Thoughts on monthly cheat days?

NovusDies wrote: »

I have done this:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10735146/the-six-day-calorie-deficit-aka-banking-calories/p1

I just want to say thank you for that thread- I often view this journey as incredibly restrictive (my maintenance is 1600 ish calories, thanks height and BMR) and it helped me change my view this afternoon in a refreshing way

RockingWithLJ wrote: »

Is there really such a thing as banking calories? I say indulged and let it be. Once a month won't hurt and if it makes you happy and satisfied then go for it. Don't worry about logging the calories for that day if you really don't want to think about it

Different things work for different people, but I do think there is such a thing as banking calories.

Weight loss is a little different**, but in maintenance, calories in and out need to balance pretty closely on average, or body weight won't stabilize. I like to have an indulgent day or meal now and then, so I do eat a little under maintenance calories most days, in order to balance out some bigger days.

OP, like others, I've found it effective to keep the banking relatively minor, in the 150-250 (max) daily calorie range. If I don't, my control over the process tends to decrease. I'm sure this will differ for different people, so perhaps you could experiment, if you're very certain it won't derail you completely, either by causing fatigue, setting up unplanned binges or something else. If you're concerned about derailing, maybe try gradually working your way toward the monthly indulgence, starting with biweekly but more indulgent than your weekly bigger meals, then increasing the interval and the high-calorie meal size if that goes well.

I'm hearing hints in your post that you may be denying yourself certain foods most of the time. I'm not certain whether that's because they're inherently high calorie and/or hard for you to moderate, or because you think they're somehow not a worthy part of healthy eating. If that latter, I'd encourage you to think about which of them you'd be capable of moderating, and instead consider including reasonable portions of those in your eating more often, within the bounds of decent overall nutrition most days. Sometimes, keeping both calories and food choices battened down and bottled up creates more pent-up desire than necessary, if there's a workable alternative. Personally, I want to balance enjoyment and healthy eating (calories, nutrition) on a day to day basis, as much as possible. I eat small treats quite routinely (chocolate, rich cheese, craft beer, etc.), but keep a mind to calories & nutritional minimums as I do so.

Early on, I found it helpful to log my higher-calorie days (even if I had to estimate), just to get an idea of what was going on, in an overall calorie sense. Now (almost at 5 years at a healthy weight), I'm not as rigid about logging the high days. If they're not too difficult to log, or I'm extra curious, I'll log them. If it would be a wild estimate or very time consuming, now I sometimes don't. I've figured out from experience that my personal *really big* days usually top out somewhere between 5-6000 calories, so I'm not as concerned about estimating the data every time. (I'm not saying all my over-maintenance days are that much, BTW - just that the top end for me is usually somewhere in that zone. I'd note that I'm smaller and older than you, if I remember your demographics correctly. I'm 5'5", about 128lbs right now, age 64.)

Like Novus and others, I prefer to think of this as figuring out my own workable plan, for overall balance. Personally, I don't feel helped by concepts like "cheat", "treat", "cravings", "giving in", etc. I want to think of myself as in control of the process, able to make a plan for good balance in my eating, including my personal preference for some high-calorie meals or day now and then, but also daily enjoyment of my eating, routine good nutrition, and average calorie levels that keep my bodyweight and other health markers where I want them, as well as maintaining the energy level I want for both daily life and exercise. I freely admit that I don't exercise perfect control every single time, in the face of fatigue, temptation, or whatever. But I want to assume that I have control, that I'm a free agent with choices (not a victim of external or uncontrollable forces), and that if things go awry I can make more effective plans that help me achieve my goals consistently.

I get why you're asking about others' experience, and it makes sense, but ultimately I think there are things we need to sort out for ourselves, by experimenting.

Best wishes!

** I looked at the weight loss process as maintenance practice: A time to figure out how to eat to be happy, and also maintain a healthy weight, long term. The weight loss (calorie deficit) creates a bit of a cushion during that period, so the calorie "cost of" of failed experiments is more easily absorbed.