Pros and Cons of a "cheat day" what works for you?
I just read a post about mantras and am interested in what experiences you have had with a weekly cheat day. I have tried to implement this before, but with zero success. I fell entirely off my new eating wagon after a day of abandon.
But I have heard people say it does wonders for the metabolism and helps people stay on track the rest of the week.
I would love to hear the pros and cons and how yo have met sucess or not with a cheat day.
I am starting a new lifestyle eating plan today and want to get feedback to see if I should incorporate this into my life plan or not.
Thanks!
I'm only a little more than a week into my new eating plan, so I'm not planning any cheat days...yet! My plan is to have one cheat meal a week, not an entire day of cheating, once I feel comfortable with doing so. I think it's normalizing to allow yourself to eat off-plan every once in a while. Thin people don't eat as though they're thin every meal of their lives. They allow themselves a treat now and then. (If you have a serious addiction to food and absolutely can't go off-plan without falling off the cliff, you may want to consider seeking addiction counseling. You may not ever be able to eat "normally" without it, much like an alcoholic.)
I think where people with issues with food get into trouble is that they allow one meal to become a day, that becomes a week, then a month, and so on. There are a lot of things you can do to prevent the one cheat meal from snowballing:
-Go to a restaurant for that meal and don't take home leftovers.
-Have someone you trust hold you accountable for that one meal.
-Buy just enough of the ingredients to have that one meal or throw away
the excess.
-Take the leftovers immediately to someone who would welcome that
type of food.
-Have your cheat meal coincide with some celebration where the food will
only be available to you while it's in progress, like a wedding. (That
way, you don't have to "diet" at the wedding, but that food won't follow
you home and be available for a major binge.)
If you plan your cheats and don't just let a momentary weakness turn into your cheat meal, you may be more successful with getting back on plan.
I'm not a fan of the cheat day only because I am capable of eating huge quantities of food in a short time. And then I'd feel shame, which make me want to eat more.
On the other hand, I do allow myself flexibility in some of my meals. I have had meals that were higher in calories, but generally they don't involve cheat foods.
I have lost 25lbs since Feb 13,2010. I have a cheat meal once a week, take note its a cheat meal not day and its always chinese food. (my favorite) My cheat meal is not a huge amount of food, just a plate of things I normally can't have because who knows how many calories are in that stuff? I also do not have dessert. I think this always keeps my body guessing and my metabolism going...
I think you have given me great answers! I do think that personally a cheat day would spell disaster. Even when I have managed to shrink down my appetite by cutting portions, that appetite seems to stretch pretty easy. I love the idea of a cheat meal, and it to be a controlled affair. I think I will give it a few weeks to really establish new habits. This way I'm not just holding on to habits I need to break. Then a planned for meal a week that I can eat something I otherwise avoid would be a great addition. That is if I really think I need it. But one meal sounds like the best plan. Thanks for great advice and helping a newbie to 3FC along!
And to KYAngel, wow 25 pounds since feburary. That's incredible. Do you follow a specific diet? Count calories? I'm hoping to try to lose around 6-8 pounds a month.
a few years a go, i lost about 80lbs (i've gained almost all of it back, except for like 10lbs). the first couple of months i was on my new eating plan, i never allowed myself to stray. then, i finally decided that totally depriving myself of things i was craving was silly, as i was starting to binge on healthy stuff. so thats when i would let myself have a special meal about one a week, sometimes once every two weeks. i know myself, and if i allowed myself to have a whole day, i'd never be able to get back on the bandwagon. if you just started, wait a few weeks to really get in control, let your body get used to your new plan. also, you'll probably start seeing results, and mentally, you probably wouldn't want to have a whole day of cheating, just a special meal. you'll feel more in control.
also, i do think that occasionally indulging is ok during weight loss, as your body will get used to your eating plan and you'll plateau. when you hit a plateau, most nutritionists will tell you to eat different things or more than usual to break it up a bit.
hope this helps!
During football season, I had kind of a cheat day. On Sundays, I would to a bar/restaurant to watch a game (my team isn't local and so not on TV all the time). I'd always have a decent amount of drinks, and a hearty breakfast, and I'd split something with my friend as well towards the end of the game. So it was a lot of calories--but I was in public, so I was monitered in my eating in a way. That made it certain I wouldn't go overboard.
I noticed that since the end of football season, I'm having a MUCH harder time saying on the binge-free wagon, and I'm losing much slower than during football season. I wish there was a way I could replicate that unique type of day!
Cheat meals are very important to me. Sometimes, they're not even cheating really, but they feel like it. For example, once a week, my girl friends and I get Subway. I can eeeasily budget a footlong ham and turkey sub into my daily calories. Eating that beast of a sandwich feels like a major cheat, but it's actually well within my daily calories. I'm also not opposed to more rare cheat meals/days where I don't even consider calories. I don't schedule them in regularly, but if I recognize that it would be a good day for a cheat day, I give it to myself. In otherwords, I don't tell myself "every Saturday is cheat day," but if I look on my calendar and see that a wedding is coming up or my birthday or something, I'll definitely plan a guilt-free cheat day. If I recognize it as a cheat day and plan it as such, I minimize a lot of the guilt. I can wake up the morning after the cheat day and think "whew, what a fun cheat day...back on plan today!" as opposed to "oh my gosh, what have I done, it's hopeless!"
Recently, I saw a good friend of mine who is naturally thin and stays in amazing shape eating a King Size Snickers bar with another one on her desk. She asked if I wanted to come over for supreme stuffed crust pizza later that night and ice cream for dessert. Normally she eats very healthy and this kind of surprised me, but I said "I wish I could eat like that and look like you," and she said "Yea...me too!" She then explained that on one planned day every month, she goes absolutely crazy. She'll eat whatever she's been craving all month and not even worry about it. Chinese buffet, pizza, cake, ice cream, candy, whatever she wants. Just that one day though.
I'm considering trying this. I have actually found it very easy to go straight back on plan after planned cheat days and even oops-binges. I don't think it would be an issue for me to get back on plan. People always say "plan and account for little treats during the week so you're not constantly craving." Well personally, I can't just eat a couple squares of the chocolate bar, or a tiny blob of ice cream. That's torture for me. I CAN, however, go for loooong periods with no chocolate or ice cream. But on the very rare occasions when I have it, I want to enjoy it fully, and that means not obsessing over portions and calories.
So, I have a scheduled free-for-all day next month. Yea, I'll be up a few lbs the next morning, most of it will be water weight, some will probably be regained weight. But I'll get right back on plan the next day, I have several friends who I have told to keep me accountable to this. I'm going to TEAR UP some chinese buffet!
I don't do cheat meals. If I get off plan I get right back on again. I'm afraid with a weekly cheat day I wouldn't get back on plan. Once I have met my goal I probably will implement a cheat day into my week, but at this point I don't think I have enough control over what I am eating to go off plan every week.
Well personally, I can't just eat a couple squares of the chocolate bar, or a tiny blob of ice cream. That's torture for me. I CAN, however, go for loooong periods with no chocolate or ice cream. But on the very rare occasions when I have it, I want to enjoy it fully, and that means not obsessing over portions and calories.
Same here. If I'm going to give myself permission to indulge, I want to be able to enjoy it without all the hoopla!
See this once a month sounds even better perhaps. I think I will definately take flipupthesky's advice to wait a few weeks to incorporate anything. Be strict for at least a couple weeks since old habits die hard! But it has never been sensible to me to never, ever eat foods again. But I wondered if that's why I've never quite been able to reach my goal weight again. Letting yourself enjoy a meal, but having it be a real exception, like once a month is great. mkendrick, your cheat that isnt really a cheat is great too. I love healthy foods, the problem is I also love some very unhealthy foods. Perhaps I will get so used to just eating healthy foods I love in two or three weeks that I wont miss the other foods. But if I've waited a long time, and crave foods a great deal. I think a planned, not impromptu "well I guess this could be my cheat meal now" could be beneficial. Thanks again ladies! It is so great, not just to hear opinions and advice about losing weight and how to be successful, but also getting on here, reading stories and advice is such a motivation to make today a day towards a healthier me. Tomorrow never comes, and I have been waiting for ALOT of tomorrows.
It's very important to me not to call it a "cheat" day because of the connotations that particular word has.
First of all, it's way too cutesy for me. Like, oh, it's so amusing, the girl is eating everything in sight ... but it's okay, it's her "cheat" day but she follows the rules all the rest of the time. You go, girl! [Yeah, that kind of cute. The "oh, you're so goood" or "oh, you're so baaad" cute, the way girltalk goes.] It makes transgression seem almost sexy & natural.
Second of all, I don't schedule such days, or otherwise, they'd simply be another variety of binge, one that was approved by my rational adult mind. Like spontaneous binges are not okay, but scheduled binges are fine, go ahead, eat everything, it's fine because it was booked ahead of time.
My default setting is abstinence.
So my equivalent of what you are talking about is called a very, very special occasion. It happens maybe three times a year, at most. At those moments, I eat something I would not ordinarily eat. The rules are:
1) It has to be at an extremely important social event. No, I don't mean a weekly get-together or hanging out regularly. I'm talking about my best friend's wedding dinner.
2) It has to be an extremely good food. Nothing mass-produced. Something that I honestly am not able to get easily. Food that someone who attended a culinary school thought up like an art project.
3) It has to be a measured quantity. The rules apply. I can't just plunge my face in the center of a piled-up plate. I will take the approved serving, or less than that -- a forkful, a spoonful, a taste.
4) The rest of my eating that day has to be pretty much like what I always do. That is, I should eat a healthy breakfast, healthy lunch, whatever. (These things usually seem to happen at dinnertime.) Other things on my plate should be sensible, like vegetables.
5) Afterwards, no regrets. No second guessing. No should'ves. No compensatory exercise in an attempt to sweat it off. That is, no backlash allowed.
6) Back on track right afterward. No thinking this is gonna be a way of life. I already have a way of life, and it's healthy. Erase the experience. Don't linger on it in the memory almost pornographically.
For me, this works. But as you can see, there's a lot of mental stuff surrounding it, so I don't undertake it lightly.
Doesn't sound spontaneous, I know, but I had years & years of spontaneity & I think it's overrated, because as a result, I spontaneously inflated myself up past 250 pounds at one point.
"plan and account for little treats during the week so you're not constantly craving." Well personally, I can't just eat a couple squares of the chocolate bar, or a tiny blob of ice cream. That's torture for me. I CAN, however, go for loooong periods with no chocolate or ice cream. But on the very rare occasions when I have it, I want to enjoy it fully, and that means not obsessing over portions and calories.
This definitely describes my behaviour, although personally I can eat small amounts of both ice cream and chocolate. But there are other foods that what I want is not only the taste of the food, but the quantity. So I take they very occasional day where I stay in my calorie count but not a healthy balance of food. One Sunday I ate half my entire calorie allowance in potato chips, another time the entire calorie balance in cookies.
Was it healthy? No. Did I want to do it again the next day? No. But didn't regret it either.
I'm dreaming of a day where I can have just a couple bites of chocolate, or a couple bites of ice cream, or a couple potato chips. But right now, I can't eat those things in reasonable quantities, so my default setting is that they're off-limits. I know for some that would create a deprivation feeling, but for me, it's much, much easier than having that stuff around me. I don't plan it in advance, but I do let myself have one day a month where I let myself buy whatever snack food I want -- and when that day hits, I mark it on my calendar so that I know I've used it up. For me, it can be any day within a calendar month, but right before my TOM starts I get intense cravings for sweet and salty foods, so that's usually when I use it. I have learned that it's better to have ONE day to indulge those cravings, when I have cramps, so that I don't end up feeling miserable and angry. I think, in the end, it all boils down to what will keep you on-plan for the most amount of time.
Pros and Cons of a "cheat day" what works for you?
You do it, girl!
