Cheat day ?

2

Replies

  • DwerryMouse
    DwerryMouse Posts: 24 Member
    edited June 2018
    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 :smile:
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    kzshelbi wrote: »
    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.
  • samaz32
    samaz32 Posts: 16 Member
    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!
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,974 Member
    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.
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,472 Member
    I cheat all weekend, I do double all week and work my butt off then booze it up all weekend. Works for me.
  • kimlee1807
    kimlee1807 Posts: 10 Member
    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?
  • tomorrowperfume
    tomorrowperfume Posts: 67 Member
    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.
    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.

    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.
  • tomorrowperfume
    tomorrowperfume Posts: 67 Member
    Oh crap, I still typed almost 200 words :'(
  • tammie614
    tammie614 Posts: 48 Member
    kzshelbi wrote: »
    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.

    XO
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited June 2018
    Pretty much what everyone else said. I’m generally against the term “cheat day.” Maintaining a healthy weight and body is about changing your lifestyle, not going “on a diet”. I include cookies and ice cream and whatever in my regular diet because cutting everything “bad” out is not sustainable in the long term. So. I have nothing to cheat on. Plus, if I did try to eat super healthy all week and then have a cheat day once a week, I feel that I would go crazy and eat everything in sight and basically undo the deficit (or maintenance) that I did all week long.

    However i see no issues with going lighter some days and heavier on others. Like I would rather go a little under during the week So I can go over on the weekend. I don’t consider that to be cheating.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    VegHeadGettingFit wrote: »
    I mentioned having a cheat day to my wife. She wasn't very pleased.

    Did you explain that she could have them too?
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    I don't have cheat days. But, I do have days (even weeks) where I preplan my meals in order to fit in something that would normally blow my deficit to hell. Day before yesterday I managed to rearrange my day and eat enough of a deficit the day before as well, to fit in 1/2 a pizza, a half order of hot wings and a few beers. I was still in deficit for the week (almost for the day), so it wasn't "cheating".
  • walking2running
    walking2running Posts: 140 Member
    "cheat meals" were a remnant of my binge mentality and it made me confirm my suspicions that deep down inside, all I wanted to do was gorge on food all day, so why not cave into it indefinitely. now I'm on round 2 of losing the same weight, and while I sometimes eat out for special occasions, I do everything in moderation. I'm not cheating. I'm living.
  • Mandylou19912014
    Mandylou19912014 Posts: 208 Member
    kzshelbi wrote: »
    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 would aim to have a cheat meal .. and not a day .. so one meal in the week which you crave and is a treat for you. If you spend the day eating badly then your more likely to undo all your hard work
  • zippie2223
    zippie2223 Posts: 37 Member
    Cheat MEAL instead of DAY
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    Cheat days, years ago, used, to work for me, until they didn't. I started out just having a cheat meal. Then, it became a cheat day. Then, it became an issue because I was obsessed with cheat day coming up, so I'd move it forward. Then, eventually, I just wanted to continue the cheat day forever, and eventually lost focus. Nowadays, if I'm really craving a food that isn't usually ideal in my regular diet, I just have it, but use portion control, track it, and try to cover it with exercise calories. It works much better and keeps me on track.
  • Motorsheen
    Motorsheen Posts: 20,492 Member
    without reading any of the posts on this thread.....

    cheat meal? sure.

    cheat day? ... an entire day? no so much.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    I don't have a cheat day once a week but once every 2 weeks I'll go over maintenance by about 500 cals. It costs me very little in terms of my goals but 1K calories more than I would normally eat goes a long way; especially since my maintenance is 2500ish. Sometimes if I want to do this 2 weeks in a row I'll do a little extra cardio and eat a little less weekdays leading up to it.

    It's basically like balancing a checkbook. If you want to buy something you don't normally buy you can save up for it or put it on credit. Either way the cash has to come from somewhere and needs to be saved in advance or paid back with interest.

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