Cheat days

you will lose weight if you take in fewer calories than your body uses in a week. so, the answer to your question depends on how much of a cheat day you have and what you're doing on the other days of the week. personally, I think you're better off with one or two cheat meals a week and if they happen to be on the same day, that's fine. The cheat meal(s) should not be binges or gorges as that's not going to help you create a caloric deficit for the week.

if you want to do something really fun to fire up your metabolism, have a cheat day followed by a 24 hour fast, and then resume eating according to MFP daily caloric goals. if you do this once per week I bet you like the results.

my cheat meals (usually 2/week) really helped me. For one it does shake up the calorie count (kinda like the zig zag), but more importantly it stops the cravings for something and controls any binge eating you might do (at least it does for me). I do try to do a killer work out on the day i do a cheat meal. good luck!

I never give myself a whole cheat day.. usually it's a cheat meal or snack. It's really easy to get off track by allowing whole days.

I'm pregnant now, so I'm not trying to lose weight. But when I was losing I would take two days off from counting calories. I didn't go completely crazy but I didn't worry about it either. I never had a problem losing.

Going over on calories one or two days a week actually helps your metabolism to keep burning fat. If you eat at a calorie deficit every single day eventually your body will assume you don't have access to enough food and it will slow it's fat burning and will actually start storing some fat. If you go over on your calories now and then your body will see that you do have access to enough food and it will keep your metabolism from slowing.

i'm gonna go with no just because i cheated sat /sun & at my weigh in this morning i didn't gain but i didn't lose. lol so i'm not doin that anymore

every week, i have a cheat day where i eat a meal consisting of ANYTHING (chili dog, hamburger, etc.) and it has really helped me to lose weight. in the past 2 weeks, i've not had a cheat day, and i only lost 1/2 pound. i swear by them. in fact, i had to get a huge double cheeseburger and fries yesterday so i can try to get a few more pounds off in the next week. i know it will work. always does! about 2 - 3 days after my cheat day, i'm down about 2 lbs.

I have had almost 60 days in excess of 3,000 calories since 30 lbs ago, all of them on purpose & each one delightful in its own special way. I shoot for a minimum of 3,600 calories one day a week to create a surplus. It can be a very effective weight loss tool for the reasons Sidesteal mentioned,

1) A high-calorie day triggers a leptin response that reduces hunger - leptin is a protein hormone that regulates appetite, & after extended periods in a deficit, leptin levels drop & you're more prone to being hungry. Lowered leptin can also signal your body to hang on to your fat stores because you're starving.
2) Working out your cravings during 1 "cheat" day makes it much easier to be diligent the other 6 days.
3) Trying to stay around 2 x your RMR is optimal, so for larger people with higher RMRs, obviously there's more room to splurge.

It is definitely NOT for people who have had issues with binging or EDs. And 2 days a week will not help you lose weight, though you'd probably maintain assuming you were "good" the other 5 days. I generally limit my spike days to a 24 hour period & it works great.