I think how careful people tend to be relates to more than just 'going off plan'.

Most of the people above seem to be addressing the specific 'cheat' and its impact overall from a calorie/carb perspective.

My personal issues revolve around carb intake and how that relates to my food addiction and binge issues. If you have underlying disordered eating that you feel strongly in control of, that still may not be a reason to never eat a 'treat'...it may mean you need to be more thoughtful in the approach of how you execute the 'treat'. For example, will you be able to stop at the 1 strawberry or half a piece of cake? If not, can you ask for a friend to help restrain you if need be?

If you dont have disordered eating, then I agree that it should be fine :)

Hi John, I always appreciate your posts!! While I agree that Jorge is not a nutritional mastermind, I have found that his guidelines in the book give me a black and white (accountant's) view of what I can and can't have.

It is similar to calorie counting in that if my calorie limit is 2000, and I have 400 left, then I can eat a 400 cal item. However, Jorge's plan addresses a bigger issue for me, being pre-diabetic, which gives me a handle on my sugar and carbs.

Thanks for everyone's input, I am more grateful than you know, and I enjoy everyone's posts. :hug:

I calorie count as well. I give myself one cheat day a week. Like my dh says "If you cheat one day its fine, you'll only gain if you're cheating everyday. One day won't make a difference." He's right! My cheat day is Friday, I only cheat for dinner. Though I do try to limit my calories through out the day to allow for more calories for dinner so it doesn't break the bank. Yes, calories have become like money for me. LOL

Understood.

I'm not sure how you determined you were pre-diabetic but I assume it was through blood tests. Insulin sensativity goes up as you lose weight so I would guess you are no longer pre-diabetic especially since I know you're practicing IF which would be much tougher if you were having any kind of blood sugar issues and you don't seem to be having any issues.

I'm not saying start eating cake and candy bars for breakfast but there is no difference between sugars. Sugar is sugar. You eat fruit on Mr Jorge's diet yes? Pure sugar + fiber. Even has the dreaded fructose!:dizzy:

Cake is just a lot of sugar + fat + flour + eggs. Trust me your body doesn't know the difference once you have ingested it. I'd guess depending on the cake and size of slice you're looking at 200-500 calories. Sure that represents a lot of fruit at once but it's not something you're doing every day.

The key of course if moderation. Once a quarter is not moderation. Too strict.

Hah! Trust me, I know sugar is sugar is sugar. I eat low sugar fruits (raspberries, blackberries, etc) in small amounts, keeping with the 15/6 always. Also, I choose to get my sugars from vegetables more often, since they have more bang for my sugar buck, so to speak.

My GP determined pre-diabetic using blood tests, and I've been tested twice since beginning the program. She thinks I should stick with BFC since all of my stats have improved, and I do too.

Thanks for the holler!

I just wanted to add that I'm on plan that has a cheat day weekly. It doesn't derail me or make me lose control. Often I am quite relieved to be back on the plan the next day, as the natural whole foods make me FEEL great.

I don't necessarily have a "cheat" day but the WW plan is flexible enough that I don't stress if I don't eat AS healthy as I should. My WI day is Saturday, so I'm usually a little more lax on the weekends - a couple of beers with friends, breakfast at the local diner on Sunday morning, etc. I am still trying to make better choices and I am tracking what I eat, but I'm not stressing if I'm over points.

I do know there will be a few days where I'll be more off plan than on plan, and that's cool too - Easter Sunday for example.

If the BFC is working and you like it then by all means continue. However, your stats would have improved no matter what dietary plan you followed so long as your calories were restricted and you lost weight - even the twinkie diet.

Here are the stats for the guy that did the Twinkie diet.

His bodyweight drop from 200.8 to 174.2 (-26.6 lbs)
His body-fat percentage drop from 33.4% to 24.% (-8.5%)
His total body-fat drop by 25.25 lbs
His lean body mass (muscle) drop by 1.35 lbs
His total cholesterol drop from 214 to 184
His bad cholesterol (ldl-c) drop from 153 to 123
His good cholesterol (hdl-c) increase from 37 to 46
His blood sugar / glucose level drop from 94 to 75, and
His blood pressure stay around the same – pre=108/71 – post=104/76

Don't take this as me bashing BFC. I'm not. I'm simply pointing out the falacy of your logic in wondering if you should have a cheat day, or not. From what little I know about Jorge he doesn't believe in cheat meals. My questions would be - why not?

You are right, he doesn't condone cheat meals. He also doesn't allow sucralose (Splenda), which I still use sparingly. He prefers maltitol as a sweetener which gives me stomach aches so I don't use it.

I think I need to keep doing things my way, which will now include a cheat day once in a while! :carrot:

I'll give you my perspective as a fellow BFC-er who has not intentionally deviated from the plan's guidelines. I too can see at least one situation in my near future when I would like to go off-plan - eating 1-year-old wedding cake on our anniversary next month. I'm pretty sure I'm going to eat the cake. I figure that while I like the BFC and am going to stay on it for the forseeable future I doubt I will be exactly on this plan for the rest of my life and it would be useful to know how my body reacts to a bolus of sugar/white carbs now that I have retrained it on the BFC.

Will I have cravings for sugar or other carbs that day, the next day, for the next week? Will they be stronger than the cravings I had before? If I can handle a single slice of cake with little-to-no apparent repercussions I will consider the BFC more sustainable. If it stops my loss for a week or causes me to go off-plan again later, I probably won't try it again until I reach my goal weight or find another plan that doesn't cause me to go crazy on sugar when I do eat it.

Also, I disagree with JohnP that the BFC and other low-sugar/moderated-carb plans work solely because of calorie restriction. This is based on my experience with my body, research I have done, and professionals I have spoken with. This is why I haven't to this point taken any cheats on the BFC like I did when I was only calorie-counting.

I can't speak for your body but if someone is insulin resistant carbs can make them feel lethargic and thus reduce the output side of the calorie equation. Then there is the whole gluten intollerance issue. Also, for many people low carb diets can be easier to comply to as the consumption of carbs can lead to a greater desire to eat carbs.

Having said that - there has been no good research done that has shown a low carb diet is superior for weight loss when protein is matched or sufficent. If you have some evidence to present by all means please do. I know that there are low carb experts who are professionals but what they are good at is cherry picking data to support their conclusion and ignoring the data that does not.

By the way while we're off topic I should point out that there are also plenty of people who will be lethargic on low carb diets and this can affect fat loss in the same way an insulin resistant person is affected by carbs.

Finally and I'm no hormonal expert but some studies have shown that T3 can be repressed more on very low carb diets. (Not that LBF is VLC)

Regardless to suggest it is not calories that is causing fat loss or fat gain is simply wrong.

I agree with this. Chances are low that you will never eat another chocolate covered strawberry or piece of cake. I mean, you could, but at some point you might just want one! Better to know exactly how it is going to affect you in an environment that you control, so that you can gather the data (accountant ;)) that you can use for a lifetime. :D

I'm only at the start of my journey but I can't bring myself to "cheat" for fear of regaining what I've already worked so hard to lose ( I know I couldn't possibly pile on 16 pounds in one day) But I suppose I need to prove to myself that I can stay strictly on plan for a few months before I start "cheat days"
My friends organized a surprise Birthday party for me at my favourite restaurant just last week ( none are aware of my diet) All I had was a salad and couldn't bring myself to even have a glass of wine!
I'm hoping that eventually I can allow myself to cheat every now and again, otherwise what's the point?

Exactly!! This is what my thoughts are, thanks Shannon! :D