Do you have a cheat day?
 

Hi all! It's been a while since I've posted, house hunting and four kids keep me busy ;), but I've been plugging right along and making strides.

So, I've got a question for all of you! Do you have cheat days? That is, a day set aside each week/month/whenever that is reserved for eating whatever you want (or eating more that usual)?

A couple of years ago I was doing Body for Life (awesome program imo, and once I find and unpack my book I'll probably revisit it! :)) and that program actually recommends that you have a cheat day each week. It sounded crazy to me, but it worked great. So, I was just wondering if anyone here does something like that?

I do. I find it next to impossible to keep on track with dh around on his days off. So instead of fighting it, I decided to embrace one of those days as my designated cheat day. It helps when there's a cook out or party to go to, I don't end up feeling awful if I slip up because I knew I was going to anyway. Kwim?

So, anyone else?:D

I used to have a "cheat day" once a week, but now I'm cutting it back to twice a month. I need to have those day, too...otherwise I feel too restricted and likely won't stick to it.:)

Hey!

I am a calorie counter, and what that means is, I count everything I eat. There are no "cheat days," and I don't feel as though any food is off limits. Obviously, though, I do have a calorie target. So high-calorie foods must be fitted into the day's plan.

Even if I have a day where I'm going hog-wild with food, I list everything I eat in my tracker. Why? Because my body counts everything I eat! It doesn't care whether I call it a "cheat day" or "July 4"! :lol:

Some people do well with a "day off plan"; for others it's a disaster and a path back to overeating. It all depends on what works for you!

Jay

I sort of do and sort of don't (and I don't call that a chat day, since I don't follow any particular diet). I don't set a specific day per se, but I keep in mind that, say, social circumstances may arise that will prevent me to eat exactly what I have planned; so I do my best to eat in a sensible way as often as I can, so that I can enjoy such days without immediately going "OMG, I had my cheat day yesterday, what am I going to do NOW? I can't possibly have a second one!".

'Course, if you count campus restaurant meals as cheat meals, then I probably have them three times a week, haha. ;)

I have a cheat "meal" once a week, but ALWAYS eat a low cal salad and drink a big glass of water first. Then I SAVOR every bite of that cheat meal because I know I won't have it for another 7 days.

When I was actively losing weight (the first 7 months or so), I had TWO cheat days - my birthday and Christmas day. Now that I am maintaining my weight loss, I have one treat meal a week in a nice restaurant. Even though I order a glass of wine and split dessert, I still do not go "crazy" like I used to in a restaurant. I make an effort to stay out of the bread basket (or limit myself to one piece, and I try not to butter the bread), I don't order fried foods or foods in cream-based sauces. I also avoid lots of cheese (although that's mainly because cheese wrecks my stomach these days).

To lose weight and keep it off, I had to change my life. That means making responsible food choices as much as possible, even when it's a treat. I definitely NEVER let a treat meal become a treat day or a treat weekend. One meal - then it's back on plan.

I don't consider days where I eat more than I want to "cheat" days...to me, that word is like a license to eat myself silly. I have days where I am less on-plan than others, or eat more than my typical calorie goal, but like Jay, I count them all the same.

I also tend to have these days on special occasions...my or my partner's birthday, major holidays, or going out to eat with friends/family to celebrate something. To me, the easiest days to stay on plan are the days when my routine is the same...at home, same gym time, same healthy foods in the fridge...so I don't really go off plan if I'm just at home, even if it has been a month since I last had a higher day...its less about the frequency and more about the event, for me.

Since I follow the " Rennie plan " I don't really have a cheat day lol. I do every couple of weeks have something I wouldn't normal have. Last weekend I wanted the strawberry/banana crepe at Bob Evans. I got the information on it and said ok I still want it. Only ate half of it. I got what I wanted, didn't kill my body and enjoyed every bite.

I can't have cheat days. If I have a cheat day, I find that I always end up eating too many bad foods which leads me to falling off the wagon and I feel like I have to start all over.

Like jay said, If I want a treat... then I'll fit it into my day and try to stay at my goal calories. I plan to have this lifestyle for the rest of my life... and I'm not going plan my life around a cheat day.

I wish we could get rid of the term "cheat". This isn't a test; it's trying to come up with a healthy way of eating that we can stick to forever.

Personally I don't eat anything that most people would consider cheating. At this point the wrong foods seem to make me kind of sick to my stomach. Even if I account for them in my calorie total, that doesn't mean my insides are going to like it.

But people need to do what works for them personally. I do think, though, that if you spend a lot of time looking forward to "cheat" days then there is a problem with what you are eating on a regular basis. Your regular food choices shouldn't make you feel deprived.

I don't set aside days, but I cheat. Does that count? ;)

Seriously? I stay on plan on the weekdays, but on the weekends I always end up slacking. I'm trying to stop that, though, seeing as how I am so close to goal.

Maybe setting aside 1 or 2 random days a week to cheat is a good idea, but I kind of enjoy spontaneous cheating :lol:

I've never really known what to call it either - it's not really a treat, cheat or offplan meal. Since I normally plan to eat a nice meal in a restaurant once a week, it's not cheating or offplan (since I plan to do it!). However, during that meal, I often eat foods I don't normally eat during the regular week - like a glass of wine or a piece of white bread. In that respect, they are "treats." But, a lot of the healthy food I eat every day feels like treats (waffles with natural peanut butter, greek yogurt with blackberries).

So, I'm kind of at a loss what to call it. Maybe "weekly planned indulgence?" It definitely feels decadent and indulgent, although perfectly okay and not offplan or cheating.

I only count calories on the weekdays, and don't usually track on the weekends -- though, I almost always end up eating on plan on the weekends, anyway. I know I'd be losing faster if I stayed strictly on plan all the time, but I'm in no rush to get to my goal. I'm doing a plan that I can personally keep up long-term. :)

In my heart, I want every day to be a treat day :lol:, and I think it can be done. I don't have a cheat day, but I do have treats.

I also don't know what to call it. Treats just don't seem right, for the reason Glory said. I have some fresh raspberries and that is a wonderful treat. I make myself a mango/strawberry/red leaf lettuce/balsamic vinegar salad and that's a treat as well.

Cheat, no way. I'm a big girl and a fairly good one at that and I don't "cheat". I don't always eat what I inteneded to, but that doesn't make me a bad person. I'm no cheat. That word has just too many negativity attached to it.

Off plan, doesn't quite describe it either, ESPECIALLY since I PLAN the OFF-plan stuff.

Regardless, when I was in the losing portion of my journey, I really wasn't all that interested in going off plan, even if it was, well, umm ... planned. I wanted so badly to lose the weight and so badly to have a good weigh-in week after week, that I didn't find it worth it.

Now that I'm maintaining, I do allow myself an occasional "extra" something or a splurge, shall we say, from time to time. But never a whole day. I'm still early in the game, so at this point, not really a whole meal yet either. I plan on having these little splurges when it's a special occasion or a holiday or I'm socializing. Not just because it's the third Tuesday in the month or something like that.

A whole day? No. An occasional off-plan planned treat? Yes, but I have to be feeling very much on top of my game at the time.....if that makes any sense.

I also don't have a cheat day...unless of course every day is a cheat day for me, lol. I eat what I want...the key for me is moderation. With me I have found that if I don't allow myself to eat what I want I will end up on a BIG binge. It's like when you tell someone to not look at something...if I think there is something I can't ever have it would not work for me. Mind over matter I guess.

I do have a free day though. Not a day to pig out but a free day from exercise, scheduled exercise. There have been days I did get in a little workout but for the most part Sunday is a day of rest.

I don't have a cheat day, but if most people looked at the stuff I ate everyday, it'd probably make me look like I cheat everyday. I can't say that I follow diet restrictions, but my calorie intake is around 1600-1800 each day. I eat til my stomach tells me "THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH. STOP EATING!" which for most meals is around 400 calories. I have 150 calorie snacks, which could be anything from pieces of cheese to crackers to fruit and so on. I can have things like fast food fries and cheeseburgers (typicall cheat foods to most people), but there's not much to eat until my stomach tells me to stop. I can have 1/2 a McDonald's cheeseburger and 5 fries, and I'm full. Practically stuffed, sometimes... I limit my "bad" foods because I generally have gotten used to craving good healthy foods, but I can only eat so much at a time, so I guess portion watching and intuitive eating never makes me feel like I'm cheating!

I'm not a fan of the idea of a cheat day. To me that implies there are off limit foods, and if foods are off limits... I binge.

But I have to admit I haven't been eating super healthy the past little while, so I'm trying to actually figure out a plan for myself to follow... but it will probably not include "cheat days".

Originally Posted by veggielover:
I can have 1/2 a McDonald's cheeseburger and 5 fries, and I'm full.

For me, it doesnt matter if I'm full....my overeating is an emotional thing. Eat 5 fries and leave the rest.....uh, no! Not gonna happen. Fries are a major trigger food for me. That is why its best that I avoid them like the plague.

I'm afraid if I had a whole cheat day, it would completely stall my weight loss, because I have a tendency to go overboard when I eat off plan. When I was in a steady mode I was like Robin and really didn't WANT to cheat because I wanted to be rewarded when I got on the scale each week. Now that I'm maintaining, actually I'm trying to get down a few more pounds, I tend to not to follow my plan as perfectly on the weekends because my husband and I love to go out to eat. So once a week I'll have a couple of meals that include foods that I wouldn't normall eat and are slightly higher calorie than I normall eat, but I try not to give up and eat everything and anything I want. I'm actually beginning to think that this is what maintenance is going to look like for me for the rest of my life. Pretty following a careful diet most of the time with a few indulgences thrown in here and there.

Pam

I used to have cheat days once a week, then I cut it down to once a month, now I'm down to one cheat meal a month. And I only allow myself that if I was really good the rest of the day, since the cheat meal is usually dinner.

Yep, I have them. Free days, cheat days, whatever you want to call them. They're just days when I don't carefully track my points or calories. I know the connotation of "cheat" is bad, so I see why people don't want to call it that. I can't really say it's cheating anyway since I don't forbid any particular foods. The only sense that it's "cheating" is that I'm not staying within my allotted point range. So yeah, I've had huge meals of whatever I wanted here and there. Should I have? Probably not. My weight loss may have been faster if I didn't. Would I have stuck to my plan if I hadn't had those "cheat" days here and there? Absolutely not. I just know that about myself. If I feel deprived, I rebel.

However...I don't have a particular day that I set aside for going off plan. It's a special occasion kind of thing, or sometimes it's just an "it's the weekend and I feel like going out to a restaurant and ordering whatever I want" kind of thing. I'm quite sure I'll do it this way the rest of my life: most of the time I stay within my point (calorie) range, but sometimes I don't. Pair that with a good running schedule and I think I'll be able to keep the weight off and still feel like I'm not deprived.

Here are my thoughts on the "cheat day". I have been a compulsive binge eater for several years and food is a very serious addiction for me. I don't agree with cheats for people in my situation because it doesn't make any sense. It would be like an alcoholic or a drug addict taking a cheat day once a week or twice a month. I've really had to train myself to stop obsessing over food and if there was a day that I allowed myself to eat what I want it would break that habit. There are some times that I might make a very small allowance for an extra piece of fruit or an extra healthy treat. Well, that's just my take on it...

I'm kind of like you, Heather. I'm retraining myself NOT to overeat, so why practice it once a week. :shrug:

Jay

Originally Posted by GirlyGirlSebas:
For me, it doesnt matter if I'm full....my overeating is an emotional thing. Eat 5 fries and leave the rest.....uh, no! Not gonna happen. Fries are a major trigger food for me. That is why its best that I avoid them like the plague.

yeah, I guess cheating isn't necessarily about the types of foods in particular, it might as well be the portion. But you see, I thoughr most people would limit their foods just as a habit when coming to a proper diet and probably do that with their "cheat" foods. I can understand when people who binge eat cannot stop (used to be a closet binge eater myself) and I had to get rid of ithe habit, strangely, by limiting certain foods on the "cheat" list. I kind of lost the thrill of eating junk like french fries after a long while of NOT having them. Now when I have them, I'm not very impressed with them- which could either be a good or bad thing?

I don't "cheat", really, but I'm generally on a 1200-1300 cals/day plan, and every once in awhile I allow myself to go up to 1500-1600. After a couple weeks at 1250/day, a 1500 day seems amazingly decadant. Sometimes I'll plan for a meal that I'm craving, like deep fried chicken, but not very often.

So far, almost 90 days now, in my journey of better choices, I have never had what I would call a cheat day. I have gone out for dinner several times and had food that isn't good for me, like bread and chips, I just have tried to limit my consumption of them. A peice of bread instead of "keeping the waiter busy bringing me MORE-MORE!" and some chips with a lot of salsa instead of bowl after bowl of them. Plus I have learned that it is NOT against the law to bring some home for lunch the next day! I suddenly realized most restaraunt meals that I ordered were actually (although it didn't say it on the menu) for 2!

Cheat days - are you punishing yourself for being "good" on the other days because you are undoing what you worked so hard to accomplish. Treats for me are berries, an out of season veggie, a smoothie or FF SF Latte.

treat day
 

I don't have a cheat day; I tend to have a "treat day" which is every Saturday.

The reason for this is I am now doing regular exercise through out the week as well as sticking with the calorie counting and Saturday is my weigh in day so If I’ve been good and lost weight I take a walk to the local market which is about 2 1/2 miles away and treat myself to a chicken mayo with bacon baguette.

Even though its a treat I don't ever feel guilty for eating it when I’m calorie counting as I've already walked most of it off before its eaten :)

Interesting post! I too do not have a "cheat" day. There are obviously days when I eat something that I don't normally have, I just count it and go on. I do things like only eat beef once a week - and I want it to be goood! (like a nice steak) but even then, I don't "cheat". I have to like what I am eating, if I am not enjoying my food, I won't stick with this for the rest of my life. SO, I make sure what I eat is GOOD! (and that way I don't feel like I even need to have a cheat day!)

I'm another one who isn't a fan of "cheat" days. I am trying to create a healthier relationship with food and my body, so I am trying to avoid words like "cheat" and that sort of thing.

My goal is something I've heard from both my doctor and a few nutritionists - the 80/20 rule (or sometimes the 90/10 rule). If you eat a healthful and balanced diet 80% of the time, the other 20% is less important. So, for example, this week I've been eating well, I'm taking my BF out for a nice dinner tonight, and I won't worry about it if I have dessert tonight.

I allow myself red meat and wine on a Saturday, it give me something to look forward to. During the week I stick to fish, chicken or turkey and water or tea.