Does anybody have one "eat as many calories as you want" day a week & lose weight?

In the past I have had a monthly 'day off', usually payday takeaway. Because I know that 'day off' to me means eating junk and probably too much of it...............if you are on a strict calorie controlled diet and a 'day off' means you just eat a little above that limit but still pretty healthily that's probably fine if it keeps you on track. For me, I know I wouldn't stick to being healthy, so weekly is way too much for me. Everyone is different

I'm still pretty new to this, but I had my first 'cheat day' at the weekend (went camping and had no practical way to measure what I ate or count calories). I didn't go crazy, but I didn't even try to log calories so have no idea if I ate over my deficit or not. What I've found, though, is that for a couple of days after it's been much harder than usual to stick to my limit. Before the cheat day, I had pretty much got used to my deficit but today and yesterday my appetite's been noticeably higher than normal. It's as if my body's thinking, 'that was nice, more please!'

So, going forward I'm going to keep days like that to a minimum, as while a break every now and again is probably not a bad thing in itself, going back to the deficit is the hard part!

It's been my experience, too. What got me to stick with weight-loss this time was pretty much sitting down with myself and admitting that once a week, after synagogue, there was going to be a refreshments buffet and I was not going to pass it up (I'd just overeat what I had at home because I'd be hungrier and feeling like I'd 'earned' a couple of extra slices of bread and a larger helping of potatoes and maybe two helpings of my lower-calorie homemade dessert by passing up a 2" piece of cake) or stick to raw veggies when everyone around me was piling the 'good' stuff on their plates.

I literally asked myself, "What do you think it'll take for you to eat, where you'll feel you got your treat and you can stop and walk away?" And then checking the calories on a frosted shortbread and two pieces of potato kugel and recognizing that 380 calories was a significant chunk of my daily allotment, but very doable.

Once I realized that I could have the "yummy food" I wanted most, free and clear, no cheating, no sneaking... the guilt went away and so did the uncontrollable desire to take more. (Yes, I'd love to have some of the other pastries and offerings, too, but I can only 'afford' so much, so I choose what I want most and stick to it. In other words, I still have the desires, but they're controllable.)

I do not have a eat anything you want day because for me that could easily be 3,000 or more calories, but I do have a "treat myself" meal, usually on Fridays. It is rarely anything crazy. I also eat less during the day to accommodate that meal.

Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »

jennybearlv wrote: »

newstart1988 wrote: »

Have you lost weight doing that?

No way. I can eat 5000 calories in a day easy. I try to balance my calories over the week so I can indulge a little some days.

I find having a little bit of something I crave spaced out also cuts down on the binge desires. If you are constantly having a bit of what you crave, you never hit that point where you want to over eat on it.

You don't know me any my high candy diet very well, do you? I don't binge. I just greatly enjoy food and if I could eat 5000 calories of delicious food over the course of a day without gaining weight i would do so. I can only eat less than half that a day and lose weight, so that's what I stick with.