Cheat 1 day a week on cut

[beonlyyourself_old]

Just wondering what you guys think about cheating with a meal one day a week, say a Friday! My family always have a Chinese on the Friday! My cut this week has even going axe, defeciting with 700 calories! Just don't want to stall my progress by having a cheat meal every week!

Any Experiance?

Cheers

[Fgenetics15]

Works great for me.
The leaner I get the more cheat meals/days I have.
Try to keep fat lower and carb intake higher during your cheat meal, but also allow yourself to get the satisfaction that you have been depriving yourself of throughout the week

[TheSauce9]

Just wondering what you guys think about cheating with a meal one day a week, say a Friday! My family always have a Chinese on the Friday! My cut this week has even going axe, defeciting with 700 calories! Just don't want to stall my progress by having a cheat meal every week!

Any Experiance?

Cheers

Actually, I have experience with two parts of this, your question, as well as your unasked question.

1. One cheat meal a week isn't going to stall anything, especially if you weigh yourself on Friday morning and cheat on Friday night, but it will certainly slow you down. Not a ton, but it does have setbacks, especially with all of the salt in chinese food.

2. Now, that being said, there are a ton of things you can eat on a chinese menu that aren't going to kill you. And most of these things are awesome. Chinese food is my favorite kind of food, and I love to have it probably once every other week, and as long as you portion correctly, and maybe plan the rest of your day around it, you won't be set back much at all. Salty as hell, but so delicious that it is worth it.

[gwem32170191]

It depends. If you plan it into your daily caloric intake for whatever day you want to "cheat" then it isn't really cheating. If you're cutting at -10% to -20% for six days of the week and eat +10% to +20% over one day of the week it's not going to kill you. Maybe minutely slow you down or make you feel crappy the next day (eating sushi and drinking the night before + working out in the morning with a hangover is the one of the worst experiences you can ever have)

The problem with "cheating" is it can easily turn into "binging" if you don't plan it out. Without sufficient willpower, a cheat day might turn into a cheat weekend, might turn into a week and then you're ****ed.

[TN42]

When I originally lost 60 pounds, I would have a cheat day once per week where I sometimes ate quite a bit. It was actually pretty stupid that I continued to lose weight so well with that thrown in there.

What it really comes down to is that if you're eating 700 calories less than your maintenance for 6 days per week, you'd have to eat 4200 calories above your maintenance on the 7th day to even stall your weight loss, let alone gain. You will slow it down somewhat compared to just eating at the same deficit that day, but the psychological and hormonal benefits of a good cheat sometimes are more than worth it, in my opinion.

[JVRICHARDS]

When I originally lost 60 pounds, I would have a cheat day once per week where I sometimes ate quite a bit. It was actually pretty stupid that I continued to lose weight so well with that thrown in there.

What it really comes down to is that if you're eating 700 calories less than your maintenance for 6 days per week, you'd have to eat 4200 calories above your maintenance on the 7th day to even stall your weight loss, let alone gain. You will slow it down somewhat compared to just eating at the same deficit that day, but the psychological and hormonal benefits of a good cheat sometimes are more than worth it, in my opinion.

My cheat days are pretty lame. I am cutting at 2100 cals, and try as I might yesterday, I topped out around 2800 cals.

[ndngolf]

After failing several times at a weight loss plan/program and finally getting it done this go 'round i will say that in my personal experience as a regular dude that has never been in "bodybuilding" shape like a lot of peeps on here are (and i mean that very respectfully) i find that cheat days lead down a bad road. Even though they don't set you back i think that for us regular folk they are very detrimental to your psyche. I view cheat meal for myself and other regular people to trying to quit smoking buy have one every other week. Pretty soon you'll be able to rationalize a cheat DAY instead of MEAL and after awhile you'll wake up and be 2 weeks behind. Honestly if your overweight like myself and starting a REAL weight loss program, you need to realize that your thinking of food is part of the problem and a cheat meal is just ignoring the root cause of your condition to begin with. Thats just me tho.

[ssum]

I've been through three cuts (lost weight, gained weight) and I always have one cheat day a week. Personally, I enjoy my cheat days! It does set me back a day or two of progress though. G'luck!

[Codex450]

Personally, Cheat days once a week just didn't work for me because they would turn into a binge.....

[sephiroth7240]

You know, it REALLY depends on the person. Some people can go months and months without a cheat day and be perfectly fine. Some people essentially need a cheat day because it'll satisfy cravings. I mean, it really just depends. Find what works for you. Now, are cheat days bad? No, not really. I mean, unless we're talking a 7,000 calorie cheat day or something. I would advice still trying to get enough protein though, and to SOMEWHAT control yourself (no 7,000 calorie day). A cheat day once a week is perfectly fine if you need or simply want it. Also, I've read that having a re-feed is actually good for restoring certain hormones, like leptin, in your body. Just do keep in mind that a cheat day isn't necessarily your optimal re-feed.

[beonlyyourself_old]

WOW! Just want to thank every single one of you for your in depth replys, really did help me a tonne. I didn't know so many would reply with lots of view points! I think from that, im going to see what i weigh on Sunday(weigh in day) And go from there.

Again like a few of you said, rather a cheat MEAL then DAY is what im doing, i find my self if i have a cheat DAY.. That follows to me feeling horrible the next day so i tend to just eat crap again, so a Chinese cheat MEAL on the Friday, im going to stick with and see how the scales go!

Thanks alot for all the advice, going to rep each and every single one of you.. Helped me to make my decision without over thinking stuff regarding calories ect!

Cheers!!!

[Jrosenfeld]

I just want you to know, I cheated last night.. I do weigh my self everyday but for no real purposes more because of I have time to kill when the shower is warming up. Anyways I'm trying to lose weight just like you and I weighed in at 144.3 yesterday morning..I ate my average meals throughout the day just like everything else. However my girlfriend was over and she hates it when I don't eat properly so she was teasing me with telling me how good chicken nugets were from mcdonalds... So with my mouth watering and sex on the table... I wasn't going to pass the opportunity.. I had a 10 piece mcnugget with sauce around ~450 calroies(This was an added meal to my diet)...However I did have intercourse so I probably sheded some cals here or there, but I did feel like poop for eating the mcnuggets...Anyways this morning I woke up and weighed my self and came in at 144.0 I know weight fluctuates but cheating here and there doesn't really hurt you.
(this is 100% srs)

[BigD208]

I have found if I keep it to like every 10-14 days I can have some straight disgusting cheat days without any noticeable sertbacks. I'm talking anywhere from 5-10k food fests, usually involving alcohol.

[iEagleV]

If you feel bad for having a cheat meal just do extra cardio that day. Simple

[beonlyyourself_old]

Do you guys still find.. Even if you only have 1 cheat MEAL a week. You still feel crap the day after like the full wee was for nothing? I do! Haha

[sephiroth7240]

Do you guys still find.. Even if you only have 1 cheat MEAL a week. You still feel crap the day after like the full wee was for nothing? I do! Haha

I'm familiar with the feeling, but you need to convince yourself that it's all mental.

[Tommy W.]

Just make sure your overall weekly calories are low enough for the desired results

[Arabmab]

The key is to know thyself. If mentally you can deviate from "the plan" for one meal per week without going overboard or losing steam then by all means eat what you like at that meal and enjoy the time with your family. I agree with one of the above posters that cheat meals can lead down a bad path for many of us. Personally I've had two "cheat" meals in 6-months... Know thyself!

[beonlyyourself_old]

THanks for all the feedback and advice! Really do appreciate seeing everyone elces Experiances with cheating and when and how to overcome it!! Cheers!

[Deutscher32]

I tried to have a cheat day yesterday... on way home from fishing with the girls at bout 8 and they wanted to pick something up on the way... 2 of us didnt have pants on so it was a drive thru only option (or I woulda had subway (meatball sub mmmmmm)) .. so they decided red rooster and maccas... so I thought most healthiest option would be a chicken burger.... found it very difficult to eat the burger and only had a few chips (way too salty) before I started feeling sick from the taste.... my cheat days would be 1 day of the weekend wen I hit the clubs and drink lol.

[cebby1985]

I have cheat meals once every 2 wks. Lately its been every 3 wks. But when I cheat, I'm talking full on buffet, ice cream til I almost pike. In fact, when I started, I ate myself sick on purpose so I wouldn't crave bad four again. Since Sept of 2011, I've lost 55ish lbs and still going strong

[Tommy W.]

on way home from fishing with the girls at bout 8 and they wanted to pick something up on the way... 2 of us didnt have pants .

Hmmmmmmm. I thought this had potential

[apollo1975]

I'm 5 or so weeks in to a cut/fat loss programme and confused by the whole 'cheat day'. Surely the name is a giveaway, I'd be cheating, right?

I haven't cheated at all yet in 5 weeks, not even faltered and seen steady weight loss since I worked out a good deficit which for me is about 1850 calories.

I must admit the last week or so I've been constantly tempted to have a cheat meal, not even a whole cheat day, just a meal. But the food i want is good old english battered fish and large chips, which is about 2500 calories in the one meal. Now even though i'm unsure whether the one meal will harm me, I'm kinda thinking the reason i'm having to do this strict eating is because of my love of food like that. So i'm constantly arguing the pros and cons of eating it and also i would like to reach my goal as quickly as possible, so thinking that if that one meal, slows me down in any way, shape or form, it's a bad thing.

What do you guys think?

[robwigan]

depends on the person bro, i think that if your losing weight and trying to stick to a super strict diet that if your not enjoying youll struggle to stick to it, this obviously depends on the induvidual. for me having one pizza a week with my gf on a friday night has kept me sticking to a bbing life style rather than a 3 month cut that id despise and going back to what i was. its about making it fit in your lifestyle not your diet. obviously some people can start dieting strict and stay strict it just doesnt bother some and thats great but others like my self, i think cheat meals with help keep some of us on the right track