CHEAT DAYS?

I just call them "splurge" days...don't sound as bad as cheat I usually have a splurge day at least one day out of the weekend, sometimes two, but try to restrain myself to not go totally crazy, just a couple to a few hundred over calories. Then right back at it on Monday morning! I lost weight doing this and tend to zig zag so it works for me.

i've never used a 'cheat day' per se - but i absolutely use a 'cheat meal' once every couple of weeks, where i eat something i've really been craving or would not normally eat. try that!

Hi i have a 'cheat day ' every saturday, i haven't found it a problem. xx

I choose to call it my "treat" meal and I do still log it - "cheat" sound like the forbidden and my lifestyle now all foods are included
I do usually go over my calories for that day but since I eat at or below my calories on other days my weekly total is never over.

I've had better success when planning a weekly cheat meal vs. an entire cheat day. it works for two reasons.

a) when i have a craving, i write it down, or plan to have it for my cheat meal (yes... sometimes i have a 3 course cheat meal lol)

b) the rest of the day i try to eat relatively healthy and exercise if at all possible to counteract the added calorie intake.

I tried it after seeing so many people here talk about success with it. But it didn't work for me. I would either see the same weight week over week or small gains the whole time I was trying it. I started weighing myself daily instead of weekly and saw what was happening.

I would lose a few ounces of weight each day of the week, then my cheat day would spike my weight up again, and then I'd re-lose that weight the following week. So I was essentially losing and gaining the same few pounds every week. Except for the few times that I didn't lose as much as it had spiked and then my weight would stay higher.

I stopped the cheat days/meals and have just been losing steadily since then. Unfortunately, all of the first pounds I had to lose were the ones I'd put on doing the cheats. But I'm almost clear of those and just back to actual loss again.

The purpose of a cheat day is so you don't burn yourself out. However, that means you must be strict 6 out of 7 days a week. By strict I mean NO snacking on unhealthy foods, eating a set amount of calories per day,...etc. Drink plenty o water.

My rule of thumb is I can eat as much as I want of anything that is a leafy green substance. Eating fish as much as possible is very helpful too. Protein, so I've been told will not convert to fat, but you must watch the fat content in the type of meat you're eating. Meaning, eating steak because it has a lot of protein in it is good, wrong! Steak has more fat in it than fish does. Fish is a more pure protein, it has less fat, but you must watch how you cook it.

Grapefruit juice is excellent for burning calories because it is one of the only fruits to burn more calories than the fruit has in itself.

On your cheat day if you want to eat a moderate bowl of ice cream, go ahead. If you want to go out for dinner, do so. However, the other six days YOU MUST EXERCISE and DIET APPROPRIATELY.

Good luck,

Drew

I think Cheat days are bad news. That said, I drink on the weekends. That's my version of cheating.

I think cheat days just make me more likely to backslide, rather than satisfying some craving... most of the time. I'm convinced that chips, carbs, coke just make you want more of them.... I'm not sure there truly is a point, in my brain, where I think I've had enough coke, enough mac & cheese, enough chips & dip. So if I start, I'm more likely to just want it the next day, too, and things are harder...

I think what works better for me is thinking about how much better I really feel without those cheat items, and without feeling overfull. My stomach doesn't hurt in the mornings now that I'm not sucking down Diet Coke. I don't feel slow or sleepy in the afternoon/evening by eating too many carbs. My heart's not racing from caffeine, and doesn't have that heavy feeling from eating junk.. it helps me to think about food as medicine (*delicious* medicine), each bite an opportunity to fix something about myself - brighter complexion, smoother skin, more energy, etc....

It probably varies, though. If you really are satisfied by a cheat day, then I'd say go for it!

To piggyback on what another reply said, I was extremely strict during the rest of the week. I never went over allotted calories, was sometimes under (I'm not at 1200 before anyone screams at that ;P) and always eat lots of spinach and other veggies, usually 8-10 servings of veg a day, minimal fruit, a good amount of lean protein and, at most, one small "unhealthy" snack per day. My macros usually end up around 40-45 carbs with fat and protein evenly dividing whatever remains.

I also workout six days a week, cook all of my own meals everyday and keep my sodium levels typically around 1300-1700 each day. So my cheats were truly cheats in that respect and I stayed tried and true the rest of time, and they were still a negative effect on me.

All of that said, every single person is different. And just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean it wouldn't for you, as it's clearly worked for a fair number of folks. So really, the only way to know is to just try it for yourself. I just wanted to share my experiences as part of the whole tale, since those that it works for definitely have a great love for those cheats.

Hi,

You can have cheat days as long as you dont eat a dozen cream cakes etc, i tend to have a veggie pizza as a cheat/treat day but i still take my protein etc.

Hope this helps

I weigh in on Fridays, and I consider it to be my 'cheat day' It isn't a gorge yourself sick day -- it's where we will eat out for dinner, or if the girls are going out at lunch I will join them. I may have an extra treat at night I have been craving or a latte sometimes too. I have been doing this my whole journey and it hasn't seemed to hamper me too much, it's being able to get back on track the very next day! I am ok to do so, but I fear for the halloween candy - to have just one - so that I have stayed away from! lol!
I know alot of people who have been successful with a zig zag diet.

I think you have to give yourself something once in awhile or you may not stick with the new lifestyle change - it's moderation and if you look at it more as a cheat meal than a cheat day, it may not seem so harsh!
Good luck!!!

Ugh. I never planned on having a cheat day but they seem to pop up once every 2 weeks today was really bad. I probably consumed 3,000 calories total because of my late night domino's pizza binge. I honestly think these binges wouldn't happen if I allowed one light cheat day a week.

I don't have cheat days. I plan ahead and count the calories into my day. Once a month I get together with friends and we go out to dinner. If I feel that I may go over, then I increase my exercise for the day to give me a cushion. Do what you think works best for you.