Do you take a day (or meal) off from healthy eating each week?

I don't really have a cheat day, I keep track of my intake m-f, then on weekends we go out a lot and I choose healthy, but some times I skip meals and make up my protein with shakes

This may not be a popular response but I don't plan cheats.  I am hoping to live a new lifestyle and in that lifestyle I have some structure that I try to live by.  I don't eat between planned meals and snacks.  Otherwise I am tempted to graze.  I don't eat anything with sugar or wheat in it.  No bread, cookies, cake, etc.  Otherwise I eat what I want at meals.  I go out to eat often and I have no problem following my guidelines.  I do this because I am addicted to refined carbs and avoid them at all cost.  I have good reason to given my history.  Every time I have gained weight uncontrollably it has been because I tried to eat refined carbs in moderation.  I blame my addiction for my failure with my first surgery, a surgery that had the highest stats for keeping weight off.  All because I couldn't stop eating those refined carbs.  I have been stopped for over a year now and that means a lot more to me then my weight loss.
Other people may not have issues with refined carbs and can eat what they like in moderation.  The key for me is being honest with myself and staying true to myself.

I've had probably too many of those days lately.  I'm not gaining so if/until I see the scale go above my comfort zone I'm not going to be strict on what I eat.  I DO make sure my protein intake is up.

I call mine "free days" because cheating, to me, implies a diet.  I do NOT do it every week -- that would be VERY dangerous for me -- but I do one day per month, every month.  Some holiday months (December) or special occasion months get two.

My only rules/restrictions are that I must still get 60g of protein (pretty easy without much effort at 4 years out) and that it is for one day only unless it is planned ahead of time for two days in a row (e.g., last year during my 30-year H.S. reunion weekend, or at Thanksgiving).  For me, deciding the next morning that I enjoyed the one day so much that I want another one would be a really slippery slope... two days could easily turn into three. I can have whatever I want (except the 5 foods that make me physically ill, of course) whenever I want it.  I do not, however, just go "hog wild"... I still eat in moderation... there is still a limit to how much I can put in my pouch, of course, and I do NOT allow myself to graze constantly or to the point that I would be ingesting HUGE amounts of calories... but there have been days when I have had a small amount of something (a handful of chips or an average cookie) with lunch and then had another small handful of chips or another cookie in the afternoon... and then some other kind of treat after dinner.

One of the things that I love about my free days (other than the cookies... there is almost always some kind of cookie (or cake) involved!!!), is that it reinforces my ability to decide to eat some junk for a day and then to decide -- and to exercise the control -- to go back to my normal eating plan the following day.  It reinforces that I am in control, not the food. 

I do also allow myself one small treat every day.  Most days that's 6 M&Ms or a 1/4C of ice cream or some chips.  Some days I find that I actually don't even want one.  It does give me something to look forward to, and -- like the free days -- it reinforces my ability to control what I eat and to ENJOY what I eat.

It might not work for everyone... but it works for me.

Lora

Interesting stuff. I don't track as well as I should these days so I'm not even really sure a free day would feel a lot different than a non free day given pouch restriction. Granted, grazing could add the calories. I do tend to keep it tighter during the week and ease up on weekends being that weekends tend to be party time but I do not have a day in particular. I really just tend to be a little freer at a meal or two on the weekend. Thanks for all the replies!!

My son and I go out on Wednesday nights for "dessert Wednesday" We've been doing it for a couple of months. We research the best desserts in Seattle. We go to all sorts of crazy expensive places and just eat dessert. We usually get 2 desserts but we never finish them.
I love dessert Wednesday and so does the boy. I had to work this Wednesday and I asked him tonight if he wanted to go on a Thursday. He looked at me like I was mad.."mom..it's not Wednesday!"
Deb T.

At almost 3 years out, I eat whatever i want, whenever I want it. I'm a daily-weigher. If my weight is up more than 3 pounds, I track every bite and am back on track generally within a week. It works for me.

Laura