Cheat days

staceymainesjett · April 29

Yesterday I really struggles with cravings. Thank goodness I don't keep sweets in the house but I ended up eating like a trash panda all day.

How bad are cheat days really?

tomcustombuilder · April 29

If you are in a decent and consistent weekly calorie deficit and this only happes only once a month or more it wont really have an impact long term however depending on the size of your weekly calorie deficit and the size of the cheat it can very easily wipe out a whole week of dieting or possibly more.

If you have to "cheat" you need to review youre entire eating program.

Retroguy2000 · April 29

A day like that isn't productive, but imo it's not as bad as a simple calculation of, "I went X calories over my maintenance, therefore I gained X/3500 pounds of fat in a day." The body tries to be in homeostasis, as defined by the majority of your days. So your NEAT calorie burning probably went up yesterday, and your body temp probably did too. I've seen multiple YT vids of people tracing their metrics after big binges in the following week or two, and that's what happened with them. Which is not to suggest such a binge is "free" if trying to lose weight. It isn't. I'm just saying it's probably not as bad as you fear, once you get past the next few days of water retention that it brought on.

You should try to find habits or food substitutes to minimize the frequency and scale of such events. Maybe go for a walk or get on your bike or treadmill at home if you have one, or eat some filling foods high in protein and fiber and hopefully that reduces cravings.

Today, you can probably get by with fewer carbs since you're still digesting yesterday's food. Don't try to balance out yesterday's excess, just saying you could probably go a few hundred calories lighter today quite easily if you wanted to.

SafariGalNYC · April 29

If you overate today.. can you deduct some calories through the week to offset it? I find weekly calories to be useful.

AnnPT77 · April 29

If you eat in a way that isn't in line with your goals, log it. Log it even if you have to estimate.

If you do that, you can then use your weekly numbers to see the effect.

While Retro is right about homeostasis, the excess calories consumed above maintenance calories (not just above weight loss calorie goal) would define the upper limit of possible fat gain from excess. In other words, you won't gain more fat than those calories predict in theory, because our bodies can't create fat out of nothing. You may gain less (probably will, but not dramatically less).

You might even see a scale drop after such an incident, if it happens to trigger your body to release some water retention. (It could, in certain cases, but probably not the common case. If it does, the drop isn't body fat.

)

Many people who have some kind of "incident" over-estimate the maximum impact, because they feel anxious, guilty, ashamed, or some variation on that theme. Very often, the impact is (theoretically) reaching goal weight a few hours later than we would've without the calorie excess, in absolute worst case scenarios a few days later.

It's not a big deal in the big picture as long as it's rare.

I agree with those saying it's good to think why it happened, and revise your tactics/plans to minimize odds of repeats. It should be a learning experience (useful), not "a failure".

I'd only eat less the next day if I were less hungry. I agree that "make up for it" mentality is a potential slippery slope to a bad mindset. If something like that happens in my life, I just adjust my plan if needed to avoid unwanted repeats, and get back on plan ASAP.

xbowhunter · April 29

Can't change the past but you can try better in the future....

tomcustombuilder · April 29

SafariGalNYC wrote: »

If you overate today.. can you deduct some calories through the week to offset it? I find weekly calories to be useful.

Weekly is the number to look at however for most people loweing calories enough to offset a big cheat is a bad precedent to set. Best to incorporate foods you enjoy into your normal diet in a small way. Too stringent of a eating plan is why most people "cheat".

Corina1143 · April 29

Find the silver lining.
Learn from it.
Did you splurge because you were really hangry? Maybe you've cut your calories too much and your body really needs the energy. Better to lose slower but consistently than seesaw?
Did you just have to have some of what you haven't been allowing yourself to eat? Would it be better to allow yourself a little once a week or once a month?
Stress? Maybe a bath, nap, or just a time out?
TOM? Many women just allow themselves a few extra calories a couple of days a month.
Ask yourself questions. You may not know the answer, but you can experiment.
Maybe yesterday wasn't bad at all. Maybe it was just a learning experience.

csplatt · April 30

What if your cheat day didn’t go above your maintenance calories? That’s one way to think about it. The risk for me in going way above maintenance on a “splurge” is that one day of absolute splurging makes it more likely I will eat like that for a week or two before getting back on track.

Dontkillbill1509 · May 1

I find a protien shake helps with the cravings and gives me a treat for under 200 calories. Tonight it saved me from cheating. I like the idea of cheating but staying with in my calorie limit. Cheese burgers no fries... THen back to the salmon

I have fallen off more diets so I wish it was easy to say just keep going!

neanderthin · May 1

Yeah, not good, just don't make it a habit and do it 2 days in a row. Maybe time to redefine your parameters.

Ecwine8 · May 1

I say don’t beat yourself up and move on. The next time you have a craving try a cheat meal or desert and not the whole day.
It shouldn’t make a huge difference in the long run.

ddsb1111 · May 3

Are you being too strict with your food that you feel deprived and then the cravings feel out of control? Use a sensible deficit, fit in food you enjoy, and the cravings typically reduce. Focus on eating your calorie goal and logging accurately, not on all or nothing thinking. All you need is a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight, no special diet or foods.

FibroHiker · May 4

I used to think that cheat days weren't so bad if the rest of the week was good. Now that I have a fitbit I can look at my daily average over a week. There have been weeks where the cheat day pushed my weekly average out of a zone of loss. I know my TDEE. If my daily average eating is too close to that then there's no progress for that week. All the hard work from the days leading up to the cheat day were a wash.

A cheat meal once a week might be a better option, but even those can be too detrimental. Some meals at restaurants report 2,000 for one meal alone. I have now set rewards for when I reached a certain goal. I'm five pounds away from my first goal but once I reach it I will be going to a nice steakhouse for a meal and dessert.

Lietchi · May 4

FibroHiker wrote: »

I used to think that cheat days weren't so bad if the rest of the week was good. Now that I have a fitbit I can look at my daily average over a week. There have been weeks where the cheat day pushed my weekly average out of a zone of loss. I know my TDEE. If my daily average eating is too close to that then there's no progress for that week. All the hard work from the days leading up to the cheat day were a wash.

You can also select a weekly view in the MFP food diary, (in the app) when you're in the nutrition view (pie chart at the top of the diary)

tomcustombuilder · May 4

Regarding calorie importance

weekly>daily

Best to have some semblance of consistency however your daily will always vary somewhat.

Cheat days

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