Are cheat/spike days a mistake? Scared to try it
SolidGoaled
Posts: 504 Member
I am finally on a roll after a major 4 month setback in my weight loss journey. I am toying with the idea of having one day a week as a calorie "spike" day, or "cheat" day, mainly for two reasons: 1) so I do not overly feel deprived and cause myself another tailspin of failure, and 2) to avoid my metabolism adjusting to this dreadful 1200 calorie daily intake I am doing right now to lose the weight.
Has anyone had any BAD experiences with cheat days? Is one a week too frequent? Would every 10 days be just as effective?
Thanks for reading. I just cannot afford to re-awaken the eating monster inside me who woke up for 4 months and I am afraid of tempting it with a cheat day once a week. Anyone else have that fear?
Has anyone had any BAD experiences with cheat days? Is one a week too frequent? Would every 10 days be just as effective?
Thanks for reading. I just cannot afford to re-awaken the eating monster inside me who woke up for 4 months and I am afraid of tempting it with a cheat day once a week. Anyone else have that fear?
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Replies
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Cheat days are a slippery slope for me. I find I do better when I just keep everything in moderation, not denying myself the foods I love love love. I track everything honestly and that keeps me accountable. For me, a cheat day feels like an excuse to binge and that's too counterproductive in my opinion. Good Luck!!!0
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I'm not an expert or anything, but my doc once told me to take one meal a week and eat whatever I want don't log it or anything. I think in a way that keeps your body from getting used to a certain amount of calories it has to use up. I also have cheat days to keep my sanity, to have at one meal that you don't have to count or worry about how many calories is in each little piece. But to each his/her own, if you can cheat one day and get back to it, then I think cheat days are good.0
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Spike Day's are nothing but a huge positive, BUT I do believe that everyone is different and it's your choice if you want to do it or not. Your not wrong if you don't, it just makes things a heck of a lot easier.
It's not so much your body adjusting to a calorie number ex 1,200. What happens is that whenever you have a calorie deficit, and the studies done are 7 days of calorie restriction, the hormone leptin drops. When leptin drops cravings go up, in fact there was a definite correlation between the amount of leptin that is reduced and the amount of hunger, and of course the metabolism starts to slow. Personally I believe it takes sometime, weeks or months before the metabolism decline is totally detrimental, there's no proof, but for me personally I could diet for 4-6 weeks before I would usually hit that plateau. I think the hunger and cravings that begin increasing at 7 days is the biggest problem. It makes it difficult to stay on a diet when your fighting your brain.
This is where "spiking" really helps, as it just takes 12 hours of eating a surplus to bring leptin levels back up.
I feel this change happen to me every week. I Spike on Friday's, by Thursday of every week I feel the cravings coming on strong. Then I Spike and I literally don't care what I eat the next few days. Then as the week goes on I feel them come back right before I Spike again.
Also, what's needed is a small surplus, nothing overly crazy. If you burned 2,500 calories a day, 2,501 would be enough, I just aim a bit higher to make sure I'm over so I use 2X(BMR) so at the most you would store 1,000 calories that is always distributed to your glycogen stores first, before any fat is actually stored.
Just remember, you definitely gain a few pounds after Spiking, it's simply because our body stores 3 grams of water with each gram of glycogen in your muscles. You burn that off in the next couple of days when you go back to calorie deficits.
I've been doing this 8+ years.0 -
Cheat Days
SPike Days
Off Days
Phenominal Way to stay the course. 1 Day does nothing. And as you can read above its really good for you.
Its just changing the way of thinking. Funny you can make yourself physically feel bad about eating some large portions.
I plan for it, then crush it! My workouts are awesome for it!
DO IT. DOUBLE YOUR CALS! LOL Feels so good0 -
Cheat Days
SPike Days
Off Days
Phenominal Way to stay the course. 1 Day does nothing. And as you can read above its really good for you.
Its just changing the way of thinking. Funny you can make yourself physically feel bad about eating some large portions.
I plan for it, then crush it! My workouts are awesome for it!
DO IT. DOUBLE YOUR CALS! LOL Feels so good
Exactly, I'm literally stronger the day after spiking and my endurance is unreal. So of course I plan my biggest workout the next day. I call it my "After-Spike" workout.0 -
Cheat Days
SPike Days
Off Days
Phenominal Way to stay the course. 1 Day does nothing. And as you can read above its really good for you.
Its just changing the way of thinking. Funny you can make yourself physically feel bad about eating some large portions.
I plan for it, then crush it! My workouts are awesome for it!
DO IT. DOUBLE YOUR CALS! LOL Feels so good
Exactly, I'm literally stronger the day after spiking and my endurance is unreal. So of course I plan my biggest workout the next day. I call it my "After-Spike" workout.
4TK caught me on a no carb 2 week cutter. Basicly laughed at me. since then I have enjoyed fasting and spiking.
I spike Sat-Sun-Mon. My first week. Blasted Chest today
LOVE IT! Keep educating Russell!!! ITS NEEDED0 -
Cheat Days
SPike Days
Off Days
Phenominal Way to stay the course. 1 Day does nothing. And as you can read above its really good for you.
Its just changing the way of thinking. Funny you can make yourself physically feel bad about eating some large portions.
I plan for it, then crush it! My workouts are awesome for it!
DO IT. DOUBLE YOUR CALS! LOL Feels so good
Exactly, I'm literally stronger the day after spiking and my endurance is unreal. So of course I plan my biggest workout the next day. I call it my "After-Spike" workout.
4TK caught me on a no carb 2 week cutter. Basicly laughed at me. since then I have enjoyed fasting and spiking.
I spike Sat-Sun-Mon. My first week. Blasted Chest today
LOVE IT! Keep educating Russell!!! ITS NEEDED
Thanks man!
The next thing I'm going to try is go really low carb, the day before I spike, and then also add 30-45 minutes of some cardio the morning before I start spiking.
The idea is it will no doubt completely drain my glycogen stores and make my spike day even more effective. Apparently this will cause my body to increase my storage capacity there.
I'm starting in February, I did try it one week last month and I lost 3lbs in 24 hours, again leading me to the conclusion that glycogen was totally gone since I would have lost 3 grams per gram of glycogen stored.
The above isn't for everyone, I'd say it's great for experienced lifters because it was extremely difficult to go no carb at the end of the week and my morning cardio was ridiculously difficult. Basically I hated it, but it worked.0 -
Cheat Days
SPike Days
Off Days
Phenominal Way to stay the course. 1 Day does nothing. And as you can read above its really good for you.
Its just changing the way of thinking. Funny you can make yourself physically feel bad about eating some large portions.
I plan for it, then crush it! My workouts are awesome for it!
DO IT. DOUBLE YOUR CALS! LOL Feels so good
Exactly, I'm literally stronger the day after spiking and my endurance is unreal. So of course I plan my biggest workout the next day. I call it my "After-Spike" workout.
4TK caught me on a no carb 2 week cutter. Basicly laughed at me. since then I have enjoyed fasting and spiking.
I spike Sat-Sun-Mon. My first week. Blasted Chest today
LOVE IT! Keep educating Russell!!! ITS NEEDED
Thanks man!
The next thing I'm going to try is go really low carb, the day before I spike, and then also add 30-45 minutes of some cardio the morning before I start spiking.
The idea is it will no doubt completely drain my glycogen stores and make my spike day even more effective. Apparently this will cause my body to increase my storage capacity there.
I'm starting in February, I did try it one week last month and I lost 3lbs in 24 hours, again leading me to the conclusion that glycogen was totally gone since I would have lost 3 grams per gram of glycogen stored.
The above isn't for everyone, I'd say it's great for experienced lifters because it was extremely difficult to go no carb at the end of the week and my morning cardio was ridiculously difficult. Basically I hated it, but it worked.
I think we hijacked this thread! lol. I hope they enjoy
For me now being around my goal weight ( think my leanest will be 170) which is 182 ish. Depeding on my feeding windows. I am just learning how to build muscle and get strong. You guys got some great knowledge and love bouncing stuff off you. I think the UD2/Spiking/Fasting Protocols are just next level stuff! I mean I am getting stronger weekly. I pushed 315 today and I didn't think that was possible at 34. I am looking for 350+ by end of the yr. in my 4 low cal days I need to get real real low on the carbs. ATtempting that this week. But this UD2 thing might be some long term stuff for me. 4k cals on Football Sundays!! WHAAAAAAT0 -
Cheat days have been good for me. When I began trying to lose weight I tried putting myself on a strict diet... Eventually I found that this ultimately ended in a week long binge/feeling sorry for myself party. Having a cheat day or free meal once a week has definitely helped me avoid the dark side. Haha! I feel like I'm not depriving myself of the things that I want to eat. I also believe that it keeps your metabolism out of the everyday same diet funk!0
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I think we hijacked this thread! lol.
Haha! Love this!0 -
I do it about one a week...sometime 2 or 3 times...works for me0
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I always have a day where I don't watch my calories and don't really log because I agree with making sure your body doesn't get too used to one level. I'll also have a really low day in the week, usually when I don't eat back all my exercise calories.
However, I usually try not to eat the food that I know is going to set me off - Starbucks white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I'll have bacon, eggs, french toast with syrup, sausage, extra protein, potatoes with butter etc but I know if I overdo the sugar I'm going to have a heck of a time settling down.
Try it this week but don't eat your "trigger treat".0 -
I don't have a cheat day but just a cheat meal once a week as long as I have worked out and done well with my calories. It makes me work harder during the week to "earn" my cheat meal.0
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I do cheat days or spike days from time to time but I'm not a big fan of doing it for a whole day. I like to give myself a cheat meal. It actually makes me plan the rest of the day pretty careful so the cheat meal doesn't impact me as bad plus it makes it easier the next day to get back into the swing of things.0
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why live if you cant have a cheat day?? i lost 80lbs so far and i do have those days where i just want to let loose of the chains .. i am still alive and still losing weight . my cheating is more controlled when i plan it . if i dont plan it then i find myself knee deep in food with no exit plan !! sometimes i will even do extra cardio the day before ,of or after but thats only sometimes0
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I don't have cheat days but on the other hand I don't deny myself any food. If I want pizza I will have pizza. I will just ensure that I don't go overboard and eat something much more healthy at my other meals.
Everything in moderation is what is working for me.
If I go over my calorie intake for the day I go for a brisk walk or I get the Wii out and 'play' some of the dance games I have with my hubby.
Not everyone's body is the same though, nor is their mentality. If I went over my calorie goal for the day it would drive me crazy and I would stress and panic over it but that's partly due to my OCD.
Do what works for you, if you don't feel comfortable doing something then don't do it, if you do then go for it.
However, if you do have a cheat day, don't weigh yourself for a couple of days just in case the extra pound or so hasn't disappeared yet.
XX0 -
Spike Day's are nothing but a huge positive, BUT I do believe that everyone is different and it's your choice if you want to do it or not. Your not wrong if you don't, it just makes things a heck of a lot easier.
It's not so much your body adjusting to a calorie number ex 1,200. What happens is that whenever you have a calorie deficit, and the studies done are 7 days of calorie restriction, the hormone leptin drops. When leptin drops cravings go up, in fact there was a definite correlation between the amount of leptin that is reduced and the amount of hunger, and of course the metabolism starts to slow. Personally I believe it takes sometime, weeks or months before the metabolism decline is totally detrimental, there's no proof, but for me personally I could diet for 4-6 weeks before I would usually hit that plateau. I think the hunger and cravings that begin increasing at 7 days is the biggest problem. It makes it difficult to stay on a diet when your fighting your brain.
This is where "spiking" really helps, as it just takes 12 hours of eating a surplus to bring leptin levels back up.
I feel this change happen to me every week. I Spike on Friday's, by Thursday of every week I feel the cravings coming on strong. Then I Spike and I literally don't care what I eat the next few days. Then as the week goes on I feel them come back right before I Spike again.
Also, what's needed is a small surplus, nothing overly crazy. If you burned 2,500 calories a day, 2,501 would be enough, I just aim a bit higher to make sure I'm over so I use 2X(BMR) so at the most you would store 1,000 calories that is always distributed to your glycogen stores first, before any fat is actually stored.
Just remember, you definitely gain a few pounds after Spiking, it's simply because our body stores 3 grams of water with each gram of glycogen in your muscles. You burn that off in the next couple of days when you go back to calorie deficits.
I've been doing this 8+ years.
You're half right. Leptin does control appetite, but it does not control metabolic rate. A cheat meal may be good for you mentally, and may help reduce craving, but it won't do anything for metabolism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15534430
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/82/12/4149.abstract0 -
I didn't consider it *cheating*, but I gave myself a range which helped me feel satisfied and stick with it...
-- 1200 as my rock bottom,
-- lose 1 lb/wk as my target*** and
-- maintain my goal weight as the top of my range.
I tend to naturally zig zag my calories 3-4 at very close to my target and then a higher calorie day closer to the top of my range. As long as I keep within in this range I'll lose.
As long as I stayed under my MAINTAIN CURRENT WEIGHT calories I won't gain. (gotta remember to keep double checking this as your weight changes)
***also once my lose 1 lb/week target was down to 1200 calories I switch to lose 1/2 lb/ week
So...
--1200 cal rock bottom,
--1/2 lb/week as my target,
--maintain goal weight as the high end of my range.0 -
I do Saturdays. I find that it helps me manage cravings. And because I so rarely eat sweets and "bad" foods, I can eat much less of them on my cheat day and feel satisfied. I have a lot more energy for a few days and it starts waning about Thursday. It helps my sanity to not have to think as much about food one day a week. I am still careful, because nobody should sit down and eat a whole pizza or pecan pie, but I do allow some of the more decadent foods to be eaten that day in smaller portions. I really try to avoid all the sweets as much as I can because of my insulin resistance, but I dont beat myself up that day if I do. And I havent had it negatively affect my progress..... if anything, it has helped me stay on the wagon.0
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You should have a cheat day one every 7 days, and by cheat day I don't mean gorge yourself with fattening food but allow yourself to go over your calories. This will trick your metabolism and keep it up. If you do the same thing everyday you will eventually just start to maintain your weight. Cheat days are good.
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss Tools0 -
I do cheat days or spike days from time to time but I'm not a big fan of doing it for a whole day. I like to give myself a cheat meal. It actually makes me plan the rest of the day pretty careful so the cheat meal doesn't impact me as bad plus it makes it easier the next day to get back into the swing of things.
Try a window free for all!!!! I eat from 8-12 and stuff about 4000 calories in there. Of course thats what I cal my reefeed windows asI crush the gym in the AM and then just eat and drink and watch footballllllllllll!
Who would have thought. CHEATERS WIN!0 -
Spike Day's are nothing but a huge positive, BUT I do believe that everyone is different and it's your choice if you want to do it or not. Your not wrong if you don't, it just makes things a heck of a lot easier.
It's not so much your body adjusting to a calorie number ex 1,200. What happens is that whenever you have a calorie deficit, and the studies done are 7 days of calorie restriction, the hormone leptin drops. When leptin drops cravings go up, in fact there was a definite correlation between the amount of leptin that is reduced and the amount of hunger, and of course the metabolism starts to slow. Personally I believe it takes sometime, weeks or months before the metabolism decline is totally detrimental, there's no proof, but for me personally I could diet for 4-6 weeks before I would usually hit that plateau. I think the hunger and cravings that begin increasing at 7 days is the biggest problem. It makes it difficult to stay on a diet when your fighting your brain.
This is where "spiking" really helps, as it just takes 12 hours of eating a surplus to bring leptin levels back up.
I feel this change happen to me every week. I Spike on Friday's, by Thursday of every week I feel the cravings coming on strong. Then I Spike and I literally don't care what I eat the next few days. Then as the week goes on I feel them come back right before I Spike again.
Also, what's needed is a small surplus, nothing overly crazy. If you burned 2,500 calories a day, 2,501 would be enough, I just aim a bit higher to make sure I'm over so I use 2X(BMR) so at the most you would store 1,000 calories that is always distributed to your glycogen stores first, before any fat is actually stored.
Just remember, you definitely gain a few pounds after Spiking, it's simply because our body stores 3 grams of water with each gram of glycogen in your muscles. You burn that off in the next couple of days when you go back to calorie deficits.
I've been doing this 8+ years.
You're half right. Leptin does control appetite, but it does not control metabolic rate. A cheat meal may be good for you mentally, and may help reduce craving, but it won't do anything for metabolism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15534430
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/82/12/4149.abstract
I was stuck at 180 for like 2.5 months. I through down a spike day and steadily lost 5 lbs 5 wks in a row.
My man Russell has some real solid experience with this. Little dinks and dunks of sites won't sway him. Some solid experience and results might though. Share0 -
I was stuck at 180 for like 2.5 months. I through down a spike day and steadily lost 5 lbs 5 wks in a row.
My man Russell has some real solid experience with this. Little dinks and dunks of sites won't sway him. Some solid experience and results might though. Share
And the results of n=1 studies don't sway me.0 -
I was stuck at 180 for like 2.5 months. I through down a spike day and steadily lost 5 lbs 5 wks in a row.
My man Russell has some real solid experience with this. Little dinks and dunks of sites won't sway him. Some solid experience and results might though. Share
And the results of n=1 studies don't sway me.
Reslts are Results
you have yours
he has his
I have mine
Many studies in the 80's have been proven wrong....90s 2000 and such. Look at meal frequency. I did that ish for yrs!0 -
It may be controversial as far as how much leptin can affect metabolism. Extra calories will temporarily increase metabolic rate because you have to metabolize each calorie.
Does it increase metabolism beyond base BMR? There's been studies that show both. What it does do is temporarily stop a declining metabolism from dieting. For me that is enough.0 -
I was stuck at 180 for like 2.5 months. I through down a spike day and steadily lost 5 lbs 5 wks in a row.
My man Russell has some real solid experience with this. Little dinks and dunks of sites won't sway him. Some solid experience and results might though. Share
5 lbs per week for 5 weeks, or, 5 pounds in 5 weeks (1lb/week?)0 -
I never do a whole cheat day because you really can wreck your whole week in one day! but i also never want to feel deprived i feel thats when people fall off the wagon the most. I would do a "date night" with my husbadn and one day a week we eat a bad dinner weither its eating out and getting pizza or mexican or we cook a non healthy meal such as fried chicken etc. and we have a bad snack (usualy its an entire bag of chips LOL) but before my wedding i lost 40 lbs in 4 months so it worked for me, i was also working out 6 days a week and followed my healthy eating to a T the rest of the days of the week.0
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I never do a whole cheat day because you really can wreck your whole week in one day! but i also never want to feel deprived i feel thats when people fall off the wagon the most. I would do a "date night" with my husbadn and one day a week we eat a bad dinner weither its eating out and getting pizza or mexican or we cook a non healthy meal such as fried chicken etc. and we have a bad snack (usualy its an entire bag of chips LOL) but before my wedding i lost 40 lbs in 4 months so it worked for me, i was also working out 6 days a week and followed my healthy eating to a T the rest of the days of the week.
Sure, you probably could wreck your whole week in one day - if you are cutting 500 cals per day from your BMR to lose 1lb/week, then on "spike day" you decide to go nutty, you could theoretically eat all those cals back in one day - it would be 3 or 4 really really bad meals, but I'm sure its possible.0 -
ive done them most every week the whole time, sometimes going WAY overboard.. seems its ok, you get 1 mulligan a week (one night off, food/booze, go crazy)0
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The way to have a spike day is to manage your calories over a week, so that your deficit for the week stays where you want it.
My weekly loss goal is half a pound (1750 weekly deficit). The way I manage my calories is to eat 6 days as if at a 1 lb weekly loss goal (500 daily deficit x 6 = 3000) PLUS all exercise calories), and then 1 day a week, my rest day, I eat appx. 1250 extra calories. This works out to be a weekly deficit of 3000 - 1250 = 1750 calories. Half a pound.
Works like a charm and refuels my body on rest day for the hard workout week ahead.
blessings.0
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