Do cheat days really help?

i just want to know what some people think, because i think they don't help at all. i guess i feel like its better to change the way you eat and have it be part of your life - just what you do, rather than have it be like a job, you do it during the week and its such a drag, you cant wait for it to be over. i also have a lot less cravings for food when i stop eating them and replace it with something else. so many people have cheat days though, there must be something im missing?

I think it's just a preference and what you're motivated by. I personally like the fact that on the weekends I don't calorie count. I give myself the freedom to eat ice cream and pizza and pasta and barbeque (which is mostly protein anyway). And it's funny b/c I eat these things, but I don't go crazy and pig out like you would think, b/c I don't want to ruin my hard work from the whole week. It's just my days that I eat  "junk" food, but in moderation. Don't get me wrong I don't eat only junk on the weekends, but if I'm going to splurge, that's when I do it. I don't think eating healthier is a job, but it definitely requires more planning and willpower than caving in and eating that bag of doritos vs. an apple for a snack. I enjoy some foods that are not typically healthy, and for me, it is unrealistic to phase them out all together. So that's why I do my cheat days. But to me it's just another day, not the highlight of my week or anything. That could be b/c, like you said, my cravings are not as strong as they were before I started eating healthier.

I guess it's nice to "take a break" from being strict on yourself, but I'm sure it mostly helps mentally for those who are avoiding foods they really WANT to eat...  Since it's a lifestyle change for me, I don't really have cheat days, though sometimes I will incorporate ice cream or a small, rich dessert (if I want it) into my calorie count but still maintain my deficit.

I've heard that throwing your body for a loop now and then can sort of "restart" your metabolism by making your body constantly react to what you put into it instead of going into some sort of pattern, but I'm sure it's not a matter of surprising your body.  After all, it's our bains that have the memory...it would seem that one's body has no choice but to react "in the moment" to what it's put through all the time, so it would be the long-term net changes that cause lasting results.  I guess the "cheat days" just help people to keep up the day-to-day changes and feel liike they can live a little within limits.  If you don't need/want to, I'd say don't feel like you must "cheat" your diet with occasional junk food or high calories...just switch up the types of foods you eat or add something different into the mix to keep it fresh!

Just my opinion...would like to hear what others have to say...  :)

 

I feel like they have ruined my progress.  I have gained 4 of the 6 pounds I lost back!  I don't know how it's possible because I never ate more than 2500 calories on any given cheat day (and I burn 1700 at sedentary), so that does not even come close to adding up to the 12,000 extra calories it takes to gain 4 pounds.  The cheat days kept me sane, but I don't think they are worth it.  It took me months to lose 6 pounds and only weeks to gain it back. 

I'm back in the game and I WILL see 129 before I leave for Mexico! 

Ive noticed that it does help.  After a week straight of strict 1500 calorie healthy food, I splurged and probably had 3,000 + calories in one day and then to my astonishment the next day or so I actually lost 1.5 pounds. I dont know if the body works harder to burn those extra calories.

I think it's an entirely individual thing.  I've found that I do tend to drop weight a few days after a "cheat" day, but everyone's bodies are different.

Cheat days also keep me from binging on something that I would otherwise enjoy in moderation.  For example, allowing myself a nice, reasonably-portioned Mexican dinner out every now and then keeps me from running to Taco Bell and scarfing down 3 Mexican pizzas.

I think it depends on your diet and your lifestyle. Personally, I don't do "cheat" days (although technically I'm not a calorie counter either, but shhhh, don't tell anyone!). I never stopped eating the stuff I like though. I haven't "deprived" myself of favourites. What has happened is that after eating healthy and knowing how good my body feels after fruits and vegetables I have lost my taste for a lot of the crap out there. I rarely have a desire to go grab ice cream (although I want chocolate a lot, so I picked up some of those 70% dark chocolate bars. 1 60 cal square satisfies my craving perfectly). I lost my taste for eating pizza all the time and greasy, high fat foods hold a lot less appeal to me now. They look less appealing and now they taste a lot greasier and much fattier (flavours I could not distinguish as well before!).

I find that cheat days are only necessary if you deprive yourself of the stuff that you really like. So I go out to dinner when I want to, I am mindful of what I order and when I feel like buying that Rolo chocolate milk, well then damn it I buy me that Rolo chocolate milk!

Well if you can't do it then it's probably a willpower thing. I don't want to give up 'bad' foods because I enjoy them, and in moderation they're fine. Plus with CC it's possible to make those 'bad' foods, not so bad...like if I eat out, I usually just drink water, I'll take a salad instead of fries, something that has less cheese, etc.

really unhealthy food doesn't appeal to me either now. that why i wonder if cheat days are just holding a lot of people back and making it harder on them. i find, in fact, as long as i eat healthy balanced food, and enough food, i never have cravings for anything i think is unhealthy, including meat and eggs and stuff. i can seriously eat vegetables all day long, and be like "oh my god i cant wait till dinner this split pea soup smells delicious" or when im really itching for something sweet i go crazy when we dont have bananas. in fact chocolate is one of the only things i still really really miss sometimes, but i also never stopped eating it! so i think that just proves that for me anyway cheating is still bad lol. its just my opinion though. and ughhh my bf eats 90% cacoa bars UGH. when he said "watch out its dark chocolate" i was really expecting something else

I will tell about my horrible experience. My first cheat day has started back in Oct.07 Since that time, I have been cheating non stop.

Bottom line is " NO, it is dangerous if you are a former binger like me".

You know I have to agree with people who say that cheat days seem to do something to your body.  I had a cheat day yesterday.  (Wasn't really thinking about what I was doing, too many issues going on yesterday.) I blew my diet by a 1000 calories but when I woke up this morning I lost another almost 2 pounds.  There has to be something to do with your metabolism somewhere in there.  It's not often I cheat, but if I need a boost, I try it and see what happens.  If I have to work harder to get those extra calories off, so be it.  Just go with the flow, we all have our bad and good days.

I have never had a cheat day, but I have had plenty of indulgence days.  I would prefer to think of them as "life days" because if I am doing this for the rest of my life, there will be days I go over...and some days I will probably straight pig out!  That's life.  There is no way I could be sucessful if I told myself I would never indulge at a fancy restaurant ever again, or have 3 mojitos in one night out with the girls, or have a big ol' ooey gooey cookie.

The problem I have is with the term "cheat."  It's like you are doing something bad or naughty.  Going over sometimes is OKAY...it's part of life.  If you set yourself up to think that every day you go over you have done something bad then you will never have a healthy relationship with food.  You don't have to tell yourself that french fries are now "bad food" and you have to learn to hate them, you just have to acknowledge that they are a "rarely" food.  Eating a fry while on a "diet" is not cheating.  It's the difference between a diet and a lifestyle because you have learned that 1 fry (or 30 fries!) will not ruin your day or your figure or your life.

I have gone over PLENTY of days.  Including yesterday.  But I plan for it, I work out a little more, I drink more water, I OD on fruits and veggies the next day.  I don't think these "cheat" days have hurt me...in fact I have consistently lost 1.7 pounds per week since joining CC and I am now toward the lower end of my healthy BMI range. 

As far as whether "cheating" helps lose weight, one time when I was getting frustrated that I wasn't losing and was even dropping my calorie intake day after day (to the point that I was eating just over 1200 for maybe 3 days in a row), and what got me out of the slump was taking a vacation, being a bit more indulgent (but not crazy) and then getting back with the plan the following week.  I really do think my body appreciated "knowing" that I wasn't trying to starve it and that it was okay to kick that metabolism into high gear.

So yeah, I think occasional indulgence is good.  And I would only call it cheating if you didn't count the calories and own up to your food choices.

Before I joined here, everyday I overate but on "mom's night out" I really hogged out.  So, a weekly splurge is in my schedule.  When I joined here I quickly lost all desire to binge eat, drive by eat and keep hoards of junk in the house.  "Cheat day" became "high calorie high nutrition day".  It's nice not to count every day and I feel included socially when I go out. 

It kind of depends on what you mean by "cheat."  About once every two weeks, I have a totally unplanned day where I say "heck with it," and eat whatever I want. I don't binge, though, and probably rarely exceed 2500 calories. And then I make sure to get back on the wagon the next day. The interesting thing is that, every time I've had one of those days, I've seen a drop in weight the very next morning.  I don't really have an explanation- it's just happened the last four times I've done it.  I'm thinking about planning one once a week, just to see that 1-2 lb drop the next morning!