Being good all week then cheating on weekends?

It depends what you mean by cheating. As mentioned you can easily wipe out your deficit.

I eat a bit less on weekdays and save those calories for weekends, but I am still mindful of my intake and plan for it. If I go way over it happens but I try not to do it often to cancel out my week.

Totally depends how much you eat on week ends. I can easily wipe my small weekly deficit in one day, let alone two.

I give myself one free day. Meaning I don't pre-log Fridays, I log everything after the fact. I might do some extra workout on Saturday to compensate. I find that if I'm honest with my logging, over time I naturally just started indulging a little less on my free days. Because I didn't want to see the damages. I also started to eat a little less during the day on Friday, so I can consume a little more food and alcohol at the bar or party or wherever I go on Friday. For me its essential to have a mental vacation, I need to go out once a week and let loose and have fun.

I eat less calories during the week so I can eat more on the weekends.. I need to be more careful because one day can wipe out a whole week work of deficit.

This worked pretty well for me for about a month until life happened and I kinda forgot I was doing it and I just went back to eating like normal.

Over the years, though, I’ve found that weekly “cheats” are just too frequent for me. I feel all bloated and gross and am retaining water for a few days after each one, and by the time I feel good again and start to see the scale moving in the right direction, whoops! Time for another cheat. I couldn’t get any momentum going, but it just seemed too overwhelming not to cheat, so I stayed overweight for a long time.

I take a break once a month now, and that works much better. I go off my plan for two days, so that I don’t feel like I have to cram everything I’ve been wanting to eat in at once. It’s good enough to wait for, and makes me feel gross enough that when the time’s up I’m eager to get back on my plan.

Just moderate your eating on the weekends, skip breakfast and maybe a snack if you know that you are going to eat not great or heavier those days.

ffswmn wrote: »

I've never really understood this thought process. You are only cheating yourself. Why work hard all week to through it out the window for a day/weekend of binging? If you feel you "need it", work an indulgent meal into your calories or a trip to Baskin Robbins instead!

The OP never mentioned binging. There is no reason to jump to the worst conclusion that I can see.

When I first started losing weight I was super strict, wouldn’t stray from my diet. Then, as I got nearer to my goal, I loosened up a little & would allow myself a “treat” on the weekends. What I did notice was that the “treat/cheat”, whatever you wanted to call it, went from Friday, then Friday & Saturday, then Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. And what was happening was, I was so strict during the week that when I got to my “treat/cheat” day, I felt the need to eat everything I had craved during the week. Basically trying to fit it all in before Monday & before going back to super strict dieting. Also, I suffered from such food guilt afterwards, just beat myself up about what I had eaten. So now, being only about 12 pounds from my goal, I still stick to my diet during the week & on weekends, usually just Friday &/or Saturday, depending what’s going on, I try to be reasonable in what I consume, even when I go out to eat, & don’t look at those days as 24-48 hours of eating everything I deprived myself of all week. As most people who have struggled with being overweight, a lot of that has to do with my “relationship” with food. It can’t be all or nothing to be successful; I’m slowly learning that practicing moderation is the key to success. Trying to sustain deprivation is just setting me up for failure. I think we all need to focus on our relationship with food-physical, nutritional, & emotional, to be successful.

simplyhannahm wrote: »

What is everyone's verdict on this?

If you can control it, it's fine. But you can easily undo all your hard work with a weekend binge! I have a "cheat meal" on Sundays. One meal and dessert. I go over my calories a bit but not enough to undo the week. And its enough to satisfy whatever I was craving all week. This works well for me! I look forward to my cheat all week and it helps me stay on track the rest of the week. I know that if I go a little crazy all week then there is less room for my beloved weekly pizza party!

kshama2001 wrote: »

The OPs of cheat threads never include an explanation of what they mean by "cheating". "Cheating on weekends" = casual binging to me too (as opposed to Binge Eating Disorder binging.)

You might be right. I try not to assume or form stereotypes though.

It all comes down to the numbers. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight. If not, you won't.