Cheat Days

Alright so the 4th was a real test of my will power..... and i failed MISERABLY. Let see i had around 900 calories for breakfast,lunch, and dinner ( i was saving for dessert). Then there were these cookies. These delicious amazing wonderful cookies. I had 7 of them. 7! And they were somewhat large, so im guessing like 100 cal a cookie? Then i came home from cookieland and had not one slice of cake, but two slices of that delicious, amazing, OUTSTANDING homemade cake. anyways now to the question..

is this otay? having a cheat day? i've really not had one in like a month, so am i not gonna balloon out from this? should i be scared? lol oh and pardon my random rambling at the beginning. thanks!

You know, I'm kind of pondering the same thing. I had already done "okay" on my day, until dinner time.. I had two servings of pasta instead of one. A little over my daily calorie goal, I didn't mind much, but then my mom wanted to celebrate July 4th in style by taking us all to Dairy Queen and instead of getting a low cal treat and saving myself from going WAAAYY over the calorie "limit", I chose a medium peanut butter treat totalling at 750 calories.

Also, I didn't exercise today. At all. Sat on my butt playin' the computer.

Logic tells me, though:

- 1 cheat day every-now-and-then of lots of calories is fine. It won't mess you up. Just start up tomorrow better then ever.

- 3500 = 1 pound. So unless you ate 3500, you won't even gain a pound from this encounter, buut your deficit for tomorrow will probably make up for the overeating today assuming you didn't workout. If you did, eh, I'd say tomorrow's workout will do some good still. Me on the other hand will have some extra calories to burn, and will kind of slow my progress. >_<; Which is bueno! Yaayy for not gaining a pound, however..

- I'd avoid the scale tomorrow. If you're anything like me, overeating results in a little bloating the following day, which means the scale is going to freak you the eff out and make you think you gained a bizzilion freakin' pounds.. or.. just 4-6 pounds.. It's a lie though~! Unless you have super eating powers, there is no way you gain 4-6 pounds from one day.. rightright?

So in conclusion, no worries about this event. You'll be fine. I'll be fine. We'll both be fine. Unless you break a limb. Please do not break a limb. :(

On the super brightside, I'm glad you enjoyed your tre ats! I found mine to be so-not-worth-it. XD (I mean, Dairy Queen is yummy, but it was like.. sugar. Just pure sugar, not much flavor. -shrug- Maybe it was just the Dairy Queen we went to, it was pretty busy...)

Let's do better tomorrow (or today, depending on when you're reading this, lol), aye?

[I hope this answered your question(s), if not: sorry for the above ramblings @_@]

Cheat days are okay! I, myself, treat myself to cheat days about twice a month actually; you may think you gained a lot of weight the next day but it will be okay! Do not worry a bit, you will become okay if you just eat clean and healthy from days on until your next cheat day which will hopefully not be tomorrow, then it will be a problem. Cheat days actually help you, they help relieve some of your stress and your cravings and you probably got so sick and bloating that you probably won't want to have any for days! 

Also, here's a good fact to keep in mind. From Tim Ferris's blog, you can read this exact post and he says...

"I recommend Saturdays as your “Dieters Gone Wild” day. I am allowed to eat whatever I want on Saturdays, and I go out of my way to eat ice cream, Snickers, Take 5, and all of my other vices in excess. I make myself a little sick and don’t want to look at any of it for the rest of the week. Paradoxically, dramatically spiking caloric intake in this way once per week increases fat loss by ensuring that your metabolic rate (thyroid function, etc.) doesn’t downregulate from extended caloric restriction. That’s right: eating pure crap can help you lose fat. Welcome to Utopia."

See, it's not all that bad. I had extras too, and I had a little more. Except, way more, than what I usually had. I had about seven bowls of macaroni salad. I felt so sick afterwards, I don't even feel like eating that much again and I feel better eating healthy the next day, don't you? ;-) 

Don't worry and just keep going.

WOOT WOOT thanks so much guys, those two posts helped me A LOT. i feel better knowing im not the only one. and you're both right, now that i ate that junk food i feel better knowing i just got those cravings finished with. kaput! and kaybug i love your sense of humor. lol thanks again!

Original Post by mercy_bobcat:

WOOT WOOT thanks so much guys, those two posts helped me A LOT. i feel better knowing im not the only one. and you're both right, now that i ate that junk food i feel better knowing i just got those cravings finished with. kaput! and kaybug i love your sense of humor. lol thanks again!

Haha, yoour welcome. All in a days work. :] I feel so sick at the moment eating more would make me ugh. :[ Don't even want to think about it! I just want to get back to my healthy lifestyle the next day and I kicked my cravings right to the curb when I ate a Korean "Pancake" filled thing. It was so delicious. x]

Hello you all, I'm new here and have been trying to find out how everything works , so far I'm getting the hang of it but still don't know how to list a question like you did,, anyway I went wild yesterday ,the 4th... like a wild woman, I ate everything , and before I went to bed I ate 2 slices of apple pie that was homemade, and felt horrible when I was done.. but not to horrible,, I have to loose 60 lbs, it was 80 lbs but I lost 20 since march. I now weight 247, I'm trying a high protein diet. seems to work for me.. anyway thank you for reading this and I hope hear from someone.. thank you all

Original Post by freckelface8:

Hello you all, I'm new here and have been trying to find out how everything works , so far I'm getting the hang of it but still don't know how to list a question like you did,, anyway I went wild yesterday ,the 4th... like a wild woman, I ate everything , and before I went to bed I ate 2 slices of apple pie that was homemade, and felt horrible when I was done.. but not to horrible,, I have to loose 60 lbs, it was 80 lbs but I lost 20 since march. I now weight 247, I'm trying a high protein diet. seems to work for me.. anyway thank you for reading this and I hope hear from someone.. thank you all

Welcome! =]
If you're signed in, go the page of the forum you want to post in & click on "New Topic" & you can create a new thread for a question/introduction/etc.

& to the OP, don't worry about the cheat day. at all. You enjoyed yourself, so it's all good. just know that you would have to have eaten 3500 calories OVER what you burned in order to gain one measly pound. I'm pretty sure you didn't do that. This'll kickup your metabolism & should ultimately help you. Just get back on track today & you're fine. Just a word of advice: you may wanna stay away from the scale for a few days if you get freaked out by the number because it'll show a water weight gain.

yay the scale didn't even budge!!! :)

I started having 'cheat days' after losing fifty lbs and being stable for some time. I encountered stress at work and found those days as sort of a comfort. my problem was that I started looking forward to those days way too much and then they became the norm instead of a day here and there. /Slowly I stopped counting and stopped watching what I ate.

Some people may be able to handle it much better and you might be one of those people. For me, it was the start of my down fall. I ended up gaining back all but ten lbs of my lost weight. I was better off having a 'cheat treat' meaning that I allowed myself a brownie here and there or a little extra ice cream but still kept count of how far over I was so it was still on my mind and still a part of my lifestyle to watch it. I still tried to maintain a range even on those days. Having a go crazy-free day, I couldn't do it without slipping completely back into old habits. You may be different.

I have a cheat meal every Friday. Dinner on Friday is my favorite. I eat what I want for dinner. I still don't use butter, mayo and crap like that but I eat a cookie bar and brownie for desert usually and look forward to that all week. It is good to have a day like that. I have not gained anything doing this.

maryann, I have had the same problem in the past. I try to limit cheating. If I do cheat I still log it. Otherwise I will go way over.

Mercy, just so you know, not to put you down or anything, cause I've done it, most cookies for 1oz (very small) is well over 100 cal. Just thought you should know, that way you can kind of keep an eye on things on your next cheat day!