Log it or leave it... If it's not worth writing, it's not worth biting

Hmmmm... noticed a common thread among posters tonight in the myfitnesspal.com forums who have trouble coming to grips with their so-called "Cheat Days" and then coming back to regularly scheduled meals.

I'm NOT judging the whole cheat day concept.... except for a couple of points worth mentioning:

1).... WHY is it a CHEAT day? Who are you CHEATING? Remember, the one who benefits most from being healthy is YOU!!!!!

So if you want an INDULGENCE day, darn it, TAK E ONE. But don't call it cheating. That's like when my 2nd grader came home in tears because he thought he cheated on his first "spelling test".... quote of the day was "BUT MOM... w hen I closed my eyes I could just see the words so I knew how to spell them"... Well, kiddo, THAT's NOT CHEATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2) Having finally gained accountability for our intake and portion sizes, why throw that to the wind? Again, where is the benefit and who are you doing this for?

My suggestion is that the calories that you eat EVERY day count. Regardless of whether you indulge or not. And EVERY 3500 calories that you eat equals a pound. PERIOD. Equating "Cheat" Day calories with the philosophy that the broken cookies have no calories... makes no sense to me.

3) What are you doing to yourself on a regular basis that you feel the need to cheat on anyway???

If you have a budget of calories EVERY day, and you use them wisely and healthily and sometimes to treat yourself, and you stay NEAR or UNDER your calorie goal, eventually.... you WILL lose weight. Not all at once. Not overnight. Remember you didn't go to bed as skinny as a rail and wake up the size of the train.

MFP doesn't have a list of foods you can't eat or restrictions on what you HAVE to eat... all it says is.. you can lose weight eating X calories per day. Want to eat more than that? Fine!!!! You are just effecting that week's weight loss.

NO ONE GETS KICKED OUT OF MFP FOR EATING ABOVE THEIR DAILY GOAL.

4) Imagine if you will that you are a shopper. And you have some debt. And you decide that you are going to get your debt under control. If you go out once a week and splurge all your savings on a new whatchamagadget, why yes... you have a whatchamagadget.... BUT YOU GAVE UP YOUR SAVINGS FOR IT.

If you really WANT a whatchamagdget, by all means... save up for it. But don't change the interest you're paying by adding to the debt. Make a separate account for yourself and put spare change in it. Same thing with calories.

5) PRETENDING THAT YOU DIDN"T EAT IT DOESN"T MAKE IT LESS LIKELY THAT YOU ATE IT.

Now I admit, this one is a stretch for me... I'm kind of trying to expand my thinking to wrap my head around the concept that "not logging it" is somehow a reward. I guess I'm either too new at this or too convinced that it works to accept that. See... from my perspective, if it's worth eating, it's worth KNOWING WHAT I ATE. That way I can make an intelligent decision. And since I'm pretty sure my brain is smarter than my stomach (or I wouldn't be IN this mess), I'd rather turn the controls over to my brain.

So does all this mean I never eat junk or go over my calories? Not in the slightest. I have enjoyed sweets and salty treats. But I've done it with my eyes open and fully aware of the consequences because I'm not an ostrich.

So if you're going to indulge, by all means, enjoy. But log it. So later you can look back on it and decide... was it worth it? And would I do it again?

Anyway, my 2 cents. I'm NOT suggesting you never change up your calorie intake. I have read both pro and con articles about keeping your metabolism guessing which makes sense to me.... BUT I'm pretty sure my brain and my mouth won't tell my metabolism what we're doing.