Cheat day

nighthawk584 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Panini911 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

lgfrie wrote: »

Weekly cheat "days" do not work. I speak from experience. You can easily and quickly wipe out an entire week of dieting with a cheat day. I've done it, and it isn't fun; in fact it's very demoralizing and can take you completely off a diet. Don't take cheat days. Or take them three times a year, on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and your birthday.

As to the cheat "meal", I'm not a fan but it's probably workable, as long as it's a few hundred calories. If you're talking about a 1,000+ calorie blowout, no, that's not gonna work.

A punishing, deprivational diet is gonna lead to cheating days. A moderate diet of foods you enjoy can leave you satisfied enough that you don't really feel the need to "cheat". The latter should be the goal.

1,000 calories for a meal isn't exactly a lot...

For those of us eating 1200-1400 calories it sure is! especially if one meal a day isn't satisfying (for some of us it isn't - i cannot do one big meal and little/no other food that day, i'll bite people's head off at some point).

Eating a 1,000 calorie meal once per week and, say, eating to maintenance for the day isn't going to be a detriment in the long run...the poster I originally quoted said it wouldn't work...in the big picture, it's immaterial. I routinely had maintenance days when I was losing weight and still lost 40 Lbs pretty easily.

I agree, but just curious, what were you eating on your 1000 calorie meal?

Lost of different things...a typical meal out is going to be 1,000 calories or more. I don't really identify with "cheating", but I like to get some pub grub, or pizza, or a nice Italian meal, or a juicy burger from the bistro by my house here and there. Heck, the sushi I had for lunch the other day from the grocery deli was 850...

I seem to be eating much bigger calorie amounts for meals out than the rest of you! I am quite greedy though. I also like to overestimate, although perhaps its not over estimating.

I had 5800 the other week on a day out. Terrible. Its not every week though.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

lgfrie wrote: »

Weekly cheat "days" do not work. I speak from experience. You can easily and quickly wipe out an entire week of dieting with a cheat day. I've done it, and it isn't fun; in fact it's very demoralizing and can take you completely off a diet. Don't take cheat days. Or take them three times a year, on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and your birthday.

As to the cheat "meal", I'm not a fan but it's probably workable, as long as it's a few hundred calories. If you're talking about a 1,000+ calorie blowout, no, that's not gonna work.

A punishing, deprivational diet is gonna lead to cheating days. A moderate diet of foods you enjoy can leave you satisfied enough that you don't really feel the need to "cheat". The latter should be the goal.

1,000 calories for a meal isn't exactly a lot...

I meant 1,000 extra calories in one cheat meal. Like, say, if you're doing 1,500 cals a day and dinner is usually 600 of those, but you have a cheat meal that's 1600 calories - one dinner, 1,000 calories over budget. That's just too much. That's adding an average 140 calories to every day of the week, in one meal, but without the steady, satisfying satiety of actually eating 140 more calories every day.

I don't personally like or do scheduled "cheat" meals. I try to make sure the foods available all week are satisfying and enjoyable such that there is no burning desire to go off plan. If one can't wait to get off the plan every week, the plan needs fixing. Maybe more calories are needed everyday. Maybe more satisfying foods, or more treats, or something. Having a scheduled time-out every week hints at a diet that is too restrictive and punishing. Maybe it works for some people, but I suspect not many. Cheat meals just lead to more cheat meals, until every day is a cheat meal and then you realize you're no longer on the diet. Been there, done that.

I don't like cheating myself.

But I do give myself allowances. Like, as long as I stay under maintenance, I'll have a big meal every now and then, maybe once a month. I gotta live my life, and a lot of socializing happens around food. Even if I'm at maintenance, at least I'm not gaining.

This Saturday we're doing yakiniku. There's no way around it, I'll probably go over a bit. But I won't give up the fun of badly grilling delicious meats with friends while almost setting ourselves on fire.

lgfrie wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

lgfrie wrote: »

Weekly cheat "days" do not work. I speak from experience. You can easily and quickly wipe out an entire week of dieting with a cheat day. I've done it, and it isn't fun; in fact it's very demoralizing and can take you completely off a diet. Don't take cheat days. Or take them three times a year, on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and your birthday.

As to the cheat "meal", I'm not a fan but it's probably workable, as long as it's a few hundred calories. If you're talking about a 1,000+ calorie blowout, no, that's not gonna work.

A punishing, deprivational diet is gonna lead to cheating days. A moderate diet of foods you enjoy can leave you satisfied enough that you don't really feel the need to "cheat". The latter should be the goal.

1,000 calories for a meal isn't exactly a lot...

I meant 1,000 extra calories in one cheat meal. Like, say, if you're doing 1,500 cals a day and dinner is usually 600 of those, but you have a cheat meal that's 1600 calories - one dinner, 1,000 calories over budget. That's just too much. That's adding an average 140 calories to every day of the week, in one meal, but without the steady, satisfying satiety of actually eating 140 more calories every day.

I don't personally like or do scheduled "cheat" meals. I try to make sure the foods available all week are satisfying and enjoyable such that there is no burning desire to go off plan. If one can't wait to get off the plan every week, the plan needs fixing. Maybe more calories are needed everyday. Maybe more satisfying foods, or more treats, or something. Having a scheduled time-out every week hints at a diet that is too restrictive and punishing. Maybe it works for some people, but I suspect not many. Cheat meals just lead to more cheat meals, until every day is a cheat meal and then you realize you're no longer on the diet. Been there, done that.

When I was losing weight I ate out pretty much once per week somewhere indulgent that I really liked...New Mexican food, pub grub, pizza, whatever. I never considered that cheating...I considered it living life and it didn't lead to more and more. My diet overall is pretty good and I'm active...having some New Mexican food for brunch on a Sunday isn't really material to the big picture. I lost 40 Lbs fairly easily and I've been maintaining for over 6 years and I still eat out at least once per week...most of those meals are easily over 1,000 calories and most of them are probably more in the neighborhood of 1,500.

I don't necessarily think wanting to enjoy an indulgent meal once a week or whatever occasion you decide means the plan needs fixing...it worked with my plan just fine.

Depends on what you mean by cheat. I have one cheat meal a week. To me it means I can eat something that there’s no way I can track accurately. Like a pot luck. It doesn’t mean I can eat all the calories.

While I was losing I would have a day about every three weeks where I ate to maintenance calorie levels. This usually involved one meal at a restaurant. Since my calories to lose were 1200/day this was a way to stick with it. Now that I'm in maintenance the only days that I splurge are my birthday and Christmas. Those days I still log but I eat more.

I don't personally like the term 'cheat'. I calorie cycle and go for a weekly, not daily goal. My weekdays I tend to have lower calories. I tend to eat most, if not all my meals from food I prepare at home. On the weekends, I tend to have more time with family and friends and so my calories tend to be higher on the weekend. Instead of trying to fight this and make myself miserable on the weekend, I work it out so there is balance. None of my days am I starving myself or stuffing myself either. In reality what ends up happening is that most of my exercise calories get eaten on the weekend instead of daily. I also keep track of my overall energy levels and how achy and emotional I am getting. If my energy levels are getting low and I am getting overly achy and emotional, I give myself a day or two of eating over maintenance to bounce back and I lower my activity those days as well. 32 pounds lost since February along with a couple of vacations where I didn't track, so it is working for me!