Cheat Day!

How do you guys feel about a cheat day? I'm completely for it. I mean only one day a week and don't go too overboard. But, for example today instead of cooking something for dinner that was healthy we got chinese. Pretty fair right?

A cheat day is alright with me too. I usually do it once every 2 weeks or so. I just eat up to my maintenance calories and not try to make it too unhealthy, but I go out to eat or something.

Last saturday I went to a vietnamese restaurant. mmm :)

You should probably drink a lot more water today, though. There will be a lot of water retention due to your sodium intake today...I'm guessing, since it's chinese

I think a cheat day is good every now and again.  I try not to make it a def. day though but rather an occasion.  For example I didn't do the traditional Christmas meals / food or New Years.......I was lucky [or not depending on your view:-)] my hubby was away so there was no temptation. 

However, over the last 2 months, I twice had a horrible & intense craving for cinnamon buns.  I have never eaten them in my life, so not sure where that came from.:-)  I think my body was just in shock from no sugar, white flour or processed foods.:-):-)  And twice I gave in after a day or two, and had a half a one on each occasion.  The way I figured it was better to give in and have half a one, then to ignore it and throw an entire one [or two] down my throat when i did gave in.  [Thats my logic and I am sticking to it!!:-)]  Neither of them made a difference in my weight loss.

 But tonight my husband and I went out to the Keg Steakhouse to celebrate Xmas, new years and his birthday.  Oh boy!  even eating only half of everything, i put in 2000 cals. sigh.  But it was sooooo good and my first steak in 4 months.  I do feel queasy now...I think from all the sugar...I had half a dessert too.  sigh.  Hopefully it won't dent my 12 lbs loss since begin Dec. And I am sure the guilt will have me working out twice as hard tomorrow.:-) 

This is a life style change for me, not a diet...so slow and steady is the rule.  And a decadent meal every few months is not the end of the world. :-)

I think my cheat day is going to be once a month.  I have a lot of weight to lose and if I schedule a day weekly, it's going to defeat my own personal goals and extend my timeline in which to lose it.  Yesterday was my cheat day.  I had chinese food.  While eating very small portions and choosing white rice over fried, it's still bad. Plus, really high in sodium. I ate chicken & broccoli because I knew it would be one of the healthier choices.  Chinese food is one of the international food creations that is hard for me to say no to.  Typically, if I'm craving chinese, I buy Lean Cuisine or another diet brand of it to satisfy me til the next urge strikes and I give in.

I had sesame chicken it was really delicious but I'm sure it was really not good for me. But I feel like i deserved it since I never went over or even close to my calorie intake for the day all week. But I got it out of my system. Plus my fiance is getting really tired of healthy dinner. He told me. He's like cause your on a diet dosn't mean I am! So I have to please him as well. I feel bad not plus he's been sick he deserved something he liked.

I think husbands and fiances and boyfriends make losing weight harder when you live with them espically when they're like mine super skinny and eat like a horse. He complains about all the health food in the house. It kills me.

   I personally give myself a cheat moment, at least once a week, but generally, I don't make a day of it. I just realize that not EVERY meal of EVERY day is going to fit into my busy schedule or narrow little plan. I have found that eating properly requires a little planning, preparation and persistence. As a single mom with three children, umm well, I am regularly at a deficit in time or energy required to do these things. So I do my best one meal at a time sometimes ... LOL
   Today, for example, I gave myself some leniency and made that ham and cheese omelet I was craving, but held back on my snacks .. opting to drink some water with lemon to assure that I wasn't thirsty. I still had my reasonable lunch and even went out to dinner with my children (Applebees). One trick I use is, BEFORE I ever put a knife to my steak, I ask for a take-out tray and split my meal, setting aside half for another meal... another day. This helps me because I still belong to the 'clean plate club" and I don't absent-mindedly finish everything that was piled on my plate to begin with while lost in the course of conversation with my girls. (We have enchanting dinners when we all have time to eat together ... teenagers argh!)

SO, I guess the shortwinded version of that is ... Assess, Adapt and Overcome ... just because it isn't "diet food" doesn't mean you can't make other options fit into your meal plan. Eventually, when in maintenance weight, we all have to learn to incorporate these types of things into our lifestyle changes. I still maintain that "diet" is a four letter word ... LOL

Namaste!

~Katt

I give myself one cheat day for every 10 lbs I lose.