Spike days... A most famous myth.
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Although we are on different roads, our destination is the same.
And on that note, IT IS WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU!:huh:
Russ
ABSOLUTELY AGREE ^^^^^0 -
I think it's more important to look at where and why you have 'cheat' days/meals. If you devour a pizza after a crap day at work, and call that your cheat meal, it's not, it's emotional eating. If you enjoy 2 glasses of wine out at dinner with friends, then yeah that's 'cheating'. Which I hate using that word BTW. I agree with PP who said, if it's counted into your daily allowances, then it's not really a cheat at all.
Yeah, I totally disagree with this. If you enjoy 2 glasses of wine out at dinner with friends, that's living your life and not letting a new kind of food obsession take over and edge out your relationships. If you have a crap day at work and you eat a whole pizza, this is not necessarily winning, but its just a thing. You get up the next day and you keep going. Honestly, better to do that, IMO, than to be like a dry drunk and stress out at everyone around you and basically be a jerk because of your day. And if you had some pizza because that's where the group was going and the group is a group that you want to hang with and you can't always say no and keep your friends, then, you know what, eating pizza is a life activity and choosing to do it rather than be a food Nazi is a WIN.
If its counted in your daily allowance, it isn't even a spike day. If you keep your deficit reasonable across the week, spike/cheat days can be good. As an example, this week, Monday I lifted hard and was spent afterwards. I had too big of a deficit when I closed out. Tuesday I was hungry all day. Monday's deficit doomed Tuesday's eating. I was over by a smidge on Tuesday after adding some dancing to burn some calories. Tuesday wasn't a planned high calorie day, but it also wasn't "cheating" it was correcting Monday's food mistakes and FUELING a body that needed food.
Seriously though, the rigidity that is on here sometimes about food is really harmful and detrimental. Obsession with food, whether it is the proud overeating as if it were an accomplishment or the extreme and unyielding restriction that means you can't enjoy a couple drinks with friends, or a meal with family that has no earthly idea how to cook a reasonable meal, well, it ruins the rest of your life..
And that's sad. I don't want to be sad. I want a full, happy life that allws me ALL the options, including with food AND with clothes and activities. And, I'm getting it, thank you very much.0 -
I think it's more important to look at where and why you have 'cheat' days/meals. If you devour a pizza after a crap day at work, and call that your cheat meal, it's not, it's emotional eating. If you enjoy 2 glasses of wine out at dinner with friends, then yeah that's 'cheating'. Which I hate using that word BTW. I agree with PP who said, if it's counted into your daily allowances, then it's not really a cheat at all.
Yeah, I totally disagree with this. If you enjoy 2 glasses of wine out at dinner with friends, that's living your life and not letting a new kind of food obsession take over and edge out your relationships. If you have a crap day at work and you eat a whole pizza, this is not necessarily winning, but its just a thing. You get up the next day and you keep going. Honestly, better to do that, IMO, than to be like a dry drunk and stress out at everyone around you and basically be a jerk because of your day. And if you had some pizza because that's where the group was going and the group is a group that you want to hang with and you can't always say no and keep your friends, then, you know what, eating pizza is a life activity and choosing to do it rather than be a food Nazi is a WIN.
If its counted in your daily allowance, it isn't even a spike day. If you keep your deficit reasonable across the week, spike/cheat days can be good. As an example, this week, Monday I lifted hard and was spent afterwards. I had too big of a deficit when I closed out. Tuesday I was hungry all day. Monday's deficit doomed Tuesday's eating. I was over by a smidge on Tuesday after adding some dancing to burn some calories. Tuesday wasn't a planned high calorie day, but it also wasn't "cheating" it was correcting Monday's food mistakes and FUELING a body that needed food.
Seriously though, the rigidity that is on here sometimes about food is really harmful and detrimental. Obsession with food, whether it is the proud overeating as if it were an accomplishment or the extreme and unyielding restriction that means you can't enjoy a couple drinks with friends, or a meal with family that has no earthly idea how to cook a reasonable meal, well, it ruins the rest of your life..
And that's sad. I don't want to be sad. I want a full, happy life that allws me ALL the options, including with food AND with clothes and activities. And, I'm getting it, thank you very much.
very well said0 -
Oh boy, another hater. The way I choose to spread out my weekly calories shouldn't upset you, because it has nothing to do with you. I can have a spike, cheat, free or whatever kind of day you want to call it and still be in a weekly deficit. Maybe this is a problem for binge eaters with an eating disorder but that is different. It works for me and I want to enjoy my life and food so this is how I will continue to do it.0
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The notion of rest day is just a weak excuse to fall off the wagon. It's like an ex-junkie celebrating shoot-up day. Or, an ex-drinker celebrating happy hour. You know how that goes.
Oh crap, you mean I have to work out 7 days a week? WTF yo!?0 -
Spike days have worked fine for me in the past as long as I achieve an overall weekly deficit. I don't know that it boosted my weight loss or anything like that but it was good psychologically.
At the moment I am trying to just eat whatever I want (eat to hunger, etc) and do my two fasting days per week.0 -
Based on the info in this forum, I have used "spike" days to break weight-loss plateaus and start losing again.
It appears to have been actually beneficial, in addition to not having done any harm.
Above and beyond that, its a good thing to occasionally reward yourself with good food and have a meal you really enjoy regardless of the exact calorie count. I mean, the purpose of us doing all this work is so that we can ENJOY our good lives, isn't it?0 -
Look. The fact that we needed MFP in the first place debunks the notion of rest day / cheat day / spike day. We're here cause we lost control. We're here cause we gave up control to food. We're here cause we're junkies.
The notion of rest day / cheat day / spike day is just a weak excuse to fall off the wagon. It's like an ex-junkie celebrating shoot-up day. Or, an ex-drinker celebrating happy hour. You know how that goes.
Take your spike days regularly and then wonder why your clothes size doesn't change. Or, wonder why your scale never moves. Yeah, go ahead and have that ice cream and then complain about it.
We are junkies. We have to be above clean, beyond pristine. Either you have the will to beat that down. Or, you don't. Either you can live without it now. Or, you have to make excuses to dodge what it takes. Is it in you?
So, who are you?
My name is Brett. I'm a foodie who's been eating clean for two years.
Spiking is for the advanced, responisible Nutrition/Sport enthusiast. Its not for someone who cannot control there own diet and habits.
That is true. Its not a myth if you can't do it. I use refeeds all the time. They don't just work. They bring me to the next level0 -
Here we go again. Why does what someone else does bother a person so much that they have to make a thread about it. Been spiking three years and I seem to be doing ok. I have helped many, many people that had plateued, using the spike method. Some people can eat at a weekly deficit and lose weight consistently. Others are not so fortunate and spiking fixes some of their hormonal issues that inhibits fat loss. If you want to deprive yourself go ahead but that doesn't make you any more special than me.
People who can't do it have to defy it. They can't rationally believe they are weak and have a problem.
I always had a problem with someone not enjoying just one drink, just one smoke, just one twinkie. I don't understand it. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it does. I should start threads ripping drug adicts. Well because it doesn't happen to me so it doesn't exist right?0 -
Sorry you have such a tough time. Not everybody has to treat food like heroin.
This.0 -
I'm a guy that has a dog that eats her poop sometimes.So, who are you?0 -
Everything that is true for me is true for everyone else in the world too!!!0
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On the one hand, I have to keep a fairly consistent eating plan because like you I've had a seriously flawed relationship with food (I didn't get to 319 without it!) So I'm like you - a spike day would be a step down a slippery slope.
On the other hand I recognize that the majority of people, even the majority of folks here on MFP, don't have the disordered history with food I do, and therefore don't have the same triggers. Apparently for many of them the spike day works quite well.
Everyone is not the same as me. Or you.0 -
Here we go again. Why does what someone else does bother a person so much that they have to make a thread about it. Been spiking three years and I seem to be doing ok. I have helped many, many people that had plateued, using the spike method. Some people can eat at a weekly deficit and lose weight consistently. Others are not so fortunate and spiking fixes some of their hormonal issues that inhibits fat loss. If you want to deprive yourself go ahead but that doesn't make you any more special than me.
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The notion of rest day is just a weak excuse to fall off the wagon. It's like an ex-junkie celebrating shoot-up day. Or, an ex-drinker celebrating happy hour. You know how that goes.
Oh crap, you mean I have to work out 7 days a week? WTF yo!?
I think I'll hang on to my 2 (yeah, I know, I am SO lazy) rest days per week while I train for my next half marathon, thank you very much!
On another note that's already been pointed out by some previous folks, why does what someone else does (ie, cheat, spike, or rest days) bother the OP so much? It doesn't affect you at all (unless they are in your home fixing YOUR meals), so why care about what someone else is doing?0 -
Funny, my scale has moved down 80 lbs and my waist size has gone down 16 inches with a weekly spike day. But according to you it isn't supposed to do that.
I call shenanigans.0 -
I don't do spike/cheat/whatever you want to call it, I eat in moderation and within my calories for the day!!
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Look. The fact that we needed MFP in the first place debunks the notion of rest day / cheat day / spike day. We're here cause we lost control. We're here cause we gave up control to food. We're here cause we're junkies.
The notion of rest day / cheat day / spike day is just a weak excuse to fall off the wagon. It's like an ex-junkie celebrating shoot-up day. Or, an ex-drinker celebrating happy hour. You know how that goes.
Take your spike days regularly and then wonder why your clothes size doesn't change. Or, wonder why your scale never moves. Yeah, go ahead and have that ice cream and then complain about it.
We are junkies. We have to be above clean, beyond pristine. Either you have the will to beat that down. Or, you don't. Either you can live without it now. Or, you have to make excuses to dodge what it takes. Is it in you?
So, who are you?
My name is Brett. I'm a foodie who's been eating clean for two years.
Spike day =/= cheat day. If you *plan* your day (as you do with a spike) and your weekly deficit remains the same, where's the "cheat"?
I was at a six MONTH plateau, didn't lose a thing no matter what I did, just maintained. Started spiking, have been losing nearly every week, some weeks more than others (we all know weight loss isn't linear). My spike day contains some "junk" food *as well as* healthy food. Mostly I use it to enjoy takeout, specifically Thai, which I don't eat any other day of the week.
And as an aside, I have suffered from binging in the past, and spiking has helped me control that in a way that NOTHING has for ten years.
Don't confuse true spiking with "cheating" where people go all out without concern about the health of what they're eating *as a whole* and no concern about their weekly deficit. It's all about the forest.
So, yes, I'll continue to have my spike days. And I won't have to wonder why my my clothing size doesn't change or why the scale doesn't move. And why's that? . . . Oh yeah, because they're both changing, for the better.
Care to define spike day? i have been plateaued and need to break thru and have played with calories and exercise...0 -
Look. The fact that we needed MFP in the first place debunks the notion of rest day / cheat day / spike day. We're here cause we lost control. We're here cause we gave up control to food. We're here cause we're junkies.
The notion of rest day / cheat day / spike day is just a weak excuse to fall off the wagon. It's like an ex-junkie celebrating shoot-up day. Or, an ex-drinker celebrating happy hour. You know how that goes.
Take your spike days regularly and then wonder why your clothes size doesn't change. Or, wonder why your scale never moves. Yeah, go ahead and have that ice cream and then complain about it.
We are junkies. We have to be above clean, beyond pristine. Either you have the will to beat that down. Or, you don't. Either you can live without it now. Or, you have to make excuses to dodge what it takes. Is it in you?
So, who are you?
My name is Brett. I'm a foodie who's been eating clean for two years.
Could you please explain why I am losing weight doing a spike program then? And why I have no problem with my self-control and relationship with food the other 6 days of the week? I'm doing what works for me, and you can do what works for you.0 -
Well. I've been a life long eater of local and organic food. I've been gardening organically my whole life. Next step: we're hoping to go through the approval process to get our own chickens.
I also volunteer at a farm.
So I grew up with great food (my Mom was a Home Ec teacher, so we ate really well).
In recent years I became no longer the person that could never gain weight. Blame hormones (I'm 35 now) or blame the fact that I travel a lot for work. So, while I've always been healthy and active MFP helps me to maintain.
Nice to meet you.0
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