Cheat days.

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  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    Once each week is too often, mathematically, for me. I can do it, of course, but I gain weight when I do. My regularly scheduled deficit is -250 calories per day, and I can shove 3000 down my gullet in under two hours of snacking.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited July 2018
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    fitplundy wrote: »
    seska422 wrote: »
    How often you go off-plan is entirely up to you. There is no should amount.

    What do you consider cheating? Is it cheating to eat certain foods while staying within your calorie goal or is it only cheating if you exceed your calorie goal?

    Do you plan to cheat for a meal or an entire day? You might negate your built-up deficit for the week if you overeat for the whole day. You might even manage to do so with just one meal.
    Cheat or “treat” as in it goes over your calories. Not necessarily thinking of calorie amount such as if I want to go out to eat with family or my significant other once a week and don’t want to have to order a boring salad to save it in my calories
    It would just be one meal.

    By that definition, I cheat whenever appropriate. I don't consider that cheating, I just call it flexible eating. It's an organic part of my eating practices because I don't put my life on hold when I diet. It's just as normal to me as having a lower calorie meal (never a boring salad), and the only difference is that it takes more planning. I just judge each food and decide if it's worth the calories today, and it sometimes is. That's just a choice within my diet, not a deviation from the diet that warrants calling it cheating.

    Depending on what is happening in my life and head, this type of eating can happen several times a week or only once in a while. When it happens often, it takes more work to balance my other meals and days or I may choose to eat at maintenance for a while (which, again, is part of my diet, not a deviation).

    Truly ignoring calories almost never happens. Yes, I may decide that having more calories today is worth it, even if it's way more than usual (like holiday dinners), but I don't find myself switching off my calorie radar. I'm still aware I'm eating a lot and I make the conscious informed decision to do so, understanding exactly what that means for my calories. Making the controlled and normal decision to overeat works better for me than feeling like a victim of circumstances/out of control/off plan/pausing my eating practices/"will do better tomorrow" type of thing.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    I have a sustainable plan of eating tailored to my personal wants and needs. As such whatever I do is never cheating.
  • BlessedMom70
    BlessedMom70 Posts: 124 Member
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    I used to do a cheat day every other week but found it would lead to 3-4 cheat days, so I stopped. :-/
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    Nah, I follow a weekly calorie goal; some days over, some under. It balances out in the end so I'm never over my goal. So large meals or calorie dense foods aren't an issue even when calories are few because I'm cutting.
  • LaMartian
    LaMartian Posts: 478 Member
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    I just add in more cardio throughout the week. If I can burn an extra 600C during the week, that's more I can chow down on Satudays when I "cheat."
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,070 Member
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    I don't believe in cheating, in kind of the same way I don't (as an adult) believe in Santa Claus.

    I'm in maintenance now, but do pretty much what I did while losing: Some days I eat in a deficit, some days I eat at maintenance, some days I eat way past maintenance. If it doesn't average out over the long run to be maintenance calories, then I won't maintain a stable weight. While losing, if it didn't average out over the long run to be in a calorie deficit, I wouldn't lose weight. While losing, I tracked everything I ate, every day, whether I was over, way over, under, or right on goal. (I still track most of the time, just not quite as meticulously.)

    The idea of cheating is part of the whole dysfunctional concept of food as some kind of self-indulgent sin, and of "dieting" as required expiation for that sin. IMO, that whole concept is ridiculous.

    Food is required in order to thrive physically, and it can also bring pleasure and social connection. Over-consuming it can bring ill health, as can ignoring nutrition. Balance is what's needed. Calorie counting with MFP is a tool for helping me understand and achieve that balance.

    So, my advice is this: Eat in a calorie deficit most of the time, to lose weight. Learn to understand what reasonable, sensible, enjoyable, sustainable eating is. That may include some higher-calorie days, but if you log those (even if you need to estimate), you'll begin to understand what impact they have on reaching your long-term goals.

    When you log it all, this will help you figure out ways to fit in bigger meals within your calories sometimes (extra workouts, lighter meals same day or earlier in the week, etc.). It will also help you decide whether deferring your goal by X days is worth the extra consumption for some special occasion. Sometimes it is, sometime it isn't.

    We can't tell you how to answer those questions in a way that achieves life balance for you. Only you can do that.
  • Stellamom2018
    Stellamom2018 Posts: 120 Member
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    SnowDog16 wrote: »
    My last cheat day lasted 6 months. Just getting back again. I am going to try harder to stay on course. I have a big weekend on my feet and some running, so I will have to eat a little more but hoping to not go over by much. I find eating meals my mom cooked the hardest to stay in range, even when she knows I am trying to lose weight. So they become cheat meals but I work on fitting it is to my day the best I can.

    This is me. I've just re lost the same 10lbs from my last cheat meal about 4 months ago.

    I like to fit my "cheats" into my daily or weekly. I ate half a pizza tonight, all 960 calories of it, and I am still 50 under my daily limit. It was glorious.
  • raymax4
    raymax4 Posts: 6,070 Member
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    I guess you lost me on the word cheat. Just who do you think you are cheating?
    I try to fit things into my calories and micros. Most of they time I do. Some times I don't.
    I have learned a lot from this app and I plan to keep on learning. It is a tool that can help you.
  • saires_au
    saires_au Posts: 175 Member
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    I don’t think of it as cheating. Sometimes there are special events that I choose to eat above my current calorie goal. Often I plan for them by eating a little less through the week other times I plan a day eating at maintenance. I want this to be sustainable so I’m trying to make things flexible.

    I’ve lost over 13kg in 3 months and during that time I’ve had chocolate most days! I’ve also had KFC, hot chips, cookies, Panko coated deep fried prawns, cake, ice cream, champagne and lots of other things I eat because I enjoy them rather than for their nutritional value and they have still fitted within my daily goal. I’m finding it relatively easy eating this way as nothing is off limits or bad.

    Good luck
  • Sam29a
    Sam29a Posts: 201 Member
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    I plan on one cheat day every 4 months or so. I've gone 8 months without one though and didn't miss it too much. It seems the more cheat days/meals I have, the more I crave them. I do have treats on a daily basis, if I can fit it into my daily allowance, then I'll have it, no guilt.

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