I was just wandering how many people allow themselves a day or a meal where they don't worry about the calories.
Does doing that once a week actually help boost your matabolism or does eating a huge bacon burger with large fries and a pepsi just slow your progress down?

I do not know about the metabolism part of your question, but I do not have one day a week as a free day because I do not have the willpower yet to behave myself for just one day. Right now I have gotten myself to the point where I am loving my raw veggies, steamed veggies and smaller serving sizes. I haven't had an upset stomach sense I begin eating better.

I think there will be some days that I will be less careful then others due to Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I am hoping I will be able by then to just have a small piece of pumpkin pie without wanting to follow it up with a bunch more carbs.

For me it always stalled my weight loss to overeat at a big meal.

I'm a calorie counter, and I always count everything I eat--because my body does... I do sometimes consciously decide to go over my calories at a meal, but I try to compensate a bit elsewhere when I do.

Jay

I definitely don't have a planned one. I DO have days when I "Plan to deviate" - my birthday, for example, I planned to have both cake and a cocktail. But the rest of my food that day was on plan, and I ended up around 2000 calories.

I also, for special occasion meals, won't count...but I'm ordering healthy things. I may be at a restaurant and having an extra piece of bread, but I'm ordering grilled fish with veggies, you know? It's balance.

I find that I feel too good when eating good for me food...why give that up for one meal or one day worth of junk? I'd much rather have delicious, healthier foods (even if I eat a little MORE of the healthy stuff than I should, I don't feel sick/sluggish after like if I had a burger and fries and a coke).

I still eat burgers, though...just tend to get healthier ones (turkey burger) with a side of salad. Balance, balance, balance.

Nope. This is a lifestyle change for me. I eat the same every day, no matter what. My calories naturally go up and down a bit within a range, but I don't "cheat" by eating outside my plan.

Ugh, I guess I'm just hungry and looking for an excuse to give into my cravings and have some greasy fried foods ( gross I know) but so yummy.
Gosh I am just not in the mood for any more grilled chicken ( dont like fish)
or cold salads.
*talking to myself* BE GOOD BE GOOD BE GOOD

I plan to have treats sometimes that are quite a bit over my calorie range, but that is not often.

The problem with the free day is that it is *very* hard to get back on track afterwards. And 1 free day turns into 2, and then 3, and so on.

Setting aside a time when you know you are going to have an indulgence gives you absolute control over that. You don't have a whole day of free-for-all eating, and it makes it much easier to get back on track with the very next meal.

Course, this is just what works best for me

I don't do treat days or meals because I could never control myself after them. A single meal would turn into two or three and then I'd be off track. I'm on plan every day, all the time. However, every 12 weeks I eat at maintenance levels for a week. I work them out and still use them as a plan (ie. I'll still hit my target, but it's a higher one).

My last free day turned into a free week, then a free 2 months, leading to a free 6 pound weight gain. It doesn't work for me!

Do I mess up while on plan? Yes! But just because I had the slice of chocolate birthday cake at work doesn't mean I should give up on the day altogether and go home and eat half of a pizza.

I don't really have a "free" anything. I count all my calories and log everything I eat. I will, however, let myself have one meal a week that is a little more than my usual lunch/dinner. I don't go over board...I still count the calories, but that one day of the week I might go over by a couple hundred calories. Having said that, in the 10 weeks I've been diligently counting calories I've only gone over 2-3 days. My personal trainer does encourage me to have that one sort of splurge (within reason) meal a week. Hopefully I've made sense with this post. I'm tired and my 3 year old son is not cooperating with sleep tonight.

I cheat every Saturday night. Nothing major, but I will have a delicious dinner and occasionally dessert. I feel it has helped my weight loss immensely.

I do have a free day each week. It helps me stay on plan the rest of the week through delayed gratfication. Whether it slowed my loss, I can't say but I don't think so. My loss was slow when I started it cause I was almost at goal. My free day helps me not beat myself up mentally for those occasions where I do eat out or eat at friends or families' homes. My trainer is a big fan of free days for metabolism boosts. I'm not sure how much I buy it, but having a cupcake one day a week rather than 5 days or never is working well for me. I do get right back on plan the next day, and my free days are not binge-on-crap fests, but rather freedom to choose foods that I do not choose to eat the other 6 days a week. My weakness is a breakfast burrito with all the fixings. It is not realistic for me to never have one again, and I can make reasonable alternatives, but sometimes I just want the tortilla with the beans and the bacon and the cheese and plenty of it. But I don't have one on a whim and I don't have one every day or even every other day. I can have one on my free day----sometimes I don't, but when I do, I enjoy every bite and have zero guilt or regret because it is planned and controlled and "legal" in my life.

I still count but I let myself have one day a week where I eat a few more calories than I do the rest of the week. That's the day I can squeeze in the ONE thing I've been craving for days so it doesn't keep driving me crazy.

I calorie cycle a little anyway... I think it keeps me from stalling as bad.

I intend to eat this way, pretty much, for the rest of my life, so it has to be flexible enough to accomodate social situations and things I love. I don't have a formal free day, but I'm a little looser with my choices roughly about once a week. I find that's often enough to not feel deprived, but not so often that my habits start to change or I get cravings. On those occasions, I don't stuff myself or go all out with fast food. It more amounts to actually having dessert (I don't make sugar a daily thing) when something *worth* it comes along (and my dessert standards have gotten high), in a small or at least small-ish portion, and enjoying it guilt-free. Or a richer meal item. Or a margarita .

I'm not really in a position to advise, as I've been stalled for awhile now. But, having said that, I've found that since I know my patterns and weaknesses I can adjust accordingly. I'm a calorie counter, and, I know that on the weekends I tend to overendulge. What works best for me is to sort of horde my calories during the week and then splurge a bit on Saturday and Sunday. So Monday I may only eat 1000 calories, and during the week 1000-1300, but come the weekend I have enough saved to have a good 1700-1800 each day for a fair weekly average. It seems to work out well for me and I definitely don't feel too deprived because I know I'll get to indulge later. Again, I'm kind of at a stagnant point, but, this has really been a great way for me to stay with in my calories. I'm looking at the weekly average rather than the daily numbers. And as Julie08 just said, I also intend to eat this way for the rest of my life.