I love the idea of a non food reward! I also started doing this with getting myself a new clothing item, shoes or workout shorts. It's also reinforcing to me that I will be at this size (or smaller) forever. ;D

I totally agree with the above. Some people's "process" requires more rigidity, whereas others (like me) would chafe without occasional dietary indulgence. My indulgent days have me eating a lot more than 2,000 calories -- perhaps 3,000 to 5,000 -- but they're not too frequent and generally planned. FOR ME, life without occasionally letting loose, food-wise, would be considerably less enjoyable.

If I find I've gained a pound or two after indulging, I eat less than maintenance for the next few days and the gain reverses itself. THAT'S the major difference between what I'm doing now and what I used to do and the reason that (knock on wood) my maintenance efforts have been successful this time.

Freelance

Thanks everyone for the advice...it's really appreciated! It's given me a lot to think about. I'm going to ditch the cheat day since I'm not overly restrictive during the week. I think I really need to change my mindset in regards to my Saturdays.

As far the exercise and calories burned, 900 calories does seem like a lot, doesn't it? I strap on my heart rate monitor every time I exercise so that's how I came up with the number. I bought it so I could have a better idea of what I burn. I hope it's not too far off.

What about switching your cheat day to a cheat Meal if it's bothering you a lot? I'm all for cheat days and love them but honestly, in a whole day one can eat or be tempted by really salty or fatty stuff. I say why don't you try a cheat meal like brunch at a nice restaurant or a fun dinner out but the rest of the deal stick to your regular weekday diet, then see how that work out. Cause usually I see that when I have a cheat day I will gain about the same pounds you do but when I only have a cheat meal it almost sort of boosts my body and the next day I'll see a drop in the scale contrary to a gain. Just an idea

Hi Angelique,
Regarding your questions about the heart monitor and calories burned...Mine is set for 174 (my weight when I bought it) and with a very hard 55 minute cardio workout it tells me I've burned around 620. If I was to follow that with weights I bet I wouild be up around 900 too! Mine is Polar that they are supposed to be very accurate. I'm also dropping weight like crazy so I think it's accurate.

Take care and keep up the good work
Have a great day

Misa66 - very smart about a cheat meal instead of cheat day!

I'd also like to add that the closer you are to goal, the slower your weight loss will be....if you want to increase metabolism, building muscle is the best form of exercise for weight loss, as far as I know. I think you're doing great though!

Well, the first thing I saw that jumped out at me is that you are fairly close to your goal weight. The lower you go, the harder you have to fight for each pound it seems.
Second, you ate a LOT of sodium on your cheat day and I bet you're retaining water from that. No matter how much water you drank.
Third, I totally disagree with the idea of food as a reward. Using food as a reward is a continuation of the disordered eating that most "fat" people already struggle with. That is WHY people get fat, because they use food to reward/sooth/entertain themselves. If you "diet" and try to use it as a reward, food retains that unhealthy position in your mind. Food is survival. Food is for health. Eat to live not live to eat, that whole thing. IMO, which is worth what you paid for it , food should NEVER be a reward, all rewards should be objects (clothes, shoes, jewelry, what ever) or trips, spa days etc. For me, it's part of learning to have a "normal" relationship with food.

I had a few too many cheat days last month and it really messed up my progress. The gain is probably water weight mostly but even that took me a while to get rid of.

When I'm in the weight loss groove, I am very strict during the week, but I loosen up a bit on the weekends (I don't really call it a cheat day, but I do have stuff I normally don't let myself have on Sundays, just not big portions). I just don't weigh myself for most of the week after that because I KNOW my weight will be up a few pounds and sometimes it takes all week for the weight to back to where it was the day of the cheat day but then usually, if I'm on plan during the week, there will be an additional pound lost. So yeah, you have to look at a weekly trend to see if your cheat day works for you or not. If it's not working, then try to just keep the "cheating" within a shorter time frame (maybe after noon or stop at 6 p.m. or something like that)

The two things that leaped out at me have already been mentioned: high sodium intake on the cheat day you mentioned (burger, fries, bacon) which will cause an outsized jump on the scale, and what seems like a really high calorie burn.

Heart rate monitors do a better job than exercise machines at estimating calories burned (machines notoriously overestimate), but even they can be pretty suspect. Found on LIVESTRONG.com:

The American College of Sports Medicine and the "British Journal of Medicine" have put Polar's heart rate monitors to the test over the years. In these studies, the measurement of calories expended has a non-significant margin of error, meaning the difference between the control and the Polar monitor is not enough to skew your results. These studies revealed that entering your actual VO2 max and maximum heart rather than having it calculated by the formula, yields only a 12 percent overestimate of calorie expenditure versus a 33 percent overestimate. On average, Polar's heart rate monitors are 75 percent accurate.


I know they refer to this as non-significant, but when I'm parceling out each calorie, a 33% overestimate is pretty substantial IMO.

Also, TurboLaura mentioned her HRM is set for her previous (higher) weight. That, too, will lead to an overestimate in calories burned, as a larger body burns more calories. You should check and update your HRM every 5 lbs or so.

HTH!

I'm new to this site and your folks are so supportive and have great tips- keep 'um coming! I'm learning already from this person's post and your replies. What a great group!

I'm also on the bandwagon of eating one meal a week of whatever, pizza, pasta, burger, mexican, curry, dessert if wanted etc. not counting calories or fats or carbs, not going nut of course, stopping when full but one meal that allows for social occasions, holidays, birthdays and the like and at least in my case allows me to keep overall higher caloric count through the week while losing weight. Not to be used if it will cause a binge, become a binge, mess with your head or skew a plan. FWIW, I don't view it as "cheat" which is IMO the wrong way to look at it that plays into disordered thinking as others have pointed out. I view it as life, some days you eat more or less healthily than others. The key is to massively overweigh the less stellar meal with better eating over the course of days, weeks and months. Your mileage may vary.

I'd rather do calories in, calories out. So anything is game as long as I don't go over my daily amount. Maybe if you feel like some sweets or goodies you should incorporate it into your meal plans so you won't feel compelled to get your cravings out in one day?

I mean sticking to a strict feeding plan is very unrealistic. There will be times when you want chocolate or a burger. You can't say no to those things forever and thats usually when people gain weight back. Thats why I don't believe in diets. Cause sure you can "eat clean" for a month and lose a few pounds, but once you go back all the weight will come back too. So I am a firm believer in allowing yourself open game to any foods, just make sure to keep in your calorie range

The biggest thing I have learned is no food or drink is ever off limits, however, we need to learn how to choose.

If you want McDonalds on the the weekend, nix a couple of treats during the week.

If you know you have wedding or holiday or whatever coming up, be a bit more mindful during the week, enjoy, with portions in mind.

Processed and fast/restaurant food is the devil. Sodium up the ying yang. Takes me 3-5 days to lose the water retention.

That said, it's a learning curve, you have to learn what works for you.