Cheat Day Clarification
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Trex5009
Posts: 171 Member
I'm currently on a cut diet and i've been disciplined 7 days a week and haven't had a bite of "outside" food. My question is, do i have to wait for results (my goal is to show my abs again) to start incorporating cheat days once a week.... or can i just start having cheat days now? I am on a deficit of about 600-700 calories a day. Training 4 days a week.
My maintaince calories are 2,400 so 16,800 a week. Meanwhile im consuming 1400 average a day so 9,800 a week..
Leaving me 8,400 calories to cheat on one day of the week and eat whatever I want. Does this sound logical? Or will i literally lose all progress if i do this?
Ps. I know some people think the word "cheat" had bad connotation, i'm just labeling it. Also, i've dont cheat days before but i want to make sure i do it right. They give me the greatest satisfaction and i love the feeling of the reward once a week. So please don't tell cheat days are a bad idea.
My maintaince calories are 2,400 so 16,800 a week. Meanwhile im consuming 1400 average a day so 9,800 a week..
Leaving me 8,400 calories to cheat on one day of the week and eat whatever I want. Does this sound logical? Or will i literally lose all progress if i do this?
Ps. I know some people think the word "cheat" had bad connotation, i'm just labeling it. Also, i've dont cheat days before but i want to make sure i do it right. They give me the greatest satisfaction and i love the feeling of the reward once a week. So please don't tell cheat days are a bad idea.
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Replies
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Also, my BMR is 1,600 calories a day0
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If your maintenance is 2400 and you are eating 1400 that is a 1k deficit per day and 6k per week because you are taking one day off.
If you intend your deficit to be 700 a day that would be 4900 calories per week because you would count the 7th day.
This means on the 7th day you would have 3500 calories to spend because you would have your maintenance + 1100 banked calories (6000-4900).
ETA: With the above numbers you would lose 1.4 pounds per week and your progress would not be impacted by your TREAT day.
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Here is the system I use but I just eat my maintenance calories once a week:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10735146/the-six-day-calorie-deficit-aka-banking-calories/p10 -
@NovusDies i dont have to still be on a deficiet with the cheat day included. Just as long as i stay within maintaince calories... would that still just leave me 3500 to spend? Or did you mean 3500 plus the 1400 calories i would regulary eat?0
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@NovusDies if i'm calculating it per week... 16,800 to maintain weekly, while i'm consuming 9,800 weekly... wouldnt I just have whatever left (16800 minus 9800) to spend on that 7th day and still be within maintaince ?0
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@NovusDies if i'm calculating it per week... 16,800 to maintain weekly, while i'm consuming 9,800 weekly... wouldnt I just have whatever left (16800 minus 9800) to spend on that 7th day and still be within maintaince ?
Then you make no progress. If you want to cut you need to have a stable deficit system so you don't waste your time eating the 1400 calories.
How much do you want to lose per week?2 -
@NovusDies i dont have to still be on a deficiet with the cheat day included. Just as long as i stay within maintaince calories... would that still just leave me 3500 to spend? Or did you mean 3500 plus the 1400 calories i would regulary eat?
If you want 700 x 6 days it is 4200 calories. 4200 would also be the total amount you could spend on your treat day and still make progress of 1.2 pounds per week in your cut.0 -
@NovusDies if i'm calculating it per week... 16,800 to maintain weekly, while i'm consuming 9,800 weekly... wouldnt I just have whatever left (16800 minus 9800) to spend on that 7th day and still be within maintaince ?
No, because 9800 would be what you would consume if you maintained your deficit all seven days. You're only doing it for six days. At 1400 a day (your stated average consumption), you will only have had 8,400 calories after six days. If you're aiming for maintenance and want to achieve that by having a big feast day on the seventh day, you could have 16,800 (your stated weekly maintenance) less the 8,400 calories you've already eaten, which is 8,400 calories -- i.e., you would eat as much on the seventh day as you had eaten on the previous six days combined.
Personally, I think a 1,000 kcal cut for six days is kind of extreme for someone whose stated goal is to get visible abs. For almost the entire week, you're at such a deep cut that you're likely to be sacrificing more muscle than is necessary, and then you dump all those calories on your body on the seventh day -- it's not going to be able to efficiently use that huge surplus to build muscle -- it's going to have to store most of it as fat. To me it sounds like a system designed to increase BF%.1 -
I have to ask is there some reason why you want to bank enough calories to eat so far above maintenance for a day? It seems like it would be easier to eat 1650 or so a day and have a moderately bigger treat day.2
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »@NovusDies if i'm calculating it per week... 16,800 to maintain weekly, while i'm consuming 9,800 weekly... wouldnt I just have whatever left (16800 minus 9800) to spend on that 7th day and still be within maintaince ?
No, because 9800 would be what you would consume if you maintained your deficit all seven days. You're only doing it for six days. At 1400 a day (your stated average consumption), you will only have had 8,400 calories after six days. If you're aiming for maintenance and want to achieve that by having a big feast day on the seventh day, you could have 16,800 (your stated weekly maintenance) less the 8,400 calories you've already eaten, which is 8,400 calories -- i.e., you would eat as much on the seventh day as you had eaten on the previous six days combined.
Personally, I think a 1,000 kcal cut for six days is kind of extreme for someone whose stated goal is to get visible abs. For almost the entire week, you're at such a deep cut that you're likely to be sacrificing more muscle than is necessary, and then you dump all those calories on your body on the seventh day -- it's not going to be able to efficiently use that huge surplus to build muscle -- it's going to have to store most of it as fat. To me it sounds like a system designed to increase BF%.
Is that what is happening here? I thought the OP wanted to do a cut which would require that some deficit remain at the end of the week. Dumping 8400 calories on your body after a 1k deficit for 6 days is a really good way to get sick.1 -
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »@NovusDies if i'm calculating it per week... 16,800 to maintain weekly, while i'm consuming 9,800 weekly... wouldnt I just have whatever left (16800 minus 9800) to spend on that 7th day and still be within maintaince ?
No, because 9800 would be what you would consume if you maintained your deficit all seven days. You're only doing it for six days. At 1400 a day (your stated average consumption), you will only have had 8,400 calories after six days. If you're aiming for maintenance and want to achieve that by having a big feast day on the seventh day, you could have 16,800 (your stated weekly maintenance) less the 8,400 calories you've already eaten, which is 8,400 calories -- i.e., you would eat as much on the seventh day as you had eaten on the previous six days combined.
Personally, I think a 1,000 kcal cut for six days is kind of extreme for someone whose stated goal is to get visible abs. For almost the entire week, you're at such a deep cut that you're likely to be sacrificing more muscle than is necessary, and then you dump all those calories on your body on the seventh day -- it's not going to be able to efficiently use that huge surplus to build muscle -- it's going to have to store most of it as fat. To me it sounds like a system designed to increase BF%.
Is that what is happening here? I thought the OP wanted to do a cut which would require that some deficit remain at the end of the week. Dumping 8400 calories on your body after a 1k deficit for 6 days is a really good way to get sick.
Actually, after I read your last post but one, I thought "is that what is going on here?" too. I read@NovusDies i dont have to still be on a deficiet with the cheat day included. Just as long as i stay within maintaince calories... would that still just leave me 3500 to spend? Or did you mean 3500 plus the 1400 calories i would regulary eat?
as meaning that weekly maintenance was the aim, or at least acceptable. But then after your last post but one, I went back to the original post, and felt less certain as to what OP wants to do by way of weekly calorie total. @Trex5009 , maybe you can clarify, if you're looking for further input?0 -
Ok - to cut through all the maths - you keep eating at your deficit like normal. Then on your treat day you eat at your normal maintenance calories or just above FOR THAT DAY - not the whole week.
So if my maintenance is 2000 and I eat 1500 every day, on my treat day I just eat 2000. Not 2000 + all the rest I "banked" coz what's the point?
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Cahgetsfit wrote: »Ok - to cut through all the maths - you keep eating at your deficit like normal. Then on your treat day you eat at your normal maintenance calories or just above FOR THAT DAY - not the whole week.
So if my maintenance is 2000 and I eat 1500 every day, on my treat day I just eat 2000. Not 2000 + all the rest I "banked" coz what's the point?
Not everyone's goal is weight loss. OP's goal is less than crystal clear.0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »@NovusDies if i'm calculating it per week... 16,800 to maintain weekly, while i'm consuming 9,800 weekly... wouldnt I just have whatever left (16800 minus 9800) to spend on that 7th day and still be within maintaince ?
No, because 9800 would be what you would consume if you maintained your deficit all seven days. You're only doing it for six days. At 1400 a day (your stated average consumption), you will only have had 8,400 calories after six days. If you're aiming for maintenance and want to achieve that by having a big feast day on the seventh day, you could have 16,800 (your stated weekly maintenance) less the 8,400 calories you've already eaten, which is 8,400 calories -- i.e., you would eat as much on the seventh day as you had eaten on the previous six days combined.
Personally, I think a 1,000 kcal cut for six days is kind of extreme for someone whose stated goal is to get visible abs. For almost the entire week, you're at such a deep cut that you're likely to be sacrificing more muscle than is necessary, and then you dump all those calories on your body on the seventh day -- it's not going to be able to efficiently use that huge surplus to build muscle -- it's going to have to store most of it as fat. To me it sounds like a system designed to increase BF%.
Is that what is happening here? I thought the OP wanted to do a cut which would require that some deficit remain at the end of the week. Dumping 8400 calories on your body after a 1k deficit for 6 days is a really good way to get sick.
Actually, after I read your last post but one, I thought "is that what is going on here?" too. I read@NovusDies i dont have to still be on a deficiet with the cheat day included. Just as long as i stay within maintaince calories... would that still just leave me 3500 to spend? Or did you mean 3500 plus the 1400 calories i would regulary eat?
as meaning that weekly maintenance was the aim, or at least acceptable. But then after your last post but one, I went back to the original post, and felt less certain as to what OP wants to do by way of weekly calorie total. @Trex5009 , maybe you can clarify, if you're looking for further input?
Alright, technically speaking..if i wanted to keep cutting. I woudnt just eat whatever is left of my maintaince calories because as someone else mentioned, thats no progress. So i could just have a slightly bigger treat day but stay under the weekly maintaince calories in order to keep cutting. Thats all i wanted to clarify0 -
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »@NovusDies if i'm calculating it per week... 16,800 to maintain weekly, while i'm consuming 9,800 weekly... wouldnt I just have whatever left (16800 minus 9800) to spend on that 7th day and still be within maintaince ?
No, because 9800 would be what you would consume if you maintained your deficit all seven days. You're only doing it for six days. At 1400 a day (your stated average consumption), you will only have had 8,400 calories after six days. If you're aiming for maintenance and want to achieve that by having a big feast day on the seventh day, you could have 16,800 (your stated weekly maintenance) less the 8,400 calories you've already eaten, which is 8,400 calories -- i.e., you would eat as much on the seventh day as you had eaten on the previous six days combined.
Personally, I think a 1,000 kcal cut for six days is kind of extreme for someone whose stated goal is to get visible abs. For almost the entire week, you're at such a deep cut that you're likely to be sacrificing more muscle than is necessary, and then you dump all those calories on your body on the seventh day -- it's not going to be able to efficiently use that huge surplus to build muscle -- it's going to have to store most of it as fat. To me it sounds like a system designed to increase BF%.
Is that what is happening here? I thought the OP wanted to do a cut which would require that some deficit remain at the end of the week. Dumping 8400 calories on your body after a 1k deficit for 6 days is a really good way to get sick.
By the way, the last time i did cheat days, i was eating rougly 1500 calories a day and on the 7th day i ate about 6000 calories. Still continued to lose weight. But i only did it for a month. So 4 cheat days. I made this post because i intend to cut for a longer period and wanted to make sure the math is right before jumping in0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »Ok - to cut through all the maths - you keep eating at your deficit like normal. Then on your treat day you eat at your normal maintenance calories or just above FOR THAT DAY - not the whole week.
So if my maintenance is 2000 and I eat 1500 every day, on my treat day I just eat 2000. Not 2000 + all the rest I "banked" coz what's the point?
Not everyone's goal is weight loss. OP's goal is less than crystal clear.
If OP wasn't wanting to lose weight, they wouldn't be asking about cheat days I'm assuming. You don't need to cheat when you're gaining weight. You can just eat.2 -
I wouldn't eat below BMR....So I would eat at minimum 1600/day!0
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Cahgetsfit wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »Ok - to cut through all the maths - you keep eating at your deficit like normal. Then on your treat day you eat at your normal maintenance calories or just above FOR THAT DAY - not the whole week.
So if my maintenance is 2000 and I eat 1500 every day, on my treat day I just eat 2000. Not 2000 + all the rest I "banked" coz what's the point?
Not everyone's goal is weight loss. OP's goal is less than crystal clear.
If OP wasn't wanting to lose weight, they wouldn't be asking about cheat days I'm assuming. You don't need to cheat when you're gaining weight. You can just eat.
There's a thing called maintenance.
OP's last post saidAlright, technically speaking..if i wanted to keep cutting. I woudnt just eat whatever is left of my maintaince calories because as someone else mentioned, thats no progress. So i could just have a slightly bigger treat day but stay under the weekly maintaince calories in order to keep cutting. Thats all i wanted to clarify
The use of "technically speaking," "if" and the repeated use of the subjunctive all suggest that in fact, OP doesn't want to keep cutting.
But @Trex5009 it would be nice if you could clarify your goal in a straightforward way.
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