Cheat day

Back when I was trying to lose weight I would strictly count calories at 1200 during the week and incorporate a cheat day once a week. On my cheat day I wouldn't count calories and would binge on whatever I desired. I would guestimate some cheat days were close to 6000 calories. I eventually lost the weight I wanted to lose at a decent pace, but I definitely don't recommend what I did.

I've never had a cheat day. There were times during weight loss where I would eat at maintenance though. If I know I am going to be having more calories than usual I will prepare by exercising more in the lead up or by eating less. If something unexpectedly comes up then I do without my already prelogged dessert that day which has already been made to fit.

I usually do it for 6-8 months of the year when I gain weight. I obviously wouldn't call it cheating but I eat pretty much anything and everything I desire. Anywhere from 3000+ on a typical day to more if it's a special occasion (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc). It gets old pretty fast, at least for me.

When I'm in a deficit I eat less during the week so that I can eat more on weekends. Again I don't call it cheating because it's part of my plan.
Definitely don't eat everything though, but I pick one or two indulgences. I have limits otherwise I would blow my deficit for the week.

I wouldn’t call it a cheat day. I used to but I realised who am I cheating on? So now it’s just a higher calorie more indulgent day. A day of more treats. Now my appetite can normalise itself better (not fully there yet) so I don’t over eat too much anyway. Dieting makes you ravenous.

I’ve never had one. If I want something, I work it into my weekly calories. This is how I plan on eating for the rest of my life, so what am I cheating on?

I bet I've pushed 7 or 8k before. Nothing in the least bit healthy or beneficial to that, though, so I'm not sure why you're asking about max cals.

Context and perspective is important.

I don't really do them anymore but I follow a lot of people that do and it's heavily dependent on the deficit. The idea is just to bring your weekly deficit down to 3500 and pocket the rest of the calories, so at a -750 daily deficit you'd just eat 1750 calories on top of maintenance. If you're eating -1000, then 3500 on top of maintenance.

That's just if you're going to do them regularly. Nothing wrong with taking a break for a day and doing what you want if tracking stresses you out. I personally think it's easier not to have them because the bloat and stomach expansion screws with my satiety the following week.

I’ve gotten back on the wagon again this week. I’ve planned to have one “cheat” day a week where I can eat into my 750 calorie deficit, but not exceed it.

Sometimes I eat close to goal, sometimes I eat a little under, sometimes I eat over goal, sometimes I eat way over (like thousands of calories over). I call it "a choice". (I don't believe in cheating, in pretty much the same way I don't believe in Santa Claus. Who or what would I be cheating? And why?)

During weight loss, I logged every day, as accurately as possible (even if I had to estimate), regardless of whether I was over, under or spot-on goal.

By doing so, I could estimate the effect of an over-goal day on my weight loss progress, and decide whether it was worth it or not. Specifically, it was easy to estimate approximately how many days an over-goal day would delay my reaching goal weight. If losing a pound a week, I was at an average 500 calorie daily deficit, approximately. So, if I ate 500 over goal, I was delaying goal weight by one day. If I ate 1000 over, I was delaying it two days. Etc. Knowing the impact made it clear how often I could go over, and still lose weight at a satisfactory rate overall.

Sometimes the over-goal eating it was worth it (birthday!), sometimes it wasn't (eating not very tasty "treats", with cravings caused by too little sleep + alcohol, say). If it wasn't worth it in retrospect, I'd think about the circumstances, and try to come up with a better strategy if the same circumstances happened in future: Learning, not guilt. Either way, I'd just get back to the routine.

I completely agree, BTW, with people saying that foods you desire should be part of normal eating, in sensible portions, at sensible frequencies. An important part of the weight loss process is using it to learn how to maintain a healthy weight permanently after reaching goal. (I'm now in year 3 of maintenance.) If you're not willing to give up a food or specific food behavior forever, don't give it up during weight loss.

The "cheating" concept is part of the whole silly idea that overeating is sin, and dieting is atonement. Food is just food, not a transgression.

Just my opinion.

I don't really do cheat days. I usually eat around or a little less (if I walk a lot that day) than my alotted calories. What I, in this weight loss phase, consider my "cheat days" would be eating at maintenance, which still really isn't all that much. I've also found out that I don't really desire my usual cheat foods at the moment, so all is good.