I do think planned treats are very important as well.

I very strongly believe though, that our idea of a treat has got to change.

Michelle - that is what I have noticed with DH. He makes initial progress because it really is a change to only eat this badly one day per week rather than every day. It is part of his baby step into the whole process. I'm hoping we can work on keeping him on plan and trimming down the cheat day when he gets closer to goal and starts to stall again... Good luck with you and your DH, too!

Absolutely. My planned treat last night for first day back at work was a serving of real Ben & Jerry's ice cream after dinner. I planned all day for that! But, I only ate one 1/2 cup serving, not the whole container.

I ate two pints of ben and jerry's once in a sitting during my binge day. I did not feel good.

I lost all my weight with having a binge day once a week and eating 1800 the rest of the week. However I know a binge day is not a good thing and it can easily lead to another binge day. So now I still allow for a high calorie day but I count calories and what I allow on that day is to eat what a normal man of 6'2 would eat. So on those days I allow 2600 to 3000 calories. Instead of 4000 to 5000 and up.

I think there is a lot of truth to whay your bf is saying...I remember Bob from Biggest Loser saying at the end of a show last year that after every weigh in the players get a "free" or "cheat" meal...with more calories than their diet...that helps keep things shook up...WW gives you the 35 flex points and the plan works much better when you use them because you can't let your body get used to working on a set number of calories otherwise you are going to hit a plateau that won't budge...

I would be in pain from eating like that. I've shrunk my stomach down and that would just stretch it back out. Each person is different though. He might be able to get away with a day like that once a week. Guys usually can get away with a lot more and still lose weight. My idea of shaking things up is a day at the high end of my calorie range. Let us know how it works out for him. It will be interesting to see.

I think it can work... depending on the size of the cheat meal or day. I mean if you ingest 5000 calories in that day then it's kind of counterproductive. But if you add 500 calories to your regular day then it will shake things up.

I am in this for life. If I want something special I make room for it within my daily calories. I usually find it's not worth it though :)

That sounds crazy. Just based on my own experiences so far.... I allowed myself *free* days on the day of Thanksgiving and on Christmas Day. I didn't even go that overboard IMO and it completely wrecked my week each time. I guess he may be able to get away with it right now but as far as it being justified, I don't think it is.

It's not magic, it's calories in vs calories out. If you want to keep your metabolism "off balance" calorie cycling makes a lot more sense.

For myself a planned time of not calorie counting (like at Christmas) might be a good mental break but the cost is slower weight loss. But I don't look at those as "cheat" days, I still try to eat well and make good choices, stop eating when i'm full, etc. I just don't record calories and make my goal to maintain during that time instead of lose.

Calories in vs Calories out.

Calorie Estimates that he ate:
840
530
300 plus 124 for mashed potatoes
300 for at least 3 servings of the triscuits
400 for the string cheese
580 for large fries
100 @ the least for pop

That is just a rough estimate of calorie counts, especially since I don't know the specifics of any of it. I added it up and that is at least 3,000 calories that he consumed in one "cheat" day. I have read stuff about diet plans that encourage "cheat days" but most said, stay mindful of what you eat.

It was more than 3000 I'm sure. 6 triscuits have 140 calories so a whole box is going to be more than 300 by a fair bit.

Anyhow I think what everyone is basically saying is the amount of caloric burn you get from "fooling" your metabolism isn't going to offset so many calories.

I never eat triscuits or know how many servings are in a box. I was also using online nutrition facts which sometimes vary greatly.

Even on my fattest days, I don't think I've ate a whole box of crackers. :(

As far as I can tell the "cheat day" theory is to fluctuate your calories a bit. IE, if you're eating about 1500 calories a day instead of doing it the same every day to switch it up - ie, having a day or two that's 1400 calories and a day or two that's 1600 calories and still average 1500.

I don't know. I naturally vary my caloric intake day to day without even trying much. It's next to impossible to duplicate the same exact calories in day after day.