What are your views on cheat days?

I call a cheat day whenever I mess up ! Thank goodness it only happens about once a week.

One cheat day a week normally a saturday or if theres a family meal to a restuarant or something. Nothing wrong with having a cheat day. Whats the point working our arses off all week if we are not allowed to have a treat once in a while.

I completely agree!

In Italy we say that eating is one of the pleasures of life

I have called days when I eat more "cheat days" before but now that I think of it, I think its just part of a healthy lifestyle. I cant imagine eating only healthy food, all the time. It is about balance and eating high cal food in moderation. So cheat days, no. Just a higher cal day. Just as long as it doesn't turn into a week long event, I think I'm all good.

Every Friday my husband and I go out to eat and I eat w/e I want. I also have several desserts throughout the week and I am still losing weight. Most of the rest of the time I am eating a ton of fruit an balanced meals. I need a lifestyle I can live with. This isn't temporary 'diet", this is for the long haul.

Sorry to edit

I love them! When I started this (13 months ago), I would typically have an entire cheat weekend, when I'd go out of town. I still struggle with counting when I go out of town! Then at some point, that started becoming problematic so I went to cheat days. I would have maybe 3 a month. As time has gone on, and losing gets harder, I've become more strict with it. I now typically do cheat meals where I'm good all day, but then go out to dinner and get whatever I want: a drink, an appetizer, a dessert. Mmmm...I do find myself, even on my cheat meals, eating less than I would have before this started. Just one drink. Less of the appetizer. Only half of my meal. Still usually eat the whole dessert though LOL.

In my incredibly important opinion, cheat days are what got you here. So yeah I don't agree with them not one bit

I normally have one set cheat day. Being a jamaican sunday dinner is a big thing and what is sunday dinner without rice and peas? so I normally choose sunday as my cheat day so I dont feel left out when the rest of the family is have rice and peas and I'm stuck munching on lettuce lol that could make a person go crazy.

However if i happen to fall off during the week I use sunday as redemption so i only cheat once per week.

I have a cheat day every 5 days. I pool my workout calories and on non-cheat days donot eat back my workout calories but on my cheat days I use those "saved" calories and go to town.

I calculate my calories by the weak rather than daily so that helps also. I would be a very very grumpy guy if it wasn't for spike/cheat days and I would most likely not be doing this if I couldn't eat goodies I want

"Cheat day" means eat WHAT you want, not AS MUCH as you want. In other words, if you want Chinese food, eat it, but still log it and keep within your calorie limits. Just be prepared to eat MUCH smaller quantities of food that day, as junk food/fast food/restaurant food is much more calorie dense than the healthy foods you eat every other day of the week. Personally, I don't allow myself more than one "cheat day" per month. Ever hear the expression, "Give 'em an inch, and they'll take a mile"? That's the problem I have. The more frequently I allow myself to cheat, the more normal it becomes and I start making too many allowances.

Edit to add: WORKOUT on cheat days! It helps you feel less lethargic after bingeing on junk. At least, that's been my experience anyway.

I feel that it's a bit like an alcoholic rewarding themselves with a drink, or a smoker rewarding themselves for a week of not smoking with a cigarette. It defeats the purpose and reinforces the bad behavior that you are trying to stop. Ideally you would reward yourself with something that is not food.

Having said that, I think your body needs 'refeed' days, but they need to be controlled. You need to know how many calories you are overeating before you start. Maybe plan your meals for the refeed days.

So, from a dietary perspective, have planned refeed days. From a psychological perspective if you need to just go nuts, do something that is no food related and nuts. Go bungy jumping or something.

Hi Kate, You just started so maybe cheat days are needed occasionally. You have to decide, do you want to lose a lot of weight or just kid yourself. Dieting and cheating, if done regularly is going to lead you to believe, this Dieting is just not working. If you are serious about losing weight then get a notebook and write down everything you eat each day along with the calories. This is the only way that has worked for me. I to tried different diets and for a short time they worked. But soon I was discouraged and quit. I to have a terrible sweet tooth. I found I just can't have them in the house. I started this about 2 months ago. I went to the store and bought the cheapest cookies that Kroger sold, I think like 1.27 for a large pke. I also bought a box of 12 ice cream bars and figured the 2 of them would last a week or 2. They lasted 2 to 3 days. It was then I realized, I wasn't a big eater, but I was eating a lot of what wasn't good for me. I was at 230lbs then and I am down to 212 now.
You can do it, but you have to be committed.

Basil

I don't have cheat days, in fact I hate the idea of them. I'm aiming for a lifestyle change for the better and the thought of getting into a routine where once a week I splurge just seems wrong.

I make allowances in my daily diary for things I consider to be a treat, such as healthy home baking or a biscuit or two, but still try to stay within calories or if I'm having a bad day under maintenance calories.

Many of us don't like to have a treat or something a day or whenever we want. I keep a day seperate so that I can allow myself that one day to go out with friends, eat something that satisfies my cravings for a while and keeps me happy.

If getting into a routine where once a week you splurge just seems wrong, then don't do it This is something that works for me and I, along with many others, would continue doing it despite how "wrong" it is because without it, we'd be knee deep in candy bars and french fries DAILY rather than once a week.

Thanks for your input though

I love cheat days. That's all there is to say about it.

Wow. You call that a cheat?

That's part of my Primal lifestyle. A glass or two (or three depending on the day) of some Cabernet and some Lindt 85% dark chocolate to go with it. Both are very healthy choices in moderate amounts.

I drink a glass of red wine almost daily with dinner.

I never use the word "cheat". That's makes it sound like you are doing something bad and you aren't ("cheating" didn't get you here. A broken metabolism is what got you here - you can lose the weight but unless you figure out what broke your metabolism it will be sheer hell keeping the weight off). I figured out what broke my metabolism - genetics and years on a bad diet. The USDA guidelines will not work for me. I have insulin resistance/blood sugar issues so the USDA telling me to eat more than 50% glucose as part of a healthy diet will ensure I end up on dialysis. Yes there is such a thing as a thin diabetic; It's just that most doctors won't check the blood sugars of a thin person. Had I not followed the Standard American Diet I would not have blood sugar issues right now. I should have started life off eating like a diabetic. But unfortunately most doctors still think fat is what makes you diabetic (and fat - it isn't).

Protein doesn't make me want more protein
Fat doesn't make me want more fat
BUT carbs make me want more carbs. And "complex" carbs just delay the "wanting to eat and eat" feeling. Even fruit and starchy veggies kick that feeling in. Because that feeling comes from a blood sugar crash - not actual hunger.

I don't like them, at least when people are first starting out.

If you don't want to change the way you eat, you won't lose weight long term. From what I have seen, the folks on here (and in real life) who fail over and over are the ones who refuse to break their bad eating habits. The ones who say they "neeeeed" a donut or pop tart fix. If you eat what you've always eaten, you'll weigh what you've always weighed. I honestly don't think it's the norm to maintain weight loss and still eat crap.

That said, I think that after you've established a real change in your eating habits and after you've been able to change your views on food, that it's ok. I just don't think junk should be something you feel you "need" or a "reward".

I think the bottom line is that if you truly believe you can't live without putting bad things into your body, there is a bigger problem other than Doritos or McDonalds that you should probably address if you want long term success.

I think the key concept here is control. If you tend towards disordered eating, then it's probably not a good idea to have "cheat" days. Even defining them as "cheats" isn't helpful, since the word implies you've done something wrong & should be ashamed of it.

I eat some food every day that is devoid of nutritional value just because it's delicious & I like it, & occasionally I go over on calories. But most of the food I eat is chosen because it will help me get healthier, lose weight, & fuel my exercise. I'm allowed to eat crap food if I want to, & I am aware that if it puts me over my calorie target too frequently, I will lose weight slower or not at all that week. Sometimes it's worth it to enjoy the holidays, for example.

But in my experience, having a spike day (a spike in calories) once a week doesn't interfere with weight loss. This is a long-term project (2 years in now) & eating clean 100% of the time is just not realistic for me. I'm not in a race. Taking a few extra months to reach my goal is worth it if that means I can enjoy the foods I love in moderation while I'm losing weight.