100% my own views on cheat days

im talking about eating pizza, ice cream and junk all in one day... if your going to be nasty in reply please dont im just stating my opnion and some fact :(

this is a extract from my journal... i had more about this in it but i made it private in fear of attack.. but i just want to add this onto the public eye... opnions welcome but not attack or sarcasticness!! -- sorry about the caps i was in a huge rant when i typed this!

1. Even if it is JUST ONE DAY... your filling your body with CRAP! sugar, fat and salt and way too much of it, it wont thank you and its damn well NOT GOOD FOR YOU.
2. HOW ARE YOU GETTING READY FOR A LIFESTYLE CHANGE??? if you have one cheat day, that WILL start to become 2 cheat days..then 3.. then your back to where to started. Why not try and find HEALTHY snacks instead of the ice cream and stuff?!
3. One day a week adds up to 4 times a month with then is 48 days a year. Well, over a month and a  half of eating poo? enough time for your body to develop a disease from it!!
4.  Even staying within your caloire allowance, in my mind is utterly pointless if your gona eat crisps, ice cream and cheese all frigging day. No nutrients (well very few swimming in crap) and your blood suger levels will CRASH again later, and if you carry on eating poo all day.. the next day you will eat more to get your levels of nutrients up AND blood sugar levels normal!! so more cals, and more sugar!

Hi han!!  I don't think that the purpose of "Cheat Days" is to fill up on every bad food on sight, at least that's not how I use them.  I believe in moderation - dark chocolate has beneficial properties to it as well as being high in sugar so if you plan for it, it should be alright to do in moderation.  That can be a certain caloric amount per day or one day a week where you allow yourself to have some, not twelve bars...just one.  That way it lessens some of our tendacies to binge is we are so inclined. 

It is just another way of portioning and it doesn't have to be about chips etc - it can be about quanitity of good stuff too  one day where you don't stress about how many grams something is you know? 

For myself, my boyfriend and I have a date night once per week for us to reconnect as a couple - the fun part of coupledom if you will.  This is on Friday and that is my cheat day - all day long I still follow my lifestyle but at supper I allow myself to order what ever I want - I still try to colour between the lines, I just don't freak out that my meal has butter in it etc etc.  Then we may go to a movie and I will order popcorn and a diet pop or water.  Or, sometimes we have get togethers with friends - especially in the summer - and I will allow myself a couple of drinks and some snacks. 

I don't believe this is making me unhealthy because I believe in everything in moderation, as far as food goes, but you are right - you have to be honest with yourself and if having one day means it will turn into everyday then this is probably not for you - if your doing it so you can eat fried crappy salty food then again, perhaps this is not the way for you to go.   It's just an option for some of us.  :)  Happy Friday!

Could you drill sargent that into my ear? I'm having a real hard time the past few days. My mind says no, my ~~~(what? what is making me crave junk? Flo? maybe, but I should be stronger then flo) says awwww go ahead, you can always get back on track tomorrow. Thats what I said yesterday, and the day before. Usually, I have no problem eating the right stuff, hate the wrong stuff and my determiniation and resistance to failure win, but not in the past two days.... I soooo agree with every word your saying, but I cant seem to put it into action, atleast not today.

*stands at full attention* Yes, Drill SARGENT!

han, if that works for you, I think that's great!

It would not work for me, however. Having watched a few people die, I realize in an every-day-kind-of-reality way that life is precious and should be lived, and frankly, food is, or can be, and IMHO should be, enjoyable. I like food. That is *quite* obvious! :-D

I have junk food every day. I would be unlikely to stick to any eating plan that cut out every bit of ice cream, cake, cookies, hot wings, and pizza.

Many people, when told they CANNOT have something, crave it, and become increasingly upset as the deprivation continues. Many people make plans to cut out ALL junk food, happy food, comfort food... and then fail, and then feel bad that they have failed.

Fie on all of that, I say. I'm not going to set myself up for failure.

What works for me is to plan junk food, fun food, whatever one wants to call it, into EVERY SINGLE day. With the possible exception of last Saturday, when I went to a party, I have not been over my maintenance calories even ONCE since I started doing this. (And the party was more than offset by exercise and light eating the next day.)

I ate cookies today. I don't feel deprived. Everything else I've eaten has been excellent, nutritious food. 200 calories of junk is a small price to pay for being able to stick to my eating plan.

The bottom line is that the benefits of weighing less are greater than the price of eating a few hundred calories of junk food. Some sugar is not going to overcome the significant benefits that have come from already losing 10% of my previous high weight, and if allowing for some junk food helps me reach my goal, I'm going to keep reaching for the junk food.

YMMV.

hay, good good comments back, thats the sort i like! nothing bad ment by what i said at all - i find everyones opnions good and intersting. Athena, i understand what you are saying and im 100% with treats! i mean, if i said i was squeaky clean and did not snack on bad food i would be a lier! i have a slimfast snack bar everytime i do my cross trainer (99 cals 3g of fat) and thats my chocolate fix. I donrt beleave in cutting everything bad out of your diet.

m3lody dont be silly, everyone has trouble days! hehe me as a drill sargent..should i have a tash??

Im only stateing (which i have been corrected on faily!) that its not good to eat junk all day..

roxanned im honeslty reporting that is what i thought a cheat day was. If im understanding it correctly now - a cheat day is a healthy day up to an point (say, till lunch coz dinner is a meal out and/or booze) or a treat snack (healthy meals then a big slice of high cal cake fitted in to your day) that is what i would think is a great stagery.. i just didn't understand it complety :)

thankyou guys for your replys, and like i said im glad we arebeing friendly over this i in no way set out to offend or upset!

Oh, Han, I'm SOOOOO offended, I can't even express how offended I am!!!

:-D

(Yes, I'm kidding! I'm kidding!!!)

I don't have "cheat days," but from what I gather from others' posts, there are lots of different ways to do them. Some people don't count calories, some count up to a point, some go up to maintenance, et cetera and so on. I suppose some really go overboard, too!

I never understand why people get so defensive - I love to debate - I always walk away with a new and fresh perspective from another persons brilliance and insight and experiences!! :)  A closed mind is a sad thing!!

Han I think that if you are going to fall off the wagon it should be for special occaisions and not a scheduled once a week thing. I think that you should allow yourself days when you eat perhaps in a different manner that allows for more calories. Like on the weekend loosen up the rules a little. But as a whole if I want a treat I turn to something like strawberries, blueberries, sugar free cool whip or oatmeal. I have these as treats every day. Chocolate is okay a little bit at a time. I also like carob chips. They have less fat and a few chips sprinkled on my strawberries is very yummy.

I agree that pigging out on unhealthy things for a whole day is not good. And I would hope that when people think of a cheat day they do not think that it means they can eat unhealthy for an entire day. I would like to interpret that as the day when I can treat myself to something a little special.

Han I don't know if they have these where you are but there is a healthier chocolate bar called CocoaVia... very good. I highly recommend them.

roxanned, are you part Hungarian, perchance?

Sadly i dont think they do,, i should have soemthing healther but i do feel naughty eating those slimfast snacks.. chocolate/caramel and peanut.. so good!

ninav yeh, i loosen up when i go out, but cuz i have been doing this for about two years now, im still worried about caloires its ingrained into me now. I will still go out for a meal, but pick out the lowest calorie option.. i only realy have deserts if they are healthy...like  apple pie or something like a fruit salad... "the apple pie isn't healthly" i hear you say..true.. but i feel better coz its got the world Apple in it!  XD  hehe im kidding. But yes, Special occasions like birthdays, xmas, weddings, celebrations and girly nights out (mine are rare) i calm about cals a little and then exercise my arse off the next day OR on the same day as i plan to go out!

hehehe yeh, i love debates and im always finding new stuff out! hum, so do you think some people do go overbaord with this cheat day thing and do it wrong?

Roxannd another version of that statement is:

A CLOSED MIND IS A WONDERFUL THING TO LOSE! ;D

Now, I'll eat junk food, but Cool Whip? Never!

Hi Athena - no I am 1/4 Pensylvanian Dutch...what ever that is! The rest of me is Irish, Scottish and English.  Almost a true Heinz 57!!

On Tuesday I went to a seafood resteraunt and had fried fish and a couple of beers.  I was only about 300 calories over my maintenance allowance, and I didn't feel bad about it.  I hadn't had any alcohol in months, but I didn't feel hung over or anything in the morning.  The funny thing is the next evening I was working out, and after I got off the treadmill I felt weak and shaky, and I felt like I might faint.  I ate some toast and felt a little better, but the effects of the bad food REALLY affected me post workout.  It was a good lesson about the effects of fried food and beer on my body.

I've said more than once that one of my goals is to break forever the habit of eating too much in one sitting.  Taking a day to go ahead and eat whatever and however much I want would be counter productive for me.

Other people can do it their way, I have to do it mine

My "cheat" days are simply days when I eat up to my maintenance calories - 1800.  I eat the same foods and add things like avocados or olive oil, or I'll have larger servings of meat.  I still have my veggies and fruits and dairy and whole grains. 

I want to make changes that will last me the rest of my life.

I dont like to think of it as a cheat day. I also dont like to think of my food as "wrong" or "bad"

If I make an unhealthy choice, it dosnt nessasarly mean Ill do it again.

Youre right, though, the body dosnt thank you for unhealthy choices, thats for sure.

I don't think it's that controvertial... anyways as most here have said I don't think the majority of people who use "cheat" days intend to cram every bit of "bad" or "junk" food into one day.

For me when I began this a cheat day was really important. It was a bribe to myself that if I was really careful about counting the calories and making healthy choices then I could take a mental break one day a week. Like most this mental break did not mean that I broke out the speed dial and ate pizza, chicken wing, burgers, fries, chocolate and cheese cake in one meal all it meant was that I allowed myself to go out that day and eat what I "felt like" which may have included a pasta dish at diner that I never woudl have touched on a "diet day" or allowing a dessert.

I think when you first start changing your eating habits it can be very stressful, so having a mental break from the process for me, meant that I've stuck with it a little better. I can get very all or nothing, and allowing myself to have one foot in and one foot out at the beginning means that I'm much more persistent than if I had failed at being all-in right from the begining.

Sure, this may mean it's a longer process for me. But, in the end I know I'm getting there, even on the "cheat days" that I do allow myself now, I know I'm eating a lot less and makeing a lot healthier choices that I would not have made before... and, these choices are voluntary not diet driven. This to me signals that the process is working.

The whole thing depends on how far you go. I had a cheat day a few days ago, and as usual I went for high-fat stuff. An ounce of brie. A wonderful steak that was a pretty fatty cut. But my fat was only 28% (it's usually around 23%), and I still had a deficit of 160 calories. I felt that was successful. I say have what you crave but don't forget about moderation.

Ugh.... today, I went totally bazonkers with the overeating... I nibbled all day long on a box of wheat thins... til it was GONE... that's right, 1300 calories in wheat thins down the old hatch.  I worked over 800 of those calories off on the elliptical, but still felt crappy, so I went out with a friend tonite and by around 9:00 p.m., we were hungry, so we went out for Indian food and I ate the WHOLE thing, all of it... Palak Paneer down the hatch.  I'm probably pretty dang close to 3000 calories today, if not over, and reading this post is sending my arse straight back to the gym for another hour to make up for it.... LOL... oy.  11:00 p.m. and I'm hitting the gym to burn off my binge day.  Mind you, this is my first binge day in months, but still. 

Theeere!!  Much better!  3200 calories in and 1800 calories out via exercise.  With an expenditure of 1900 calores, I still have a deficit today!!  Hooo!

Okay, back on topic though.  What I did today was NOT healthy and NOT the best way to go about doing things, but.... point is, we all have bad days.  Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep going!  Even though 1 day of unhealthy choices isn't ideal, it's better than 7 days of them, and if it keeps you sane and motivated, and helps you to attain moderation and balance on the quest toward a whole and healthy lifestyle, then take them! 

Capiche?  G'nite! =)

I think there are very few of us who can eat 100% healthy food. I have lost nearly 60 pounds with a "cheat day" which I prefer to call my day off because I don't consider it "cheating" Now do I make it a 24 hour binge of junk food? certainly not, but Sunday for me includes going out for dinner with my husband and two teenage sons and ordering whatever I choose. The quality time after a week of busy schedules is really enjoyable. I usually also have some sort of treat during the day. What this day does for me is re-energizing. My "diet" is never longer than 6 days. I get a day off from exercising and boy my legs feel great on Monday and ready to go full speed. Also if I really want to have something I always have ability to say it's only 3 days away or 2 days away whatever the case may be. I know that some of you, especially those of you who are heavier can understand that desperation of fighting off a craving that as soon as you give into it, and most of you will you feel like you've failed. If I only eat less healthy food on Sunday, it's allowed and it's much better for my psyche. I've done this many times before and yes I lost the weight much more quickly but only to gain it all back and then some when I couldn't take the diet anymore. After seven months I have to say I never feel deprived.
One last thing, when I decided that I was going to do this again, I made a vow to make it about eating healthier and exercising rather than about what number the scale says. A licensed nutritionist told me that you need to eat healthy 80% of the time. I figure that if I take one day off that's eating well about 86% of the time. I think if you can find what works for you and makes you healthier, that's what you need to do.