cheat days

My "cheat day" is on Mondays, which is also my weigh-in day. I weigh-in in the morning then for the rest of the day I eat whatever I want. I use this day to satisfy any or all of the cravings I was having the week before. It helps to stop me from bingeing knowing that in a few days I can have whatever I'm craving guilt free. This also puts my metabolism in overdrive and gets it going for the rest of the week. I have been doing this since February and I've lost 69 lbs. It works for me.

Possibly, I see the benefit is in actually having a small calorie surplus for a day. You could have your full Spike Day and then be a little over your calories the other day, and then to equal it out, go a little under the next.

The benefit to metabolism is the surplus. When we constantly have a deficit of calories our it puts our body into a stressed out state and puts our metabolism on a gradual decline. One day a week with a surplus spikes metabolism back up making it easier to burn fat the other 6 days, re-stabilizing hormone levels, and restoring muscle glycogen making it our workouts even more effective.

I've done "cheat days" and "cheat meals", but I don't allow them to be "free for alls", either. Depending on what's going on, it may be one entire day or one meal on two days, typically the weekend. When I first start a serious weight-loss attempt, I still track those days, mostly just to keep myself from rationalizing that one more whatever won't really hurt. It also reinforces, for me, what eating like that EVERY day really means to my health and weight. Eventually, as I get into the swing of things, when my food choices become more natural or "automatic", I track my food less.

Eating a couple of slices of pizza once in a while never killed anyone - unless maybe you have an anaphylactic reaction to it or something like that! ;0) However, eating a whole pizza... well, in my opinion, that's not the "idea" of a cheat day or meal, that's self sabotage! I actually find that my cheat days or meals aren't always about eating something "decandant". Sometimes it's just allowing myself to eat more of something that I like that is also good for me (second helping of fruit, for example).

Good luck with whatever you decide. Just do what's BEST for YOU.

I have lost over 40lbs with a Spike Day every single week. I love it!

I do a cheat (spike) meal a week or two.

my "cheat days" are more of a extra treat so like a dessert after a meal. Usually after my Weight Watchers meetings on wednesday nights. I'll go for ice cream, with that being said I don't get the largest ice cream with all the toppings but enough to satisfy my sweet tooth and treat myself for a good weign in

Well, doing a cheat day/meal after weigh-in seems incredibly obvious now. :-) I normally weigh myself on Sunday mornings... and usually (not always) my cheat day is Saturday. Sometimes it's Sunday. Thanks much for the tip. I think I'll change my weigh in to Saturday morning!

Although I understand your "eat everything and anything you want" idea, for some of us I still believe that it can be "dangerous"... akin to someone who's trying to quit smoking saying they'll smoke an entire pack one day and quit "tomorrow", or an alcoholic saying one drink won't hurt... then before they know it, they're back to square one. Before anyone lambasts me for equating eating to an addiction... I get it's not an exact parallel, but I think for some of us, it's similar psychologically, if not physiologically.

All that just to say I think each person has to do what they can do. For now, for me, I'll stick to mainly going over calories by eating more of the right - or at least not-too-bad - choices. BUT, I have told myself that I can eat all the pizza I want on my "cheat" day when I weigh-in to find I've lost 10 lbs! (Funny thing is, when that time comes, I probably won't be able to eat all that much before feeling full to the gills!)

Should I eat back my exercise calories?
depends, but usually no

I believe it's best to eat less 6 days and have a Spike Day, why?

The big reason many eat back their exercise calories is fear of starvation mode. Starvation Mode is the slow down of metabolism over a given time because our body is in a prolonged catabolic state (eating itself for energy)
The problem is even we eat back those calories we are still in a deficit every day. There is no break from this and our metabolism will still slow down. A deficit is a deficit no matter how small

Now the other way is you eat what you need for your base metabolism (BMR) and exercise to help create your deficit.

Then more fat will burned as energy 6 days a week.
Have one Spike Day a week where the goal is a surplus of calories, that breaks the pattern and spikes up metabolism.

In my opinion when you eat back your exercise calories it's just a wash. I exercise to burn fat, not to eat more. Then I use spike day to enjoy food and keep my metabolism strong.