What Do You Eat On Your Cheat Day?

Tonight was the first night in 3 weeks that I did not stick strictly to my diet. My mom had baked some wings which I had to have some so I ate four to satisfy my needs and was somehow able to miraculously quit. I know they are not healthy and it doesn’t seem like a big cheat meal but it raised my curiosity.

What do you eat on your cheat day?

Mine was four buffalo wings :slight_smile:

For me it’s anything and everything that came to mind during the week…spaghetti? Spaghetti it is, plus garlic bread. Carrot cake with frosting? Please add extra frosting. Brownies with powdered sugar? I’ll have half the pan…

I think you missed the point of “cheat”. Damn near 4 wings is nothing. Absolutely worthless. I thought you’d say something like, “I ate nearly 3 dozen wings”, lol.

Seriously though, for me personally it’s just the mental relief of knowing that I can eat whatever I want, in whatever quantity. Even then…my cheat days aren’t that awe inspiring. Probably just eggs, rice, ketchup (about half the bottle), and bacon. Half the pan of brownies, ice cream, etc. We live on a pretty strict food budget here so eating out, buying pizza, going to a buffet isn’t in the cards. Boring, yes.

To me, cheat day is about drinking lots, and lots of alcohol.

I started feeling guilty after eating the first couple… I really want to reach my goal of getting between the 5 to 9% body fat range. But that half pan of brownies sounds absolutely amazing right now lol

The correct answer is pizza then ice cream.

[quote]Nards wrote:
The correct answer is pizza then ice cream.[/quote]
This reminds me of the time I ate 2 large pizza’s, a dessert pizza and a whole garlic bread. True story.

These days my cheat days are more tame, usually consists of toasted cheese sammiches with maybe some ice-cream to wash it all down.

tweet

[quote]yeffy wrote:
I started feeling guilty after eating the first couple… I really want to reach my goal of getting between the 5 to 9% body fat range. But that half pan of brownies sounds absolutely amazing right now lol[/quote]
First off, 4 wings is hardly a cheat at all. Secondly the difference between 5 and 9% is huge. Aim for sub 10% as a pretty good goal. Cheat days are actually a good way to reset your metabolism. So I do them every now and then even when I am not craving them.

I avoid pizza, and sugar (outside of post workout). Chocolate is a trigger food for me. Bread and pasta will mess me up fast. And I already eat grass-fed beef cheesburgers any day I want.

But I would say that I try to raise my carbs about 1 week every 3-5 because it re-sets my metabolism. Typically my weight will go up 3-4 pounds but my bodyfat won’t go up (may even drop a half a millimeter on measurements). So for me a “cheat” week means eating extra rice, baked potatoes, oh, and sweet potato fries-fried in coconut oil. It might mean going and eating all the sushi and rice I can eat. I might have 3-4 slices of 90% rye bread for turkey sandwiches or burgers. At this point, an extra 3/4 cup of rice, or and extra baked potato, or two slices of rye bread seems like half a tray of brownies used to, only no risk of flying off the track. I also might eat some saltier or smoked/bbq meats which generally I try to avoid.

An entire day of non-scheduled eating certainly could be considered a cheat; but is counter productive for re-feed purposes. IMO…a cheat meal/period works much better. I suggest following the basic protocol until the last meal of the day. With the exception of ensuring there is adequate protein to complete your daily minimum; eat whatever you would like; including desserts, etc… This last meal may takes me 3-4 hours to finish.

[quote]Nards wrote:
The correct answer is pizza then ice cream.[/quote]

^ this ^

  • beer

BlueCollar that’s true - I find myself doing more of a cheat meal for dinner, but in my head it’s still a cheat “day”. However I put more of an emphasis on carbs, protein, then fat. I try to limit the fat as much as possible. So even pizza is usually out, only have that once a month or so.

If I ate crap all day then that’s when I feel guilty. It’s all week I’m really planning on destroying 2 dozen pancakes with chocolate chips, whipped cream, syrup then for lunch pizza sandwiched with pizza, dinner hot fudge sundaes…But when I wake up on cheat “day”, I end up eating the same foods I eat during the week, just with a bit of something I normally avoid like ketchup or other type of sauce like barbecue sauce on my chicken.

[quote]Nards wrote:
The correct answer is pizza then ice cream.[/quote]

absolutely correct w/ extra cheese& sausage

Wait, so am I the only person who takes slightly larger portions of the food they always eat and calls it their ‘cheat’ meal?

I understand mine wasn’t a real cheat meal, but it made me feel guilty after buckling down and tracking all my calories and macro’s. So I just had to ask the question to see what everyone else eats.

Lasagne and garlic bread, washed down with a couple glasses of whole milk.

To rephrase that question; who do you eat on your cheat day?

An entire 1-lb box of homemade pasta.

I prefer to call it a “free” meal, as the word cheat associates negative feelings, and guilt should never be associated with food

[quote]Velvet Elvis wrote:

[quote]Nards wrote:
The correct answer is pizza then ice cream.[/quote]

^ this ^

  • beer
    [/quote]

But …but …but beer’s not bad!

[quote]yeffy wrote:
Tonight was the first night in 3 weeks that I did not stick strictly to my diet. My mom had baked some wings which I had to have some so I ate four to satisfy my needs and was somehow able to miraculously quit. I know they are not healthy and it doesn’t seem like a big cheat meal but it raised my curiosity.

What do you eat on your cheat day?
[/quote]

For the last couple of weeks-
A whole bunch of fried rice.
My PWO drink
Ice cream
Coke
Chicken wings

Today I had half of the fried rice I normally eat, a whole pizza, and chicken wings.

The pizza must have had a lot more fat than I wanted, cause I’m feeling really full right now and I know I haven’t eaten all that much carbs compared to other days today.

Gonna have to back off from this kind of refeeds now that I plan on eating carbs on a regular basis again though. Which sucks, I like Sundays.

I don’t see the point of a cheat day. Cheat meal when dieting yeah. In that one meal I can put away an entire days worth of calories pretty easy. No need to do that 3 plus times a day, hurts more then it helps at that point.

Other then that, I usually don’t have the desire really to have a cheat meal. I like being structured in my life anyway, and doing so with food just reduces my stress most of the time. Plus, when I’ve dieted before if I ever get the desire to go crazy and eat some ice cream or McDonalds or something I just remove some food from later or earlier in the day.