Cheat Days - Should You Have Them?

Cheat days - those days during a diet when you can eat whatever you want. They are incorporated into diet plans. Some people swear by them and say they could not stick to a diet without them. Others say cheat days are the downfall of a diet. So, which is it? Are cheat days good or bad?

Going on a "diet" typically involves restricting your food intake particularly the foods you really love but know are not good for you. One solution: Allow yourself to eat what every you want one or two days per week. While this may make those restricted days more tolerable, you may be sabotaging your weight loss.

As I have mentioned several times in this blog, weight loss involves burning more calories than you take in. For a healthy rate of weight loss (1 pound per week = 3,500 calories), you need to cut your daily caloric intake by 500 calories per day for a total reduction of 3,500 calories per week (500 calories per day x 7 days). If you decide to follow the diet Monday - Friday but eat whatever you want on the weekends, you will need to either plan for a slower weight loss or decrease your calories Monday - Friday by 700 calories per day to maintain the same rate of weight loss.

For this example, we will assume that you decide to cut your calories Monday - Friday by 700 calories per day which should lead to 1 pound per week weight loss. On Saturday and Sunday, you splurge on all your favorite foods that you deny yourself during the week. By the end of the weekend, you discover that you ate 500 calories each day above the calorie level you used to eat before the diet. By the end of the week, you only have a net decrease of 2,500 calories (3,500 calories during the week less the extra 1,000 calories you ate one the weekend). With all the hard work you put in during the week, do you really want to undo it all in two days?

One study in the International Journal of Obesity found that people who eat a similar number of calories over seven days are 50 percent more likely to maintain their weight than those who diet more strictly on weekdays.

How do you lose weight but not have cheat days? Instead of restricting the types of food you are eating, try restricting portion size. Think of calories like money. Each month you have an income in which you have to pay your mortgage, electricity, phone food, etc. Each day, you have so many calories that you can eat to maintain weight or lose weight. You can choose to spend a small portion of those calories on your favorite food. For example, instead of super sized fries, order a small size for a smaller portion of your calories. Better yet, order a side salad. If you can't live without soda, try just one per day and make sure you budget for it in your calories for the day. Personally, I can't live without chocolate. I know I will have 50-100 calories of chocolate every day after lunch. To do this, I know that I have to not spend those calories elsewhere such as on butter for my vegetables.

If cheat day work for you and still allow you to lose weight, keep doing them. Some people like or need the rigidity of following a very strict diet. Just be careful to not overdo those days. If everything in moderation works for you, do it. Weight loss is a very personal endeavor and what works for one may not work for another. Figure out what works best for you. This may take some experimenting but in the end will be worth it.