Cheat Day

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ingridrose
ingridrose Posts: 12
in Food and Nutrition
I am currently doing 6 days of working out (Monday-Saturday) and Sunday is my day off/cheat day. Are there still rules when it comes to cheat day? Is it guilt free food for all? Should I even log my food that day? To be honest I haven't been logging my cheat days in. Anyway I was just wanting to get more information/experience from everyone else. Thanks for your opinions/information. Keep working hard everyone!

Ingrid

Replies

  • arkenny
    arkenny Posts: 125
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    i think you should log your cheat day....although that being said i was away for last weekend and didnt log just cause i was on the go and didnt know what to call things i ate ( lol it was a bad food wekend) but usually when i eat something that might not be the best choice i log it...it holds me accountable and really just lets me know just how much cals etc are in it. but i also dont have a set cheat day...ive never been good with strict strict strict so i work in something bad when i want it.. and keep it with in my cals for the day
  • Jeni322
    Jeni322 Posts: 63 Member
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    Hello :)

    I find if I have a whole cheat day it takes a good 3 days to work off the effects of it. I allow myself one free meal a week rather than a whole day!

    I still log my 'cheat' meal in my diary as it helps me to remember just how many calories are in these devilsh but oh so tasty foods!
  • jcannon15
    jcannon15 Posts: 148
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    i log my cheat days only because watching all those calories add up keeps the cheating reasonable. i also usually eat whatever i want but still try to include fruits and vegetables.
  • jobster
    jobster Posts: 11 Member
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    I think it depends what you are trying to achieve here.....if you are on a "diet" then absolutely include your cheat day so you can see exactly what you are consuming. However, if you are on a long term "lifestyle" plan then just as life, we can`t be perfect all the time, and I wouldn`t worry so much about being strictly regimented in recording your food.....this will turn it into " dieting " which in turn makes chances of success lower. Just my opinions, but you have to allow yourself some freedom or you`d go nuts!!!
  • portexploit
    portexploit Posts: 378 Member
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    No rules on a cheat day. I typically use one once a week. I first started out with 2 cheat meals a week, well it was more of a caloric zigzag. In 3 months, I lost 5 inches from my stomach, 3 inches from my belt line, and 28lbs total. While incorporting a limitless cheat day.
  • sgrinavi
    sgrinavi Posts: 80
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    Log it for sure... you'll be surprised at the numbers :-)

    With regards to the cheat day in general... for me a whole cheat day without any activity really puts a damper on my program, so I do a cheat meal I like it to be a on vigorous workout day and I like to do it shortly after the workout.

    For example, I used to "teach" a Sunday AM 2 hr spin class after lifting heavy for 45 mins then go out to a big brunch... it's good for the soul.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    To put it honestly..

    you can ruin an entire weeks worth of work with cheat days.
  • caroltina
    caroltina Posts: 453 Member
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    I dunno about everyone else but I think it is important to be able to live, socialise, make better choices when we are doing this. I think much more about what I have on meals out or whatever. I don't call it cheating because that seems negative! I have to say when I have a treat I tend to loose more! Think we need it sometimes!
  • shrinkwrecks
    shrinkwrecks Posts: 4
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    To put it honestly..

    you can ruin an entire weeks worth of work with cheat days.


    i hate when people say this because it isn't true unless you're eating like 3904860935calories. your metabolism is boosted from a week's worth of hard work AND if following a strict dietary plan, your body is used to a certain range of calories and giving it more than that for a day or so is beneficial for your metabolism also because you sort of fake yourself out, at least that's how it has worked out for me.
  • portexploit
    portexploit Posts: 378 Member
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    I wrote a topic on this, well here it is below...

    I feel that one the biggest causes of failure on a "eating plan" is because deprivation gets to us, we're on a low calorie diet which can make us hungry at times. Sometimes we reach for that food that we don't want to eat that is so tempting. Then we feel unsuccessful with our diet, we feel we have no self control. This can lead to frustration, and even to the point an of just giving up on eating better for yourself.

    I am a very strong believer in stress and recovery. I feel that everything in our world works on this principal, our heart beat contracts, then it relaxes, we eat(recovery) then we use that energy(stress), we sleep, we awaken, life, death. There is nothing constant, if it is... then it's not alive. How do we get stronger, emotionally, and physically? Stress and recovery. When something is stressed to much, it will give. How long can you go with out food, sleep, high intense exercise non stop... it just won't happen. All these are forms of stress.

    You know what a reduce caloric diet is? It's stress on the body. Everything I have mentioned is about recovering energy, and expending energy. We need cycles of stress and cycles of recovery. So how do you recover from a low calorie diet, you eat those foods you want, maybe one day a week, free of guilt.

    I don't know any other way to say it but it "replenishes the soul" you kill that desire for it... the next day you go back to your normal eating plan with no urges anymore. One of my friends from this site, made a book about a similar eating plan. He was over weight, and now he's ripped, 6 pack and all. Some of the best body building diet's are based around this principal, so is zigzagging your calories.

    The better you get at it, the longer you can go with out this "free day." Keep in mind, this doesn't mean be a glutton. Eat what you want, but eat at your "maintenance calories" not your "restricted calories." A persons's metabolism slows down within 72hrs of a reduce caloric diet. This "free day" will speed your metabolism back up.

    You know what happens when you go on a low caloric diet for a long time? You get impaired thyroid functions which will result in a slower metabolism. This free day would offset that effect. Maybe some of you have heard of leptin, leptin keeps track an of how much you ate, and how fat you are. Once you start to reduce calories, leptin goes down, pretty much telling you to eat. From my understanding leptin is linked to hunger, to insulin, to glucagon, to pretty much every biochemical that regulates your weight. It's job is to protect you and make sure you weigh the same. Once leptin is down, the urges get stronger, and the harder it is to stick to your diet, you know how to increase leptin? just eat those foods you want... It will increase, with out putting on bodyfat. It "thinks" you gained some weight because you're eating more, and it will be satisfied and not bug you for a little while. Some people just eat completely freely on this "cheat day" they go over their caloric limit big time, and still get good results. So if you're interested in this, experiment and see what works best for you.
  • stevwil41
    stevwil41 Posts: 608 Member
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    To put it honestly..

    you can ruin an entire weeks worth of work with cheat days.


    i hate when people say this because it isn't true unless you're eating like 3904860935calories. your metabolism is boosted from a week's worth of hard work AND if following a strict dietary plan, your body is used to a certain range of calories and giving it more than that for a day or so is beneficial for your metabolism also because you sort of fake yourself out, at least that's how it has worked out for me.

    Ditto. I usually do either one cheat day a week or if the whole weekend is looking fairly busy I'll eat my maintenance calories on both Saturday and Sunday. I do still exercise on those day but it amounts to a 45-60 minute brisk walk. I'm a serial weigher (a habit I'm trying to break) so there's usually a bit of water gain the day after but it's usually gone by Tuesday. If you have the willpower then give yourself a couple of days off the scales afterwards and you should be fine...unless you eat 3904860935 calories that is:)
  • ingridrose
    ingridrose Posts: 12
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    Thanks everyone for your input. I think I will start to log in my meals on cheat day(no matter how much it may hurt to see the actual calories). I am on a very specific goal and am wanting to lose 40 lbs by Feb so I am on a somewhat strict diet. To be honest the dieting part hasn't been as difficult as I was expecting. The only thing I am craving is chocolate. It's actually pretty nice to have something to look forward to when you work hard all week. The reason I posted this question was because my first cheat day didn't affect me whatsoever (I still lost 2 lbs that week) but I feel pretty gross after my last cheat day and I stepped on the scale early which I saw caused me to gain weight. I am going to continue to do the "no rules cheat day" for a couple of weeks. If it starts to affect my weight loss as a whole then I will put a cap as to how many calories I can overeat on cheat day. Reasonable?
  • sgrinavi
    sgrinavi Posts: 80
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    I wrote a topic on this, well here it is below...

    Awesome post, thanks for sharing
  • Kate6868
    Kate6868 Posts: 159 Member
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    If I don't log a "cheat" day, it becomes that much easier to not log the next day either. Eating without logging really wasn't working for me in general (which is why I'm here). So, even if I totally blow it, I'm committed to logging each food.

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