Hi delilah:

I agree with Kristine, that planned cheats are different from impulsive cheats.

I'm following BFL which has a planned "free day" every Sunday. It's premise is to trick the body from thinking that it's dieting to help speed up the metabolism. This is totally different than an impulsive cheat/binge.

Binges are about lack of control. I know ALL about them. To me, these free days are about control. Usually I only allow a cheat for one meal (one serving always balanced with protein) b/c I think more than one meal sets off the "hog wild" mentality in me. I'm finding over time that I'm slowly learning moderation. I could only have learned moderation from planned, controlled cheats. And to be honest, the pull of high carb foods has started to fade away. There are some "free days" where I don't have a cheat meal, just to prove to myself that the "free meal" isn't controlling me.

I've had 2 boxes of Halloween candies sitting in my trunk for a couple of weeks now. A year ago, I could never have done that. I'd binge on the candies within a day. ....oops, I just realized that with all the hot weather we've had, they may have melted in my car!

My point is that some people can handle this kinda stuff, some can't. I don't think you were asking whether or not you should cheat, just whether you should cheat all day. I'd go with the "one meal" cheat. The "hog wild" cheats are harder to control in my opinion. You're still in control if you say "I'm only cheating for one meal, not all day".

HTH, and have a great party!

Wanda