Day Off?

So I am thinking of doing a "day off" once a week, where I eat the amount of calories for maintanence instead of weight loss.  Has anyone else had any good experiences with this?  I am thinking that it will help my body's metabolism to not slow down, as well as give myself a peace of mind that I can eat more one day, and kind of take a break.

Right now, I'm aiming for a 750 calorie deficit, where I eat 1750, but burn around 2500, when I exercise.  When I don't, which is probably when I would be looking at eating the maintanence calories, would be between 1800 and 2000. 

I have done the day off routine for 10 months. I have lost 50 pounds.  I am a HUGE proponent of doing it just that way.  Gives you something to look forward too.  On my day off I eat sensibly for two of the three meals..and for the third, I have whatever i am craving at the time.  It works!!!  but you have to be disciplined to get right back top it the next day....try it and see if it works...

See, the problem is that I am sometimes a binger.  I will eat something bad for me, which will catapult me into a 2000 calorie binge... which I am really trying to stop doing.  I haven't done this for about a month now, which is good.  Therefore, I think I still need to definitely count my calories, otherwise, I'll eat way too many.

I agree with tyrdrop, I can't stop.  If I eat one slice of pizza, I want 5 - or 1 cup of ice cream I want half the gallon.  I can't stop myself and then the cravings are back - after I've worked the whole week to ignore/eliminate them.  It's too hard a battle for me and frankly I don't need my life to be any harder.

I eat between 1400-1800 calories everyday and I work out 8-10 times per week doing cardio and strength training.  I've lost 26lbs in the last 4 weeks.  I am very overweight and every body is different, but on the days when I have tried to do maintenance, I went WAY over my intake.  The simpler the better I say.  But everyone has to find their own way - try it and see if it works for you.

As a former binger, I think the day off could result in disaster for you.  Just my opinion based on my own experiences.  If you try it, let us know how it goes.

Cheat days work VERY poorly for me. If for example, I eat at maint calories one day....I do more damage to my weeks weight loss than just the bottom line impact is to my week's deficit.

I think this happens for a couple reasons, though I am purely speculating! I tend to binge also, so often when I would allow myself that cheat day @ maint calories...I would choose foods I knew I could binge on and still stay at that calorie range. Bad for two reasons: a) feeds into my binge cycle b) messes up my digestion and I dont feel like Im burning calories at the baseline metabolism for a couple days....maybe because too much energy is spent on digestion, dont really know

What I have found works MUCH better, is to allow myself one craving every 7-10 days. For example, on Friday I reallly wanted a cinnamon swirl. I waited until today, made sure my deficit wasnt too terribly impacted, and balanced my diet out so I wasnt terribly carb-loaded (leading to glycemic drop later and the urge to binge).

I'm a massive supporter of "Cheat Days". I've not found it hard to get back into routine the next day, but everybody's different and it depends what works for you. If it'll make you feel better to have a cheat day, then do it. If it wont, then don't. Equally, if it's gonna keep you motivated for your calorie counting, then do it, but if it's going to hinder you and end up making you unhappy that you've "cheated", then don't.

I take "cheat day" in it's most literal sense...I cheat my usual daily calorie rules and just chuck the counting out the window for the day. If you're going to do it, you should enjoy it, or there's no point!

=)

Definitely try the one day off a week. I don't do a whole day though, usually just about half a day or just one meal once a week. That way I eat healthy until my non-diet time and than if I pig out "accidentally" than I don't feel so bad. Just try it once and if you do fine with it, than continue the day off. If it takes you off track to far than try just going out to get ice cream every Saturday if you did really well that week. But it sounds like you have a good idea of how you want to do the cheat day and I think it will work good for you. Let us know how it works out!

I think it did work out pretty well...

I felt somewhat guilty about what I ate yesterday, even though it wasn't that bad... I just ate a lot of calories, the things I ate were still relatively good for you.

Today though, I went to swim practice as well as the gym, and worked at the office all day (its not a desk job, more of a "get up and move office job"... hehe).  Anyway, I didn't eat anything unhealthy and felt satisfied pretty much the entire day.  After exercise, I had a 1000 calorie deficit, which after yesterday's 300 calories over, evened out to 350 calorie deficit each day.

I don't think that I'll take a cheat day every week... in fact, I think its better that I just try to go along as much as I can without them.  But when I've done well lately, truly feel hungry, etc, I think I will allow myself extra calories and compensate the next day. 

I swear by a daily cheat day. I will allow myself to eat whatever I fancy (and it doesn't affect the weight loss whatsoever). I have still lost loads of weight with the inclusion of cheat days. I spend the whole week looking forward to the day when I know I can eat what I like! That way, too, the foods you eat on a Cheat Day are extra special treats. It works. Go for it. (:

I actually think NOT having a day off would eventually lead to binging... If I go to long without giving into a craving I eventually cave and go completely overboard. I think a day off is a great idea because you need to be able to treat yourself every once in awhile.

Think of binging as being like alcoholism.  If you aren't an alcoholic but have just decided to not drink much, then a drink or 2 once a week is fine.  But if you're an alcoholic, 1 drink at any time is dangerous.

Just my opinion.  I'm not a binger and don't seem to understand the lack of self-control but I'm not an alcoholic either. I think I understand the addictive personality though.

It works for me because i feel this is something I can fit into my lifestyle.  I have been doing this since Jan 06 and I have lost 81 lbs.    I need to have a day where I can be more relaxed on calories.  I still try to make wise choices about what i am eating on that day.  But if I want something I usually don't eat I can have it :O)

Hi

Ok I had a my one  treat meal -actually it was just three large scoops of icecream for lunch on sat and then made sure i was active for the rest of the day and ate a light dinner of canned tuna and veges. Is it necessary to make up for it the next two days or can i juts eat my normal say 1800 calorie intake

what do you guys and gals handle the rest of the day OR day after?

My big thing is weekends off from counting. I do this because I work all week and then I drive to another state for the weekend to see my friends. We go out to eat, go to the movies, order out and stuff like that. However, what I try to do is, if I want to get something I do something slightly healthier. For example, if I go to a burger joint with my friends, I get chicken instead of beef and grilled instead of fried and I DO NOT eat the french fries.

I am still loosing a little over 1lb a week. The reason why this works is because my metabolism is used to handling fattier stuff over the weekend so it burns more fat. So, when I go back to my normal diet, my body will burn stored fat instead. This has worked far better for me then depriving myself  because I will feel deprived and eat whatever i can get my hands on.

Another thing I do is that I don't keep foods that I like to binge on around. (ice cream, chips, doritos, tasty cakes, etc.)  If I want one of those things as a treat I buy one portion and eat it then and there. I will not keep a box around because I will be tempted to eat it.

The day after my weekend, I will keep more fruit handy just to keep myself feeling full. Drinking lots of water also helps.

I'm a big proponent of a cheat meal, like say going out for chinese and eating the entire plate, but not an entire day where you eat whatever the hell you want.

I like the day off plan too...    Usually do mine on weigh in day...  I am trying to limit my meat intake..so that is a good day for the things I really like but not go way out there...   Just buy one portion of what you want and don't bring anything back to the house...   Just got to keep trying...  ;-)

I personally just cant do that.. THere are so many bday parties and holidays those totally wreck my weight loss any way  IM thinking about losing under my goal just so I can play around with my weight on those cursed days.

 

On the vast majority of weekdays, I eat my meals alone and am in total control of the food.  On weekends, I'm more likely to be doing social things, eating with other people, going out, etc.  I just plan to eat more on the weekends, but usually still within reason, just a few hundred calories more than I do on weekdays.  This works for me.  My weekly average is still low.  If a really special occasion comes up, I'll relax even more and eat whatever I want, but we're talking once every couple of months.  I'm still losing steadily.