Do you log your cheat days?!

allysabee
allysabee Posts: 123
edited December 18 in Food and Nutrition
Good Morning MFP-ers,

Just wondering - today is my "cheat day". I'm allowing myself to have bacon for breakfast, sushi for lunch and pub nachos tonight for UFC :) (I'm not going to go TOTALLY overboard, I'm still only going to have 2 pieces of bacon, limit the mayonnaise and cheesy sushi rolls, and try not to pig out on the nachos)

Anyways, I'm just wondering if when YOU have days like this, do you log it? I was thinking originally I wasn't going to, but now I think it'd be interesting to see how many cals I'm actually eating on a day like this. It might help keep me in line! Then again, I don't want to feel guilty which I'm thinking might happen... Advice?
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Replies

  • PunkyRachel
    PunkyRachel Posts: 1,959 Member
    yes, I do. I get obcessive and log everything, though
  • itsirkmr
    itsirkmr Posts: 24 Member
    I do sometimes, but not usually. If I stopped losing weight, I would probably start logging them more strictly, so I could reduce the intake. So far, that hasn't been an issue.
  • TinkrBelz
    TinkrBelz Posts: 866 Member
    No, I do not log...I have a food that says Cheat Day Friday 2000 calories. But, i do not worry about it. I want to cheat on Fridays and not worry about it. I cheat for 2 reasons, it keeps my sanity with any cravings that I have during the week....I can handle it because I know I can eat it Friday. And, I read that it is good to have spike days....so I want Friday to be my carb and calorie spike day. And if I logged everything, I would freak out and stop at 2000 calories.

    So, I do not log nor worry about it. it is nice to take one day a week off! (I do still exercise and log that in)
  • Jweb8969
    Jweb8969 Posts: 136 Member
    i log every dirty little cheat - hahaha.

    okay, so that sounded bad but, yes, i log everything i eat or drink - even on my 'cheat' days when i go waaaaaaay over on every chart imaginable! haha. i figure if i stay honest, even on my fun cheaty days, then i'll be more apt to stick to it on my 'behave healthy' days.

    the only exception i had to this rule was on st. pat's day when i had a few cocktails - i had NO real idea how to figure out the mixed drinks i had, so i didn't log them. i don't drink very often - so i figure that it won't be much of an issue long term. if i have a glass of wine or a couple of beers, i do log them, tho.
  • bluebird321
    bluebird321 Posts: 733 Member
    I don't log on my cheat day.
  • REDS2U
    REDS2U Posts: 1
    The answer to that is YES!.....If you bite it you write it you would be surprised at how soon things get forgotten.
  • Lovely_Doll
    Lovely_Doll Posts: 72
    First of all, I don't believe in cheat days. Those will only set you back. Second, yes, log in everything. Don't try to fool yourself into thinking that you're losing weight. You might not be recording those calories, but your body definitely is.
  • mrssmith636
    mrssmith636 Posts: 80 Member
    I log everything that I eat, no matter how horrible my food choices. The guilt of eating that crap is enough to keep me on track.
  • mrssmith636
    mrssmith636 Posts: 80 Member
    First of all, I don't believe in cheat days. Those will only set you back. Second, yes, log in everything. Don't try to fool yourself into thinking that you're losing weight. You might not be recording those calories, but your body definitely is.

    Girlfriend, you might want to have some cheat days yourself. I am sorry, but a weight loss goal to be 88 lbs. is ridiculous.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    Yep, though I don't always know exactly how much I'm eating on cheat day. I just try to pick a reasonable guess and enter it under the "quick add calories" category.
  • chachadiva150
    chachadiva150 Posts: 453 Member
    I log everything. I don't do cheat days. There is no such thing as cheating. I eat all types of food including the occasional high calorie food. No cheating involved. Just making choices.
  • ngarrett75
    ngarrett75 Posts: 87 Member
    First of all, I don't believe in cheat days. Those will only set you back. Second, yes, log in everything. Don't try to fool yourself into thinking that you're losing weight. You might not be recording those calories, but your body definitely is.

    Girlfriend, you might want to have some cheat days yourself. I am sorry, but a weight loss goal to be 88 lbs. is ridiculous.
  • kazzari
    kazzari Posts: 473 Member
    I don't have planned cheat days...opportunities to cheat, like pot lucks at work, come up too often as it is. But I log everything, otherwise the charts won't be accurate. I worry less about day to day calories than average weekly. I need to know the truth.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    I log everything. I don't do cheat days. There is no such thing as cheating. I eat all types of food including the occasional high calorie food. No cheating involved. Just making choices.

    Then you're just calling it by something else. "Occasional high calorie food" sounds an awful lot like what many of us call "cheat day". :P Maybe you just don't do it on a regular schedule, but regardless, we'll call it what we want.
  • TheChocolatePrincess
    TheChocolatePrincess Posts: 137 Member
    i do. I tried my best to log everything I ate on my birthday. I log it all because it pushes me to excercise more later in the week. Just because I get to cheat and eat anything I want doesn't mean I am not going to pay for it later (or at least try and push myself harder to make up for it a bit).

    Enjoy your cheat day!
  • ngarrett75
    ngarrett75 Posts: 87 Member
    First of all, I don't believe in cheat days. Those will only set you back. Second, yes, log in everything. Don't try to fool yourself into thinking that you're losing weight. You might not be recording those calories, but your body definitely is.

    Girlfriend, you might want to have some cheat days yourself. I am sorry, but a weight loss goal to be 88 lbs. is ridiculous.



    LOL! Yeah to be honest, I'm a little concerned too about the 88 lb goal you set for yourself.
  • Naominjw
    Naominjw Posts: 8
    We have to log (journal) our cheat days in order to make sense of our weight loss or gain. To know how our body reacts to what we do. I still have my paper journal from a few years back when I lost the "obese" and went down to "overweight". It is very revealing to see what worked and what didn't, and how my body and weight responded to what I ate and the activity. I put in comments. Yes, there were days when I screwed up and didn't record everything, but I put those in, too, and at least put some of the things down that I had even though I did not carefully add up calories (I wrote "A LOT!")

    Of course, with this on-line program, we can't just say "A lot" but it is so easy to record what we eat, and this program puts in the calories for us.
  • sc1572
    sc1572 Posts: 2,309 Member
    I log everything best I can. In a couple of weeks I will be going out of state for a 3 day vacation to visit my sister, and it will be my birthday. I won't be able to be exact on everything, but will guess the best I can, and log it, that way it keeps me on track. How else will I stay accountable? :)
  • angng
    angng Posts: 137 Member
    No, not necessarily. I have a history of an eating disorder and I'm not about to beat myself up over allowing myself to have high-calorie food right now. It's dangerous territory.

    I do log when I gluten myself because I *SHOULD* beat myself up over that.
  • autumnk921
    autumnk921 Posts: 1,374 Member
    I log EVERY DAY....I don't have a set cheat day b/c I will go crazy I am sure but I do have days that I go over some & try not to freak out about that but even when I do 'cheat' by eating a whole candy bar or Taco Bell - which is hardly ever - I log it ALL....

    Everyone does it different though...I do it b/c I am so used to logging everything that it is now second nature to me to log what I eat plus later on when I don't think I need to log anymore but I have a candy bar or whatever I want to know approx how much that counts so I don't think about eating 2 b/c I think it's not as high in fat, cals, etc. as I think it is...This way I know!! HTH! :smile:
  • athensguy
    athensguy Posts: 550
    Usually if I'm going over my calories, it involves food I don't have full nutritional info for. I still try to log, though, because I'm in maintenance mode so I want to be able to track whether my maintenance mode is working. I would expect to gain weight if I went over by 3500 calories in a week, for example.
  • RahRahRiotSC
    RahRahRiotSC Posts: 29 Member
    I do. I mean... I totally blew it the other day. But it was very interesting to me because that day would have been any typical day for me before I started watching my calories. It showed me how far I'd come and made me really see where I'd been going wrong.
  • kspoon5
    kspoon5 Posts: 239 Member
    Yes I log everything. It keeps me accountable and lets me know where I stand for the week. I don't cheat weekly it is random for me and it is usually one meal or maybe one dessert. I think it is different for everyone though! Good luck Enjoy it !
  • gurganuss
    gurganuss Posts: 78 Member
    I plan to log a cheat day, the occassion has not really come up for one yet, but my boyfriends birthday is this week and we are going to a sports bar and I plan on not being concerned and just enjoying dinner.

    My question is how often people have a cheat day? When I did weight watchers, they gave extra calories and most people would have a cheat day the day after weigh in. I just think I need to start having them, but how often to stay on track or lose those last pesky three pounds.
  • cattraxs
    cattraxs Posts: 47 Member
    I log everything that I eat, no matter how horrible my food choices. The guilt of eating that crap is enough to keep me on track.


    ^^ yep!
  • tabulator32
    tabulator32 Posts: 701 Member
    I log it all, just like any other day.

    :smile:
  • kolkol
    kolkol Posts: 300 Member
    I do sometimes. Normally I only have a cheat meal once a week. I really feel that the one high calorie meal allows me to lose more weight each week.
  • Skeena4
    Skeena4 Posts: 209 Member
    Yes i log every single thing
  • thepanttherlady
    thepanttherlady Posts: 258 Member
    I don't cheat, but yes I log everything. I think I have missed 2 weekends in the 170+ days I've been here but it wasn't purposely. :)
  • iwantahealthierme13
    iwantahealthierme13 Posts: 337 Member
    I don't have cheat days. But I'm Italian so when I go to a party with tons of food, this hasn't happened yet (as I started 9 days ago) but will happen in the next week for my nephew's birthday, I will not log, only because it will be hella hard to find out the calories in everything and I'll probably eat quite a lot.
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