Cheat Days- I don't get it

Not only do I lose weight doing this I find it much easier to do so. I mostly follow the Spike diet plan where the general idea is to eat at or under your basic metabolic rate 6 days a week and double it one day a week. The theory is that it keeps your metabolism going by indulging that one day and it helps you stick to a diet the other days knowing that you have a cheat day on the horizon. It's worked wonders for me and now I don't think I'd go back to the old way of dieting if you paid me (ok, maybe if you paid me..lol). I modify it to fit my lifestyle more though. My BMR is around 1500. Mon-Fri when it's pretty easy for me to diet I stay around 1200 calories a day. Saturdays I allow myself a little more leeway and aim for around 1500-1700. And Sundays I don't log and just enjoy mysefl. I lose weight steadily each week doing this and it's very manageable. I try to look at the big picture instead of one day and if over the week you burn more than you take in it won't matter that one day you enjoyed that big, juicy burger.

I don't cheat. I'd just be cheating myself. I do fit foods into my menu so that I can feel satisfied. [...]

To me, the weird thing about this is not the fact that people will have days when they eat a bit more or "relax" and keep to a less strict diet or splurge, but that it's commonly called a "cheat" day or meal.

It makes perfect sense to me that if you are changing your lifestyle that you don't try to eat exactly the same amount of calories every day for the rest of your life. You need to learn new habits... and when you go to a party, you may eat or drink a bit more, so how do you balance that or how do you fit an occasional high calorie favorite food into your diet. How much do you exercise or how low cal must the rest of your time be to balance out? Playing around with this a bit is part of learning what works for you and how your can live in a fit way. But to call it cheating seems to me to miss the goal of making changes to your life that will help keep your fit for the rest of your life. (Keeping in mind that as other parts of your lifestyle change, you may need to re-adjust the balance.)

i dont have cheat days, i do have cheat meal only on special days. such as, mothers day i know that day theres going to be a cheat meal and a cheat drink, but i planned on it, i just work extra hard the day before and the day after. I also reward myself when i lose weight, i reward myself with clothes that fit, or a massage, facials, or even body wraps(sometime) i dont reward myself with food, because this isnt a diet for me its a lifestyle change where i want to feel good and look good. =] :happy:. personally if i had a cheat day i probably go insane and have everything that i was craving that week and it would be bad.

I think that 'cheat day' doesn't mean a whole day of gorging, but more a day that you may have something that you haven't had while keeping track of your diet. I haven't had pizza in 4 months, yet I still can't make myself eat any. I know that my body would rebel if I ate my 'old me' servings. So I believe a day that you pick to go out for a nice dinner, or shopping with friends and stopping for ice cream isn't going to hurt anything. I would find life and myself a complete bore if I obsessed 24/7. living healthy is good for you. But between birth and death there is a whole lot of living to do...

For me its all psychological. If i tell myself i cant ever ever have endulgences then it makes me want them even more. But if i set that 1 day a week then i dont feel like i cant never have it again and because i have the option once a week i still tend to choose healthy food because i feel like "i could if i want to but i dont want to". That probably doesnt make sense but telling myself i can if i want to once a week is just reverse psychology for me.

To me, the weird thing about this is not the fact that people will have days when they eat a bit more or "relax" and keep to a less strict diet or splurge, but that it's commonly called a "cheat" day or meal.

It makes perfect sense to me that if you are changing your lifestyle that you don't try to eat exactly the same amount of calories every day for the rest of your life. You need to learn new habits... and when you go to a party, you may eat or drink a bit more, so how do you balance that or how do you fit an occasional high calorie favorite food into your diet. How much do you exercise or how low cal must the rest of your time be to balance out? Playing around with this a bit is part of learning what works for you and how your can live in a fit way. But to call it cheating seems to me to miss the goal of making changes to your life that will help keep your fit for the rest of your life. (Keeping in mind that as other parts of your lifestyle change, you may need to re-adjust the balance.)

^^^^^^^ This


For me this is about changing lifestyle so my weight loss is a one way trip! So yes, I'll eat a bit more if friends are over and we are having a pot luck meal... I'll enjoy a beer or two on the weekend, and learn how to incorporate this into my life... this isn't cheating... It's living... In my real world.

I get what people are saying about calling it a 'cheat' day, that it doesn't suggest making a permanent lifestyle change and fitting things into your normal life etc. But here's my 2 cents: I call it a cheat day because I'm on an eating plan to lose weight, there are rules to the plan i.e. a certain number of calories each day.

To cheat = to win or gain advantage by not adhering to the rules

Cheat days help me lose weight quicker, if I stick to plan every day I lose slower or stop altogether, break the rules one day a week and I lose weight. Therefore it's definitely a 'cheat' whilst I'm still on plan. Once I'm where I want to be and 'off plan' as it were it won't be a cheat, it'll be a case of incorporating the things I refuse to give up into my everyday life without going back to my old habits. But for now, while I'm doing it by the rules, I'm calling it a cheat day as that's exactly what it is.