So cheat days sound like a good thing, right? Not so fast. The logic behind these days has more than a few flaws, and it’s due to the psychology and physiology behind them.
The Name Is to Blame
The trouble with cheat days starts with the wording.
“The very phrase ‘cheat day’ sets up enjoying a meal as something forbidden,” says Sondra Kronberg, R.D., executive director of the Eating Disorder Treatment Collaborative. “Separating foods into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ categories encourages you to associate eating with guilt and shame.” This means that instead of enjoying everything we eat, we feel bad about ourselves when we eat something we consider “bad.”
What’s more, when we deem certain foods “bad” or “cheating,” the negative name doesn’t help us pump the breaks.
“When a food is off-limits, it can develop a specific, emotional charge,” explains Melainie Rogers, RD, a nutritionist and eating disorder specialist. “You begin obsessing over it, fantasizing about, and looking forward to that ‘indulge day’ all week. Then, when you finally have access to it, you overeat.”
On the flipside, labeling foods as “good” or “healthy” can also backfire. Science shows when we think something is healthy, we’re not concerned with portion control and thus overdo it—whether it’s a “normal” day or a “cheat” day. Yes, there can be too much of a good thing.
Along these same lines, thinking of a meal or snack as “healthy” can have a surprising affect on our hunger. Studies show merely considering items we put in our mouth as “healthy” can literally make us feel hungrier—especially if we select a “good-for-you” item out of obligation over something we’re truly hungry for.
I want to add something, if your labeling your food you will start to recent the "good food". You will begin to crave more comfort food. The food you crave is not really "bad" food but pizza, burgers, fries, cheesy mashed potatoes, etc. just have too many calories and not enough nutrition. If you make your own hamburger on your grill and you use a healthy bun, and you put lettuce and tomato on it, I don't see anything wrong with that. Once a month I eat beef, but I cook my own. If you make your own food you know what's in it and you'll eat healthier and consume less calories.
Attack of the Calories
Folks who assume they can compensate for giving into temptations—say, by holding themselves back on all days except their cheat days—are actually less likely to reach their dietary goals. This is because they’re more likely to consume a greater number of calories, not just on their cheat day but on the days following it.
Restricting ourselves throughout the week and then slamming our bodies with sugar and fat once our cheat day rolls around, can have “a massive impact on blood sugar and insulin levels,” Rogers says. “You’ll wake up the next day craving more sugars and simple carbs, and you’ll find yourself feeling pretty ragged. And if you repeatedly increase your caloric intake above baseline, you may inadvertently end up gaining more weight over time.”
Cravings serve as a sign that your nutritional approach isn’t sound. “Most cravings come from overly restricting your food intake, using food as a drug, or over exercising,” Kronberg says.
A cheat day use to mean that for dinner on Sunday you could eat dessert. You could have an extra 200 or 300 calories, but today it seems to be a day you can go crazy and stuff yourself all day long. That's why I don't like "cheat days". Years ago when someone would diet they would restrict their calories and pretty much starve themselves, but today you quit doing that. Today when we want to lose weight we stop eating "comfort food" and we eat start eat healthier. We eat enough to keep from having craving but we are eating healthy and that's how we lose weight.
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