[LisaS]

allowed by who, the diet gods?

You control your life. If you are following a plan, then follow the plan, unless you choose not to. If you are asking about a specific plan, you didn't say what it is so we can't tell you if we agree with your take on the plan or not.

That being said, many plans have refeed days or weeks built in to them at specific intervals so it isn't an odd concept at all. But there is a method in that madness that the writer of the plan has worked out. If you are winging it and not on a written plan you might get it right or not. But it isn't rocket science.

if you are Just following a gut guideline that you have determined, only you can determine if a once in a while splurge should be considered a part of said plan or a major deviation of said plan.

That said, many people have good success with planning for a higher calorie meal or even day in their week, figuring that the 24 hour day guidelines are just that and that an overall weekly deficit is more important than 7 consecutive days of deficit. So if you were doing that and wanted to still hit a particular deficit you'd have to plan that all into your week and your meals.

On the other hand, some people find that a day or meal that is completely a splurge can reawaken cravings that had been controlled or lead to more out of control eating or completely take you off plan for days at a time. That might not be you though; only you would know that.

So - you might eat at a deficit 6 days and 1 day at maintenance or above and figure that your weekly average is sufficient deficit - or you might find that the day after the high day is intolerable and you are better off sticking to it for 30 days and then taking 3 or 4 maintenance days as a break.

Or you could decide to heck with it, it's my special occasion and I'm having a 1000 calorie meal with my special someone and I'll get back on plan tomorrow.