I've always given myself one day a week where I eat pretty much whatever I want, and I do not count calories or anything. Then if throughout the week I am really craving something, I either put it off or I try to find a way to work it into my plan.

I was wondering how you all treat yourselves if you do.

When i do treat myself i just try and take only ONE bite haha and if i have more i end up regretting it the whole day .. so yeah im going to try to stop treating myself unless i have calories for it.

Well. Technically, my "plan" is just cutting out wheat. But let's be honest here... if I eat wheat-free GARBAGE (you can make wheat free cake, and it's got just as much sugar and butter and crap in it...) I'm not gonna lose a pound. So, yes, my big secret is cutting out wheat, which cuts a ton of calories... there are so many things that have wheat that are high-calorie. (Most desserts, bagels, donuts, cookies, etc.)

BUT. I can eat rice and potatoes. And.. yeah.. I can technically eat fries, or potato chips if I REALLY wanted to... so, every once in a while... maybe, once a week or so, I indulge and go to McDonald's and get myself a giant Diet Coke, and a small or a medium fry...

But yeah, I have a major guilt reflex when I eat too much, or perceive that I'm eating too many calories. I make like.. 2 and a half - 3 giant cups of vegetables with my dinner everynight, which is like.. 100 calories for the whole thing, but I always feel so full, I feel like I weight 400 lbs after I finish eating, lmao. So, I don't indulge too often.

My new thing is not having a total binge day. I have been giving myself a yummy meal (now I have to get over feeling badly about eating those treats). It has been really helpful cutting calories because even when I want to eat my friggin' face off, I can't because my appetite has shrunk so much. My best friend & I had chinese for lunch today & an hour later she was starving & told me she was guzzling water because she felt bad that I wasn't hungry & she was.

After my doctor's appt tomorrow though, i think I want some Egg McMuffins...as long as my conscience doesn't get the best of me. =)

I started out having a "cheat" day, which eventually turned into a full out binge day. I still lost weight, but having to deal with the guilt for the days after the binge really sucked. When i started just spacing out the treats and eating right throughout the week, i felt a lot better and lost my last 20 pounds. Still, every once in a while there's nothing like taking a spoon to the peanut butter jar...Now when i treat myself, i have the serving size or a few bites of whatever it is, then get out of the kitchen QUICK.

I started doing that with 1 meal once a week, but the food is Never as good as I think it will be (in fact it often makes my stomach hurt ) and I feel so guilty over the calories....now I think I'm going to have my 'free' meal once every 3 weeks or once a month

That is TOTALLY what happened to me last week. I have been craving white rice with soy sauce sooo much the last 2 weeks, and so I finally had it & it was so not how I thought it would taste. It was still good, but not 380 calories-good!

Same thing happened to me with a bowl of fruit loops. It was ok, but afterwards i realized i would have been much happier with a pb and fluff sandwich.

Once a week, I give myself a treat. Not completely overboard - but I just eat whatever I want, in moderation (e.g. 500cals worth of chocolate, or an ice cream cone, or piece of cheesecake)

I personally can't do a whole day of treating myself. I agree with virtually all the the posts above me. What I do (since I am a 21-year-old college student), is save my one "cheat meal" for my ONE night a week I go out to bars with friends. That way, I get to indulge a little bit and I have a good meal in my stomach if I decide to have a drink or two. I am good the rest of that day though, and make sure I only go over my calories by 500 or so. MAYBE 1000 on the heavier days.

Of course there are the exceptions of celebrations or other things that I decide to not worry if that one meal out will affect me. It is the only thing that keeps me sane. I have to live with my lifelong diet, and "treating" myself every now and then will not undo the 65+ lbs I've lost already.

I personally wouldn't do an entire binge day, simply because there is a greater chance of undoing too much progress you've made that week. HOWEVER, if that is what keeps YOU sane in your diet, go with it.

Drose:I do basically the exact same thing you do. I have one free day a week, followed by a veggie/fruit/protein/liquid fast day. Where I eat nothing but fruits, veggies, pure protein, and liquids.

I don't have any "free" days. I reserve my extra's for the times I go do something with friends. The dinners they cook are not as fat-free as mine and after that there is often chocolate and alcohol. I moderate the amount of stuff I take on those ocassions (eating an entire chocolate bar isn't going to make me happy anyway) but I still take some of everything. And when I eat little snacks during the day I often don't even go over 1600 calories or so. When I do I almost always stay under 2000. Sure, it may slow my progress somewhat. But I'd rather lose slower and be happy, than lose very quickly and gnaw on a piece of carrot while all of my friends are having those treats.

I'm calorie shifting, so on my high calorie Wednesdays I like to have 1 candy bar. Although I didn't do it yesterday.

i allow myself to eat out with my hubby every other week and not worry about what i am ordering. i have found that i am more conscious about what i order though. i'll opt for asparagus over mashed potatoes or whatever. we usually end up at a culver's for some frozen custard that evening as well. i love it! i get a small concrete mixer. or we will have cheesecake or something else yummy and sweet. sometimes i don't feel like the dessert part though and we completely skip it. but my "treat" is just enjoying and evening with my hubby and for that little bit not worrying about what i am eating.

i do enjoy my sweets though. i usually save some points for them during the day so i can have something. it's not everyday, sometimes it's not even every week, but i will allow myself a sweet treat at times, but i make sure i count the points.

I treat myself every once in awhile...but not for every craving. I'm trying to break the habit of going overboard on the junk/sweet stuff. But if I do want something, I only have one slice or just enough to satify my craving (Depending on what it is). So far, I'm doing pretty good! Yesterday I was craving chocolate BIG time and so I had a small candy bar. I of course thought it would ruin all my hard work, but it didn't! This morning I weight myself and I lost another pound! So I guess this works??