LOSING WEIGHT WITH THE CHEAT DAY - HERE'S HOW!

Sticking to a strict diet plan every day is not always easy. Because long-term deprivation often fuels cravings and intense hunger. But losing weight and sticking to a diet is not only possible with iron will and constant restraint; cheat days can accompany the journey.

Cheat Day: Meaning and Explanation

In many diet and nutrition concepts, it is probably the most popular day of the week: the cheat day. Often mistakenly used synonymously, the cheat day is definitely to be distinguished from the refeed day. But is it really possible to be less strict about maintaining a calorie deficit and exact macronutrient distribution one day a week and still lose weight?

 

What does Cheat Day mean?

The term cheat day comes from the English verb "to cheat" and means to cheat or sneak. Thus, the term describes a day when you don’t have to stick to the strict rules of the diet plan but can eat whatever your heart desires.

How does a Cheat Day work?

Let's start with an example. Mark is 25 years old, 1.85 m tall, and weighs 83 kilograms. He has a normal office job and goes to training four times a week. He wants to lose weight but still treat himself occasionally.

Using the Rocka Nutrition calorie calculator, Mark calculates his maintenance calories at 2,690 calories. These are the calories he can roughly eat daily without gaining or losing weight.

If he eats with a calorie deficit of 400 kilocalories six days a week and consumes 500 kilocalories above his needs on one day, his weekly balance would look like this:

Since he saves 400 kilocalories on six days, this results in a deficit of 2,400 kilocalories. Due to the cheat day on Sunday, 500 kilocalories are added back, so the weekly total still results in a net deficit of 1,900 kilocalories.

As you can imagine, this deficit could quickly turn into a surplus if the deficit on the six days is smaller and the surplus on the last day is significantly higher. The success of still losing weight despite the cheat day therefore depends largely on the weekly calorie balance. The deficit on all other days except the cheat day should be high enough to allow you to design that one day as you wish.

Cheat Day – how often is allowed?

In our example, such a day would be possible once a week without problems. Depending on individual parameters such as height and weight, activity level, and especially your diet goals and timeframe, it may of course be more sensible to have a cheat day less often or only as needed.

How you handle it in your diet should also depend on how difficult or easy it is for you to get back into your usual routine after the cheat day.

 

Checklist: How to prepare for your Cheat Day

• Determine your calorie needs and calorie deficit during the diet to find out how many calories you can eat on your cheat day
• Get an overview of how your day will look and when you want to consume most of your available calories
• Be aware that you still need to maintain a calorie deficit throughout the week to lose weight successfully
• Plan your day so that you still achieve an adequate protein intake of at least 1.5 g per kilogram of body weight

Nutrition on Cheat Day

How should you eat on a Cheat Day?

On a cheat day during a diet, despite the name, you should avoid stuffing yourself with massive amounts of junk food until you feel sick just because it is "allowed" that day.

Rather, you can use these days sensibly to avoid losing fun and motivation during the diet. For example, restaurant visits with friends, cake at grandma’s birthday, or a glass of wine on the weekend are no longer a problem on such days and can help you maintain your social contacts as usual despite the diet.

As you can see in the checklist above, some foresight is still required on this day. Although you don’t have to follow your diet plan down to the last detail, you should still pay attention to a balanced diet so your cheat day doesn’t backfire. Also, you should still ensure an adequate protein intake of about 1.5 g per kilogram of body weight. So, if you are invited to a birthday party in the evening, you can eat relatively low-calorie and protein-rich meals in the morning and at noon to save enough calories for snacks and maybe a drink or two in the evening. However, you should always be cautious with alcohol! Besides the many calories, it often also reduces your performance the following day.

As you can see, a big advantage of a cheat day during a diet is that it makes you flexible, allowing you not to worry about your exact carbohydrate and fat intake for one day and can make your diet more successful in that regard. It simply makes it easier for you to stick to your diet consistently. As mentioned above, such days should not be confused with refeed days, which mainly serve to refill carbohydrate stores and buffer hormonal reactions during a low-carb diet.

That doesn’t mean you can’t plan a cheat day if you have chosen a low-carb diet. If you pay attention to the aspects mentioned above, such days can be combined with any diet form.

 

How many calories can you consume on a Cheat Day?

How many calories you can consume on a cheat day depends entirely on your weekly balance. So, as explained in our example, you should have a good deficit on your diet days. Then you can adjust your surplus accordingly. The weekly balance is crucial here and should definitely be calculated in advance.

Checklist: What to avoid when cheating

• Don’t be afraid of a weight increase the day after the cheat day; just follow your plan again afterward
• Don’t fall into binge eating and stuff yourself with everything; instead, eat consciously and enjoy your food
• If you find it hard to get back into your normal routine after a cheat day, you should only have such days rarely

Conclusion – Are Cheat Days sensible and helpful for weight loss?

Losing weight and cheating can work! A controlled cheat day can bring you closer to your goal in the long term if such days help you stick to your nutrition plan consistently on all other days. This is especially true if you plan to follow your diet for a long period.

If you determine your calorie needs correctly and stick to your plan consistently, you can still achieve a sufficient calorie deficit and steadily move closer to your goal.

In conclusion, we believe cheat days are mainly a great way to stay spontaneous and flexible during a diet and not lose joy in the process.

And let’s be honest: as great as it is to get the best out of your shape, sometimes it just has to be that piece of cake with your best friend, the beer with your buddy, or lunch with your family – and that’s perfectly fine!

In conclusion, we believe cheat days are mainly a great way to stay spontaneous and flexible during a diet and not lose joy in the process.

And let’s be honest: as great as it is to get the best out of your shape, sometimes it just has to be that piece of cake with your best friend, the beer with your buddy, or lunch with your family – and that’s perfectly fine!