Weight-Loss Is "cheating" good for your metabolism?

Weight-Loss
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Lilyofthevalley

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I don't necessarily believe in cheat days, but do they help you lose weight by "shaking things up"? I've hit a plateau and I've been eating under or around 1400 calories a day... I don't eat particularly healthy, I do eat out a lot, but I've already lost 30-some pounds, and I was hoping that I wouldn't have to change too drastically because I have a very busy schedule.

But do cheat days really do any good other than satisfying cravings?
 
Some people say that it does help, but I think it's just really to keep you on the straight and narrow the rest of the time. Exercise is what gets the metabolism up. More exercise and you need more fuel.
 
Personally I believe anything over maintenance to be detrimental. Put on your big girl pants for some tough love.

I don't eat particularly healthy, I do eat out a lot
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I was hoping that I wouldn't have to change too drastically because I have a very busy schedule.
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It sounds to me like you are looking for affirmation to eat what ever you want. If I were you I would clean things up a bit first. If you are admittedly "not eating healthy" now I don't think implementing cheat days is going to help you achieve your goals.

That being said, I also don't see the harm in enjoying life. If you have a meal you are hankering for, then have it. Want a chocolate shake? Go get one and have it with a salad. I don't think it is wise to have a "cheat day" as in eat what I want for 24 hours because I can go through 4-6k calories in a "free" day if I wanted. Then you would need 500-700 calorie deficit the rest of the week to just break even.
 
I'd wager you're eating more than you realize in terms of calories and 'cheat days' are not what the 'doc would prescribe'.
 
Yeah, I read that thread, it just wasn't really clear to me whether it actually helped your metabolism...

Also, I don't eat anything I want, but I don't really count carbs and protein and such either. I think I may have to start buckling down.

I have a 950-some calorie deficit.

I'll have to start really overestimating my calories...
 
Ok, time for some tough love baby, but it's because I want to see you stay firmly out of the club 200's ok?

Do you remember this post from a little over a week ago?

I'm currently not exercising... (tsk tsk Annie!) but I seem to be dropping weight every day, even if it's by .2 lbs, I'm pretty much happy! So I don't know how fast it'll drop when I'm actually exercising...
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That was in the 200's club on Sept. 5


This is only my opinion, but before I'd cut any more corners on my diet, I would work on integrating some activity in there. You may have come up against the brick wall that a lot of 'dieters' do when they don't exercise initially. There will be a point where you will have to include regular activity to get to the point that you want. *IF* you are indeed on a plateau, it would seem to me you'd go crashing right through it with some really solid cardio mixed in there. You scrutinize that diet some too to take out the 'greasy lunch' noted in another thread and you have a winning combonation there. Will you have plateaus? Sure, probably, but you just have to be patient if you are doing the right things. They won't hold forever.
 
haha... Thanks. :p

I'll try everyone's suggestions, and report back (sooner or later)


:willy_nilly:
 
My computer says not a plateau. You can do your own sort of data analysis, but I'm guessing your thought process went something like "Curse that scale! I had 3 days in a row below 200, and now I'm right back nearly as heavy as I was on the 5th!"

If you graph it out, or calculate a rolling average, it looks like garden-variety random weight fluctuation. Actually, your last 4 weights (going by what's in your journal) are all lower than any weight prior to those days. And the 5 weights before that were all lower than any weight prior to those days. I actually can't find any period for which your average weight across that period was the same or higher as any prior individual weight.

I come up with an average ~900 calorie a day deficit, so I don't think you're overcounting. Nor do I think you've hit any wall. You might be in a mental plateau, but you aren't at a scale plateau - it's still speeding downward.

That said, your diet is really deficient in protein. For the 7 full days ended yesterday, you've ranged between 70.6g and 42.7g, with a mean of 58.1g. Current World Health Organization recommendations (which assume you're maintaining weight) are for .75g/kg, which comes out to 68g a day for your current weight. When you're losing weight, you actually need more dietary protein, because it reduces the amount of muscle mass you lose along with the fat. So you might consider bumping that up some - 100g a day wouldn't be an excessive amount IMHO.
 
AHHH!! THANK YOU!!

I had a thought that it might all be in my mind, but I never thought to look through my journal. I'll go with that, I'm pretty sure you're right! Thanks for actually looking through my journal and such!

Do you have any tips on adding protein?

:D

:party:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer!
:)
Annie
 
Lilyofthevalley said:
AHHH!! THANK YOU!!

I had a thought that it might all be in my mind
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No problem - I was the queen of mental plateaus when I was losing. I kept starting to post how unhappy I was that the scale wasn't moving, then I'd go back and look at my charts and realize that it was. :)

Lilyofthevalley said:
Do you have any tips on adding protein?
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Hmmm. You're constrained by being a kid, without a car, and dependent on what your family feeds you, right? So the stuff in your FitDay is pretty much what you have to choose from?

OK, so today you had:
Chicken patty, fillet, or tenders, bread...1.5 Tyson tender
Taco Bell Cheese Rollup 1 serving
Ham, sliced, prepackaged or deli, lunche... 3 slice (4-1/4" sq) (0.75 oz)
promise margarine 2 Guideline amount per slice of bread/roll
Bread, white 2 regular slice
Pizza Hut Personal Cheese Pan Pizza 1 serving
for a total of 1,177 calories 119.7g carbs (5.5g fiber) 52.5g fat 56.2g protein

You could have had:
Chicken patty, fillet, or tenders, bread...1.5 Tyson tender (Leaving this the same, on the grounds that it was what was in the house to eat. Switching to unbreaded tenders would get about 3 times as much protein for the same number of calories)
Taco Bell Fresco Style Spicy Chicken Soft Taco
Ham, sliced, prepackaged or deli, lunche... 6 slice (4-1/4" sq) (0.75 oz), plus a large tomato, all rolled up in 10 big romaine lettuce leaves.
Pizza Hut - 7 pieces of mild wings + 1 serving ranch or blue cheese dipping sauce

For a total of 1,152 calories, 70.8g carbs (11.3g fiber), 51.0g fat, 82.5g protein.

Same restaurants and everything, but more protein.

At McDonald's, have a quarter-pounder with cheese (440 cal, 25g protein) instead of nuggets and fries (510 cal, 17g protein). Or a grilled chicken sandwich (complete with marginal quantities of vegetables!) for 420 cal and 32g of protein - you don't even need to hold the mayo. Then make those calories up with fruits or vegetables later on.
 
haha, thanks.
I don't really like lettuce without dressing, and I seriously dislike tomatoes. I'm not too fond of condiments, either. Yeah, I'm pretty picky. :( A personality flaw that I live with daily.

I ended up going to McDonald's for dinner, and after class I sabotaged myself with mini sugar donuts from the chinese restaurant. :( Gah, I see now what you're talking about. I hate self sabotaging... I haven't done that in a while.

:ack2:
Have a stop by at my journal, I'm going to see yours. :)
But not right now. Right now= bed time!

Bye! Thanks for all of your help!
 
cheat days are just that. Cheating. Find alternatives. That is what I would say. But having that craving satisfied helps. Go with cheat moments, not cheat days. A little of something is better than a lot of something.
 
I try not to consciously cheat. If I got out with friends to dinner, I'll try to get something healthy but know its going to be way over my caloric needs. I don't allow that one meal to affect the rest of the days eatings. I also don't eat out often.

I don't look at it as really cheating, when I'm at my goal weight I'm not going to refrain from going out to dinner. I just need to start making the healthy choices now.
 
What I have found works for me is being very strict about my eating during the week and then being a little more relaxed on the weekend. I still don't go overboard. I eat things that I wouldn't normally eat, but I really watch the portions. Sunday afternoon is back on track shopping for healthy things at the grocery store and cooking and preparing healthy things to eat during the week.

I still exercise on the weekend, just as intensely as during the week.

Something to think about: I am sort of in maintenance mode. Toying with the idea of losing 10 more pounds, but I am happy where I'm at. When I was trying to LOSE weight, I wouldn't want to waste two whole days. Instead, I would have a cheat meal usually on Friday or Saturday night. It was more important to me to lose weight than to spend the weekend eating things I would probably regret.
 
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