Any scientific reason for "splurges" HELPING diet?

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LonelyPilgrim
LonelyPilgrim Posts: 255 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I know that some people seem to "think" that having a big cheat day re-energizes their diet. Is there any scientific evidence behind this? Any proof?

I will take cheat days now and again and was just curious why they don't seem to hurt me.

This weekend was a cheat weekend.

Pizza and Salad Friday night.
"continental breakfast" in hotel sat morning,
tons of french bread and brie for lunch
mcdonalds for dinner (chicken sand, fries, strawberry shake)
Sunday we went to a walking tour/wine tasting and got wine-drunk and each place had appetizers, so I know I ate a ton.
Sun night we went out to mexican.

geeze!

But then I get on the scale yesterday, and .. hmmmm. I lost 0.2lbs from friday to monday. How is THAT POSSIBLE? I thought I'd gain!

Yes, I still exercised but nothing major and nothing to work off all of those calories(big work out thursday , no work out friday, ran 30 min on sat and sunday,)

so what gives? I'm only losing about a pound a week anyway, so losing .2 lbs is a little less than I would have lost if I had been strict on my diet, but it's not bad at all.

I'm not advocating doing as big of a cheat as I did. But one day every week or two seems like it may be reenergizing?

I have a big cheat weekend planned for last weekend of may, so I'll try to be mostly good until then, but maybe I'll have one more splurge day in between, and see what happens

Replies

  • LonelyPilgrim
    LonelyPilgrim Posts: 255 Member
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    I know that some people seem to "think" that having a big cheat day re-energizes their diet. Is there any scientific evidence behind this? Any proof?

    I will take cheat days now and again and was just curious why they don't seem to hurt me.

    This weekend was a cheat weekend.

    Pizza and Salad Friday night.
    "continental breakfast" in hotel sat morning,
    tons of french bread and brie for lunch
    mcdonalds for dinner (chicken sand, fries, strawberry shake)
    Sunday we went to a walking tour/wine tasting and got wine-drunk and each place had appetizers, so I know I ate a ton.
    Sun night we went out to mexican.

    geeze!

    But then I get on the scale yesterday, and .. hmmmm. I lost 0.2lbs from friday to monday. How is THAT POSSIBLE? I thought I'd gain!

    Yes, I still exercised but nothing major and nothing to work off all of those calories(big work out thursday , no work out friday, ran 30 min on sat and sunday,)

    so what gives? I'm only losing about a pound a week anyway, so losing .2 lbs is a little less than I would have lost if I had been strict on my diet, but it's not bad at all.

    I'm not advocating doing as big of a cheat as I did. But one day every week or two seems like it may be reenergizing?

    I have a big cheat weekend planned for last weekend of may, so I'll try to be mostly good until then, but maybe I'll have one more splurge day in between, and see what happens
  • sculley
    sculley Posts: 2,012 Member
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    imho I really don't think one day or so will really hurt especially if your active, just as long as your not making a habit of it. :tongue: I bet you had a great time splurging

    I went home on leave for two weeks still worked out but had BBQ ribs pulled pork and fried seafood like you wouldn't believe I think I only gained like a lb and a half those two weeks which of course came right off when I get back to SD and worked out with my command
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
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    yes, there is hard and fast science behind this phenomenon believe it or not. By giving your body the calories it is usually needs, you are essentially tricking your body into speeding up. And since the body isn't in starvation mode, and isn't trying to burn lean mass, it burns all available carbs, and until it slows back down to normal, it will continue pulling more calories from fat (hopefully). That's the theory at least, until we can physically track the metabolism of a human at work, that's all you can do is hypothesize, check results, and re-hypothesize. But it has been documented many many times and most trainers do account for the idea that occationally shocking the body with a higher then normal calorie count is helpful to weight loss. This only works so much though. Do it too often and your body will get used to it and it won't have the same effect.
  • myebinger
    myebinger Posts: 25
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    I am a BIG believer in Cheat Days. the benefits that I see by giving myself a cheat day

    1. If I'm having a busy weekend with lots of parties and such, I don't feel like I've got to miss out.

    2. It gives me something to look forward too if I've got something scheduled.

    3. I feel that it helps keep me going. I don't really cut to much out of my diet, I just monitor it closely. and to have one day where I don't have to monitor is nice once in while, and I've found that when I don't give myself a cheat day, I cheat anyways and the next thing I know I'm cheating all the time untill I convince myself their no point in trying anymore. So having a somewhat designated day or weekend is a good thing in my book.

    I had a cheat day last Friday.
    Ever have a Cranberry Breoch? (I know I spelled that wrong)
    They look kind of like cinnamon rolls without the cinnamon, instead they have dried cranberries and pastry creme in them. They are my all time favorite morning treat. Had one of those, plus my normal breakfast.:tongue:
    Normal lunch, Smart one meal or something.
    Iced Carmel Macciato (spelled that wrong too), 2% milk but not sugar free, did avoid the whip cream though, plus afternoon snack
    I caved at the 7-11 and got an energy drink that wasn't sugar free (couldn't find my favorite brand)
    And for dinner, I had a small bowl of orange sherbert with light whip cream.(so I guess I DIDN'T avoid it) and that happened around midnight or so.
    And guess who did not log her food for that day either.:devil:

    The thing is to just enjoy it and pick up where you left off the next day.:wink:

    It's cool to see that Banks can put some science into it too.
  • rem1979
    rem1979 Posts: 344 Member
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    For the first couple months of my "lifestyle change", I was very much against cheat days. Lately though, I have been allowing myself some things I crave. It seems more on Saturday's I have off I tend to splurge a little but I am usually running around too so I burn most of it off.
  • DjBliss05
    DjBliss05 Posts: 682
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    I was on a diet program where they count points back in the day (yeah, you know the one) and used the message boards online. When someone platoed (sp?) they would recommend a modification of the plan that gave you a low point day, a slightly higher day, a much higher day, and back down until you were low again. The idea was to trick your metabolism into working at full force again. It was actually a really good idea... never stuck with it long enough to try it though, lol.

    I really do think that planning a high calorie day or just allowing yourself a "Cheat day" is a great thing to do when your weight loss has leveled off. It really has worked for me at different times. Don't know much about the science behind it - but I do find that it does help at certain times.

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