"Cheat" Days

Lately I will break my diet and call it my "cheat" day but I have a few questions about these cheat days.

1. Is it a cheat DAY or a cheat MEAL? I've heard people say both and it seems crazy that you could eat horribly for an entire day and have it not affect you.

2. Is it diet specific? I.e., do only certain diets allow a cheat or do they pretty much allow an indescretion across the board?

3. How damaging are the cheats?

 Thanks!!!!

I tend to let myself relax on weekends. I don't eat everything is sight but I do allow myself a few treats and cheat meals on weekends. It keeps me sane. I just try not to go over my limited too much. I usually still lose or maintain depending on how bad I was.

I've allowed myself cheat days and cheat meals, for various reasons.  But, I noticed a couple of weeks ago I was being way more relaxed, the cheat meals were growing, and I wasn't as diligent about counting, cheating or not cheating, and my weigh plateaued.  So, now I'm trying to reign in the cheating and I need to recognize that I too do not do moderation well.  So while I am not going to completely restrict myself, I am setting myself firm boundaries on what does and does not constitute a cheat and when it can occur.  For instance, tonight and on Sunday I'm going to parties.  I am going to allow myself a special treat at each event, but I am going to make sure it fits into my calorie limit.

Also, I'd prefer to not think of it as a cheat, because I'm not trying to diet, I'm trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle, for life.  So I don't know what the term should be, but it keeps me somewhat sane to indulge in some of my favorite foods every now and again.

Original Post by given2staci:

I have cheat DAYS. It starts off well enough, but lunch at Chili's turns into Pizza at night. An all the bad things in between. I don't think toooo many people have cheat days. They kinda just happen until you are better into your diet an can understand your food patterns. Personally this site is great for that.

Some diets tell you that it is ok. Like weight watchers. You get extra points you can save up an blow on fast food. however, diets like the no carb diet or the all protein diet are actually very restrictive until well into them. Honestly I don't think anyone should discredit eating anything on the food pyramid. As long as it benefits you in some way. My excuse....pizza has cheese an tomato's......taco has protein an bread ^^. However, it is how much you eat an  if the good stuff outweighs the bad.

Unless you are diabetic....totally different.

For me cheating is pretty damaging. If I do it well enough I gain at least a pound that day. One pound equals 500 calories.

 UUUUuuuummm NOOO

1lb DOES NOT = 500 calories

Try 3500!!!

I had a great great day yesterday.  I decided that since I was taking my boyfriend out to a nice dinner (and they didn't have nutritional info available), I was going to just not count my calories for the day and enjoy myself.  I ate very well for breakfast and lunch, then we had a great dinner along with dessert (we never order dessert, so I said let's go ahead!).  We also went out to a movie later and I had brought along 100-calorie popcorn that I had popped and bagged ahead of time.  We went to a convenience store before going into the movie and I got gummy worms and candy cherry slices. 

It was a really good day, and kind of a relief that I didn't have to keep track of calories.  I eat really well and track everything I eat- very rarely do I have a "cheat day" or go over my daily calorie intake. 

It's nice because I know this won't affect my weight, because it was one day and if you take a cheat day every once in a while (not once a week!), you'll be more likely to make good decisions