So I'm pretty good during the week - really good, actually. I very consistently eat 6 meals a day, taking in about 40% of my cals from protein, 40% from carbs, and 20% from fat - at about 2000 calories a day.

Well, this goes along just fine from Monday morning until Friday afternoon. All the sudden my mind starts playing tricks on me - I think, "I've been so good, I deserve a great big meal topped with an ice cream sunday". Well, lately I've been treating myself to just that.

Then Saturday rolls around and I say, "I'll be good", but it just goes downhill - and usually ends up with me eating a Big Mac and fries on Sunday evening. Monday, I'm back to being good again, and the cycle continues.

From January of this year until July, I dropped close to 40 pounds, and from July until now, I've fought this battle of perfect week-day eating and terrible weekend eating, and I've made no progress at all. I haven't lost ground, but I haven't gained any, either.

What do you do on Friday afternoon (or whenever) you crave a bacon cheeseburger washed down with a brownie fudge sunday??

-Brian

Brian,
Have you reached your target weight? Then enjoy your weekends since it does not seem to increase your body fat. Do you still have some fat to drop? Then beware because I've been there and am now paying the price.

Remember, that Friday afternoon is no different from Thu or Wed afternoon. It is all in your head.
Yes, you have been good all week but that is precisely why you do not deserve to blow it all away over the weekend. You deserve to see results.
But I think you still need at least one cheat meal in a week. So, push the cheat meal to Sunday and be good on Saturday too.
If you normally eat a 400cal meal promise that the cheat meal will not be more than double that number.
Every time you get visions of that burger and sundae, change it to a vision of a chiseled Brian with everyone throwing envious looks your way.
Which would you rather have? The envious looks or the burger and sundae?

Hi Brian,

I am a craver too. The only way I can keep up with eating clean, is if I schedule cheating. Knowing that I can cheat once every x days keeps me honest the rest of the time.

Perhaps you could let yourself cheat once a week or fortnight?

I can get way with once a week cheating. And it has to be either the Big Mac, or the Fries or the Ice Cream (substitute vegetarian equivalents).
Anything more and the pounds pile back on.

Vrinda

I don't know whether this is appropriate to say on here, but if i really really want a cheat, i'll pop 300mg or 600mg of gemfibrozil fibrates 1 hour before that meal, guarunteeing that i will put on no fat in that meal, or the meal after.

For more information on fibrates (but please do not bug me on where to get them, please see a physician for that), see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemfibrozil

They are widely used in bodybuilding for lean bulking, the harsher versions of fibrates have been tested - testers experiencing a 0% gain in fat even after a 10000 calorie binge...

Little to no side-effects either.

Nick

Here is my take from a postiive self talk perspective when I want to go off plan.


The reason that I am overweight is because I did not have a healthy relationship with food.

In the past I have had my share of cheesburgers and Sundaes.

Not having a binge meal now (or when I crave it) is not deprivation. I have already had those things and the reason that the rest of the world can have that stuff. Is the fact that they are simply catching up to what I have had int he past.

In the future, when I meet my goal weight. I will be able to have a less stringent meal plan and will be able to eat most things in moderation.

I will have a healthy relationship with food.

Thanks for the great responses!

I do "officially" schedule cheats - one meal or one day a week is what my goal is.

I realize this is all a mind game. When people ask me about eating healthy, I usually say this, "You have to hate the way you look/feel more than you love the food that makes you that way". Until you REALLY feel this way, you won't change. Many people think they feel this way, but in reality they don't, otherwise they wouldn't be overweight and out of shape.

I just haven't wanted it bad enough, otherwise I would have made the change.

Renuka: No, I haven't reached my target. Ultimately, I'd like to lose about 20 more pounds or so - down to about 175-180 (I'm at 194 this morning). . .

KM, I like your approach in thinking of food as a relationship. Very insightful.

Well, here's to a New Year's resolution in November (and only one cheat a week) . . .

-Brian

Brian, I have the EXACT same problem and I think my problem stems from the fact that my weekdays are more routine due to my job, etc...so I find it easy to stay on track because I am not home with idle time on my hands. I have found that if I schedule fun, yet active things during the weekend, I have much better luck. (ie batting cages, pick-up game of football or something). Also, if I want to be lazy and read or work on writing or something, I will go somewhere like Starbuck's or the library, where I can still relax, but I am less apt to mindlessly eat or get tempted to order a pizza.

But, cheat days are fun too...and there is nothing wrong with that. Remember, everything in moderation - even cheat days.

Good luck!

Jen

I think cheat days are okay once in a while if it helps you from going on a total binge, but as I've said before:

Cheating on a diet is like cheating at solitaire; you are only cheating yourself.

As KM says above, if you are still working toward your goal weight, it is probably better to lay off cheating. When you are in maintenance mode later on, you can get away with more, as long as it is in moderation.

I like the way you think, KM.

Who's to say eating well is deprivation at all? If you eat well 6 days, and feel great all the time, is it not a gift to yourself? Not only, as KM so well said, can you tell yourself you have already had those things... you can go further and get your excitement from new, healthy foods.

At the most crucial point in my food re-education, I was ecstatic about finding new ways to cook a chicken breast, or to spice up a salad without adding bad calories. I think, assuming your nutrition is basically sound (and vitamins help) the "craving" is usually not a real event. And you can talk yourself into getting your treats in other ways.

That said, not sure a cheat is really a bad thing. I lost weight for a long time, then hit a wall where I couldn't lose a lb. I ate crappy food for a week and got right back to it and apparently am losing again. Switching to bad food now and then might be advisable for some of us to keep it going. And if so, it sure helps if you have already gotten yourself trained to look forward to good foods so when you go back to your plan the excitement is there.

I do a little self talk to myself with most of my eating... if it's good food, I tell myself how much I love it. If it's bad food I tell myself how little I need it. It makes a difference.

In Bill Phillips's book "Body-for-Life" (and "Eating-for-Life"), he says the programmed cheat day is not just to satisfy your love of unhealthy food.

He states (and I agree) that the body will grow accustomed to what it is doing. For example, if you do the same bench press workout every Monday, you'll make gains in bench press, but eventually you'll level off. This is why you should switch up lifts every month or so.

The same goes for food. If you eat the same foods day in and day out, eventually you'll plateau. Joe, it sounds like you experienced this very thing. A cheat meal or day every week or two "shocks" your system - keeps your body guessing. Phillips argues this actually accelerates fat loss.

I'm pretty much in the camp that if you burn more calories than you consume, you'll lose weight, period; but, I think there is truth and merit to the idea of "shocking" your body. Just don't shock it too often. . .

-Brian

Brandon Wood -

"Cheating on a diet is like cheating at solitaire; you are only cheating yourself"

That is so true and I've never looked at it that way before! I usually let myself have one meal a week to eat what I want.. Limiting portions of course.. but does anyone feel like having a little makes you want to have a lot?

I'm not on a diet, just a lifestyle. So my "cheats" are just little peaks along the way. I have my valleys as well, but like a stock chart, its the trend that matters. when my peaks and valleys start to effect my trendline, then its time to make course adjustements.

Mark