What do YOU consider a cheat day?

When you're OCD as I am, cheat days just cannot be allowed. :bigsmile: I also do not usually eat a bite after dinner. The other night I was hungry about 8 p.m. so I ate a brown rice cake and 4 radishes. Maybe 60 calories total. I beat myself up over that for days.

I think you should get some help.

Oh, I don't need any help. I've got this OCD thing down to an art! :bigsmile:

Large pizza and dozen wings

my cheat days are real cheat days. i eat what sounds good or i have been wanting that i don't usually let myself have, like a donut, or ice cream. i don't make any real effort to eat anything nutritious. lol. i usually do end up going over my calories but not by too much. and it has never caused me to gain anything back. probably once every 2 or 3 weeks i will have a day of junk food eating.

I don't do formal cheat days. My normal calorie ceiling is quite low and if I gave myself license to overeat on certain days it would be detrimental. For me the best way not to overeat, is, well, not to overeat.

But I do make exceptions. A family member had a birthday the other day and I was taken to a very nice restaurant. I did sort of do Intermittent Fasting beforehand, drinking only coffee and milk in the morning and eating very lightly, if at all, in the afternoon. At the restaurant, I ate whatever I wanted, including dessert. I also had a fancy $15 cocktail that probably had lots of calories, in addition to wine.

Other days in which I don't even think about calorie reduction if I'm actively watching my weight are my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.

Honestly, and this is probably going to sound really boring, but I don't call anything "cheat days", "cheat meals" or "cheat food". If I want something, I'll have it, and just work it into my daily calorie goal. If I want a meal that's going to take me well over my goal, I work it into my weekly goal instead, and compensate on other days (within reason). If I go way over and can't make it up on other days, I just move on. I'm really trying to make this a complete, permanent lifestyle change. It messes with my head if I think of it as "cheating", or if I see food as "bad" or "naughty", or if I say I've "broken my diet". Yes, I definitely have days where I could have eaten better, but it's just part of life. Sorry if that sounds preachy, but just how it works for me.

This is exactly how I've come to look at my weight loss journey. I tried a "diet", and it seemed like everything was "bad", or "too fatty" or a "carb". I eat what I feel like, and I make sure that I watch my portions. I work out enough that I create some wiggle room. "Cheating" is one of those terms that sets you up for failure before you even head out.

The first day my "aunt" comes to visit. I'm going to graze like a cow anyway so I fill a bowl with celery and popcorn and go at it. I think so long as I keep chewing I'm okay.

LOL! This made me laugh so hard.

I don't really have cheat days. I try to hit the gym daily and make good choices, so I'm rarely over. Lately I've been going out of town where gym access isn't a guarantee, and I haven't stressed too much about staying within my cals. Not sure that is considered a cheat day, since it isn't intentional. I try to let myself have what I want so that cheat days aren't necessary. I'm such a creature of habit that I worry a couiple of cheat days will just do me in entirely. It won't, but my head does sometimes kind of tend to work that way.

My cheat day is a weekly thing (if I feel like one that week), where it's fine for me to eat between my normal goal calories and maintenance. If I go over maintenance I don't freak out, but I try to avoid it.
My cheat days are usually days where I eat with my family or go to a restaurant with my girlfriend.

A cheat day for me is a day where I eat what I like, however much of it I like and I don't worry about the calories because I know that six months ago, my "cheat day" was a "normal day".

Honestly, and this is probably going to sound really boring, but I don't call anything "cheat days", "cheat meals" or "cheat food". If I want something, I'll have it, and just work it into my daily calorie goal. If I want a meal that's going to take me well over my goal, I work it into my weekly goal instead, and compensate on other days (within reason). If I go way over and can't make it up on other days, I just move on. I'm really trying to make this a complete, permanent lifestyle change. It messes with my head if I think of it as "cheating", or if I see food as "bad" or "naughty", or if I say I've "broken my diet". Yes, I definitely have days where I could have eaten better, but it's just part of life. Sorry if that sounds preachy, but just how it works for me.

This. I got tired of feeling defeated, and of feeling guilty on occasions when I should have been filled with joy (holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, date nights). No more guilt, just choices!

Honestly, and this is probably going to sound really boring, but I don't call anything "cheat days", "cheat meals" or "cheat food". If I want something, I'll have it, and just work it into my daily calorie goal. If I want a meal that's going to take me well over my goal, I work it into my weekly goal instead, and compensate on other days (within reason). If I go way over and can't make it up on other days, I just move on. I'm really trying to make this a complete, permanent lifestyle change. It messes with my head if I think of it as "cheating", or if I see food as "bad" or "naughty", or if I say I've "broken my diet". Yes, I definitely have days where I could have eaten better, but it's just part of life. Sorry if that sounds preachy, but just how it works for me.

This is exactly how I feel! Every DIET I have ever done has failed. This is a permanent lifestyle change, not a diet. I need to learn to stay within my limits regularly to acheive and then stay at my goals.

I am the same way.