean mass etc.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    nope - I just make sure to build stuff I like into my planned calories for the day - the idea of a cheat day, just emphasizes the "some foods are evil" paradigm, instead of all food is ok in moderation
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    I guess the question is how to define a cheat day. Is it a day where calories saved during the week get used up, and logged, or a day where you DWTFYW and don't log. First is fine, second will set you back.
  • daisyananana
    daisyananana Posts: 6 Member
    If i understand well, it's not eating whatever u want (junk, un healthyfood etc) but consume more calories (still healthy) than normal day...
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    most people take it as a day to go off the rails (for lack of a better term) - I have friends who do radical diets like that and on their cheat day facebook feed will be full of pictures of cake/candy etc
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    Who are you 'cheating' if not yourself?

    I dislike the term for its negative connotation. If I have a meal or an entire day that's over my normal allotment for whatever reason, I log it honestly and move on.

    Having a planned cheat day - for me - would make the other days tougher and I'd run the risk of undoing in one day what I achieved in the other six. :)
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    Who are you 'cheating' if not yourself?

    I dislike the term for its negative connotation. If I have a meal or an entire day that's over my normal allotment for whatever reason, I log it honestly and move on.

    Having a planned cheat day - for me - would make the other days tougher and I'd run the risk of undoing in one day what I achieved in the other six. :)

    While I don't call it a cheat day, if I know an occasion is coming up, I will save up for it. Or if an occasion springs up, I will cut back for the next couple of days. My goal is to try to focus on the week as opposed to days. But it is tough than I expected it to be.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    Tacklewasher wrote: »
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    Who are you 'cheating' if not yourself?

    I dislike the term for its negative connotation. If I have a meal or an entire day that's over my normal allotment for whatever reason, I log it honestly and move on.

    Having a planned cheat day - for me - would make the other days tougher and I'd run the risk of undoing in one day what I achieved in the other six. :)

    While I don't call it a cheat day, if I know an occasion is coming up, I will save up for it. Or if an occasion springs up, I will cut back for the next couple of days. My goal is to try to focus on the week as opposed to days. But it is tough than I expected it to be.

    An occasion to me is different than a weekly cheat day, too. I *knew* I was going to go over on Christmas Day for example, so I banked some extra calories before and after to compensate.

    It's the inclusion of a weekly cheat day - let's say it's every Saturday, for example, that for me would be counterproductive. The mindset of, "Oh, only two more days until my cheat day" "Yay, my cheat day is tomorrow!" would make the non-cheat days (which are in the vast majority for most people) seem, I don't know, unnecessarily punitive and sad. Not to mention that if a cheat day undoes all the progress made the rest of the week, the punitive mindset was for naught, anyway. ;)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    daisyananana wrote: »
    I read somewhere that you need to have 1 cheat day to increase back your metabolisme rate. Just wondering based on your real experience, if this is true?

    A re-feed is not the same thing as just going off the rails and eating whatever in whatever quantity. A re-feed typically involves upping your calories to maintenance or just below maintenance, but upping calories none the less.

    I guess it depends on what a "cheat" day means to you. I'm not particularly fond of the term. I certainly have days where my nutrition isn't quite up to par, but that's life, not cheating. Sometimes you just have to kick back and enjoy life with pizza now and then.
  • brendagaudette69
    brendagaudette69 Posts: 4 Member
    I have a planned HC day once a week and I eat anything I want for the whole day...I fast the day before and the day after and then the rest of the week I eat LCHF with OMAD and have been averaging 1 to 2 LB loss each week which is good for me but I don't call it a cheat day because it's part of my plan :)
  • Verdenal
    Verdenal Posts: 625 Member
    If you're doing an extreme diet like a Protein Sparing Modified Fast you schedule Refeed days, during which you eat healthy carbs, which are normally excluded from the eating plan. The diet can put your hormones out of whack. Cheat days are available, but not required, and are purely for a psychological boost.

    A nutritionally balanced diet doesn't require Refeed days. Cheat days can be scheduled for variety, but only if not abused.
  • red99ryder
    red99ryder Posts: 399 Member
    i dont plan overeating days , life brings enough of those my way without me planning them

    good luck
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    Lots of people (including me) eat a bit less during the week and more on weekends. It can work well. I'm another one who doesn't like the term "cheat day" as it seems like to some people it means a kind of Man Vs Food eating competition once a week, and that can easily undo all your progress. Also, I have no rules (apart from "log everything") so I can't cheat.
  • daisyananana
    daisyananana Posts: 6 Member
    Thank you people for your insights! I think I understand better the term now. I dont think im kind of person who easily move back to healthy eating after dirty eating. Im comfortable with my current diet. I dont think going back to eat whatever-i-see was a good idea, but sometimes i do miss those foods.. ha!
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