Dr Oz says people who cheat lose more weight

I don't do cheat meals or cheat days.

I do, however, eat what I want - when I want it. I simply eat it in moderation. Nothing spells "diet" like having to wait for a special day to have something I really enjoy. If I want a Reese's (or in the case of yesterday - pretzel M&M's), I want it NOW. Right this minute. I do not want to wait until the 3rd Saturday of the month or whatever. I prefer to enjoy life NOW instead of always waiting for something.

I've lost nearly 60lbs and I've been in maintenance for 18 months. I know that what I'm doing works for me. Cheat days/cheat meals did not work for me (I would end up binge eating because I was depriving myself of whatever I happened to want at that moment). If it works for some, awesome. But, it may not work for all.

Ditto!!!

This is consistent with the science guys. It's not just Dr Oz saying this, many have been saying it for a long time. Some will get technical and talk about Leptin being down regulated when we are calorie restricted and how a large spike in calories on a regular basis up regulates Leptin reducing hunger for a few days. This is because Leptin Signalling lags intake so you can take advantage of this to fool your body into thinking calories are plentiful when they are not.

Check out Lyle McDonalds body recomposition blog for a detail discussion and the OP's book discusses it as well albeit adjusted for the lay person.

There is no magic here, you still must be in an overall deficit but it has great physiological and psychological benefits.

When I cheat regularly (or have spike days, if you prefer that term), I don't lose.

What does work, for me, is to eat at maintenance for one week, every three months. I still log and still meet my macros (mostly), but I can fit in ice cream, pasta, pizza, beer, etc. This helps reset my leptin levels and helps me retain my sanity, not to mention motivation to stick with the deficit the rest of the time.

Ok..maybe I need to watch that show because all I got from these posts is that everyone cheats with a guy named Spike. I'm sure he's getting all the exercise he needs.

LMAO! Love it!

Do you feel he's a quack because he believes in alternative medicine and being able to heal certain parts of yourself?

Yep!

Yes.

I saw that show...and I try to do it each week

Do you feel he's a quack because he believes in alternative medicine and being able to heal certain parts of yourself?

Yep!

Maybe because I'm from the East I tend to believe and have seen results using natural products that can be picked straight from the earth. I'm not saying that every single thing can be cured that way but general things I tend to use and have seen results, but thats just from personal experience, from yours and several other responses I feel they have either never tried it or it has not worked for them.

This has nothing to do with personal experience. It has to do with medicine and science. Human bodies are not made up of different material if you're from the East or West.

He's recommended homeopathy which is dangerous to people suffering from real diseases. These medical scams are nothing new. You can tell me all about the great personal experiences people have had with homeopathy, faith healing, ionized/magnetic bracelets, reikki, or bare handed surgery in a third world country. They are all dangerous scams. Many testimonials are outright fakes. I do everything I can to prevent people from falling for these scams and the scam artists who employ them. They are dangerous and a waste.

I like the sounds of it. However, I read through all the comments and no one seems to answer questions like, "Is it moderation? Do we eat anything and everything?", etc. I really am curious. On my spike days, do I eat whatever I want all day or just one meal? Do I still try to stay near my calorie/fat/sodium goals?

I try to keep it at one cheat meal a week myself. Usually pizza and beer :P I don't see any way I could stay reasonably close to my cal. goal on that day

Last week I accidently went over calories when I forgot to log my brown rice for FOUR meals! I still lost weight though :P I don't think spiking is something I'll do every week but if my husband wants to go out to eat somewhere, I won't say no. In fact I think he wants sushi or Texas Roadhouse tomorrow. But I am not going to gorge myself, I'm going to enjoy myself without overdoing it.

I don't do cheat meals or cheat days.

I do, however, eat what I want - when I want it. I simply eat it in moderation. Nothing spells "diet" like having to wait for a special day to have something I really enjoy. If I want a Reese's (or in the case of yesterday - pretzel M&M's), I want it NOW. Right this minute. I do not want to wait until the 3rd Saturday of the month or whatever. I prefer to enjoy life NOW instead of always waiting for something.

I've lost nearly 60lbs and I've been in maintenance for 18 months. I know that what I'm doing works for me. Cheat days/cheat meals did not work for me (I would end up binge eating because I was depriving myself of whatever I happened to want at that moment). If it works for some, awesome. But, it may not work for all.

I do both. In fact I usually keep some kind of sweet - like M&Ms (pretzel or otherwise) or Kisses or something in the house and budget one serving into my daily calories. And then I have a "no count" day - which doesn't mean I'm out at the local greasy dive stuffing my face, but that I don't keep a careful count of what I eat. Got me down to my first goal - which was in total bout 50 pounds gone. And now I'm working on the second goal (hence the "only 6" on my ticker before some smart-you-know-what says anything).

Posted by Jillian Michaels on her facebok page for 30 day shred.

"CHEAT DAYS... you need one a week. If you don't, you are going to struggle in weight loss goals eventually.
Cheat days (and I'm talking full on with pizza and hamburgers - whatever you want) help boost lepton levels that drop down when you eat a healthier lifestyle. They also create confusion for your body so it doesn't "adjust" to a set caloric intake. Try it - you will thank me."

Do you feel he's a quack because he believes in alternative medicine and being able to heal certain parts of yourself?

Yep!

Maybe because I'm from the East I tend to believe and have seen results using natural products that can be picked straight from the earth. I'm not saying that every single thing can be cured that way but general things I tend to use and have seen results, but thats just from personal experience, from yours and several other responses I feel they have either never tried it or it has not worked for them.

This has nothing to do with personal experience. It has to do with medicine and science. Human bodies are not made up of different material if you're from the East or West.

He's recommended homeopathy which is dangerous to people suffering from real diseases. These medical scams are nothing new. You can tell me all about the great personal experiences people have had with homeopathy, faith healing, ionized/magnetic bracelets, reikki, or bare handed surgery in a third world country. They are all dangerous scams. Many testimonials are outright fakes. I do everything I can to prevent people from falling for these scams and the scam artists who employ them. They are dangerous and a waste.

From this lupus patient: :drinker:

it wont open for me..... is this happening to anyone else or is it because i live in canada?
can someone give me the run down of it?

I also have a spike meal once a week. 6 days a week I stick close to 1200 calories and one day a week I let myself eat whatever I want for dinner that night. I still keep it under 2000 calories for the day and I still log it. I lost 18lbs in January doing this. So, it works for me. I don't have a problem getting right back on track the next day. Also, I eat chocolate almost every day. I just stick to about half a serving and I count the calories.

whats a spike day