Cheat Days & Weight Loss

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geminigemz90
geminigemz90 Posts: 305 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone done cheat days & still lose weight. Once a week would not hurt though.Any suggestions welcomed.

Replies

  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    Calorie deficit is all you need to do. You can have cheat days, maintenance days, holidays, all-out binge days and still lose weight as long as you keep a calorie deficit over time.


    Did you read the helpful posts in here? You'd be asking better questions if you did.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help-must-reads#latest

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Depending on what your cheat day looks like, you could easily wipe out a weeks deficit.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
    edited October 2017
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    Weight loss is about calorie deficit, but you know that already. If your "cheat day" means you wipe out your weekly deficit then no, you won't still lose weight.

    You could always just try logging foods you like in portions that fit your calorie goal.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    I would not call it cheating, but I have a meal out or at least a different meal to the one I have every other night of the week, every Saturday with my bf. I have noticed many people tend to be a little more lax at weekends, whilst still ensuring they at least do not go over maintenance or not by too much. I tend to not eat during the daytime prior to this meal ensuring I have plenty of leeway. During the weekdays I am fairly rigid in what I eat and that is what suits me as I need routine. I am here not to lose weight however, although even during the period where I was losing weight, I still lost weight eating out once a week.
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
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    I don't have cheat days, because I can easily wipe out a whole weeks deficit in one day. That's only 3,500 calories. That's one big meal at a buffet. Cheat days are a bad idea.

    I certainly wouldn't have one every week! That's just asking to stall your weight loss, and then you'll be back here so confused as to why you aren't losing weight.

    What I do do is not restrict my foods during my everyday week, except sugar for medical reasons. If I want chips, I eat them. If it's a special occasion (last night I was celebrating 50 pounds lost, it was a special occasion, we split a small scoop of ice cream), and there's ice cream or cake, I have ice cream or cake. If I want Chinese food, I have Chinese food.

    I just have less of each food of I want than I used to and stay as close to my calories as I can.

    Except Chinese food, I really stuff myself there. I can easily eat 4,000 calories of Chinese. But in that case I don't eat as much the rest of the week, so I can eat more at that meal. And maybe a little less the next week too, depending on how much I ate. ;) But that's very rare, and not a cheat, because I plan for it and work them into my calories, either before or after.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    i dont do cheat meals. i eat what i want, and make it fit. are theres days over im goals? sure. but still under maintenance, or at the MOST maintenance, so.... not a biggie. are there (very) random days where im over maintenance. Yes to that too. Only a few of those a year, but they are there. but in general ... i eat what i want and make. it. fit.
  • Aerona85
    Aerona85 Posts: 159 Member
    edited October 2017
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    Well I've been having a cheat week (birthday and oncall week, not a super combination) and I have actually lost more this last week than I was when I was being "good". By cheat it mainly means winging the logging, lots of sodium, and questionable on nutrition since it has mainly been restaurant and take out food. I've been 500-1000 cals over my goal number 6 of the last 7 days when configured for 1 pound loss per week. Boy was I shocked to get on the scale this morning for the first time in the last week and be down 2.3 pounds! Definitely weight loss isn't linear.
  • mazmataz
    mazmataz Posts: 331 Member
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    I have a cheat/no count Saturday and I've lot every week for the past 4 weeks.

    I do intermittent fasting and purposely keep my calories very low Mon-Wed, which helps mitigate any damage. Without one day a week to let my hair down, I know I would fall off the wagon...so I would rather have slower progress than no progress. I guess my calorie deficit without my 'cheat' calories would be 4500 calories...plus I always do a big uphill hike on a Sunday which I don't track.
  • Sunnybrooke99
    Sunnybrooke99 Posts: 369 Member
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    It’s not cheating. I still log, but if I go over, it’s okay bc there’s other days this week where I didn’t eat all of my calories. If you want to splurge on weekends, you might try not eating back your exercise calories, so that you have a decent overage.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    I cheat myself when I eat uncontrolled too much stuff, as yesterday. I cheat myself by not logging my food.
    I weigh in and log my results. My results are a steady upward trend of the past 2 months from my low of 164 on August 8 to today at 184.4, which is a typical peak following an excess. That's what cheating looks like.
  • crb426
    crb426 Posts: 657 Member
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    For "cheat days" consider jumping up to maintenance calories for that day, or several days if you please. Anything above that erases your hard work from the week.

    Plus, I find that a full-out binge day makes it REALLY hard to get back on track in my routine.

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