One day a month..where you say F it?

I do that.
We hire a babysitter once a month and go to the movies. It's an all out pigfest on popcorn and nachos. LOL I have no issue with it, I jump right back on the horse the next day and all is good.

I used to do it once a week, but I don't have a desire to do it anymore. Now, the only time I don't hit my calorie goal is when I'm on vacation, or on days like thanksgiving.

I haven't yet but I know I will have at least one piece of cake on my sons 2nd birthday. I feel like crap if I pig out and eat whatever I want and then comes the guilt when I get on the scale and see that I have gained weight.

However, I am going to CA in June and I am going to eat whatever I want!!!

There is a difference between a 2500 cal binge on one day and getting back to normal the next day and a 10,000cal weekend binge.

I've done a bit of both...girl's weekend away? I ate whatever I wanted all weekend. And drank. It was probably a 7,000 calorie weekend. And then I came home, went right back to my normal healthy diet, and worked my butt off at the gym.

I take 2-3 days off from logging a month, have lunch out, enjoy some red vines, make dinner without using the recipe tracker here, etc It keeps me sane. And I won't call it a "cheat" day - I've got nothing to cheat on

At any rate, this method hasn't hindered my progress. I still have lost 10-12 pounds each month since I started.

Today will be that day since i've already surpassed my calorie limit and its only 1:30.....but I will definately be better tomorrow...I've got too much to "lose" (yes, I intended that to have double meaning)

From what I have learned, you need a spike day every once in a while to shake up your metabolism. I allow myself a spike day of 2000-2500 calories about once a month (my usual is 1200). So far so good.

I pretty much just do things in moderation. I stay under my calories, and just work out extra when I know I'm gonna eat crap. A few weeks ago I made sure to work out like a beast so I could go to Buffalo Wild Wings and eat hot wings and drink beer, and I was still under my calories for the day! I probably eat something on the "naughty" list about 2 or 3 times a week (and I drink alcohol a few times a week) but just offset it by working out more and being very conscious of what I'm eating the rest of the time.

I found that when I said "ok this is my cheat day, who cares about the calories" it just kinda snowballed and didn't work for me. But when I don't look at these bad foods as like a special treat, I'm not as tempted to binge out on em. Kinda like telling a kid that a certain toy is off limits. If they know it's off limits, they'll want to play with it 10 times more, but if they know they can play with it whenever they want, they just have to ask permission, they won't see it as much of a big deal and prob won't be as interested.

I don't really give up anything. I'm learning moderation, and some healthier options of my favorite things. Because of this, I don't really feel the need to go crazy anymore.

The hubs and I do it on Saturday's, we have family dinner at his dad's house, and well, we don't know what all they put in the meals. So we just figure, that'll be our day! I think if we were to log it, I don't think we'd be going over on cals by too much. We do tend to eat less for breakfast and lunch, and then we eat deliciously at his dad's.

Every weekend. But I rarely go all nutty with my eating. I probably eat about the same or less than when I log everything, unless there's a party or something. Then I'm a total hog! :drinker:

I do a free meal every 1 or 2 weeks, either go out to eat or order take out (chinese or pizza). The rest of the time there is nothing that " i cant have" , its all about portion control.

I am by no means an authority on this, but if you are not happy you will not stay on a "diet". My approach to this might be different from a lot of people because I am really only on here to tone up get my muscles back. My weight loss goal is only 6 lb, but if I don't allow myself something that I really really want it is only a matter of days before I fall off the wagon completely!! The longer I have been eating healthily for, the less junk I want to eat, but for the first week or two I focus most on exercise, and less on denying myself something that I want to snack on. I already eat quite healthily as a rule, but if I want a cinnamon bun I eat it. If I don't just have it, I think about it and think about it, and eat like 5 other things that are "healthy" while trying to talk myself out of eating the cinnamon bun. In the end I usually eat the cinnamon bun anyway. I could have just had the cinnamon bun, felt a tiny twinge of guilt, and then kept on my merry way. But instead I ended up eating other things hoping to not want the cinnamon bun anymore, then eating it anyway. Then I feel terrible and after that happens once or twice I officially quit the whole thing. My advice is to start out slowly. If you are miserable you will not last.

I do it once a week where I just eat what I want. I'll still try and pick healthier options, but I just don't worry about my calories for that day ( I do still log it though ).

I purposely don't use all my calories during the week, so that the weekends are more free. But, be careful not to go too over calories for the week or all your hard work will go to waste.

I did the spike diet for a month and it was a lot of work to eat all those calories on Saturday. So, I changed to zig zagging but tweeked it so my highest day is still Saturday. This past Saturday I went to a fundraiser dinner that had frozen lasagna, I couldn't believe I wasted my calories on that and it didn't even taste good. I tend to eat a lot and then the next day it's hard to make myself eat anything. So spiking hasn't made me "fall of the wagon" at all. I actually think it helps me eat healthier, because I know I feel better when I have a better diet.