Does everyone have cheat days?

It won't affect it too much ^^. I went home for a week, and not only did I go to a Chinese buffet, I went to another buffet as well, and in between, a lot of home-cooked meals that filled me to the brim ;x . . . and it only took me a week to get back to my original weight before I went back home ;3! You wouldn't have gained 2 pounds with just one buffet visit, it'll mostly be the sodium holding in water weight ^^.

Some people have spike days where they consume thousands of cals in order to shock their systems but then go back to healthy eating the next day. They are unbelievably disciplined which may explain why this works for them.

If you eat sweets and treats as part of your normal diet (or fast or processed food) I don't believe this would work.

However if what you mean is do we all fall off the wagon and decide to have a little of what we fancy. Hell yeah!

Don't stress about what you just don't let it ruin tomorrow for you. Hope that makes sense and clears things up.

I have cheat days so that I don't lose my mind.... You do get really frustrated counting every calorie, and tracking all of your exercise everyday...cheat days are good for the mind, and body! They speed your metabolism up.

I had a cheat day yesterday or more like a cheat meal . I had a Shrimp Platter for dinner. It was way over my calories.
I am back on track today.This is not something I want to make a habit of, but when it does happen as long as I can get back on track, it is ok.

I have days where I treat myself, but I definitely track it. And it is not a free for all day, just one meal.

Cheat days are a good tool in order to help the dieter psycological and physiological.
You can have a "cheat day" (which would be better to be a cheat meal) where you don t count macros, just relax and enjoy, or you could have a structured "cheat day" which is known as refeed where you watch your macros and have a surplus of calories in order to help recovery after exercise.
I recommend you to take a look at Lyle`s McDonald web (bodyrecomposition.com) and his books are good reads all of them

I don't get the point of them. Surely they will only set you back.

If I want to indulge, I'll have a yummy treat once in a while as long as it fits within my calories. I'll exercise for longer that day if necessary as well.

kinda yes, i will cheat but i avoid food that makes me feel like crap because it's not worth the price of ordering out for how that food makes me feel. I cheat on things like an extra bowl of granola.

Thanks for your quick responses! Yeah, I'll probably work out an extra half hour tomorrow or something since I feel so awful. Since I had the buffet for lunch, do you all think I should skip dinner? So I don't go over my calories? After logging everything I ate, I only have 31 calories left for the day and don't want to go over. (I never include exercise calories, I don't like eating them back). Thanks for your advice!

Definitely don't skip a meal because you had one bad meal. This will put your body into starvation mode and it will then just hold on to those excess calories you have eaten. My advice would be (as other have said) smash out some cardio which is a good fat burner and then tonight for dinner have salad or vegies with grilled chicken or fish. Something nutritious anyway that will keep your metabolism going, but is still low in calories. Skipping a meal is definitely a bad idea anytime. Also, if you are worried about only having 31 calories left, do 300 calories of exercise for example and you will then have those to use as well. I hope this helps you a little.

After my cheat day I usually feel bad too.

But they say cheat days are actually good for you to some degree. Your body gets use to eating the same thing over and over and over again. So having that cheat day or cheat meal you basically all of the sudden shock the system. So you make it hard for it to adapt to your caloric deficit.

When I feel guilty, I fast the following day after the cheat day. I mean our goals are to usually stay under 1500 calories anyway, so if you eat maybe 3000 calories in one day, you'll burn the excess with a your BMR if you fast.

Manni

Cheat meals are important. It helps reset your metabolism, and it also helps you sleep better. There have been studies done. IT also helps you stay on track. Remember have a cheat meal not a cheat day. It's recommended to do it once a week. But, I limit it to once a month. Sometimes twice a month depending on what is going on.

I don't have intentional cheat days. But that allows me to have accidental cheat days without it being too catastrophic. I feel bad regardless, though. Any day that I eat more than I burn... it's just like, why did I even get out of bed? But I guess that says a lot about the ridiculously high amount of importance I place on weight maintenance.

Everything in moderation. No cheat days. Just stay in the calorie allowance range you're given, and splurge every once in awhile. Who wants cheat days for the rest of their life? It's a lifestyle change, not a diet.

Cheat days do not work for me, because once I screw up, it's hard to come back. I do however eat out once a week on Sundays. I allow myself to double what I would normally eat for lunch. My whole life has been a cheat day...time to make up for it:)

Don't skip dinner, it will actually make it harder to lose weight. When your body skips meals it starts to go into starvation mode (although this won't happen after just one skip), but it can lead to overall metabolism slowing.

There is no reason not to eat back exercise calories, especially if you have a base of 1200 cals. Eating back the exercise calories will help your body to normalize and regulate your metabolism and to ensure that you have enough energy to properly burn calories when exercising. Although it may sound counter-intuitive, by not having enough calories, you will lose weight more slowly since your body wants to hold on to everything it has.

As for cheat days, I know a lot of people that do them. For me its more of a chance to indulge in something a love, but I usually don't extremely over-indulge. I have cake for dessert instead of fruit, or I have wine with dinner etc. For me a cheat is not about completely over-indulging, but letting myself have a little something extra so that I can enjoy myself sometimes too!

I can't say that I never eat to excess (for example we made thin crust Italian style pizza last night and I had 4 slices and some wine), but I made sure that today I ate clean all day. Don't skip meals, just make sure they are healthier!

Hope that helps!