Like some of the others have mentioned, I don't cheat, I choose. If it works within my calories, I eat it if I want it. If not, I wait until it does. I have specific goals I want to meet and if it's not going to get me to my goal, I don't eat it. That's not to say I don't treat myself from time-to-time. I have a Jones for peanut M&Ms. I get the 200 calorie package and eat it when I can't get the monkey off my back. But the key is not to go over board. I have a HUGE bag of them that's been in my house since Christmas. I haven't even cracked it. If having a treat here and there keeps you on your path, then by all means have it. If, however, your treats turn out to be taking over your plan, then you might need to pass.

I have a whole cheat day to eat whatever I wanted during the week. It's built into the diet I'm on (Slow carb). I don't cheat during the week because I can just eat it on Saturday if I want whatever it is badly enough. I also like it because if I'm calorie counting or on some other diet I tend eventually allow myself foods that I like and keep them within reasonable limits. But that's a slippery slope for me because I'll slowly fall out of the diet and just eat more of the foods I want. I have proven to myself time and time again that if I let myself have a little of the things I want, I will eventually just go back to eating how I use to. For some reason a cheat day does not seem to do this to me. It seems to have hardened my resolve to turn down tempting foods.

Eating well all week and being loose on Saturday works for me. On Sunday I'll usually have gained 5lbs but that weight is generally gone by Wednesday. I'll lose a pound or two between Saturday morning weigh ins. Does it slow down my progress? Sure. Though I will tell you this is the easiest diet I've ever been on and the longest I've ever been on one (Started November 7th). I've started losing my sweet tooth. I rarely want sweets on cheat day anymore.. I mostly want bready stuff.

Sure, it's not for everyone. But it certainly works for me. And I don't care what it's called. Cheat day, free day, I don't give an eff day, etc. It's all the same thing. It helps me so calling it cheat day isn't negative in my mind.

I cheat, a little to regularly lately for my liking. I am currently trying to rein myself in a little, however when I cheat I try my best to work it into my caloric limit.

I have chocolate (from Christmas) cut up into half portion pieces stored away in my freezer! Whenever I am feeling like something sweet I allow myself 1 piece, it was worked well for me, not so much for my boyfriend who eats several of them lol

I also have waffles in my freezer, one is 100 calories. Sometimes I also have one of those, just plain. I love them plain But I try to stay away from these since sometimes I just can't stop at 1 (Like last night). They are just so good!

I am trying to change this currently. I think lately I am grazing a little to much and it is actually stalling out my weight loss. I am not gaining anything but I am not losing either and its frustrating me lately. I need to regain my self control. However, if you can work the treats into your plan and still lose weight I think that's amazing and I am jealous of your talents! lol

I have one cheat day a month. Since I calorie count without any food restrictions (I could eat 1200 calories of Little Debbies if I wanted to, though I don't), the cheat day means that I can have as many calories as I want. This is because I do like going out to eat, and that's simply not feasible most of the time on 1200 calories/day. My last cheat day ended up being somewhere around 2400 calories, though, so it's not like I totally go nuts.

Even then, I find myself gravitating towards some of the healthier choices. When I went to Famous Dave's (my last cheat day), yeah, I totally got the rib tips/spare ribs lunch. With sauce. I also decided I wanted green beans as my side, that I didn't want to eat the corn, and that my only dessert would be the provided cornbread muffin. Without additional butter.

A year ago, I'd've gotten the dinner portions, fries and drunken apples, corn with butter, cornbread with butter, and probably a dessert. And an appetizer. So, even though it's a "cheat", it's not throwing everything I've learned into the trash.

I also let myself have whatever on the three big family holidays (Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), because, frankly, it's three days a year. I didn't get to weighing 360 pounds by over-indulging three days a year. I got there by over-indulging on the other 362 days. Naturally thin people don't constantly deprive themselves; if I wanna eat like them, I can't constantly deprive myself. I just have to use common sense.

That's basically what I do! (Or at least what I used to do, and what I plan to do. I've only been counting calories again for about a week.)

Eating out is a big pitfall for me, because I typically want to eat things that taste good but don't make me feel good, or things that are out of my calorie budget. I try to avoid restaurants so that my willpower isn't unnecessarily tested. But thinking that I can NEVER have such-and-such food again is bad for my mindset, so having a "big eating day" once a month seems to work for me.

I'm not saying that (potentially) binge eating once a month is healthy, but currently it's what helps me stay on track. And it's definitely better than binge eating 20 times a month, which is what I was doing before!

Add me to the train that thinks calling it a cheat is bad juju for keeping a healthy relationship with food. If I cheat, I eat something I didn't intend and had little emotional control over or hunger need for. I don't cheat but once in a blue moon, because the only person I cheat is myself.

But do I plan a good variety of food, including those that satisfy the body AND mind? Absolutely! Making food delicious is my biggest step - rich seasoning, enough fat, a beautiful look and mouthfeel.... Highly important for maintenance that when I do eat, it is satisfying. That keeps me from desiring stuff that isn't good for me. That is the basis of my diet, honestly. I've given up the stuff that makes me sick and fat. Now there is room for the occasional wheat and sugar free dessert, some fried food at a restaurant on a date (rare in these parts, maybe a few times a year), and I regularly have a square of extra dark espresso chocolate. If it doesn't make me ill, there is room for it in my diet in healthy, mindfully enjoyed quantities.

I don't consider it a cheat, because I plan for it and feel no guilt or bad feelings for eating it. But at this point I have good self control with the rare indulgence food. There are times for total prohibition (I'm on that right now for sugar and it has obliterated the cravings for it), and when that is the case a cheat does nothing but hurt ME more. Not worth it, not to be pursued, not to be condoned for myself. Maybe it is semantics, but words matter when they dictate the feelings associated with what is being discussed. A piece of chocolate on most ways of eating shouldn't be a cheat, but it shouldn't be a cornerstone of 'nutrition' for your body, either!

Hm. Depends on what you mean by "cheat."

I've been following primal blueprint. There are plenty of foods "not allowed" on the plan. I haven't eaten any of them (yet), but imagine there will be times when I eat them for special occasions (wedding cake, special occasions out, meals when I'm a guest at someone's home, etc.). I wouldn't call those "built in" cheats as much as trying to make sure I don't live my life around my diet.

This plan also allows for sensible indulgences of certain things, namely wine (woo hoo), rice (yay!), potatoes/tubers (yum!) and dark chocolate. So I eat those things (mostly the wine and chocolate lol) in small amounts on occasion. I guess it could be called a "cheat," but I like to think of them as sensible indulgences.

Of course, if I didn't I would fail. As far as food in general I don't eat "clean" but I don't eat horrible foods either. Everything in moderation and exercise.

That's the same type of plan I use for maintaining and I believe Sisson's composition of foods and the why's of what is mostly prohibited make so much sense. Good luck with it!

Not really, no. I will look at my calories at the end of the day and make a choice to have a treat: 9 hersey's kisses, a Skinny Cow ice cream bar, peanut butter and graham crackers, a glass (or two) of wine. I just dont see it as cheating...I see it as living my life. I try and keep my food as "clean" as possible, but I also know 100% clean eating drives me to overeat. Its much easier and better, IMO, to just build the things I crave into a day with reasonable portions and calorie increases.

I wouldn't say I cheat, but I indulge a little more on weekends. When I first started, on the weekends I would indulge in giant quantities of chips etc, and found they made me sick. I took that as a sign from my body that it was getting used to healthier foods and rejecting the crap, so I don't really do that or crave it anymore. My "indulgence" on weekends is more along the line of restaurant food. During the week, my diet is very regimented because I pack breakfast and lunch to eat at work, and dinner is usually a frozen Healthy Choice steamer. On weekends I will have something good, but not crazy- if out shopping I'll have maybe a low cal selection at Einstein Brothers or something. (I eat a power bar before going out so I'm not starving and crazy when I do hit a restaurant, and that helps.) From time to time, I will have whatever I want at a restaurant, but limit my portion, and I don't tend to choose something outrageously hi cal.

For me, allowing for little indulgences helps me keep going- I've been at this since about 10/1 and made good progress, so I'm happy with the way I'm doing it. I definitely feel like I've not only learned to make better food choices, but have taught my body to crave better things.

Oh man. The idea of a 'big eating day' is so tempting to me right now. I've been craving a golden corral breakfast for a while.

As it is a cheat for me, is actually part of my diet. I eat low carb 6 days and 1 day i have to eat high carb to refill the glycogen in muscles. I eat ANYTHING!!!

I'm with everyone who doesn't like the word "cheating." I count calories, so I eat what I want within that limit. If I go over on occasion, that's just going off plan. I'm not doing anything wrong.

Similarly, I find myself bristling a bit when people tell me I'm being "good" when I pass up some food or another. It's the same thing, really, assigning what I think of as moral terms to how I choose to eat. Passing up a cookie doesn't make me a better person, just like eating a cookie doesn't make me a bad person. My relationship with food is whacked enough as it is, so I try to keep the value judgements out of it.

i do not allow myself cheat days because i am afraid that it will reopen my appetite and ill start binge eating. however im not strictly fruits and veggies n protein. i basically eat healthier but in proportions. so i dnt really crave anything. but i think that cheat days are bad and it leads to us turning back. wat u shuld do is eat wat u want but proportion it. eat the correct serving that way u wont get any cravings and u will be comfortable on your diet!