I do not use a cheat meal, or cheat day while I am in weight loss mode. However, during maintenance-I do.
For maintenance, some people up their daily calorie intake some, to get them into maintenance level. Instead of doing that, I ate at weight loss calories for 6 days out of the week, and had a "free day" one day a week for maintenance. Usually the free day was Saturday, unless there was a holiday or something-and I would do it that day instead. (Like Thanksgiving)
It worked out for me, because if I went up a pound or two from the free day, the scale went back down over the next 6 days. It was "my" way to maintain. However, I did not stuff myself, or binge. I tried to eat normal portions-but if I wanted pizza for dinner I could have it.
However, a free day would have caused me to stop losing weight, especially near goal. In my opinion, especially for WOMEN, a cheat MEAL would be better for weight loss.