Cheat meal/day???

I don't count/track for 1 day a week. Usually Saturday or Sunday is my freeday. I do allow myself junk I may not eat normally on that day, but never in excess. I'll eat my usual breakfast and lunch but come dinner time that's my freebie. I don't gain, and I honestly believe it's kicked my plateau issues to the curb. My weight has been dropping like crazy doing it this way. Saturday my dinner was a cheeseburger with traditional deep fried garlic fries, and still dropped almost 3 lbs this week and that was starting Sunday. That amount of weightloss isn't A-typical but I'm still fairly large so it's still dropping fast.

Nothing wrong with a day off as long as you don't over do it.

I have a "cheat day" once a week. Usually on a sunday. I don't binge but I do watch. I keep track of my calorie intake every day even on Sunday. I do consider it like a normal day... I know we are not suppose to call it a "diet" but who are we kidding.This is my lifestyle...watch everyday but indulge a little once in a while.I found doing it this way I don't have cravings..I reward myself on Sunday. I have been losing an average of 2 lbs. a week..

I don't have cheat days but I do allow myself to have maintenance days on the weekend if I want them. I always log everything though.

I don't eat the same calories each day. Weekdays I usually eat lower calories, usually under goal. I kind of bank these calories for the weekend when I spend more time with family and am more likely to eat out.

I don't have a cheat meal ever. That's not to say that I never indulge or treat myself, only that I refuse to classify enjoying my life occasional as 'cheating' like I'm doing something wrong or breaking some rule. Forget that self judging, moralising nonsense.

So I stick to my calorie target the majority of the time and if an occasional situation arises that I think is worth taking a minor dent to my progress I'll enjoy myself fully and entirely guilt free. Weight is lost and gained because of what you do every day, not because of what you do once in a while.

Realizing that tracking foods is a lot like the financial budgeting we (hubby and I) have been doing for over a decade, I feel the freedom! I can have whatever I want, within reason, I just need to plan for it, account for it, and not lie to myself about it.

My husband’s cute new habit? At night after supper he will come up and ask me “how many do you want?” - I smile, hold out my hand, and he counts up by 10 as he drops each peanut M&M in my hand (roughly 10 calories each) - they are from his personal stash A nice, sweet treat from my sweet, guilt free.

Last night? I had a LOT of calories left, like 800. Not sure how that happened... so while I planned out a sewing project I had a creamsicle. And some almonds. And part of a bagel with butter. I was hungry

It truly is freeing if you have the right mindset, like a financial budget - you can focus on all the things you can’t have on a day to day basis and pout about it, or you can make the conscious decision to say hey, this is what I need to do to make changes! I am going to cinch it up, make a conscious effort, and at the end of the week I will have a brownie... one... not a whole pan.

Halloween? Instead of gorging on candy, enjoy the mini size and space them out for the next 6 months.

Meh - I really hate the idea of "cheat" meals. That implies you're doing something WRONG, or you've FAILED some kind of test.

If you want to enjoy a higher calorie day once in a while, that should not derail anything. My husband's birthday is coming up this weekend. I'm going to make a good healthy dinner, and I'll eat my usual amount, but will probably have a very small piece of cheesecake (that's what he wants). No big deal.

Think of it this way - or in this scenario: Personally, I'm looking to lose 2 lbs per week. I am 5'3" and weigh 252, and my maintenance calories would be around 2,300 per day. To lose 2 lbs per week, I must 1,000 calories per day, so eat an average of 1,300 calories per day all week. Woo! But, say on Sunday I want a whole piece of cheesecake, say, for an extra 500 calories. In a week. Is that going to derail anything? NOPE! I might only lose 1.8 lbs. Not a huge setback. Even if I decided to eat at maintenance that day, the whole 2,300 calories. Still not going to make any noticeable difference. Might I gain a tiny bit of water weight from the extra carbs? Sure. But that will be gone in a couple of days.

The MAIN thing to remember is that you are working on life changing, long term eating habits. You can't never eat over calories again. It's going to happen. We just have to remind ourselves that it doesn't mean we are cheating, or bad. It's life. And most times, the extra calories we ingest are going to get us somewhere around our maintenance calories. For one day.

I would even highly suggest that everyone take a break at least every 6 months and do two weeks at maintenance just so you don't go nuts with all this. Keep logging. Make sure it's planned. But look at the long term. If you never allow yourself some leeway, that's the real recipe for failure.

Like some others above, I think mindset is really important here, so I don’t call anything a “cheat day.” I am trying to create a way-of-eating that is INCLUSIVE of the wonderful treats that life offers you (during holidays, special occasions, and opportunities to try new things). If I made a way-of-eating that dictates “no treats! If you have a treat, you are CHEATING and doing the wrong thing, but once in a while is okay I guess,” then that’s not setting me up to feel good about my eating habits, and it’s not realistic because life should be full of celebration, yes, sometimes celebration with food!

My mindset is more like “let’s create a way-of-eating for my Ho-hum regular day-to-day life that is reasonable and sustainable and lets me hit my goals, and when super special occasions come around, I’m going to enjoy them without guilt.” If I am eating to my calorie target on 350 out of 365 days a year, I am going to make awesome progress (a tiny bit slower than if I stuck to it for 365, but eating to one calorie target for 365 days a year is super unsustainable and unrealistic). And I don’t have to miss out on enjoying celebrations with food once in a while, so I won’t get burnt out/depressed/fed-up with over-restricting.

Some days that I consider super special? Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, my birthday, a friend’s wedding, vacation days, and rarely, a random day where I might just need a big bowl of mac n cheese.

cdegler1 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

cdegler1 wrote: »

Hi, I wanted to know what people think of cheat meals/days? What about only one cheat day per month max? Will this derail my progress?

I want to eat 1200 cal per day to lose weight, but I also want to enjoy certain holidays, like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Will having one cheat day per month max to accommodate those holidays derail my progress? Thanks

I agree with most of the comments above.

If you want a more specific, direct answer, you need to tell us what your maintenance calorie level is (or your height, weight, gender, age, and activity level so we can figure it out), and what you mean by "derail my progress". Do you mean will it send you back to where you started? (Unlikely, unless it leads to many unplanned "cheat" meals.) Do you mean will it stop you from losing any more weight? (See previous answer.) Do you mean will it slow your weight loss substantially? (It depends on your maintenance level and how much you eat on your cheat day, and what you think is substantially slow.)

My stats are:
Height: 67inches
Weight: 160lbs
Female
30 years old
Lightly active: 30 min cardio 3-5x per week

I only want to have one cheat meal per month, usually on a holiday. Take Thanksgiving for example. I would eat healthy and very little all day, but then not worry about what I eat at Thanksgiving dinner. I wouldnt stuff just because I could, but I also wouldnt worry about it either. After the meal, I would be done eating and return to weight loss calories the next day.

If I had to guess, I would take in no more than 3000 calories on that day, more lokely 2000 or 2500.

So im wondering if 12 days a year like that could halt my progress? Would I expect too not lose that week? Would I gain that week?

I'd calculate your cals factoring that day in every 4 weeks. So if your normal cals are 1600 and you want 3000 every 4 weeks and not to change rate of loss, you could do the math as follows:

28 days at 1600 cals = 44,800 cals. Subtract one 1600 day and add a 3000 day and you have 46,200 cals. Average that over the 28 days and you have 1650/day, so it's not going to really affect your loss at all.

But if you want to still average ay 1600, you can eat about 1550 on the other days and you will. 27x1550=41,850 + 3000 = 44,850.

'cheating' is part of life, if you ever want to maintain you will always have times you need to go out and enjoy yourself. To do that you just need to ensure you balance it out. That means that if your on 1200 cal, if you want to splurge go ahead but you need to ensure you eat down for a few days to balance it out. For example I fast every Saturday so I can eat a big dinner, glass of wine and some pudding. I'm still under my 1200 daily goal. When I need to eat out I try and ensure my weekly average is still on track. I went to a food festival last week and ate approx 2000 cal, so I skipped a few breakfasts and did a fast the day before.
Just be sure you know truthfully how many cal you need to eat to lose weight as everyone is different.