Cheat day ?
kzshelbi
Posts: 73 Member
So I’m wondering different opinions on having a cheat day once a week and if it’s worked better for anyone or if it doesn’t work. Let me know your thoughts and opinions. Have you tried it? Did it work for you?
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One "cheat day" could erase your entire weekly calorie deficit depending on how crazy you go. Plus, it just seems kind of juvenile to say you are "cheating" on your diet. We are adults, this is not supposed to be a game, but a permanent change to your lifestyle.
A better strategy is to work the foods you want into your calorie goal every day. Then you don't feel the need to "cheat". Of course we are all going to have days when we splurge and go over our calories for special occasions...birthdays, holidays, etc. But not every week on a regular schedule.24 -
I basically agree with Suzy. When we were at Panera, my husband got this enormous brownie. I had two bites and logged it. WORTH IT!! Should I eat a whole brownie? No. But two bites was just enough to keep going without feeling deprived.4
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I tried having one years ago when I first tried to lose weight. I was under the silly impression that I had to cut out "bad" foods like bread and cookies and pizza. I decided to eat "good" foods all week (at 1200 calories, of course, because I had no idea what I was doing), and my cheat day turned into a "binge-on-everything-you-see-because-you're-starving" day.
Nope.
These days I find it's easier to work all the foods that I enjoy into a varied diet and reasonable deficit.13 -
A "cheat day" will "work" if it doesn't prevent you from being in a calorie deficit overall. It won't work if it keeps you from being in a deficit.
There's no blanket answer. Some people find it very easy to eat enough in one day -- or even one meal -- to wipe out a deficit for a whole week.
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Letting my calories fluctuate, according to hunger, worked well for me. My daily calories still worked out to around 1500 kcal a day, but some days were 2500 kcal and others were 800 kcal. Most days fell within a few hundred calories of 1500 kcal. I lost fairly steadily doing that.
The cheats I avoid are the off plan foods that I know negatively affect my health (IR and autoimmune) and lead to increased hunger and cravings.
If I want a treat I'll have por krinds with dip or a few hundred calories of cheese, and then I'm back on track the next day. If I ate a few hundred calories in my trigger foods, like ice cream or candy, I'd be wanting and craving more, and be hungrier, for days afterwards which could derail me further. I avoid that sort of cheat.2 -
Considering my "cheat" (or I call them overeating) days clock in around 5,000 calories, they are bad for me to have once a week or even once a month. I'm going back to having them on certain holidays which annoys my husband because everything is closed.1
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I guess it depends on what the definition of "cheat day" is to you. What makes it a "cheat day?"1
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I have friends here on MFP that do it. They typically will pick one day a week, then eat 3k-4k over their usual set amount. Funny thing is.. in order to do that they set a seriously low calorie goal during the rest of the week. It often puts them in plateaus as well. I'd much rather, and have always, spread my calories out during the week rather than have a whole day where I blow the entire week's hard work. It also makes it much tougher to go back the next few days to such a low calorie goal. But.. some people like it that way and if it works for them over time then I say more power to them.
Instead if I manage to go over on a special meal I don't sweat it. I will just eat a little less or work out a little harder the rest of the week. So I guess I allow cheat meals, and I have also been known to save up extra calories for an expected upcoming meal I know will be horrible in calories. For instance, tomorrow is my wife's birthday. Because of that I took the day off. We'll be eating lunch out, seeing a movie, etc. So I plan on getting up tomorrow early and working out an extra hour. Then I'll track everything I eat and keep an eye on how much I still go over and probably do some extra workouts or eat a few salads the rest of the weekend to make up for it. By Monday I'll be back on track, but I won't touch a scale for most of the week because of the expected extra sodium and water retention from eating out.
Works for me this way. If a cheat day is what you prefer and it works for you, then I'd say go for it. In the end it's about whatever can motivate you to stay on track over time.5 -
So I’m wondering different opinions on having a cheat day once a week and if it’s worked better for anyone or if it doesn’t work. Let me know your thoughts and opinions. Have you tried it? Did it work for you?
A number of "named" diets that rely on arbitrary food restrictions and nonsensical rules use a cheat meal or day as a way to help people comply a little better with the plan. The idea is that you end up spending your mental energy on being "good" until you're allowed to do the cheat, and don't end up questioning premise of the plan.
The cheat day idea is unnecessary if the plan is based on achieving a reasonable deficit where you can eat food you enjoy within your calorie and macro targets.3 -
Personally I rarely go with the idea of a 'cheat day' as like previously stated, it seemed more like an excuse to binge and erase my week's work, rather than an innocent splurge. (I say this after I went complete after the rails yesterday... oops). I also used to have 'cheat meals', 2 per week, but I only went for those if it was a very restrictive diet and even then, I found it did more damage than good. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that for me personally, I am much more likely to be successful if I focus on everyday success and moderation rather than eating perfectly every day except for 1.2
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People have all kinds of reasons for the 'Cheat' day. There are wild claims that cheat days boost your metabolism and prevent metabolic blowback.
Cheat Meals or Cheat Day: - planned food bender. Or not. Thrill Eating.
If the protocol you're following is all that and a bag of chips, why you do need to 'Cheat'. Dieting and then Cheating are a total disconnect for the brain. In the long run they dig a much deeper hole.
If Cheat Meals become Cheat Days turning into eating it all back over giant month hunks of time...did the Cheat Meals change everything for you then?1 -
My cheat days are basically going to a vegan restaurant or cafe. I get to eat food prepared well and its still good for you. I do watch my calorie intake while on my cheat day though. However the food isn't nearly as bland as my week days so I feel content.0
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I have refeed days on weekends where my calorie intake is higher, in particular my carbs . But it is still in my deficit and planned so I wouldn't consider it cheating really. I find it helps boost my workout performance and helps with adherence.0
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For me personally, and through some trial & error, I have found it better to have little "indulgences" along the way that may (at worst) put me a little over for the day than a "cheat" meal/day/etc. on some frequency.0
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It also depends on your goals. I have 2 cheat meals a week but I'm bulking and trying to gain weight. It's working for my goals...
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I've never been a fan of such rigid structures over a long period - why all diets fail. You cannot restrict behavior unreasonably and expect reasonable results. It is especially challenging to implement extreme change in behavior, especially without a large support network.
I've never implemented such an extreme change that would require a "cheat day". I just target a calorie goal and come close to that. I make sure I have enough room for a treat everyday.1 -
I can't cheat because the word doesn't exist in my diet. I do like eating more on the weekends so I bank calories I don't need during the week. I have no need of a treat each day but I can eat one whenever I want. If something happens and I eat too much one day I either deduct it from the saved calories or chalk it up to life happens.
Learning to live within my calories and be happy doing it is important for now and hopefully years to come. That is not going to happen if I have unstructured eating once or more a week.3 -
Most days, I eat a couple of hundred calories below my maintenance calorie goal, now that I'm in maintenance. Maybe once a week or so, I eat at or above my maintenance calories. Occasionally, I eat way, way above my maintenance calories - maybe double them.
Routinely, I focus on eating mostly nutritious foods I truly enjoy, because life is too short to eat yucky things just because they're good for me. The occasional non-nutrient-dense food, within my calorie goal, helps my happiness and is not nutritional Armageddon.
I consider these "choices about eating" rather than "cheating". If I make overall poor choices, I'll gain weight and/or torpedo my health.
While losing weight, I looked at it pretty much the same way. The "way, way above" days were very, very rare while losing: Birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Now, I'm a little looser about the circumstances, but the bottom line is the same: Choices have consequences, bad choices have bad consequences . . . and, to the extent we have control over it, life should be happy.
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Everything here is anecdotal as this is something that can't be proven as a hindrance or help.
I've lost a significant amount of weight while having a "cheat" meal and allowing alcohol intake as long as I had exercised hard enough to fit it under the calories for that day. So every Saturday I get my *kitten* outta bed and go nuts on the trails in order to afford it.
I like this method as it gives me motivation and something to be excited for throughout the week. Others will think it unhealthy and that you are damaging your lifestyle choice.
As long as it fits your calorie budget, it really doesn't matter how you get there. Low burn, low intake or high burn, high intake.
Of course, it depends on what the definition of "cheat" is. Not logging anything and eating/drinking w/e you want all day will almost certainly destroy w/e progress you made throughout the week.
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If I want a treat, I plan for it. If I want pizza for dinner or an ice cream in the evening I simply plan ahead and make sure I go to the gym and earn some extra calories, or have a low calorie breakfast and/or lunch to leave more calories for dinner. I never feel deprivied and generally eat whatever I want although often in smaller portions. For example this evening I had a magnum mini rather than a full size one, but I also spent an hour at the gym. I think balance is the key and a further benefit is getting into healthy habits of everything in moderation 2
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So I’m wondering different opinions on having a cheat day once a week and if it’s worked better for anyone or if it doesn’t work. Let me know your thoughts and opinions. Have you tried it? Did it work for you?
you've got to find what works for you. If you can have a cheat day and just keep it to one a week and that doesn't lead to two a week, then three....then go for it.1 -
Cheat day once every 4 months or so worked for me. I was on here before, lost a fair amount of weight sticking to that. Even went 7 months without a cheat day and felt great, wasn't even tempted to cheat. Once I have one cheat, it rolls into another day, then another and that's why I'm back here trying to lose weight again!1
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I mentioned having a cheat day to my wife. She wasn't very pleased.9
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The thing about cheat days, If you want to call them that and if you want to do them - your total calories for week still has to be at about your intended level.
If not, you will not lose weight.
So, to me, planned higher days which are balanced out by lower days and the weeks total is still round about target - Sure.
Logging on these days is still neccesary to know how far over you are going.
Cheat days as Total free for all un measured pigout days - not a good idea.
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I cheat all weekend, I do double all week and work my butt off then booze it up all weekend. Works for me.4
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I have one day a week where I eat roughly at maintenance, but can eat what I want, within reason. Obviously I'll never go and have 3,000+ calories or anything stupid. But on a day-to-day basis, I net 1000 calories a day. So on the one day a week, I'll have 1500ish. I'm still way under for the week, but one day at maintenance is enough for me to look forward to and keep me on track. E.g. oh look, I can have that takeaway on Saturday , or that pudding after dinner... Works for me. I suppose it's how much you control it? 1
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Eh, I had typed out like two hundred words on this, but it was just a long-winded way of saying that everyone is different and it's hard to make generalisations on what might or might not work for OP. I don't log on Saturdays (at least not very accurately) and I still lose weight. I have friends whose food logs are so inaccurate I don't think it matters. I have friends who don't log at all and they're fine. I have friends who can put away 5,000 calories in a day and cheat days would be catastrophic for their weight loss goals.Scottgriesser wrote: »Of course, it depends on what the definition of "cheat" is. Not logging anything and eating/drinking w/e you want all day will almost certainly destroy w/e progress you made throughout the week.
OP, I think it all depends on you. Why don't you go a whole day of eating whatever you want, but just log the calories and see what happens? If the calories are 1,000 or 1,500 over your goal, maybe cheat days won't work for you. As long as you stick with it, this one day experiment isn't going to throw a monkey wrench in your weight loss or anything.0 -
Oh crap, I still typed almost 200 words
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So I’m wondering different opinions on having a cheat day once a week and if it’s worked better for anyone or if it doesn’t work. Let me know your thoughts and opinions. Have you tried it? Did it work for you?
i enjoy my cheats. however you need to decide if you are going to have a cheat DAY (24 hours) or a cheat MEAL (one of 2-3 meals you eat per day) big difference. i've had cheat days before and it took about a week to get my body back to normal. cheat meals i enjoy without guilt or regret because they do not do much damage since the eating prior to and after are pretty much good.
it's all about balance.
XO1
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