Do you have 'cheat days'? Are they worth it?

[Whoareyouanyway]

I'm starting to think no for me.
3 days ago I had a takeaway pizza and a cake, this is something I might have every few weeks, i usually count calories every day. Calculated I'd eaten around 900 calories more than usual that day, so the last couple of days I've been eating 200 cals few fewer per day and eating well.
Despite this the scales are showing as 1lb heavier and I'm visibly bigger overall. My legs are retaining more water and I genuinely look and feel bigger overall.
I know I haven't eaten 3500 calories extra and if I've eaten 400 fewer that brings it down to 500, so 1/7th of a lb.
I don't think its in my head, but to still be feeling like this days later is a nuisance. Do you have these cheat days and does it affect you in the same way?

It’s water retention and you don’t look bigger. I’d very careful about your relationship with food. You seem very concerned about something that is totally normal. A big shit weighs more than a lb.

Not worth it imo. Just look at how treat days can affect you overall.
Having actual days set aside to do this are asking for trouble. A one off at a birthday gathering or something is fine though.
(4.5stone lost)

Throughout my whole eating disorder I would have a day where I would let myself eat anything. To this day, Sunday feels like a safer day to eat. Didn't stop the drastic weight loss. To be honest that one day probably saved my life actually.

I try to keep my days more or less stable unless there is an event/occasion I enjoy which includes food. The problem with cheat days is that they are usually carb-heavy and for every gram of glycogen, you retain three grams of water. Not a problem with scale as such but I use an app which automatically adjust my calorie target based on the rate of weight change so big water fluctuations mess up the algorithm.

I think you have a very unhealthy relationship with food. Maybe speak to your Dr for some counselling. I say this as someone who once had a horrible relationship with food and would have probably obsessed over it like you are now.

I have one " cheat" meal at the weekend. If I want a bit of chocolate then I have it after this meal, I just don't go mad and have loads. It works well for me. I still see steady weight loss, the diet is sustainable because I'm not depriving myself and it gives me something to look forward to. A whole cheat day would make me go off the rails I think and start eating things for the sake of it.

I have to say op I feel worried about your post and your relationship with food and your image of your body.

1lb isn't going to make you look bigger!

I think your relationship with food is very skewed and you probably need to seek a dieticians advice.

And don't forget weight will fluctuate anyway. If you're on your period you'll be heavier, if you need to go poop you'll be heavier, water retention, etc etc

Thanks, I don't have issues with food though. My bmi is 20 and I count calories so I stick within roughly 2000, not to be obsessive.
My jeans are tighter on the legs, I look a bit less bloated this morning luckily.

Op I think your relationship with food is worrying and over fully controlled. To answer your question - I am a normal weight and make an effort every day to eat sensibly and healthily and not eat crap. Once in a while (every few weeks) I’ll eat a load of chocolate, for example. The next day I’m back to being healthy. Makes not a bean of difference overall

I can see why some people say MN is a pro-ana site.

Why are so many people triggered by this post and accuse the OP of having worrying relationship with food? Millions of people are counting calories to reach their goal. Sometimes the goal is weight loss, sometimes the goal is weight gain. It's normal and way healthier than worrying about "net carbs" or whether a cup of coffee at 8am "breaks my fast". As someone who cycles between deliberate gain and loss phases for sport, nothing in OPs posts strikes me as problematic.

The extent of you analysing your calories intake is excessive.

Its great to eat healthily most people would have a treat day then just get back to the healthy eating.

Analysing how much you need to reduce your calories intake the next week, weighing and attributing 1lb increase to the treat and saying your clothes are tight is excessive.

Weight will regularly change by a lb its not going to stay exact continually. Maybe the dough of the pizza or something else has made you bloated for a day or two but its not normal to focus on such small changes.

Thanks for being the only one with a sensible answer. Eating 2000 cal a day is hardly an eating disorder!

Where are you in your cycle (if you have one)? I always put on at least 2lb around ovulation without changing anything about my diet.

@Catza because she has a BMI of 20 and is obsessing over the fact she had some pizza and thinks she looks "visibly bigger" then posters like you come along validating that kind of obsessiveness. No it's not healthy.

No.
Don't need any.
👍

My BMI is 20. I try to keep it there as weight always goes on my stomach first and that BMI gives me a healthy waist measurement.

I'm just here to say make sure you drink at least 2ltr of water a day 😊 if you're drinking loads of coffee, that won't be helping you.

I'm your height and 15st. Was 17st until I rescued a dog at the end of September!

Probably the pizza had a really high salt content and is slower to digest.
For context I weigh about 3lbs more in the evening than I do in the morning so I don't think a pound will make any difference to how you look.

If your bmi is 20, you have no need to lose weight. Staying stable isn’t about staying exactly the same weight from day to day, it’s about staying within a range, say 2-3 lb either way. I aim to stay within 8st 7lb to 8st 11lb to allow for a natural fluctuation. If I go below 8st 7lb, I add in extra food for a few days, things like an extra slice of cheese in a sandwich, or a bit more butter on bread, or yoghurt with muesli instead of milk, and if I go above 8st 11lb, I watch the calories for a day or two.

OldTinHat the OP hasn’t said how tall she is

Not triggered at all. But someone who thinks they’re visibly bigger overall because they’ve gained a lb and has reduced their daily calorific intake to compensate for some pizza and chocolate is bizarre.

Shes stated she has a BMI of 20 so seems obsessive at such a “healthy weight” and not sure at a 20 BMI you should have any goal if you’re that focused on restricting calories

I don't think cheat days/takeaways are worth it at all. I used to do them at a weekend but then always regretted it. Not because of weight gain but because they were never actually that nice and I felt nauseous, bloated, groggy etc.
Before I got my coil in I did used to eat worse in the run up to my period though, really bad cravings for sweet stuff.
I only weight myself once a week first thing ij the morning, if I do it more often it does fluctuate a lb here or there.