I like to tell folks when starting to diet "that if you want the cookie, eat the cookie" depending on what you want your cheat meal to be depends on what your successes will be. they can slow down the rate of your weight loss, especially if your cheat meal is a double whopper with large fries and cheese. I do have cheat meals, but stick to the basic perameters of my diet...and i didn't have them for the first four months of my diet. I have a major sweet tooth and although I can be full, nothing tastes quite like caramel! So when I need a cookie, I buy one...just one. if i didn't satisfy the monkey once in a while, i'd probably buy and eat a box of cookies and fall off of the wagon.
Some folks can do a cheat meal, and if you can, more power to you.
I like to tell folks when starting to diet "that if you want the cookie, eat the cookie" depending on what you want your cheat meal to be depends on what your successes will be. they can slow down the rate of your weight loss, especially if your cheat meal is a double whopper with large fries and cheese. I do have cheat meals, but stick to the basic perameters of my diet...and i didn't have them for the first four months of my diet. I have a major sweet tooth and although I can be full, nothing tastes quite like caramel! So when I need a cookie, I buy one...just one. if i didn't satisfy the monkey once in a while, i'd probably buy and eat a box of cookies and fall off of the wagon.
Some folks can do a cheat meal, and if you can, more power to you.
Ugh, see, I can't do this. It amazes me how many approaches there are to these lifestyle changes, and it's SO crucial to find what works best for ourselves. Our minds just work differently. I can go weeks or even months with no cheats. No cookies, ice cream, chocolate, fast food, anything. I can stick to my plan like glue....BUT, I can only do this when I KNOW for darn sure that I WILL be able to indulge in the near future. I can go a month with no chocolate very easily, but, I know that one day a month I'll get to eat a bunch of chocolate. Maybe two chocolate bars and a brownie. I give myself to go wildly off plan, and I mean wildly...I do not stay within any sort of parameters. I simply am not satisfied by little tastes of things I crave. I can't do one cookie or one fun size candy bar or a small side of fries with my salad. Just can't do it, that's torture for me. If I gave myself little tastes throughout the week, I'd either fall off the wagon completely or go crazy, lol.
So yes, one day a month, I go nuts. And we're talking maybe two or three times over my daily calorie limit. And heck yes, I'm up on the scale the next morning, but three or four days later I'm back to where I was when I started and on my way to losing again. Generally, I have a normal loss (.5-1.5lbs) for that week, same as any other.
I hardly ever cheated when I was in the losing stage of my plan. I went MONTHs without indulging. Christmas Day, and a few other times, was it. But the reason why was because I didn't want to be at the losing stage forever. With 190 pounds to lose, I knew it was going to take a LONG TIME, so I didn't want to have to keep adding more days for all the cheat days. I wanted the weight off...and as quickly and healthfully as possible. I also have a huge issue with OVER-indulgence. I can't stop at one...almost never.
So, now that I'm in maintenance, it seem that for every meal off plan, is at least a day of back to 1200 calories. Or I can stick to a healthy diet of around 1900 calories a day and maintain. I just know that whatever I do, I have to be accountable because I'm NEVER going back to 333 pounds again. NO WAY! A "cheat meal" can NEVER become a cheat day, week, month, year, way of life. Now that I have a taste of real health, those things really aren't as appealing as they once were. Mobility is more sweet that chocolate.
I don't believe in cheat days. I really don't even like the word. To me, a diet is like a medication prescription, it is not to play around with. I follow my "prescription" which is calorie counting and recording, and I work through the holidays, special occasions and treats that I would like to have by incorporating it in my calorie allotment. Most of the time it means a very small portion.
I have dealt with my weight fluctuating between 147 and 307 all of my adult life. Up and down. I am tired of food obsession. I don't want to spent the rest of my days trying to figure out how I can get away with eating more food. I don't want to continue to make eating as my form of entertainment, soother or emotional crutch.
Because I have gained and lost more than 100 pounds 3 times in my life (now the 4th) I refuse to go through it again in the name of eating "cheat" foods. I have accepted that I will be counting every calorie and staying within my calorie budget for the rest of my life. Just as though I had to stay on a prescribed medication in order to live.
I know it sounds strict and unyielding, but for me, it is saving my life. Zigzaging or calorie cycling or cheat days do not work for me. It keeps food in the spotlight, I want food to take a back burner in my life.
There really is so many different things that work for so many people.
I have a cheat day and I have found that it mentally helps me the rest of the week. When I really want pizza or fries or a bagel I just tell myself that sunday is only a few days away. What's funny is sunday I often don't feel like those same things. We play volleyball on sundays and we drink so that is really my cheat. But I take off my bodybugg and just don't worry about it. And monday its easy to put the bodybugg back on and just go back to it!
I agree with saef. You know, for nearly 30 years I have stuffed myself with nachos and hot dogs and ice cream that now, at my heaviest I have ever been, I have the beginnings of some very serious health problems, not to mention social and romantic problems. I have adored those high-fat, high-calorie foods. I have bowed down before them, and allowed my body, my temple and the only one I will ever have, to be destroyed and sick. In turn, those foods have given me nothing but heartache and pain. I know full well exactly what those foods will do to me if I eat them again. Planning a time to overindulge myself in those awful foods sounds more like a torture. It may satiate my inner sadist, but it will only hurt my developing body. It's not worth it, for the short or long term. I had to be done with those foods, for good. So I choose to stay away. It helps knowing it's a choice. It still doesn't make it easy, but at least I get the blessing at night knowing that I did the best I could for my body today.
Last edited by asharksrevenge; 04-27-2010 at 04:13 AM.
I agree with saef. You know, for nearly 30 years I have stuffed myself with nachos and hot dogs and ice cream that now, at my heaviest I have ever been, I have the beginnings of some very serious health problems, not to mention social and romantic problems. I have adored those high-fat, high-calorie foods. I have bowed down before them, and allowed my body, my temple and the only one I will ever have, to be destroyed and sick. In turn, those foods have given me nothing but heartache and pain. I know full well exactly what those foods will do to me if I eat them again. Planning a time to overindulge myself in those awful foods sounds more like a torture. It may satiate my inner sadist, but it will only hurt my developing body. It's not worth it, for the short or long term. I had to be done with those foods, for good. So I choose to stay away. It helps knowing it's a choice. It still doesn't make it easy, but at least I get the blessing at night knowing that I did the best I could for my body today.
I think this really shows how different everyone is and how they approach it.
I have never considered my free day as a day to overindulge. It's a day to have things I don't normally. A piece of pizza, a few chips, a beer. It's all how you approach it.
Everyone will approach this differently, I agree. But I also know that the placement of this post in the "Chicks in Control" forum, where some of us who have or have had problems with binge eating hang out, may mean that the post gets different responses about "cheat days" than if it were posted elsewhere for the more general population on the forum. If you are a binge eater, a "cheat day" may pose some hazards that it might not pose for someone not prone to bingeing.
When I was on weight watchers it all started out with just one cheat candy bar each week, which turned into "No Count Saturdays" which is hw I'm here... the largest I have ever been. No more cheating for me. I need to decide: Do I want to be fat or skinny?
I WAS doing cheat DAYS but I am capable of eating waaaaay too much if I allow a whole day. And being a food addict it was all too easy for me to lose control and have my cheat day spill over into the next day, or start half day early. After a few weeks of weekend cheat days I got extremely frustrated at losing and gaining THE SAME 5 LBS This weekend I decided to try a cheat meal instead and so far so good. I had my cheat meal and felt much more in control and really, felt NO guilt (huge trigger for us overeaters). I am shooting for "breaking even" after a cheat meal, meaning on Monday following my cheat meal day (Saturday) I at the very least, break even, or in the best case, have lost half pound or so. I am still going to commit to working out on the day of my cheat meal to sort of compensate for the extra calories. Gonna try this approach for a few weeks, see if it works better for me. I think it depends on each person and their level of control. Decide what works for you. All the best!!
I allow myself a cheat day on Sundays. We usually go out to eat after church that day, and while I do try to be careful what I eat I don't worry about the calories. It gives me a mental break without having to worry about counting calories. I still try to make good choices on that day, but I don't count every calorie. I have found that the break helps me to stay motivated and keep from getting burned out.
Last night was the first night that I actually overate on a cheat day, and I felt awful. Usually, I just eat a small dinner that night but we had breakfast for supper. So I had sausage, biscuits, grits, and eggs. And you know what? I felt awful after! I went to bed feeling stuffed and with heartburn. I have been dieting for about a month now, and that was the first time in a month that I have felt that way. I hated it! So while I'm not happy that I ate too much, I am kind of happy that I know that I don't enjoy that feeling anymore.
I personally have found that I cant do cheat days.... I just dont have the will power to not go over board on what I eat how much or even just eating poorly that day....It spills over to the next day.....I really like the idea of trying to stick to a diet for a couple of months then gradually bringing some cheat days in once or twice a month.
I think cheat days work for some its kind of a hit or miss type deal. I need to have dessert every day and try to keep it 10-20% of my respective daily calories. Love mint cookies and cream froyo 110 cal/ 1/2 cup... you really could have a cup and not feel guilty :P yum
I definitly go with a cheat meal instead of a whole cheat day. Also when I was dieting before, I wouldn't have a cheat meal once a week but I'd have one every 10 pounds I lost. I remember the first ten pounds I lost, I pigged out hard on some chinese and then didn't find time to do any cardio later...was super scared to weigh myself the next morning but after having lost some weight and boosting my metabolism, I had lost 1 pound anyways. That was awesome...knowing I can have good foods occasionally and not inflate like a blimp.
This weekend I decided to try a cheat meal instead and so far so good. I had my cheat meal and felt much more in control and really, felt NO guilt (huge trigger for us overeaters). I am shooting for "breaking even" after a cheat meal, meaning on Monday following my cheat meal day (Saturday) I at the very least, break even, or in the best case, have lost half pound or so. I am still going to commit to working out on the day of my cheat meal to sort of compensate for the extra calories. Gonna try this approach for a few weeks, see if it works better for me. I think it depends on each person and their level of control. Decide what works for you. All the best!!
