cheat day

Oh yeah I cheat.

Do I feel bad about it?

Not at all!

I ran 10 miles today and am heading out to Chili's for dinner.

I can't do cheat days, same as stillkristi, it'd turn out to be a year :noway:
I have tried, about 6 weeks ago, I had a cheat weekend, yeah well, it ended up the whole bloooming month! :grumble:
I had to kick my own butt hard to get out of the cycle too. Oh boy did that hurt :sad:

I can have a little of something - but only occassionally, like last night, I had half a bag of minstrels - my fav sweet , sadly hubby then made cheese on toast, and it smelt soooo good that I ended up having 2 slices with him :noway: I did burn 700 calories yesterday, so that did a bit of damage limitation :ohwell:

This weekend, I have told myself will be a healthy one, and I will not crumble - hmmm I hope :frown:

I'm with the majority.. cheating is too big if a temptation for me.. BUT, there are ways to have foods you like with out going bananas (which throw my sugar numbers off, but that is a different topic). I typically have 550-600 exercise calories and I have a hard time eating more than 200-300 of them. For my "cheat" I'll have a portion of baked chips or an ounce of dark chocolate. (1-2 times a week) I have to count out my chips and weigh my chocolate and put the rest away so that I don't continue to munch. I haven't felt deprived at all and have still been putting up nice losses.

I don't call it a cheat because i'm not cheating its part of my plan About once every 7 or 8 days I either go out to dinner or order in or eat something that I normally don't eat because I will go over calories or because its not healthy. I do not make a whole day of it because Its not worth it to undo the progress of the week and I dont think i would feel very good anyway.

I dont usually go totally hog wild either. For example one time I went out and ordered steak and mac and cheese with bacon yummmmm. As I was eating I realized that yes i could eat the whole thing since I had planned for this but did I really want to? Ive been doing so well and its a big portion and so I ate 1/2 but I knew i could eat the rest if I wanted so i didnt feel any pressure. I gave 1/2 away to someone else at the table and I enjoyed what i had and I felt really good because I didnt have that stuffed feeling but even if I had it would be ok because i had planned on it

Another time I had a whole big bag of buttery popcorn for dinner lol...but since I am on low calories i know that I can't do stuff like that all the time because I need other nutrients...but it sure was yummy.....

I have trouble stopping at a little with some things (popcorn, milk chocolate etc..) so having a little of those doesnt work for me..that needs to be at my planned going over meal day but other stuff i can have a little of so as long as I can fit it in my cals I dont consider it a cheat or anything. i think you have to try some stuff and really find something that works for you..I know that having one bite of milk chocolate a day does NOT work for me it sets off crazy cravings ...so I just dont set myself up for failure ...but some people find a few m&ms or a bite of something makes there cravings go away

..sorry for the long post all i really needed to say was find something that works for you, that you can live with and wont stop your progress :flowerforyou:

a cheat day, simply put, is a bad idea. I could easily overeat a pound or more worth of food in a day and undo my entire week. Should you treat yourself occaisionally do something that you normal wouldn't eat? Absolutely. Should you occaisionally allow yourself to eat a meal wherein you aren't stricting counting the calories? Absolutely. Should you choose a day of the week, most pick saturday, and allow yourself to eat anything you want? Absolutely not, unless undoing your week's progress is ok with you. Most of us have trouble stopping once we start, myself included. If I tell myself I can have as much pizza and ice cream as I want, I promise you I won't stop until the pizza and ice cream are gone. None of us decide to have a cheat day and then proceed to order a salad and a healthy portion of meats and grains, right? That's not exactly the point. If you make a "cheat day" your reward for the week, you'll do great all week and then undo it all in one day. Instead, try to find treats that fit nicely into your day, even if it takes an extra workout to afford them. :flowerforyou:

Girl I love your logic just had to tell you so

I usually allow myself a cheat treat on Saturday. I get a two scoop real ice cream cone on Saturdays (not the sugar free or low fat stuff). I'm pretty good all week and I can have my ice cream on Saturday and get back on track on Sunday. I don't eat any sweets during the week and I don't actually miss them, but I really look forward to my ice cream cone on Saturdays.

That's not cheating, that's a treat and it doesn't undo your whole week.

I find if I allow myself a cheat meal (usually on a day I've worked out EXTRA hard) it tends to keep me in line for the rest of the week/day. I tend not to overindulge on things I know I shouldn't be eating and then I don't crave anything else.

Someone told me that cheat days are essential to the success of your overall weight loss.

I usually allow myself a cheat treat on Saturday. I get a two scoop real ice cream cone on Saturdays (not the sugar free or low fat stuff). I'm pretty good all week and I can have my ice cream on Saturday and get back on track on Sunday. I don't eat any sweets during the week and I don't actually miss them, but I really look forward to my ice cream cone on Saturdays.

I could have posted this myself

Weigh it, record it, control it.

If you're over on calories or carbs a little, it's not the end of the world, so long as you don't jump into a pit of despair. It's not likely to be a lot if you're recording it, right?

And you can always create some exercise calories (i.e. work out) to absorb the impact, too.

If you eat all your calories all week - including exercise - and your cheat day results in you going, say 1500 over your intake level for the day - you may see poor results. You might cancel out your whole week of good - especially if you are not doing some high intensity and daily (or often) exercise. Just watching what you eat will help you lose weight, but in those cases it basically ads up to calories in - calories out. If you are working out pretty hard and shaking up your routine and really creating a fuel burning machine of your body - a cheat day can help you keep out of a slump or plateau (both physically and mentally). But, if your cheat day is you have 4 donuts for breakfast, a candy bar for lunch, and a #4 super size for dinner... probably a bad idea. If your cheat day is you put syrup instead of fruit on your oatmeal and you have ice cream for a snack or you even go out to eat and order something, god forbid, fried (!!) that's probably just fine. Part of this is you have to be able to stick with it mentally and depriving constantly is not likely going to work. I dont do cheat days, but i do allow myself to go over sometimes - sometimes petty bad like 1000 calories. But, i log it all and I am very conscious of what i am doing and learn things (like just how many calories are in that Olive Garden dish!). I also now I never eat a whole meal out to dinner but order whatever I want because I am out to enjoy myself the rare instance I am at a restaurant.

I think you also have to define what a "cheat day" is - as people it seem have very different versions. If cheat day means you have a scoop or two of real cream ice cream that is something very different than you go out to eat twice, throw all counting and caution to the wind, and eat all the snacks that have been off limits all week. I personally don't think cheat day is the right word for either practice as cheat implies getting ahead by unscrupulous method of not following the rules. I think that diet pills and not eating fall more into cheat category than a "day off".

Maybe more of a "break day" to give you some mental time off (some people find logging everything emotionally draining, or resisting all snacks too implausible for the long term) or sometimes a little physical recovery.

I say, if you want to - try it - keep it within reason - be aware of it - and then watch the scale (and tape measure) - you will know if it works for you or not.

Nothing wrong with a cheat day. Some people find that it doesn't necessarily help with their weight loss, so keep that in mind. I used to have cheat meals, not days, but I haven't had one in a while. Actually I had one planned for last Saturday, but ended up in the hospital for gallbladder surgery. Just my luck, haha. I'm not upset about it though. I've gotten to the point where cheat meals/cheat days aren't as good as they seem. I use it as a trick though. If I'm craving something (such as right now I really want some pumpkin pie), I tell myself that if I'm still craving it by the end of the week, I'll let myself have a cheat meal. By the time I get to the date set, I don't even want it anymore.

The last time I had a cheat meal though, I didn't even really want it. I was just being lazy; didn't want to sit there and try to find something healthy on the restaurant's menu. There I was eating a philly cheesesteak and french fries, and even though I was stuffed, I even ate some of my brother's french fries too. Couldn't seem to stop myself and ended up feeling guilty about it later. I try to always plan my cheat meals earlier in the week, so that I don't feel guilty about it.

So, use it to your advantage! Cheat days really keep you sane and on track when your first starting out, but I'll bet you'll find (as I have) that you don't really need one later on. If you're ever craving something that you know you can't fit into your calorie goals, tell yourself that you can plan a cheat meal/day for it.

Having a cheat meal every once in a while keeps me on track in the long run.

It's actually good to have a day a week or so where you go over your allotted calories. It keeps your metabolism on its toes so to speak.

Hey...I allow myself one splurge day per week (nothing nuts, but I have gone over calories by 500 or so) and I've lost 16 pounds...