Are cheat days benneficial?

[serbyte]

I have been watching what i eat for a few years now, and i find it hard to eat bad. I cannot get myself to do a cheat day. Every once and a while i will have a cheat meal, but subconsiously I will minimize the carbs and maximize the protien.

I was wondering if cheat days were benneficial to keeping your metabolism up?
What is better a Whole cheat day or a Cheat meal, and how often would you reccomend one?
What do you guys reccomend, macronutrient wise that a cheat day should look like?( im guessing low protien, high fat carbs).

If it proves to be benneficial, i will begin implimenting them in my diet.

 

[OXANDRIN]

a cheat day or meal?

i think a day is too much. i could eat 5000 or more cals per day if i were to cheat all day

i think a cheat meal every 3-7 days is good.

now when i say cheat meal..... i mean like a big mac or a order of pancakes from ihop

no like 10 cheese steaks with a gallon of icecream.....that is just binging and not good for dieting.

so for those cheat meals..... instead of your chicken with brown rice and a salad for dinner go get a big mac......instead of your egg whites and oatmeal for breakfast go have an order of blueberry pacakes from ihop

 

[juve]

Cheat day/meal - a concept I could never grasp: what is the purpose other than to eat junk food. A refeed - ok. But a binge...that is begging a question: aren't we in for an eating disorder?
Just raise the calorie intake by 25-30% (maybe more) of your daily intake and keep it clean. CKD has its own procedure, as for other diets, just follow a similar protocol.

 

[OXANDRIN]

juve,

being on a stict diet is metally challenging..... a cheat meal can be psycologically benificial. there are also things like leptin, ghrelin, and other things that can be postively effected by a cheat meal..... i do agree cheat days are wastes of time. all those calories don't just disappear the next day you know....

 

[juve]

well, at least stay away from trans/partially-trans/refied fats and processed carbs - these will not have any positive (probably will aggravate antagonize even further) on body hormonal feedback system.

 

[B0ARDIN087]

cheat meals are good to keep you sane, also i think refeeds should be done weekly if on a low carb but not "cheat days" i think u all know what i mean

 

[Akateros]

Raising carbs is beneficial if you habitually eat high-protein/low-carb; at any rate, it is for me. I find that the best protocol in my case is to keep protein fairly high, raise carbs pretty much to match, and drop fat very low that day. A carb-up or refeed is not a cheat, unless you start with a plan and by bedtime it's all gone to heck and you're stuffing your face heedlessly with anything that doesn't move fast enough to get away.

As for "cheats", not necessarily. If you're the kind of person who feels like you're going to go insano if you watch your cube-mates down one more doughnut, and that eventually leads to you going through drive-through, ordering a Family Pak, and downing the whole thing between turning into the road and the next traffic light -- then, yes, controlled cheats may be your answer. Or if you are, say, taking a new date out to dinner and don't quite want to let your whole freak flag fly straight off...

If you have or have ever had any kind of problems with binge or disordered eating in the past, then even a cheat meal may be too triggering. And if food doesn't really matter to you on that psychological level, you really don't care whether you eat chicken breasts and brown rice or Taco Bell or your mom's best holiday cooking, it's all fuel to you -- then why "cheat"?

 

[JKurz1]

well, at least stay away from trans/partially-trans/refied fats and processed carbs - these will not have any positive (probably will aggravate antagonize even further) on body hormonal feedback system.

Coming straight from a coke-head's mouth........take it for what its worth....

 

[juve]

Coming straight from a coke-head's mouth........take it for what its worth....

:mature:


I suppose your reply is much more pertinent to the subject matter

 

[JKurz1]

JUST bustn your balls....relax.....just think its weird that one who is so concerned with trans-fats, part. hydg. oils, etc.......dablles in the white stuff.............agree?