I have been keeping track of my weight for a while now as I have been cutting. Here is the graph of my progress.

Currently: 142.5 lbs
Started Tracking: 151.5 lbs

The post-cheat day weigh-ins are highlighted in red. These are the day after readings that I get from the excess food. Please take into consideration that these are all post-washroom visit.

Now for the impact it has had on my progress.

I am eating typically ~1750 calories. My maintenance is approximately 2450. Exercise 5x a week at a 250 calorie loss, give or take = -1250 weekly.




Total Weekly Calories: 12,250
Net Total Weekly Calories: 11,000
Maintenance Calories: 17,150

Net Difference: 6,150 calories
Weight in fat @ 3500 calories per lb: 1.76 lbs.

Time Frame of measurement: 46 days
Change in weight: (151.5 - 142.5 = 9 lbs)

Weeks: 46/7 = 6.57 weeks.
Projected Weight Loss: 6.57 x 1.76 = 11.6 lbs.
Actual Weight Loss: 9 lbs.

Difference: 2.6 lbs .

So my actual progress has NOT been according to what I would have predicted. This leaves 2 major factors.

1. I gained muscle. This is most likely as many of my lifts have gone up, and my thighs have gotten larger (20" to 20.75" each).

2. Inconsistencies in measurement such as water and food mass content within my body. Taking over a larger span would be better. In addition, my BMR may not be accurately calculated.

In the end: Did cheat meals hurt my progress? No. Look at the slope of the graph after every cheat meal. Excess food waste and water weight leaving the body. Would a sustained cheat hurt? Yes it would.

For the record, my cheating consisted typically of sugars and large amounts of food in the evening, post WO. I don't do cheat days, only dirty evenings. If anyone else cares to derive anything from what I have posted, please, go right ahead. This are just my observations.

Evertime you have a cheat your weight drops!!!

There's no way of knowing whether the cheat days affected your overal weight change, for the simple reason that it is unknown what your weight change would have been if you hadn't had the cheat days.

However - I agree it's very interesting to make these kinds of analyses. And also well done with the progress so far, and good luck for its continuation :)

Clearly evident how your cheat meals affect your overall weight.
Good work with the tracks, The post-cheat day weigh-ins highlighting is a very cool idea.
Congrats bro, continue in progress!

That's pretty cool. Do you have any idea how large your cheat "evenings" were, calorie wise? Did you exceed your maintenance calories? Was alcohol involved? I'm just curious as to what your body will let you get away with.

My tables and graphs show the same trend. I cheat weekly and I see consistant water retension/bloat for 2 days following the cheat, then 5 days of losses taking me lower than the previous week (usually by about 1.4-2.6 pounds a week)

I've experimented with no cheat meals, and I get steady losses for about 6 days before maintaining or an increase in weight occurs. So it appears that for my body, one weekly cheat is perfect timing to keep my body working at maximum capacity!

Great analysis. I am finding the same thing with my progress. If I go more than a week without a "cheat meal" my weight will plateau. A couple days after a "cheat meal" my weight will drop and then remain steady during the week of "clean eating" and then drop after the next cheat. I guess the body tends to hold on to the fat a little during "clean eating" (thinking it is starving and holding the energy). The "cheat meal" reminds the body, "Hey, I'm not starving it is OK to release some fat here!" My "cheat meal" typically is Friday or Saturday night, when my wife and I seem to go out with friends.


John Stone, your daily update indicated your next cheat meal is the 21st. Is your schedule 1 "cheat meal" every 2 weeks?

Alcohol intake for the first red dot and second red dot. About 3 3-finger drinks, maybe 12 ounces total. Alcohol didn't seem to do as much, but I probably didn't eat as much as I COULD have when I was drinking.

I suggest that you drink hard liquor if you do go to drink, and try to have some sort of healthy meal available if you plan on coming back to your place. That way you won't be as likely to go out and eat a whole pizza.

Caloric intake for those evenings was definitely in the range of 2000-3000 calories. Although I didn't feel that great later on.

What about "cheating" vs. clean refeeding? Same effect with less fat storage? Any thoughts?

clean refeeding

Sorry, can you explain. Is this a "clean eating" day, but bumping those clean calories waaaay UP? So, if I am typically at 2200 calories, I would go up to say 3000, but keeping those 3000 clean (healthy foods)? Just want to make sure I understand "clean refeeding" concept...:confused:

A clean refeed is a feeding on clean calories. This is correct. When I do a clean refeed, I have a large PWO shake of oats, nitrean, banana, and some oil. Then I eat a large chicken breast with bread and veggies later on. I feel stuffed for a long time. Although I do eat chocolate sometime. That's my weakness.

I wiegh in Saturday morning and then cheat all day. By Sunday morning I'm usually 2 pounds heavier but by the next Sat weigh-in I'm 2-3 pounds lightter than previous Saturday's weigh-in. There are some theories. Some say that your metabolism gets adjusted to your diet and your cheat day/meal shocks your metabolism into firing back up. Maybe just a theory but sounds like a good one.

Sorry, can you explain. Is this a "clean eating" day, but bumping those clean calories waaaay UP? So, if I am typically at 2200 calories, I would go up to say 3000, but keeping those 3000 clean (healthy foods)? Just want to make sure I understand "clean refeeding" concept...:confused:

You've got it.

You can cycle your calories too so you dont have a "refeed" day. One way to do it is think of your calories on a weekly instead of a daily basis. Your body doesnt magically reset every morning anyway. Lets say for ease of computation you need 8000 calories a week to lose one pound a week. The first six days you eat 1000 calories and on the seventh you eat 2000. Now you have the calories, no refeed/cheat day, and your body gets its periodic shock.

Nice documentation and progress betastas.

You can cycle your calories too so you dont have a "refeed" day. One way to do it is think of your calories on a weekly instead of a daily basis. Your body doesnt magically reset every morning anyway. Lets say for ease of computation you need 8000 calories a week to lose one pound a week. The first six days you eat 1000 calories and on the seventh you eat 2000. Now you have the calories, no refeed/cheat day, and your body gets its periodic shock.

Nice documentation and progress betastas.
I diet on a bit of a monthly cycle. I sort of alternate with about three weeks of slight caloric deficit and one week of surplus calories to average out to maintenance. Sometimes I need more than a week, sometimes I need less. I don't take cheat meals unless my body needs it both physically and psychologically.

1. I gained muscle. This is most likely as many of my lifts have gone up, and my thighs have gotten larger (20" to 20.75" each).


For the record, my cheating consisted typically of sugars and large amounts of food in the evening, post WO. I don't do cheat days, only dirty evenings. If anyone else cares to derive anything from what I have posted, please, go right ahead. This are just my observations.


Do you own calipers? These are much better in tracking progress than are all the graphs you can construct. Scale weight naked every morning at the same time after you use the bathroom, and caliper readings consistently used once (or more if you're obsessive) a week will tell you if you've gained or lost fat. Figure out the math, and you will see.

I kept very good records during my last cut, and I gained a whopping 2 lbs of muscle (probably pretty negligible) with a loss of 20lbs of fat. It was a pretty aggressive cut- 2.5 lbs/wk, cardio 6x/wk, and upper/lower 4-day splits with a 3-5 rep/set range.

Actually I don't have calipers. I keep track of my progress with pictures, weight, and familiarity with my own body. The recent increase in "cold" vascularity is another indicator of fat loss for me. I also know when my weight should be discredited, mostly due to an anomoly in my eating, sleeping and washroom patterns. This is just meant to be a record of my weight. I will get a pair of calipers someday, but not as of yet.

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/qa/afc/afc_jan032003.htm

Not everybody can cheat and get away with it. Know thyself. And with that, pizza time!