Cheat days?
TheOnyxStar
Posts: 19 Member
Not sure if this is where this goes but here we are 
Do you guys track on the weekends? I find it harder to track on the weekends cuz my meals/mealtimes aren't as structured as during the week. I don't necessarily pig out, I actually eat less. I don't track and then get back to it during the weekdays (or try to at least).
Who has cheat days? If you do it is a one day, two? If not, do you just plan for anything special? (movie nights, parties, drinks with friends, vacays etc.)
Do you guys track on the weekends? I find it harder to track on the weekends cuz my meals/mealtimes aren't as structured as during the week. I don't necessarily pig out, I actually eat less. I don't track and then get back to it during the weekdays (or try to at least).
Who has cheat days? If you do it is a one day, two? If not, do you just plan for anything special? (movie nights, parties, drinks with friends, vacays etc.)
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I track every day. I don't have a social life and work weekends, so it's easy. And no cheat days...I work foods into my weekly calorie goal. Vacations I set take a diet break and set to maintenance.4
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I track everything, every day, though I don't always have the availability of my food scale. The last several days, I had company and there was a lot of eating out, but I still logged everything to keep an idea of what was going on even if it wasn't as accurate as usual. I log movie days, mother's day, festival days, all of it.7
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BTW, you said you eat less on your weekends.. If it works for you, then go for it. If you find your weight loss stalling or going up, then you know you need to tighten up on your logging and include every day.3
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I always track on weekends, I saw a great infographic about the work week dieter and how not tracking/overeating every weekend can really mess up your calorie deficit! Since reading that I worked on my macros and get the food I crave into my calories and don't feel the need to have a massive blow out.4
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I'm tracking most days now, but I'm casual about it as long as I'm still losing my expected amount of weight.
I don't do cheat days at all. I DO eat whatever I want in moderation. If I want pizza or doritos or whatever, I eat them. If I put myself in the mindset of depriving myself and then "cheating" I could easily eat several thousand extra calories on those days.5 -
indiacaitlin wrote: »I always track on weekends, I saw a great infographic about the work week dieter and how not tracking/overeating every weekend can really mess up your calorie deficit! Since reading that I worked on my macros and get the food I crave into my calories and don't feel the need to have a massive blow out.
I just saw it this morning and saved it!
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I think it depends on if you’re exercising.
My fiancé has lost 6 and a half stone using MFP and he never tracked on the weekends. They were always for the lads, beer, pizza etc
However Monday to Friday he logged everything and exercised everyday so at the weekend he was eating his accumulated exercise calories.
I’ve started now and I’ve lost 35lb so far doing a similar thing. You could always have a day in the week where you have maintenance calories so you are still tracking but having a bit more0 -
I track every day and everything. I might skip a meal or something but mostly I'm on here working hard to lose weight so I make sure I track. I keep up with my exercise too. I try not to let the "weekend" mentality get to me, b/c for me this is my life now, not just some fad thing I'm doing.0
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If you are eating less on these days, why would it be a cheat day in the first place?
I assume you are here because you're unhappy with your current weight, and that suggests your view of how much you eat may be distorted. Especially if you are just getting started (as the forum category implies), it's important that you get to know exactly where your calories are coming from and where the extra ones are sneaking in. It's really impossible to do this without logging faithfully, preferably with the use of a food scale. As was said, you can do it your way, but if you find you aren't making the progress you want, this is what you'll need to come back to. Personally, I would want the actual data
And as you touched on in your post, there are many situations/special events in life where we might want to have a more relaxed approach to our food intake. But doing that too often, and/or not planning for them in advance, is what landed many here in the first place0 -
I gave myself a limit to only have 4 total cheat meals (not days) out of the month. So far I haven't used any of them but it's nice knowing I have them, just in case. If I'm stuck in a social situation where I have to go out and I need to eat, I get the healthiest possible food I can (Usually ends up being a salad with no dressing/toppings)
My sister is having a graduation dinner next weekend that will involve a place that doesn't really serve a healthy option so I'm choosing that as a cheat meal. If I know that's its going to be huge calories wise, I choose to fast until I get the meal. I'll still log it because there's no use lying about it, it doesn't do me any good to pretend I didn't eat it.4 -
I don’t have cheat days but on the weekends I have a cheat meal. I’m very strict during the week, on the weekends I don’t pig out but I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries, or a few slices of pizza, or tacos. Every two weeks I eat a desert. It’s like a reward, gives me something to look forward to. I still track those days just to see how bad it is. I also fast the day after a cheat meal which really helps reset my body, and I drink plenty of water on all days but especially the day after a cheat meal.0
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I don’t have cheat days but on the weekends I have a cheat meal. I’m very strict during the week, on the weekends I don’t pig out but I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries, or a few slices of pizza, or tacos. Every two weeks I eat a desert. It’s like a reward, gives me something to look forward to. I still track those days just to see how bad it is. I also fast the day after a cheat meal which really helps reset my body, and I drink plenty of water on all days but especially the day after a cheat meal.
Not questioning your methods, but I'm curious.. How 'bad' is your intake on the days you eat those things listed? Are you really that far over your goal calories to suggest you would need a fasting day? The reason I ask is because I eat those things when I want them, just by fitting them into my daily calorie count. I get that some people want a whole pizza or nothing at all, but you did mention a few pieces.3 -
serindipte wrote: »I don’t have cheat days but on the weekends I have a cheat meal. I’m very strict during the week, on the weekends I don’t pig out but I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries, or a few slices of pizza, or tacos. Every two weeks I eat a desert. It’s like a reward, gives me something to look forward to. I still track those days just to see how bad it is. I also fast the day after a cheat meal which really helps reset my body, and I drink plenty of water on all days but especially the day after a cheat meal.
Not questioning your methods, but I'm curious.. How 'bad' is your intake on the days you eat those things listed? Are you really that far over your goal calories to suggest you would need a fasting day? The reason I ask is because I eat those things when I want them, just by fitting them into my daily calorie count. I get that some people want a whole pizza or nothing at all, but you did mention a few pieces.
Calorie wise my intake on those days aren’t bad, but my carbohydrates on those days are way more then I usually take in. During the week I keep my carbs at 100 grams or below each day. So with that cheat meal or pizza binge the carbs jump significantly. Fasting the day after resets me....it gets me back on track, it just feels good to completely empty my stomach. Its what works for me.0 -
Calorie wise my intake on those days aren’t bad, but my carbohydrates on those days are way more then I usually take in. During the week I keep my carbs at 100 grams or below each day. So with that cheat meal or pizza binge the carbs jump significantly. Fasting the day after resets me....it gets me back on track, it just feels good to completely empty my stomach. Its what works for me.
Fasting doesn't reset anything. That is a myth. It also doesn't empty your stomach. Your stomach has been empty since the day before. It kind of seems like you are punishing yourself for eating by fasting which is not good.
If you can eat carbs during your indulgence meal then there are no ill side-effects to your diet. If you need to track them to control your hunger during the week that is one thing but that will not benefit you otherwise in weight loss. You lose weight by burning more calories than you eat.
Weight loss does not require a strict approach, in fact, that is how many of us, myself included, have failed in the past. For me the simplest approach that keeps me happy and satisfied each day (or most days) is the best.
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I logged everything while losing, even if I had to estimate (like for dinners at other people's homes, potlucks, non-chain restaurants). I stuck to my calorie goal most of the time, but sometimes chose to eat over goal, and sometimes even over maintenance calories. I still logged it. Why?
You've seen several people here say that it's easy, on a cheat day or two that you don't log, to wipe out your whole calorie deficit for a week (or more). If you log it, you know where you stand - you know that you lost slowly, didn't lose, lost extra, and you know roughly how many calories it took to do that.
We see quite a few people here who post "Can't lose weight!! Why??" or "In a plateau!! What to do??". When we ask questions about details, one frequent scenario is that they have unlogged days fairly frequently. They literally have no idea whether they're in a calorie deficit overall or not. It's really tough to plan out a new strategy (like, say, banking calories for a special meal once a week) if you don't know how many calories you have to work with (based on your own data, not calculator estimates). It's like trying to set up a budget without knowing how much money is in your paycheck.
Obviously, everyone's different. Unlogged days work for some people. For me, it's just a route to not knowing what's going on and therefore not being able to manage the process. YMMV.
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When I have a "cheat day" that means I eat at maintenance instead of at a deficit. I know I'm at maintenance because I'm still logging it.
"Maintenance cheat day" = I am delaying my weight loss progress for one day.
Totally unrestricted, unlogged "cheat day" = I could be undoing a week or more of work.
Do the first type of cheat day.11 -
I'm going to sart my count on a Friday - that way if I go rogue during the weekend then I can adjust the rest if the weeks intake to make my weeks target. (Well that's the plan0
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serindipte wrote: »
Yeah. Mentally for me it is like saving up to buy something good as opposed to paying off something I have already discarded.
Like you this is a personal preference.
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I have a cheat day and log it..after the last 3 weekends of cheat days I’m now only allowing a cheat meal x1 a week (unless it’s a very special occasion or I’m on holiday) as I put back on what I’ve lost the previous week then lose 2ibs over night the night after eating naughty (maybe mash or sautéed potatoes, meat in a creamy sauce, a dessert & few alcoholic drinks of prosecco or Sancerre or vodka & maybe an ice cream if it’s hot or french bread sandwhich for lunch that type of food) then the rest plus maybe 1ib if I’m lucky is off by the following weekend then at least 4ibs back on each weekend!
I’ll be allowing myself a naughty lunch or dinner not both & no dessert at dinner if Ive had ice cream earlier .. see if that makes a difference.
How do you save calories for maintenance? Daily I ‘quick add’ as hardly ever do I eat my 1200 calories (medically given my calories of 800-1000 a day as I’m 4ft 10, size 1 feet & very small boned - my 9yr Old is up to the top of my shoulders & she’s just under average height for her age, adding this for those who will tell me off for not eating enough but I assure you all it is nutritionalist, dietician & Dr agreed 800 if I want to loose weight 1000 to maintain if I’m exercising & not dieting)
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I don’t have cheat days or cheat meals per se - but both when I was losing and now in maintenance I would work in foods that I enjoy as often as I possibly could. For some things it’s easy to fit in a little chocolate or a serving of gelato on a daily basis. For others I would need to eat then less often, weekly or monthly, but I usually bank calories during the week to allow for the more indulgent weekends as that tends to be when I have more social things, restaurant meals, pizza night with my kids, etc.
I also always log the calories (well am playing with periodic breaks from logging in maintenance) and that includes weekends, holidays like thanksgiving or Christmas, or vacations. What I found is that by continuing to log, even if it’s just estimates, I often found that the calories were still within my weekly target or didn’t put me outside maintenance for the week, or even if they did, it reassured me that I didn’t eat 3,500 or 7,000 cals above my maintenance cals so the spike I saw on the scale was likely temporary water weight and not actual gain.
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serindipte wrote: »indiacaitlin wrote: »I always track on weekends, I saw a great infographic about the work week dieter and how not tracking/overeating every weekend can really mess up your calorie deficit! Since reading that I worked on my macros and get the food I crave into my calories and don't feel the need to have a massive blow out.
I just saw it this morning and saved it!
I did this for the longest time and it killed my progress. I thought it was doing everything I could until I really took an objective look at my diary and saw just how little I was logging on weekends and when it did log, it was inaccurate and often incomplete.4 -
I log every single day. I don't have designated cheat days, but I log everything that comes my way planned or not, from moveis to social gatherings to hungry days to holidays to birthdays to random "I feel like McDonald's" days...etc. In the last year I maybe had 2 or 3 unlogged days. When I can't know exactly how many calories something has I just estimate, otherwise I just weigh and log everything whenever that's possible.
With that said, if your weight is doing what you want it to do, there is nothing wrong with going about it your way. Once your weight stops doing what you want it to do, you will know what you need to change.2 -
Have you reached your goal? How long have you sustained your current WOE? How serious are you about reaching your goal? And many other variables to take into account. If you've reached your goal and are in maintenance, sure, plan a day to go crazy. I do, about once a month. Just remember that one of the reasons people get in trouble on a maintenance diet is because they fail to realize how strict maintenance still must be.0
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I am ten pounds from my goal weight (down 135 lbs) so I am a LITTLE more into "cheat days" where I eat at maintenance or a couple hundred above, knowing that I'll burn additional calories through exercise the next day.
During the bulk of my weight loss, I did not do cheat days at all. The chart above is a great example. You can LITERALLY undo an entire week's worth of good habits with two days of bad behavior. If you want to eat something higher calorie, go ahead and do it, but log it and make sure it fits within your calorie goals.
If you just can't resist and go way over, spend an extra day at the gym to balance it out. It's really all about balance and learning what you can and can't do and still be able to achieve your goals.
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I have two cheat days a year and just put my own food as "Wine Fest", 10,000 calories. Basically, pay $20 to get in. About 50 wineries and a dozen random foods selling products while giving out nearly unlimited free samples. Yes, that includes wine samples. Four hours in and I'm usually fairly intoxicated wearing a wine glass cozy around my neck with a turkey leg in one hand and a giant green chili quesadilla in the other.5
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I don't have full cheat days I have cheat meals once or twice a week. I track 99% of the time. When I go drinking or have a social event planned I "save" my calories for that event or do cardio to mitigate the amount of calories I'll be going over by. I personally usually eat back my calories from cardio because my current goal is maintenance and body recomposition no weight loss. But even when I have a cheat meal it's usually still healthy (obviously minus the alcohol). My cheat meals are usually dinner with friends, my s/o or eating at someone elses house. I think its important to track to the best of your ability even if you end up being significantly over. We're all human and need a break so if you need a full cheat day or 2 then go for it but I think its good to be aware of what you're putting into your body still hence why I still track my cheat meals 0
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I log everything, everyday, no cheat days, cuz who exactly are you cheating? Just yourself.
It's your choice. For me, I am pretty much eating as I will when I get to maintenance, just less calories for now, but all foods (everything) in moderation and correct portion control.1 -
Nope, because a "cheat" day means I'm going off the rails. Instead I plan for favorite treats every day.1
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