do you log your cheat days/meals?

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Replies

  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,749 Member
    I most certainly do. Sometimes the shock factor alone will help me to not over indulge as much the next time.
  • born2bfat
    born2bfat Posts: 6
    waaahhh what exactly is considered cheating? doe sit mean eating more than 1200 (the calories I'm allowed to eat in a day)? or like eating like unhealthy food even though I stay w/n 1200? or is it like eating more than 1200 but I have leftover calories I cna take due to exercise? I'm just confused since I'm a newbie. I don't really know things about losing weight such as what can I eat? How much should I eat (allowed to eat)?
  • ais048
    ais048 Posts: 19 Member
    So do you guys log every beer/wine you have at weekends??
  • samida
    samida Posts: 9 Member
    My issue is I wouldn't begin to even KNOW how to log a bad day. If I actually took the time to weigh and measure and think about what I'm eating then I probably wouldn't be doing it. A planned "cheat" is something different I suppose. I'm just talking about a day that turned out to be an emotional-eating day where anything and everything is like it's going by on a conveyor belt and you grab without thinking.
  • jojule
    jojule Posts: 10
    Yes I log everything I eat. There is no "cheating" it is what we put in our mouths that made us the way we are so if we dont log it we are only cheating ourselves.:glasses:
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    If it was an unplanned overindulgence, yes. If it was a planned free day or free meal, then no. Seeing my planned cheats in black and white do nothing but provide guilt for me. I have been able to continue losing weight for an entire year by taking cheat days. So, feeling guilty about them is just silly!
  • leslisa
    leslisa Posts: 1,350 Member
    Yes, because on one cheat day a week (Sat or Sun depending on what I'm doing, where I'm at, etc.) I allow myself to eat up to 600 more calories than non-cheat day and still loose 1 pound a week. It's built into my equation already.
  • jojule
    jojule Posts: 10
    and I have had those emotional eating days too but I still log them and then try to adjust somewhere else...or I just dont get on the scale for a day or so...but I still log them
  • RipperSB
    RipperSB Posts: 315 Member
    So do you guys log every beer/wine you have at weekends??

    I would, if I drank beer/wine... but I do log every Strongbow when I have it with dinner! It's only cheating if you DON'T log it.
  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    So do you guys log every beer/wine you have at weekends??

    Yes. Why wouldn't I? Just because I don't log it doesn't mean it didn't happen. :wink:
  • acg1305
    acg1305 Posts: 224 Member
    Its hard when you eat out, say a sandwich or whatever. How do you know exactly what goes into it
  • mixtaplix
    mixtaplix Posts: 74 Member
    I try to log everything. I want to keep track, so that I know when I'm successful or when I've splurged too much. It makes me feel good when I see success on the scale, or, It makes me work harder at my exercise if I've gone over my allowances. Keeps me at a balance, and guilts me into not inhaling the ENTIRE bag of cookies....lol
  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    Its hard when you eat out, say a sandwich or whatever. How do you know exactly what goes into it

    Make your best educated guess. I at least log something so if the scale goes up I can go thru my log and go "oh yeah, I ate that monster hoagie roll with fried twinkies and chocolate sauce with French fries" and realize it might have been more calories than I guessed.
  • vltaylor35
    vltaylor35 Posts: 72
    i log every single calorie. i have tried not logging cheats before, but it only encouraged me to cheat more and before i knew it i had regained quite alot of weight
  • LexieeLovee
    LexieeLovee Posts: 15 Member
    I definitely log in my 'cheat days' once a week Saturdays mostly. I like to be honest with myself and MFP tracker. And i also like to see the effects it has in my '5week' results.. It's not bad to have a cheat day.. I'm not sure why people r complaining about calling a 'cheat day' it's just a phrase. haha

    But YES I do track my CHEAT DAYS!
    And i don't feel about it at all
    :)
  • savedchild8
    savedchild8 Posts: 148 Member
    Honestly...so far I'm not cheating.....

    Plan my meals ahead, and try to stick as close to them as possible.

    So far..so good. :)

    But if I did, yes I would log mine
  • acg1305
    acg1305 Posts: 224 Member
    Its hard when you eat out, say a sandwich or whatever. How do you know exactly what goes into it

    Make your best educated guess. I at least log something so if the scale goes up I can go thru my log and go "oh yeah, I ate that monster hoagie roll with fried twinkies and chocolate sauce with French fries" and realize it might have been more calories than I guessed.

    Yeah thats exactly what I try to do, and go with the most calorie filled option I can find
  • glengiles
    glengiles Posts: 147
    then there could be some people that honestly can't recall every beer they had over a weekend..... ;)
  • Ttrishaa
    Ttrishaa Posts: 15 Member
    I log everything... Once in a while I wince before hitting that submit button, but I still do it. Hahah. Even when I know I've had a bad day, I still want to be able to see just how bad it was and maybe next time I will remember logging that candy I ate when I wasn't really hungry.
  • acg1305
    acg1305 Posts: 224 Member
    The scales doesnt lie, so neither should your diary ;-)
  • amymeenieminymo
    amymeenieminymo Posts: 2,394 Member
    Nope....that's my point of a cheat meal/day, to get away from the daily grind of logging food and having so much of my thoughts consumed by food/how much to eat/how to log etc. I don't always eat bad stuff on a cheat day, I just want a break from thinking about my meals so much.

    Agree!! I need one day off from thinking about every little morsel that goes into my mouth. I am not nor ever been a binge eater, so I do not worry that I might over eat or fall off of the wagon.

    I "cheat" or do not log on Fridays. It is nice because if I had a craving all week, I eat it on Friday. We are taking the kids to the movies tomorrow night, I will eat the pop corn and not try to figure how much I ate and what the calorie/carbs were. Just saw that Sonic has a new blast...oh yes, having it tomorrow too!! Hubby and I look forward to Fridays! We will even talk about what we will have for dinner! haha!

    I have lost all of my weight while having one "free" day or "cheat" day per week. I do not think that I am lying to myself or cheating myself...I am just taking one day off per week.

    Yep same here, we eat out on Friday's since I refuse to cook on this day, and I want to enjoy it. Logging it wouldn't "teach me a lesson", it would just make me feel guilty and take the enjoyment out of my free day. If I get too bogged down I am more likley to quit altogether for an extended period of time. Taking a free day helps keep me going the rest of the week. The weekends are hit and miss....if I am eating stuff that is easy to log I will log it, but say we go to my inlaws for dinner, I am not going to sit at the table and write down guestimations of how much corn I had, how much steak, etc. Though as I lose more I will have to reign myself in on weekends more. Since this is the second time through for me, I know that when I am still at my top weight like right now, I can bend on the weekends more, but the skinnier I get, the stricter I have to get on the weekends or I won't lose. I figure I might as well enjoy it now while I can.

    Today is my birthday so I am eating healthy and I worked out, hubby is grilling chicken kabobs tonight with green beans :) But tomorrow, we're going out for Chinese and getting a cupcake from Nom Noms and I won't even think about logging any of it.
  • JamesThiel
    JamesThiel Posts: 85 Member
    Absolutely, I remain accountable
  • ojell
    ojell Posts: 748 Member
    i dont on the weekends.

    same here.
  • ojell
    ojell Posts: 748 Member
    then there could be some people that honestly can't recall every beer they had over a weekend..... ;)

    haha you know that's right! *raising my hand!* lol
  • Mellie13
    Mellie13 Posts: 424
    I do, except on Sundays and that's mostly to give my brain a break. I don't really eat differently, even though I say it's a "fee day".
  • rockinsue285
    rockinsue285 Posts: 180
    I do even my big mac yesterday if I didnt I would feel im just lying to myself, it gives a good indication on what you can eat without putting on weight
  • tunktunk5583
    tunktunk5583 Posts: 76 Member
    I don't refer to it as "cheating" - it's more like I'm just living and enjoying myself.
    Also, I do not log what I eat during the weekends. I eat what I want and when I want on those days. It's my reward for working my butt off.
  • PaveGurl
    PaveGurl Posts: 244 Member
    I [try to] log everything, and keep a spreadsheet of weekly averages. I find often something I was kinda dreading entering isn't as bad as I thought, and something I thought was going to be OK was a killer on my counts.

    I eat what I want, for the most part, and logging my "splurges" lets me have an idea of what I'm committing to, so I can make adjustments the rest of the week or to my workout or what have you. If I want fried chicken, then I'll have fried chicken - and maybe a smaller piece of meat and more fiber/ veg the next day instead. I've noticed that by doing this (and looking at my weekly tracking spreadsheet), I see a downward trend in my overall intake, because it keeps me conscious. Some people do well with daily, some need days off: whatever works for you!
  • k80mac
    k80mac Posts: 63 Member
    I log everything, even when I fall off the wagon and have a day of insanity that includes too much beer, brownies and bread (my stress foods) LOL
  • amysuespears
    amysuespears Posts: 127
    I go back and forth on this. Sometimes when I do log a free day, I'm surprised that it's not that bad. Other times it's so off the charts that I just figure it's ridiculous. You know, like you go to a party, and there's chips and dips and you had like 40 beers, and salami and crackers and cheese and beans and coleslaw and potato salad and a hotdog and a cheese burger. That kind of thing, it's like, forget it. Tomorrows a new day.

    I do the same. I didn't log last weekend because Sunday was my birthday.... enough said ;) it was too hard to keep track of everything. but.... i log all my days (free day or not), unless it's craziness like this past weekend! logging everything helps me to make sure i'm eating enough protein and other nutrients i need, plus it keeps me accountable for what i put in my mouth.
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