Should I have a cheat day?

Ilona_loves_cats · April 13

I don't have a cheat day because I am scared I'll gain all the weight I worked hard to lose. So should I allow myself to have a cheat day or a cheat meal?

Corina1143 · April 13

Depends on what you call a cheat. When I first started, my favorite meal was fried chicken with all the fixings. Maybe 1000 calories. My very wise dietitian had me aim for 400 calorie meals. I could wiggle fried chicken down to about 600 calories. I lost 60 pounds in 6 months with a "cheat" fried chicken meal about once a week.

Yes, you could undo all the good with a big cheat. Plan it. Limit it. Enjoy it.

springlering62 · April 13

I’d posit that if you’re already planning a “cheat” day, you’re already cutting too hard.

Either allow yourself more daily to remove the temptation (statistically, too, slower loss =more likelihood of long term success), or allow yourself to eat at maintenance that one day.

But have a plan. Cutting loose leads to guilt, binging, and “aw F it, I’m done” behavior.

tomcustombuilder · April 13

Plug Your cheat day into your daily diary. Now go to your weekly calorie amounts. See if those amounts keep you within your goal best to not even use the word cheat, It's best to incorporate the foods you enjoy in your normal diet, when you do that, you don't have to feel guilty about it.

What I do is if I have an evening planned on say Saturday night andI know I'm gonna be going over I adjust two days before and two days after to be a little bit lower than my normal calories so my weekly numbers still work

AnnPT77 · April 13

It matters what you're asking. If "cheat" means "not logged", I wouldn't do that, because I don't see any plusses in it.

If cheat means "eating foods I'd normally limit or avoid, within calorie goal", I'd definitely do it sometimes. I care about good overall nutrition, but a rare day doesn't much matter, as long as what I eat is - I dunno - cake or deep-fried cheese sticks, but not something I'm allergic to or rat poison or something.

If cheat means "eating above calorie goal", that's more of a question about the benefits (like happiness) from eating that extra, and the calorie cost of doing it.

It also matters if you're asking whether you should have a "cheat meal/day" once in a rare while for a special occasion, or do it once or twice a week or something like that.

I'm going to risk a long post about those more complicated questions.

Will you gain the weight you've lost from one cheat meal or day? Probably not. But you can estimate that.

It takes roughly 3500 calories above weight-maintenance calories to gain a pound of fat, or about 7700 calories over weight maintenance calories to gain a kilo of fat. If your cheat meal or day takes you that many calories above your maintenance calories, you can expect to regain that pound or kilo. If more calories above maintenance, more regain; if above but by fewer calories, less regain. If under maintenance calories but above your weight loss calorie goal, you'd still expect to lose weight, but more slowly.

If you log the cheat meal/day, or pre-log an estimate of what you plan to eat, you can do the arithmetic and figure out the probable impact. Then you can decide whether it's worth it.

Just as an example, in case some of this is unfamiliar territory, I'll tell you what would be true for me. My weight-maintenance calories are around 2200. To gain a pound from one day, I'd have to eat around 3700 calories. I could do that, but it would be a lot of calories. I have done it, in fact, and more. Did it wipe out all the weight I've lost? No. I've lost around 50 pounds. Would I sometimes think it was worthwhile to gain that pound? Yup, personally I would, but not everyone else would feel the same. I'd do it for a very special but rare event, if I felt inspired . . . maybe something like my birthday, or an ultra-special restaurant meal. I know I'd have to re-lose that pound, but I know how to do it.

One caveat: The day after a big indulgence, even one that's big but still lower than weight-maintenance calories, the scale will go up the next day . . . maybe by several pounds or kilos. Don't worry about that. It's about water retention and waste in the digestive tract, mostly. Give it a few days to a couple of weeks or so to sort out, and any gain from the extra calories will show up. It'll be less than that scale jump, high odds.

That's all about one cheat meal or cheat day. If you're adding a cheat meal/day once a week or something regular like that, the arithmetic is the same. As long as you log it, you can look at your average daily calories in the MFP phone/tablet app (weekly view of calories in the Nutrition page). That will help with the arithmetic. What will matter is how much below your calorie goal you're averaging, pretty much. You'll see more scale ups and downs, because the water/waste weight still shows up.

But it's pretty easy to wipe out weight loss with a regular, frequent cheat day. If I'm trying to lose a pound a week, my calorie goal would be set at 500 calories below what MFP thinks I burn on average daily. All I need to do to lose nothing is to have one day that week where I eat the 3500 calories above weight-maintenance calories - the 3700 calories, for me. If I had a rich meal, alcoholic drinks, some deep-fried appetizer, and dessert . . . high odds I reach that total for the day, don't lose a pound of fat that week.

If you're asking about that regularly-scheduled cheat, two thoughts.

One echoes what Spring up there said: Why? If you're trying to lose weight aggressively fast, or think you need to cut out every treat food or other things you truly love completely and forever, so this would be deprivation triggered over-eating . . . the answer is to make an easier weight-loss plan. Don't try to lose weight so fast, and/or budget your calories to fit in some of the foods you love sometimes in reasonable portions.

OTOH, if you're a person who wants to have a more indulgent meal on Saturday night or something like that, then budget your calories for a reasonable version of that. It's called "calorie banking".

First, don't try to lose weight super-fast, because - frankly - that's almost always a bad plan. Then, get a calorie goal for that sensible, moderate loss rate. Eat maybe 100 calories fewer than that goal Sunday through Friday, and you'll have 600 extra calories to spend on the Saturday night meal. You can vary that, but don't cut most days silly-far, because that will backfire with more deprivation-triggered problems.

You can figure this out. You can make a plan that works better for you. You may need to experiment with some options, and not all of the experiments will work, i.e., you'll over-eat sometimes. That's OK, as long as it gradually happens less frequently, as your plan gets more realistic. Like I said, one day doesn't derail the whole train. Learn from it, try other things, eventually you'll find a plan that works for you. Keep at it, and you'll succeed.

The big prize here is not losing weight. What?!?? Yeah. The big prize here is figuring out new habits that will let you live happily long term - ideally permanently - on the calories that keep you at a healthy weight.

Most people find maintenance harder than losing in the first place. Figuring out new habits that are relatively easy, practical, tolerable, can happen almost on autopilot: That's how to get there. For most of us, those habits need to include how to handle rare but important things, like restaurant meals, birthdays and other celebrations, holidays with important food traditions, and more. Routine daily habits matter more - they're the power tool for weight loss - but we also need to pin down some of that other unusual stuff.

You can do that, but it's a totally different mindset from "adopt extreme eating rules and intense, punitive activity to lose weight fast so I can go back to normal". Think about it.

Best wishes for long-term success: The quality of life improvement is worth the effort it'll take to get there.

Runninchlt · April 14

You have to over consume by 3500 calories to gain 1 pound of fat. Most people would be sick consuming that much in a sitting. Water weight will be a factor but should balance out within a couple of days.

neanderthin · April 14

Why do you want a cheat meal, is my question.

You've said you lost a lot of weight and suspect it's from counting calories and now you want to treat yourself with a reward, is that it, or are you just hungry, which has more to do with your food priorities and those pesky hormones that control those hunger signaling by screwing with our hypothalamus, peptide YY, CCK and GLP-1's, yeah, that only works for a while then these guys rule your brain and gut, you really don't have a chance in the big picture.

Did you change your diet from mostly a processed one to more of the healthier whole food diet and now your missing all that great tasting food? After all if you adjust for a cheat meal or day in your calorie consumption, then it's not a cheat any more, and why I asked.

Normally cheats are from being hungry and the need to eat something that isn't factored into daily calories, which by default is basically a cravings. For the average person who consumes mostly processed and fast foods those carvings are generally speaking, high-calorie or sugary foods, and suspect these are the ones your "scared" of and for good reason because the data is out and has been well known for quite a long time that the "SAD" diet represents the consumption of about 500 extra calories a day.

Consuming foods that elicits satiety and doesn't muck too much with our hormones are whole foods, hopefully that doesn't come as a surprise.

A diet that focuses on quality protein, which is animal protein imo suppresses those hunger hormones ( ghrelin) and boosts the production of the hormones I mentioned Peptide YY, and GLP-1's. For some people the extra fiber from switching to whole food plant material slow digestion and stabilize blood sugar levels, preventing spikes in insulin that can lead to cravings. Also the healthier fats present in whole foods triggers the release of CCK a hormone that tells your brain you're satisfied.

Personally I adopted a keto diet for mostly metabolic health issues like insulin resistance, rheumatoid arthritis, a lifetime of IBS type symptoms and psoriasis, high triglycerides and blood pressure and I was overweight but carried it well.

Anyway, I lost 65 lbs and resolved pretty much all of those metabolic issues and like most people on the keto diet I don't count calories, I just eat until I'm full then stop and only eat when I'm feeling hungry and it's why I've not mentioned calories in the context of content value or how important they are in weight loss in this post or pretty much any of my posts because to me they have no real value in my world, they represent a very small part of my curiosity with nutritional science, simply because it doesn't come up very much in the subjects I generally are inquiring about.

The keto diet isn't necessary and wouldn't recommend to people that are just looking for weight loss it's more for people with metabolic issues which it's been studied more than any other diet in multiple health disciplines.

A diet that focuses on protein and natural fat and fill calorie needs with carbohydrates that range in the low 40% area will net some good health markers and with the increased satiety the feeling of being hungry will be diminished and for some greatly, which should translate into a much easier time maintaining a calorie defict without the feeling your world isn't going to collapse without a cheat meal. A well deserved bonus for eating a whole food diet like this is that from balancing of our hormones the likelihood that one treat or even a day of debauchery will lead down a path of destruction is very minimal and I personally have the data to prove it, good luck.

AnnPT77 · April 14

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48565972#Comment_48565972

Good grief. Quoting myself for a "gosh, I'm bad at arithmetic" correction.

I wrote, while stone cold sober I swear,

My weight-maintenance calories are around 2200. To gain a pound from one day, I'd have to eat around 3700 calories.

and

All I need to do to lose nothing is to have one day that week where I eat the 3500 calories above weight-maintenance calories - the 3700 calories, for me.

Not 3700. 5700.

2200 daily weight maintenance calories + roughly 3500 calories in a pound of body fat = about 5700 calories to gain a pound of body fat.

Good grief. It's the right formula in the quoted post, but obviously I can't add correctly. 😬🙁🙄😆

Apologies!

age_is_just_a_number · April 14

The fact that you are asking the question says to me "no".

Here's another question for you "Who are you cheating?"

Personally, I do not believe in good or bad foods or cheat days. This is a lifestyle and my 'diet' is what I am eating, not a particular food program.

If you are staying within your calorie targets 80% of the time and are not going over board the other 20% of the time, then you should be able to enjoy the foods you want to enjoy, when you want to enjoy them.

nossmf · April 14

Every day without fail, I include dessert, often in the form of ice cream.

Every week, I include Sunday-morning donuts on the way to church.

Every month, I have pizza, burgers, fried chicken, lasagna.

Oh, and I'm down about 40lbs from my highest weight. (Actual fat loss is even greater, as I've added considerable muscle along the way.)

All those treat foods I mentioned? Those aren't cheat meals, they're just meals. I factor their calorie counts into my day, and adjust my other meals as needed to make room. I also have smaller portions than I may wish (two slices of pizza instead of four, for example). But I have them, I enjoy them, I do not feel guilty about them. Unless my doctor tells me to change my diet (and based on my recent blood tests, I'm perfectly fine), I will continue to eat these foods for the rest of my life.

springlering62 · April 15

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48567751#Comment_48567751

this ^^^^

Homemade yoghurt ice cream or 100% fruit sorbet every night.

Three meringues afterwards. (Meringues are typically two ingredients: egg white and sugar, and are low calorie.) they satisfy my sweets craving.

Pizza: one generous slice of local from-scratch Italian pizza a week, with a small simple side salad we make as soon as we get in the door with our box.

Sunday morning is donuts.

Sunday night is grilled steak or something smoked, with a baked potato or a light mayo/relish potato salad. Bonus: I get lunch wraps for several days with the leftovers.

I schedule a Nugo dark chocolate coconut bar every afternoon. They taste just like an Almond Joy, but fewer calories, and 10 grams or so of protein.

Air-pop Popcorn most afternoons.

My breakfast is typically chocolate pancakes with chocolate:PB frosting, hagel, and (lately) a sprinkle of ground pecans. It’s like having brownies for breakfast, but is 45+ grams of protein.

If you put your mind to it, and pre-log a few days in advance, you can Tetris your meal plan to squeeze in “treats”.

Pay attention to what satiates you. Normally for me it’s protein. But that super high carb donut early Sunday morning can hold me til 1 or 2 pm, too.

elisa123gal · April 16

don't cheat for a day.. cheat for a meal. keep it sane..have a bit of fun. go for it.

ddsb1111 · April 18

By definition, you’re not cheating at all. Cheating means acting dishonestly or unfairly. If you’ve banked calories that you could have eaten but chose to save for another day, you’ve earned the flexibility to use them later.

The only time we really “cheat” ourselves is when we’re not honest with our logging. That’s where things get a little dishonest or unfair, and it can quietly sabotage your progress.

As for whether calorie banking works for you, it really depends. If saving calories leaves you feeling ravenous, triggers a binge, or leads to lower activity, it might not be worth it. Only you can decide if banking fits your lifestyle and supports your goals.

Should I have a cheat day?

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