What do all of you feel about a cheating day?

Every program I have ever been on didn’t allow a cheat DAY. They simply stated that if you did indulge in one meal then just go back your plan after. However, caution they did state only once a week or you won’t see much progress. I have followed this and had lost 85lbs in the past. It works. I am just getting started back on it after having my baby and being on bed rest.

You are cheating yourself, why would you do that? Why don't you plan your diet that day to allow the food you want? If you want a bowl of ice cream at dinner, eat wisely the rest of the day.

Machka9 wrote: »

Never took a cheat day. When I was actively losing weight, I ate the food I liked and stayed within my calorie limit. When I reached my first goal, I took a planned 1-month diet break. Then I resumed the diet to reach my second goal.

Oh and exercise helped ... I'd put in a good day of cycling, then I'd go out for pizza or something.

* Excitedly jumps around yelling "me too! me too!" *
It's pretty simple. Eat what you like, but stay within your calorie limits. If you think you'll be going over, get in a little exercise to offset the difference. If you're still over, don't fret ... either plan to make it up the next day, or just don't worry about it. As long as your overall trend is caloric deficit, you'll be fine.

So people have already pointed out that it should be a lifestyle so thinking of it as a cheat day means that you're thinking of it as a more temporary situation. One thing that has really helped my husband and I is sticking to our weight loss calorie goal each day with the potential for what we call "gap days" and looking at our total calories for the week

Theoretically, if you want a higher calorie food to fit into your daily calories, you either have to portion control your food so it fits, or move more to create a calorie excess so it fits. Sometimes those options just suck. Maybe you're having an extra hungry day or you just can't get motivated to move more. Since I'm shooting for two pounds and he's shooting for one pound loss per week, there is a 1000 or 500 calorie gap between what we burn and what we eat each day. If we are having one of those days where we just can't do it, we allow ourselves to eat some, not all, of that gap back.

Even if we do eat all of our gap, we are technically eating for maintenance. Then, we can look at our well and despite having a maintenance day, overall we are on track to still lose weight because we were at a deficit for the week. We try to limit those days and have been pretty good about and have only done that 2-3 times in the last month because overall we don't feel deprived. We eat healthy things that are super yummy and area generally able to fit foods we love into our healthy eating lifestyle even if they maybe aren't the best.

Also, foods aren't inherently good or bad. They just are. If a food isn't getting you towards your goals, is it worth the calories you're spending on it? Maybe, maybe not. I know that for me, popcorn and the occasional custard from the local custard place are totally worth it. Most other salty foods or ice creams aren't.

saundts wrote: »

recently, my friends say that I should have a cheating day so that I do not feel deprived. What do you all say? and to what limits, maximum or minimum. right now I keep an under 1800 cal. per day, I am 258 pounds 43 male 5'9". Starting weight 20 days ago was 267 pounds.

What does that mean to you?

My overall diet is very sound nutritionally speaking...but I make room for things like pizza night with my kids, some pub grub now and then, nice dinners with my wife, etc. I would say somewhere between 80-90% of my diet is nutritional awesomeness (and delicious) and 10-20% not quite so nutritious.

I don't like the term "cheat day". I am a very fussy eater and really enjoy high calorie food. For me I log faithfully and try to keep a 150 Calorie deficit each day. I allow myself to go into maintenance calories every Sunday. This is a family day in our house where there is always a big breakfast and a big dinner. I felt like I was "failing" every Sunday until I changed this in my mind. I also have one day each month where I allow myself a maintenance day. I just changed this last week after stalling at a 17 pound loss for almost a month. Today I am down another 1.5 pounds.

I don't have cheat days or meals. I do have days that are higher in calories which are balanced by lower calorie days or additional exercise.

Everything gets logged, even the extra half glass of wine on Tuesday night. I would be concerned that not tracking one day would gradually transition to more frequent days without that accountability.

Cheating day? Sounds like a diet to me. I'm going for lifestyle. After dieting off and on for 50 years, my PW was 390 lbs (I'm 6' 2"). It was killing me.

I started at 375 lbs 214 days ago. I weigh 259 lbs today, and I've retained LBM by weightlifting and walking.

No cheating days.

Cheating is just practice for the day you get off your diet. It's a temporary change, and will eventually end with even more weight than at the start. Go for permanent lifestyle change.

I do meal prep all week so I have all of my meals ready to go and I just have to pop them in the microwave so on Saturday or Sunday I usually have one meal that's whatever I want and some form of sweet. I fast from dinner the night before to that meal and still try to not go over my daily maintenance calories.

saundts wrote: »

recently, my friends say that I should have a cheating day so that I do not feel deprived. What do you all say? and to what limits, maximum or minimum. right now I keep an under 1800 cal. per day, I am 258 pounds 43 male 5'9". Starting weight 20 days ago was 267 pounds.

I find it unhelpful to set aside special days to “cheat,” but i occasionally indulge in not-so-healthy foods if I feel like it and have the calories in my budget.