You know it’s coming so let’s get prepared for the upcoming food fest. The way I see it, you have a few choices, two of which are:
1) You can throw caution to the wind and eat like there’s no tomorrow, or
2) You can plan in advance what you want to eat and enjoy your holiday food guilt free.
When I was a big girl, I always chose option one. I may have just joined my local weight loss center the week before, but that didn’t matter to me. It was a holiday after all, and who diets on a holiday? Certainly not me. I remember one Christmas season where John and I had gone to a church party. There laid before me was the most wonderful assortment of food I had seen in a long time. Fried turkey, barbequed chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, fruit salad, creamy casseroles and desserts which occupied their own special table! I went back for third helpings of the main dishes, and had a sampling of at least 5 different desserts. Then, when we got home from the party, I preceded to forage in the pantry for the more chocolate.
Don’t be like I was and throw good intentions to the wind! Instead, come up with a plan that will help you both physically and emotionally. I don’t know about you, but whenever I would eat like a glutton, I’d feel guilty. But as I was losing weight, and started to consistently make good choices, I felt good about myself emotionally. This Christmas season you can have wonderful celebrations, and still move your weight in the right direction. Here are some ideas to help you.
1. Plan ahead.If you are going to someone’s house for a cookie exchange or party, offer to bring a dish or two that you will enjoy eating. I usually offer to bring a salad and a dessert. Salads are easy to make and good for you, and if I bring a low fat dessert, I’ll have some too.
2. Prepare mentally. You’ve prepared your food, but now you must prepare yourself. Know that there will be temptations at the event, and you should practice your reactions to those temptations. Will you eat some of everything, or just have a taste of your favorites? Can you look at Aunt Susie’s smiling face and fattening dessert and say, “No thank you.”
3. Decide what food you must have. There are certain foods we associate with certain holidays. If Christmas isn’t the same for you without a certain food, please have some. Just don’t have too much of it! Don’t deprive yourself of what you really want, because that almost always backfires!
4. Enjoy the holiday itself, not just the food. By focusing on the friends, family and meaning of the holiday you can take some of the emphasis off the food. Sure Uncle Don does a mean fried turkey, but visiting and talking with Uncle Don is more special than any food he makes. Adopting this attitude made a big difference in how I thought of, and handled holiday meals.
It took me over a year to lose 150 pounds, and throughout that year our family celebrated lots of holidays! Learn now how to celebrate by eating healthy, fun food, and you will be able to continue on your weight loss journey!
Do you worry about how you will handle upcoming social situations? Diane
I used to a great deal when I initially lost weight and found what did NOT work for me was the tip of eating a healthy snack before I left the house.
I tended to still snack at the soiree (even lightly. to simply taste things) and consumed double the calories.
Its all about trial and error huh?
and finding what works for us!
Miz´s last fabulous musings ..What are your pink gloves
I still struggle when anything is “buffet style”. At a sit down and order restaurant, I do pretty well. It’s the at home parties with everything all out, visible and available that makes pre-planning difficult for me. Luckily, I don’t have too many of those situations to deal with.
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I won’t lie. I do worry about it, but I’m working on that. But this year, it’s a little different… perhaps a little easier. I’m less worried and more focused on envisioning what I’ll eat, how I’ll handle it, and how I won’t miss that additional food. Rather than focusing on food, I’m focusing on how good I feel about myself when I make healthy choices (and even allowing for some reasonable indulgence).
Amen! I’ve just found my motivation again after a couple months of stall & gain, so I needed to hear this to drive right through the upcoming holiday. I’m planning to focus on people and on the meaning of the holiday rather than on cookies & feasts. Thanks, Diane.
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OMG YES!!! The bane of my dieting existing these past months – social situations. Sigh. I all too often fall into my pre-cheating mentality that I am going to fall off plan then so why try now. I am working on this.
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I have worried quite a bit about the holiday situations, and this year it’s almost a little more, b/c I’ve been doing so well with my weight loss, and actually like how I look! I’m trying (and praying!) really hard not to let it overwhelm me. My big thing is to not extremely restrict myself, which I tend to do, and then go overboard when I can’t take it any more!
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I love being able to bring something healthier. Even better is to HOST something healthy – like the dinner party I had last night! It was lots of fun to share a healthy meal with friends and to have lots of veggies and such out, rather than typical party fare of chips and such. And everyone really enjoyed it.
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Diane, you know I don’t worry about upcoming parties, like you.. why, cause I do what you wrote above…
Plan for it, decide what I will & will not do & yes, plan for a treat that I really really want!
Jody – Fit at 53´s last fabulous musings ..My Eats Post Below
Great tips – I have a strange diet of no grains so these tips are all very useful.
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Since “special occasions” were one of the main reason that I gained a lot of weight (there were more “special occasions” than “regular” days in my life), I now am very mindful when it comes to holiday parties and social gatherings. Here are some of the things I do: I never go hungry. I always offer to bring a dish. I have a plan. I “assess” all the foods and think before choosing foods, and only eat things that are “worth” it. I also make a point to do my socializing as far away from the food as possible…
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Great advice and that is exactly what I do! Plan ahead!
I also Pre-eat when we have a dinner, party or event to attend. I eat something healthy that includes protein, fat and healthy carbs before we leave the house.
That way it takes the edge off my hunger and allows me to make smarter choices once we get to the event.
I also carry a snack type bar in my purse in case dinner is served too late for me, I am hypoglycemic – abnormally low blood sugar so I get a little cranky if I don’t get food when I should.
Everytime I come to your webpage, it seems the font is really small and hard to read. I know it wasn’t like that a couple of weeks ago. I’m not sure if I messed up my computer or if the problem is on your end?
I’m with Mizfit on the pre eating. I just go and choose large amounts of healthy items and minimal amounts of the other stuff. I guess it’s from the habits I’ve established over the years.
I don’t really worry anymore. I’m no longer into option one (throwing caution to the wind) and my one splurge is pretty much a slice of sweet potato pie and I don’t even splurge on that most of the time.
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You know what I’ve found? The big spread looks amazing and delectable, but the times I’ve thrown caution to the wind and inhaled it all, it turned out to be great for about 5 minutes, and then it all starts to taste like any other food being stuffed into an over-filled belly. Not a good feeling!
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Wonderful advice! I choose what I really want to eat. Mainly that is the savory dishes and I forgo dessert. I’m more a piece of dark chocolate girl, rather than a big piece of pie, so that works for me. Plus, I just try to savor the food on my plate and not go back for seconds. It seems to work. I made it through Thanksgiving just fine!
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