Pros/Cons of cheat days

Very few peolpe stick to their plan in it's entirety as you have discovered. You have a trigger food that you know you will eat all of it rather than control the portions - fair enough, I have the same. Based on my experience here is what will happen;

- You plan for a cheat day, that day you go and buy the ice cream, scoffed, enjoyed, moved on
- At some point you think rather than go on the day I'll have some ice cream in the house ready, scoffed, enjoyed, moved on. However this wasn't you cheat day, you' cheated' because it was there. Never mind you just won't do cheat day this week.
- You still do cheat day that week.

You know there will be days you don't stick to your goal, don't actually plan for that to happen or it will happen and you will still have other days you break plan.

At the same time don't deny yourself food you clearly enjoy, make a point of going to places you can buy individual portions rather than a big tub. Not a day off-plan and you still get your favourite food.

Have you tried Enlightened Ice Cream? I know, it isn't Ben and Jerry's, but a pint of the low calorie Salted Caramel and a few others are only 320 calories. That is about 1 serving of B & J

I wouldn't call what I do a cheat day, but I save up extra calories for the weekend where I can eat in a surplus for two days. Typically it's more carbs, but it really is more of everything. For me it helps with my workout performance and adherence. That being said, it doesn't work for everyone. If you are going to be a tiger out of your cage come those days and go way over your intake, then that might not be a good plan for you. Also if you already have a low calorie intake it will be hard to bank calories each day and you might be more likely to binge.

Ben & Jerry's has lower calorie options (at least in the US), albeit not as low as some other "light" ice cream options, but I've liked the ones I've had.

It's just important a cheat day doesn't knock you out of your deficit. If you eat too much on your cheat day, you could easily wipe out you caloric deficit for the week and put yourself in maintenance or you could even eat enough to make it so you start gaining small amounts of weight.

you can get single serving B&J at the grocery store - instead of a pint - would that work? mentally the contianer would stil be empty its just a less serving size

ReenieHJ wrote: »

Most of the time I do pretty well, calorie wise. Certain days are more challenging or I might binge a day a month before I can stop myself.(if you're not including the hairy holidays!)
But part of me really wants to plan a day each week where I can simply indulge without the guilt or regret that normally follows. I am within my GW range and will probably stay within it. Would it be really terrible to set aside one day a week to buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's and eat the whole thing myself(or whatever else I happened to be craving?)? I can't simply add a portion into my daily calories and call it good because I wouldn't be able to stop at 1 portion anyways. I'd bring it into the house, eat it, and be done with it. Gone.

I know it's not ideal. But it's certainly not game-changing in the long run, is it? If I give myself permission to kinda run amok 1 day a week? Not totally amok, just a pint of ice cream amok. And not Halo either. If you have a craving, you need to fill it with what you crave.
Opinions please?

I calorie bank: Eat a little under maintenance most days, to have an indulge-y meal or day some days (for me, not on a fixed schedule). This is year 4 of maintenance at a healthy weight.

Personally, I don't believe in "cheat days" in pretty much the same sense that, as an adult, I don't believe in Santa Claus. They're charming, but mythical. My body counts everything. Fit it in, eat it, log it, enjoy it, go on.

To the bolded, guilt and regret are always optional, IMO: They make me feel bad, and help nothing.

To me, it makes no sense to think of myself as a bundle of whims and impulses that overtake me sometimes, and require negative feelings to exorcize/expiate. For me, better to have plans/strategies that fit my nature/context, and that head toward my goals. Always, what I do is a decision, like it or not, own it or not. If I regularly make decisions that lead away from my most important goals, I need to rethink my plans and strategies to make achievable ones, not emotionally self-flagellate. YMMV.

Best wishes for successful maintenance!

There are definitely days that I know will be a challenge, and I eat at maintenance when needed to stay on track.

For me, if it's tracked, then it isn't cheating.

If I'm not tracking, then I know I'm probably eating way more than I realize, so that would be cheating. I generally don't cheat...if I'm having issues with MFP, the I track on Fat Secret, and I try to avoid days that don't include tracking.

I do sometimes calorie cycle, so I eat less to bank for days when I have special events and know I will want to eat more...sometimes I eat less on cardio days and more on lifting days...sometimes I just give myself a maintenance day or two because I need the sanity check or it's PMS week, or something crazy stressful and unanticipated has happened.

You have to find what works for you long term. If you eat the ice cream and it makes you happy and you can tweak the rest of the week so you aren't gaining, then win-win!!!