Just wondering if anyone has successfully had a cheat day on this diet that didn’t derail all their progress. My hubby’s birthday is tomorrow and Mother’s Day brunch is Sunday. Yes this is basically a post about cake lol.

Disclaimer: I’m a newbie. I am on the program solely to lose more weight. I’m not prediabetic or diabetic. I’ve lost 6 lbs in 5 days on this program. I walk uphill for a half hour a day 5 times a week. I have had 2 babies is two years. I’ve lost 30 lbs through diet, walking and weight training. Before I sin I’d just like to hear about who has honestly had a cheat day and lived to tell the tell. I don’t want one tiny piece of cake to ruin my progress.

Thanks!

Hi Athorn223
Strange things make you gain weight! Sometimes it’s just one glass of wine! We are only human & keep on trying. If you are Type 2 Diabetic, I am, this way of eating is for the rest of my life & every sugar spike counts & is paid for!

Well done with your weight loss. Birthdays are once a year & if you have no diabetes then I would eat the cake & enjoy it. Get back on the wagon after. 🙂🎂

I wouldn’t – the first fortnight for me is the danger period where if I’m bad at all I just give up, it would send me in to a cake fuelled landslide binge; whereas maintaining control would give me a satisfied buzz and strengthen my resolve. It would also bloat me up horrifically and give me a carb hangover which would wreck any good intentions for a further few days. I’d probably gain half a stone minimum. But that’s my issues – be honest with yourself about your behaviour around sugar and you may come to a different conclusion.

If I really wanted to do it (and I’m getting married in 6 weeks with a lovely afternoon tea and wedding guest ‘bake off’ that we’re judging, so I will have to – although we will arrange for our afternoon tea platter to have alternative bread and more veg sticks, and I’m mulling over nominating someone else to judge the bake off instead, but probably won’t) I would have plenty of coconut oil and protein first, only a small sliver of cake and then take probiotics & more coconut oil to keep the fat burning pathways open.

I aim for a “normal” relationship with food which includes treats, and Mothers’ Day tomorrow will no doubt include some of those. I am prediabetic and my blood sugar never spikes into the diabetic zone.

But, major disclaimer, I have not yet been successful in limiting treats. Too many things count as special occasions! And once I have a treat, it is very hard to get back onto the healthy wagon. It takes days. This is my second round of the BSD and my weight loss is slow because I don’t stick to it. (But I am still losing.) I would probably be better off not indulging at all, but I find the very thought of that sends me into a panic deprivation binge. So for the moment I don’t tell myself “never again”.

You have to learn what works for your personality type. Some people do better promising to stick to the diet 100% for the 8 weeks or forever. Maybe this weekend will be your trial run!

I know many people are able to manage a cheat day and go straight back to their diet. But unfortunately I’m not one of them. It can take a few days for me to get back on track, so I never deliberately set out to have them. I know there’s no logical reason why eating unwisely for one day should extend to two or three, but I know myself, and what works for me and what doesn’t.

Sometimes it’s unavoidable though, birthdays, weddings, you don’t want to make everyone else feel uncomfortable by making a fuss. I just do the best I can, and when I slip up, pick myself up as soon as possible and start all over again.

Thanks for all the replies. I will definitely update the post and let everyone know how the next two days go for me. Since I’ve been on this weight loss journey for over a year now I know that if I cheat I do have the discipline to pick up the diet again the next day. I’ll judge it by how I feel in the moment, and what my weight is tomorrow morning. 🙂 I generally tend to feel super guilty after a cheat day but I have to remind myself not to dwell on the past and that you can’t beat yourself up over decisions you made yesterday.
Natalie- i credit my previous successes to that exact theory, and I sincerely believe that too much of anything is a bad thing, including diet
Eureka- That’s my ultimate nightmare.
Evil weevil- Congrats on your upcoming wedding. High protein and fat is great advice!

Well Guys the results are in. I ate very healthy on Saturday but I had a sliver of cake sans most of the buttercream icing and took in about 1000 calories on Saturday. On Sunday, Mother’s Day Brunch was the only meal I had. We ate at 12:00 pm. I had prime rib, a little fruit in chantilly cream, a tiny potato, a little bread pudding and ice cream, and a sliver of cheesecake. I was full for the rest of the day. That meal was less than 1,200 calories. I don’t have the exact number because I ate at a restaurant. I still managed to lose 2 lbs this weekend even though I never got a chance to exercise. I’m so proud of myself for the restraint I had. Now my Monday is off to an amazing start and I’m right back on 800 calories without feeling deprived.

Hi, I’ve only just started (re-started) after a failed attempt before Easter. I was giving myself too many excuses to cheat so have put my wife in control of the chocolate and crisps for the duration and made sure I have no handy unopened booze! BUT it’s my birthday in four weeks and my plan is to treat myself to a very good quality fillet steak and scallops with mushrooms, tomatoes and the other trimmings – without the chips and onion rings. I’ll probably go over the 800 but will still avoid the carbs and blood sugar spikes.

On Wednesdays, our family gets together for pizza night. I had already decided that I was going to use this day as my “cheat day” since for me, missing out on spending that time together seemed unrealistic. Also, if this is to become a lifestyle change, and not just a diet, then I need to be flexible (in a totally rigid way, 😛 ). So yesterday was my first test and one really interesting consequence, that I hadn’t even considered, was the fact that my stomach shrunk! So, after 1 slice of pizza, some fruit, and a beer, I was SO FULL! Normally, I can down at least 3-4 slices, fruit, coffee, beer, and whatever other snacks might be put out. So this was a real pleasant surprise for me.

However, today, I am noticing that the lightheadedness, tiredness, and irritability, that I felt during my first few days has returned. I was diagnosed with pre diabetes, so for me at least, it’s not just about the calories. I can feel the difference today. So, I’m torn. It was great that I still lost weight this morning on the scale, and it’s great that I was physically unable to eat as much as I did before, but the jury is still out on whether or not this is something that won’t actually hurt me in the long run. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hi Autumn,
We have Friday night pizza almost every week. It’s home made. This takes a bit of effort but since April I make a cauliflower pizza (see recipe section) so that I can ‘have my pizza and eat it too’.
I think that it’s the carbs that cause the lightheadedness, tiredness and irritability.
I agree with you that family get togethers are really important and an integral part of our lives. I’m sure you’ll work out something that will suit you.

Hey Switzerland, someone posted a link to a gram flour pizza base recipe which you might want to take a look at too.

Autumn, the same thing happened to me when I cheated. My stomach is way smaller than it used to be. I feel the effects of alcohol, junk food and excess sodium almost immediately, which definitely has me weighing the cost of a cheat. I make sure it’s worth it. I’ve been at this since May. I’m losing on average 10 lbs a month even with cheating 2 times a month. The moral of the story is, don’t make cheats a habit and you’ll still make progress. I’ve got to try that cauliflower pizza crust 😮

Thanks everyone for your input! I’m looking forward to figuring this all out. I’ll definitely give the recipes a go 🙂

Hi Autumn,

I plan in a ‘cheat day’ once week. I’ve been doing the BSD Fast 800 for 4 weeks, (although I aim for 1000 cals a day after calculating the book recipes and realising that the calorie counts were a bit ‘light’), and although I’m loving the BSD, (never thought I’d say that about a ‘diet’), I’ve found having a ‘cheat day’ is essential for my sanity.

Essentially, I know I’m only human and so having a ‘cheat day’ once a week helps me through the other days of the week if I start feeling a bit carb ‘crav-ie’.

Inevitably having a cheat day does hit the speed of overall weight loss, and after losing a lot of weight in the first week, I was disappointed when some of that loss went back on after my first cheat day, but I’m in this for the long haul/life, (I have a huge amount of weight to lose), so if it takes me longer to reach my target weight, so be it.
I’d rather it that way than total abstinence causing me to fall off the wagon completely.

The key for me is to make sure the ‘cheat’ food is not still in the house when I’m back on the BSD. If it is, then it’s a disaster!

As others have found, I get fuller, far quicker on my ‘cheat days’ than before I started the BSD and because my brain occasionally checks out of my body where food is concerned, there are the odd occasions when I’ve gone to bed on my cheat days feeling over stuffed and incredibly unwell, which in some ways is a helpful reminder of the bad old days.

Hi Hush,

Thank you! Lots of info to digest here 😊. Do you mind if I ask how the weight loss has been for you? I’ve read different accounts on how a cheat day actually speeds up weight loss, and so I’m curious if that’s been your experience. Since I’m trying to avoid diabetes, I’m also worried about BS spikes, so even when I’m “cheating”, I’m still keeping the calories low, and the rest of the day protein and fat heavy. However, I understand the sanity argument. We need to find a way to incorporate this long term into our lives, and feeling “normal” is a part of that. Although, really, in the end, anything we’re doing to increase our health is better than doing nothing, so kudos! 👏👏👏

Just wanted to share my experience with cheat-days. Knowing my personality, and past experience with falling off the wagon with diets and exercise, I resolved to stay on the diet for the full 8 weeks without deviation. Prior to that I had done 4 weeks of Exante VLC, and a week of 1200 calorie days, so essentially I was on a calorie controlled diet for 3 months, before any kind of treat. What I was hoping doing that would give me was the right kind of habits to have cheat-days and be able to shift straight back to low carb, calorie controlled eating the next day. Seeing the results over the course of that time really gave me focus and drive to achieve my goals, so when I went on holiday for a week, and I ended up having a cheat-week, I came back and was easily able to transition back to the BSD800 diet, and lost all that I had gained on that holiday in less than a week. Since that holiday I’ve had a few cheat days, roughly one every 2 to 3 weeks, which always result in some weight gained, but that never derails me, it just pushes me to get straight back onto it.

Hi all,
I have come to the conclusion after 6 months of BSDing that it’s better to make a conscious decision to relax things a little every so often (on the basis that a little of what you fancy does you good) and then continue on the BSD path. If you try to be 100% “good” all the time those little craving gremlins will build up and turn into the Godzilla of binges – and then you will feel disappointed with yourself for the lack of control. I would advise sticking with the plan to start, to be disciplined in order to retrain your tastes/appetites – then when you know what works for you (and what doesn’t) then you can be more flexible in your approach. For me, a successful weight loss regime has to include variety (boredom is my particular danger for killing weight loss) – and that variety may include off-limit foodstuffs (if only to prove to myself that I don’t really need it after all if I feel worse as a result). But a planned cheat day won’t derail your efforts, nor will going on holiday, etc. It’s when it becomes a daily occurrence the problems start – but we know that already, don’t we!! 🙂

Autumn – you mention a cheat day speeding up loss – it’s strange but sometimes I’ve seen a loss (or no gain) when I’ve pigged out. Other times, there’s no loss when I haven’t pigged out! I think it’s just the body responding at its own rate, not when you expect it to. I have often hit a new low weight only to bounce upwards and then lose it again – it’s just the way my body copes with losing weight (fighting to claw back its precious fat reserves) so I’ve come to expect it, not worry about it.

BigP – you seem to have got things sussed!
Hush – agree with so much of what you say.

I have had a wedding, a birthday and a short break in the seven weeks I’ve done. The break de-railed me slightly as I had two bigger meals one after another. Then it took me a couple of days to get back on the horse properly and I felt my weight drifting north and my mood plummeting south. I went even tougher on the intake then for a day, practically a water fast and this reset me well and I have moved on to lower weights again. 19lb in seven weeks and I’m a short little lady with probably another 15/20 lb excess weight to go. I am not new to the dieting game. This is better though.

As Beckett said:

Ever tried? Ever failed?
No matter. Try again. Fail better.

I am failing much better than I ever have before on this plan.

Hi all,

It’s the original poster here. I wanted to give you guys an update. As I said before I’m not diabetic or pre-diabetic. I am strictly here to lose weight. My starting weight overall was 257 lbs. Diet, exercise, and fairly clean eating helped me lose 30 lbs over the coarse of about 8 months. So I know what it takes to lose weight. My fear in the beginning was that this diet was so restrictive that wouldn’t me it a week without pigging out. We’ll I’ve been at this diet since May, and I’m in onederland for the first time in over 3 years. I’ve lost about 32 lbs in 3 months for a total of 62 lbs and I’ve lost about 23% of my body weight since I started my weight loss journey.

Now let’s talk about a cheat day, cheat days, and cheat weeks. I’ve had em all since May. I hit a plateau 2 weeks into the diet and took about 4 days off. The next week I lost 5 lbs. Every month I seem have a little plateau to overcome. I’ve gone off diet up to six days in a row (Just being honest) but I got back on the diet and still achieved success. When I’m on the diet I try to stay between 800 and 900 calories and it’s really working for me and knowing that a cheat meal or day off diet won’t destroy my progress makes the diet fairly sustainable.

It feels so weird to be this close to my weight loss goals. I only want to lose about another 20 lbs. The weight really does melt off. Don’t sweat the cheat days, but don’t make them a habit. When I’m on the diet I’m really strict about sticking to it. Count everything!

Good for you Athorn223, it sounds like you have found the approach that works for you – keep it up.

I admire anyone who can stick religiously to a diet regime but for me, like you, it’s not a sustainable approach. What you’ve been doing sounds like what I’ve done – it may take a little longer to shed the pounds but I certainly don’t feel like I’m restricting myself and, as a result, I’m more likely to stick with it.

I’m two thirds of the way to my ultimate target (I’ve lost 2st, with another one to go). Just going through a phase of wanting to relax things a bit before I summon up the energy/willpower for the final attack. I know the last phase will probably be slower to shed those final pounds but I’m patient….

Good luck everyone with your efforts.