Cheat Day Blues

You don't need to eat junk. You could try things like whole grain breads with cream cheese, or a bowl of oatmeal, or my personal favorite: unsweetened greek yogurt with a big helping of granola and cut up fruit. And if you are craving a particular thing, one dessert would be fine - I'm not suggesting you give up whatever your favorite items are permanently, just think about healthy carbs you miss and fill at least the first part of the day with those.

One of my recent cheat days included lunch at an all you can eat indian buffet, so I got to eat naan and rice again and deep fried onion things, but 80% of the meal was stuff that was probably SCD approved except for maybe some ingredients in the sauce. I didn't even bother having desserts there, I wasn't craving sweets and didn't feel obligated to have them. I enjoyed the heck out of it and was stuffed but not sick.

I feel exactly like you!

I follow SCD all week long and then Saturday I go wild and crazy...but yeah -- that's the reason I do it for 6 month yet and still loving it!

Take it as it is! -- Good luck!

Saturday was my cheat day...Sunday I feel horrible physically but on Mondays I'm so much worse mentally and today is the worse I have and I think a lot is how I handled my cheat day.

There was a lot of "junk" out there to be eaten on Saturday and I overindulged too much. My other cheat days, I took bites of this or that....this past cheat day, I was eating meals of things I thought I wanted but really didn't and it didn't satisfy me at all.

Two bites of the chocolate chip cheesecake was enough though....could I have ate the whole thing? yes, but I'm really glad I didn't.

So I think my trick is to only take a bite or two of those things I crave/look good at the time.

love the fruit and nuts idea....that might be my experiment for the next cheat day.

My first cheat day was Saturday... AMAZING! I felt like crap... but that feeling is good for me! I needed that. I am not hugely fond of the diet yet... so feeling like crap made me want to eat healthy again and that has kept me on trace as I start week 2. I ate like crazy while home on Saturday, then friends wanted to go out. So I enjoyed that too. It was all good, and so worth it.

I think because TF said to eat whatever we want, all the junk ans sweet we want that we are acting this way. I agree with all of you guys, my last binge day, I felt full/disgusted the whole day, but kept eating! What's wrong with me/us? And I def felt it the next day, I was totally constipated :S.......It's just weird because I used to be soooo healthy all the time (whole grains, gluten free, natural) but when it's cheat day, it's just free for all, and I have pancakes, cupcakes, popcorn with butter, coca cola... it's frustrating!

We should make this a challenge: Eat healthy, even on your cheat day!

We still love you Tim

Good luck everyone!

I'm beginning to see the logic behind planning your cheat day. I've had 5 cheat days since I started the SCD and they've varied from very good to very bad. Last Thursday I was down 19.4lb from my starting weight on the 23rd of Jan. I had a very unorganized weekend and the cheat day wasn't very defined, food wise or time wise. It was more of a cheat weekend. My weight spiked 5.6lb over the weekend and I feel terrible after it. I was getting used to the weight spikes over the weekends and had even managed to only spike by 0.6lb the weekend before after a very organized cheat day where I enjoyed myself sensibly instead of going mad. I'm gutted now and wish I had paid more attention to what I was doing last weekend. I intend to keep enjoying my cheat day each weekend but I'm going to be sensible about it from now on. I can't hack the disappointment of large weight spikes and feeling like all my good work has been undone...!!!

I quit junk-binge-crazyness after the first few cheat days.

I have nice breakfast with the kids, than ususally go for lunch or dinner to some restaurants and it's such a pleasure to choose freely from the menu

Have "real" latte and mayby a piece of chocolate along, or some M&Ms just because they're there.

Yoghurt with fruit or good fresh wholegrain bread in the evening - but everything with extreme pleasure and taste buds wide open.

After a while on SCD, junk starts to taste weird and good quality food is such a pleasure..

I can no longer drink Coke light, the soapy taste is gross.

I aim for QUALITY instead of QUANTITY.

I have chocolate, ice cream, grain free goodies and booze but not at binge amounts and I have the good stuff. Now I can afford the good stuff because I haven't been buying those items all week long.

Cheat Days for me nowadays are more about relaxing the rules than an all out binge. I don't worry about if there's sugar in the beef jerky or starch the sauce in the dish I just ordered. I have all the fruit and greek yogurt I want. I can have a second glass of wine and finish the evening off with a nice scotch and piece of dark chocolate

There are different strategies that you can use.

It all comes down to management of your food and cravings and what works best for you.

Here are some ideas:

Limited it to one cheat meal.

Have cheat 'window of time'.

One cheat treat per meal .

Specific number of cheat items for the day.

One binge-out item. (eg.eat all the ice cream you want but otherwise stick to SCD).

(My favorite) Downsize and upscale your cheat day treats. Instead of buying a whole pint of run-of-the mill ice cream, buy one portion of high quality ice cream/.gelato. Instead of a whole box of crappy processed cookies, buy a couple of good quality bakery cookies.

It comes down to your style of discipline (or lack of).