Planning a cheat day
 

I've found that I go a little bonkers if I don't cheat every few weeks - a little cheat turns into a full-on binge. So, I try to plan them so that I feel like I have some level of control over my cheating!

Some friends are throwing a birthday/Halloween party for me and these friends are famous for their wild parties (I'm doomed as I have an accounting workshop the following morning! LOL). Not to mention the revelers in the Castro district of San Francisco.

Aaaaanyway! I'm full-on planning that Halloween will be a cheat day for me, but I'm undecided if I should take advantage of the day and go out to breakfast and lunch with high-carb options or just limit it to the evening when the party starts. I've found that normally, if I cheat a little bit, I tend to say "well, darn. I've screwed up the whole day anyway. Might as well make a go of it."

So how do you guys plan your cheat days? Or do you? How do you keep it from turning into a "cheat weekend?"

I plan ahead if I can, and try to practice damage control. In fact, when you plan it ahead of time, it's not cheating in my book. It's taking a break. As long as you're planning it, you're in control.

Since it's mainly the party you're thinking of, I'd stay LC during the day - honestly, you'll feel a lot better in the morning. ;) The few times I've cheated early in the day, I'm whooped by early evening. At least if you wait until night time, you can just sleep it off and wake up with a fresh start. :thup:

Drink plenty of water, too, especially if there's going to be alcohol. ;)

Happy Halloween!

I cheat about once every two weeks. I try and make it only one meal though.
It's not always planned either , sometimes I just know I need to . I honestly think I fall completely off the wagon if I didn't.
Have a great time at the party. Tina

My DOCTOR told me to take off WOE 1 day a month. She explained it 2 ways, I won't cheat just looking forward to the day AND if I was totally terrible that day and ate like a PIG, I would feel so bad the next day that I would be more in control the next time... She is a VERY cool DR

Mary B

Everyone has to do their own thing, but why have a planned cheat day? Doesn't that make it hard to stay on this WOL? Personally, I avoid cheats if I can but that's just me. I just think planning a cheat day would be frustrating! Mike

I do not believe in cheating. It just leads to more "eating off plan" and what is the point of that if we are trying to improve our health and well being?

You should do what you want... but I can't post here that I think it is a good idea... because I don't think it is.

I just got back from a conference -- four days in a hotel with meals provided. Thinking that it would be too difficult to avoid carbs I fully intended to cheat, but when the time came I just couldn't do it. I ordered eggs in my room before the breakfasts and was able to stay on plan during lunches and dinners. I ate more nuts than I normally would and drank two cups of coffee, but that was it! Maybe this really is becoming a way of life.

:yay: Way to Go, Emmalou :yay:

It always seems to be easier to let yourself indulge when your not in your normal environment, but you did WONDERFUL!!

For me, since my doctor gave me the green light to have 1 free day a month, I don't to seem need it or really want it. Isn't it amazing when we take the power away from food and give it back to ourselves!!

Mary B

Hi delilah:

I agree with Kristine, that planned cheats are different from impulsive cheats.

I'm following BFL which has a planned "free day" every Sunday. It's premise is to trick the body from thinking that it's dieting to help speed up the metabolism. This is totally different than an impulsive cheat/binge.

Binges are about lack of control. I know ALL about them. To me, these free days are about control. Usually I only allow a cheat for one meal (one serving always balanced with protein) b/c I think more than one meal sets off the "hog wild" mentality in me. I'm finding over time that I'm slowly learning moderation. I could only have learned moderation from planned, controlled cheats. And to be honest, the pull of high carb foods has started to fade away. There are some "free days" where I don't have a cheat meal, just to prove to myself that the "free meal" isn't controlling me.

I've had 2 boxes of Halloween candies sitting in my trunk for a couple of weeks now. A year ago, I could never have done that. I'd binge on the candies within a day. ....oops, I just realized that with all the hot weather we've had, they may have melted in my car! :lol:

My point is that some people can handle this kinda stuff, some can't. I don't think you were asking whether or not you should cheat, just whether you should cheat all day. I'd go with the "one meal" cheat. The "hog wild" cheats are harder to control in my opinion. You're still in control if you say "I'm only cheating for one meal, not all day".

HTH, and have a great party!

Wanda

If I cheat at all, it tends to be with "legal", i.e. sugar free, stuff like candy and cake. There are so many good ones of those out there these days that it hardly makes sense to eat non lc ones. Russell Stover makes incredibly good chocolates and Robbinsnest.com makes wonderful lc cake rolls. The maltinol (sp?) or other sugar alcohols in them don't seem to bother my digestive system, and haven't caused major stalls.

The one thing I do actually cheat on, about once a month, is some kind of fried seafood. Haven't figured out a satisfactory way to lc them. But I don't give in to the fries and hushpuppies and slaw that come with them. Just the fried shrimp or fried clam strips. There are usually more of them than I can eat, anyhow.

Oh. I do drink alcohol (blended whiskey with water) on a fairly regular basis. Probably slows my weight loss down a bit, but at least I am still married and haven't killed anyone.....

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday to you,

Kay

If cheating every 2 weeks, or whenever keeps you on the plan then please do it. It's better for you to follow the plan 28 out of 30 days than 0 out of 30! Don't worry what others say, do what works for you and don't feel bad about it.

Planned going off the diet wouldn't work for me - I'm afraid I could come up with all sorts of Rationalizations for not eating the right things every other minute.

I do eat the low carb chocolate, and I dont consider that "cheating" -- I'm just keeping my carbs under 30 a day, and I work them into my total.

Terms like "cheating" always seem to rub me the wrong way, anyway, after all we ARE adults and we make choices. Probably why I was never too popular at Weight Watchers meetings <evil grin>

The only thing that kept me sane and on track
 

When I first started atkins and of course after induction, I used to give myself days "off" from low carbing. For example, I give myself major holidays, like thankgsiving. I don't go overboard, but, I give myself permission to eat that piece of pie and not feel guilty. And sometimes I would give myself Saturdays or Sundays that I could eat anything I wanted to. In most cases, I wouldn't eat as many carbs as I planned on. Which turned out to be a good thing in proving to myself that I am not as carb addicted as I used to be. So, I totally agree with having a carb day to allow your body some fun. In most cases this won't hurt you, but just remember to get back on the wagon the next day and eat right again. Don't make exceptions everyday.
Chao, Belle

I've pretty much sworn off cheat days. That one friggin' cheat plays total havoc on my weightless. I did a "cheat" meal last Wednesday and went from 216 to 219.5 the very next day. As of today I'm still a half-pound off from my starting weight of 216. The five days it has taken me to lose the extra water weight could have been time spent on burning actual fat but alas. I don't think I'll be scheduling any cheat days for a long, long time.

I know cheat days work for a lot of people but my body is way too prone to excess water weight but if it works for you, go for it!

monthly carb adventure
 

I hate the term "cheating" so i just call it "off plan" or carb adventure.
I do this once a month aprox (not planned as a specific time of month or anything) but on the day of adventure, I'll eat whatever i am craving (which is usually either dim sum or sushi) both of which I can eat loads of unfortunately. Funny thing is, next day I have no gain and the day after that I usually lose between 1-3 lbs that stay off- don't know how or why, but YAY for me!
I'm a pretty slow loser (compared to others I have read stats on) but I am averaging 1-2 lbs a week loss now, on top of the monthly 1-3 lbs I lose after the heavy carb intake. Maybe it kicks the metabolism into gear or something- I only do heavy excersice about 3 times a week and have slacked off on weight lifting. Does anyone else have this loss after a carbfest?

My only "off-plan" food is pizza. It is the only thing I couldn't give up entirely! I allow myself to have pizza once every few weeks or so. It has actually helped to boost weightloss because I don't have a lot of fat/calories in my diet (I don't eat any red meat, so lots of chicken = lean meat). Otherwise, I tend to stall often. The thing is that I don't consider having the pizza cheating or giving up or setting myself back. I am LCing for good now and I can't imagine changing back to how I used to eat. I'm happy I have pizza once every three weeks and LC the rest of the time, compared to stuffing all those carbs into my face every day all the time before. If you can't have "off-plan" days or meals, that's cool...that's what you need to do. If you can have an "off-plan" day or meal, that's great, too. As long as you're LCing overall and feeling better, that's all that matters. Just my .02.

~Kelly Deneen

Way of life
 

When i first started Atkins I fully planned on cheating. But I havent. This has become a way of life for me. Alot of fantastic side-effects too, besides weight loss.....no more acid reflux, Painful intestinal gas, pms has eased up considerably...I got on the scale this morning ..and i cried because i am losing weight. I was so happy. I dont even want to cheat.

I think one reason why we have different ideas of "cheating" or whatever word you want to use for it, is because we are different stages of weight loss. Some of us still have 50 (or 70 or 20) pounds to go, and others have achieved their goals and are doing maintenence.
Now I may have slipped a couple of times, but I go back to my plan immediately because I want to reach my goal weight. I stall VERY easily, so I really pay for every bite that isn't planned. Once I get to my goal, I know it will be easier to have those little indulges, like pie at Christmas, but until then, I cannot cheat.
This is just one of those YMMV things, I guess.

I never plan to cheat, because there are too many things that sneak up on me...like going over to my Dad's house and my stepmom has made her (justly) world famous lasagna...but only for special events like that will I go off plan, and then it's only for one meal.
Often, I'll say to myself, "If this restaurant/event/occasion is too hard to make work as a LC'er, I will go off plan" but then it turns out none of the high carb stuff appeals to me, or I have so many choices in low carb that it's ridiculous to skip one of them.
But then, I'm pretty fortunate in that I don't have too many cravings, and I've found great substitutes for the things I do miss, from low carb candy to a different base for my pizza.
Only you know who much you will stall by indulging, and how much you can indulge before the penalty gets too high.
And don't indulge in nothing! So many times, I look at the treat, and think, "You are so not worth it."
And it's true.

I agree here. when people bug me about not eating something that they consider harmless (why not just one bite of a brownie?), I tell them that if I do eat something like that, it has to be WORTH IT.
Like for me, sometimes one real tortilla chip at a Mexican restaurant is worth it. Or a peanut sized taste of cake at a wedding, or the champagne for the toast.

But that's me. :sunny:

If I cheat it will be all over so I don't!

I have read on the forum that if you are planning to cheat it should only be ONE meal and consumed within one hour. Not all day.

If you can do this, more power to you but I thought Dr. Aktins says that this is too hard on our bodies to go off and on again back into induction?

Well I did a cheat weekend after 5 weeks on induction. I ate bagels and donuts and chocolate and ice-cream... yum! And champagne! But, as others have said, I didn't have as great a desire to eat these foods. Going off the plan worked out fine for me- I ended up losing a kilo- but I am not going to rely on that for weightloss. Every body is different. I think planning to have meals which don't strictly match the woe you are following is a good idea however- just once in a while. I know personally that if I have something to look forward to, it is easier to say no !

I completely agree. I am in the LCing WOL but I have cheats about once or twice a week as long as they aren't sugar. However, the difference is I would never have a white roll with chips or mashed potatoes. Every meal now has protein. My whole way of thinking about food and nutrition has altered and going on a cheat doesnt change that.

i used to plan low-fat cheat days......but now i dont plan
on cheatin at all hehehe

Another reasont I love CAD. Don't have to worry about "cheating". I just work the plan and stay happy, satisfied, and cheat free.

Deb

True...CAD would be the ultimate "cheat" by the standards of Atkins and other plans... while it IS a myth that you can binge on carbs for an hour and not gain. You have a serving of your carb of choice, BALANCED out with protein and low-carb veggies..and the rest of the day is "stricter", so there's no such thing as a free lunch, or in this case free carb!

I just experienced this after a 3 week stall, I gave in to wine and pizza, then chips the next day, the next few days my weight started going down again. I don't want to make a habit of cheating, but maybe once every month or so does help kick start weight loss again!

So this thread is from 2003 and it seems some of these "cheaters" disappeared and well.. it's hard not to notice the OP only lost about 10lbs and hasn't posted in over a year.

Not trying to sound like a bitch but it was just something I noticed. Maybe "cheating" wasn't good in the long run.

We should build some slack in our diet program. The assumptions of 'slack' versus 'cheat day', are subtly different, and I think healthier.

Rob.... there is slack.... it's called the ladder ;)
But I hear you
I think it's an individual thing
me.... personally
I can't "slack" or "cheat" (except for wine :D )
my body is not forgiving.... it would punish me on the scale