What is your plan of attack for the food heavy holiday season?

Ruzuki

I live very far from any relatives, so I dont often have any issues during the holidays... My coworker decided to 'adopt' me though so I may be invited to her house for Thanksgiving. I plan on just eating and having fun, but making sure I dont eat too much or I might feel sick =s. Then next day I will be sure to get in a lot more exercise!
Christmas Ill probably do what I do every christmas and sit at home playing video games... maybe Ill get a little treat that I can share with my cat...

noexcusesjustresults2014

Eat as much as you want! Just make up for it on other days.

patriciapowerswilliamson

I am going to eat on Thanksgiving and then bounce right back on Friday afterwards. I don't munch out during the Holidays except for Thanksgiving Day.

NikiChicken

I will stick to my normal routine through the holidays - eating at a deficit and exercising every day. On the actual days of the holidays (Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), I will eat what I want without tracking, but then right back to normal the very next day. As long as I don't turn Thanksgiving and Christmas into a 6-week long food fest, I'm fine. I have also entered into my company's "Holiday Hold 'Em" challenge which rewards all participants who hold their weight through the holidays. It is a team challenge. The initial team weigh-in is this Wednesday and the final weigh-in is January 5. As long as your team (as a whole) weighs the same or less, everyone in the team gets a prize. If your team loses the most weight each team member gets a big prize (gift certificate for a local business). it's a nice little added incentive to really be mindful of what I am putting in my mouth. Not only do *I* want to win a prize, but now I am accountable to the other members of my team as well!

Archerychickge

Same as it has been. Eat reasonable and realistic portions of the foods that I want to eat, log everything, drink plenty of water, get enough exercise, get enough sleep, and go on about my merrier slimmer way.

BamaBreezeNSaltAire

EAT DRINK and BE MERRY. There.

rprussell2004

KCKO. Just like every day.

yoovie

It won't be a food heavy day, just a food yummy day! serving sizes remain the same - but I am definitely going to make sure I get all my workouts in that week - because for me - my work day structure falling apart is more of an obstacle than eating delicious non-junk food

GothyFaery

randomtai wrote: »

GothyFaery wrote: »

I plan to be over on Thanksgiving, my birthday weekend, and Christmas (eve and day) and I will not regret a single thing I eat on those days. I'll be good every other day in between.

ETA: I started losing weight last October and that was my same plan of attack then. One year and 42 pounds later, I think it's still a really good plan.

Is your hubby gonna let you?

Personally I hate Thanksgiving. I don't like turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, gravy and I'm allergic to cinnamon and pumpkin spice. I work all day to prepare a huge meal for just the two of us. I nibble on the turkey so he doesn't feel bad that I worked so hard just for him. I'm mostly going to shove my face full of mashed potatoes and rolls and chocolate pie. Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday of the year so I'm sure he'll be pretty damn happy with the feast I prepare for him.

So I don't think he's going to have a problem.

PRMinx

yoovie wrote: »

It won't be a food heavy day, just a food yummy day! serving sizes remain the same - but I am definitely going to make sure I get all my workouts in that week - because for me - my work day structure falling apart is more of an obstacle than eating delicious non-junk food

Plus, turkey has all the protein!

bostonwolf

^this. I chow on the protein first and in larger quantity and take a spoonful of the other stuff I love.

mellowkate

Work out in the morning, and then just take the opposite of Louie's approach and stop when I'm full...?

dubird

If you've been watching your food portions for several months, you'll probably find it takes a lot less food to satisfy you now. I know for me, I can't eat the big meals I used to be able to, so I get smaller portions of what I like and that works out well. I don't stress about counting anything during holiday meals anymore, just make sure I eat slow and smaller portions and I find I actually do pretty good that way. I figure if I can come out of the Christmas week without gaining anything, I've come out ahead! It also helps that my mom doesn't overload on making sweets like she used to. She's been watching her weight, and the rest of us don't pig out on sweets anymore, so she's gradually cut back what she makes. Which makes watching what I eat up there easier now, but that's something that depends entirely on someone else, so you might not have luck there.

Well, unless you're the main cook for holiday meals, in which case, you can tell people to just bring a dessert and take the leftovers with them. That way, you can get a treat but it goes away by the end of the day and you're not tempted anymore.

Lizzy622

Eat the food. Going to my mother's so it will be one meal and not 2 or 3 days of over doing.

mustgetmuscles1

feralkitten1010

Light breakfast - 110ish Calories or so, normal exercise routine for Thursdays, and then gluttony. I should come in under maintenance.

KylaDenay

MyChocolateDiet wrote: »

I plan to attack the stuffing first...because that's my favorite. I plan to eat half of what's on my plate of that before I even consider a mashed potato or turkey bite. Then I will do Turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy for a few minutes. Then I will move onto turkey with cranberry for the last half of the turkey. This is where I go back to attacking the stuffing. Then I will probably have to get up to get more stuffing and will attack anyone who gets in my way and/or is taking the last of the stuffing. Probably at this time I will pick up a dinner roll which I forgot to get in my zeal for stuffing and I will attack that roll with more butter than a paula dean episode. Then I will attack the roll and stuffing together like so much peanut butter and chocolate, corn flakes and milk, tequila and salt, pretzels and chocolate. For some reason to me the combo of a buttered roll and stuffing is a classic that is often overlooked.

Then I will rest in my LaZBoy and when I get my second wind I will attack the stuffing again, this time with cubes of turkey on top and some more gravy. As a snack. Like a rice bowl but with stuffing. Yeah stuffing. Stuffing.

+2

Stuffing is my absolute favorite.

I will however continue to make sandwiches like Capriotti's with the leftover stuffing, turkey and cranberry sauce on a hogie roll!

cwolfman13

I don't treat the entire two months from October though New Years as some free for all license to just binge eat everything in site. I enjoy Thanksgiving and I enjoy Christmas and I feast and I make merry with my friends and family...the other 59 days are pretty much status quot.

Swiftlet66

Moderation and avoid overeating.

hbcfit13

My plan is to use a small plate and try to drink about a gallon of water throughout the day pre-dinner! I agree with a poster that said to get a larger portion of turkey and smaller portions of the sides. I'll probably have a good quarter pound of white meat and a small spoonful of each side. And I'm choosing ONE dessert (pumpkin pie) and having a small slice! Luckily I go out of town to visit family for Thanksgiving, so leftovers are something I won't have to worry about in the following days, thank goodness.

polarsjewel

Mr_Bad_Example wrote: »

mlrtri wrote: »

I have decided to slim down right before the food heavy holidays. I am committed now, no going back. Please share your plans on making sure you stay on track during the holidays.

Too simple?

YES!

lsgibbs83

Enjoy what you like in moderation. I know I will be eating some foods I don't typically eat since starting MFP. I will be choosing carefully between what I really want (my grandpa's home made noodles), and what I like but can live without (stuffing). The turkey itself isn't bad if you don't go overboard. There are usually roasted sweet potatoes that aren't candied and covered with marshmallows at my family's dinner. Filling the rest of my plate with veggies.

Add some activity will allow you more calories as well. Plan the remaining meals for the day accordingly.

Keep in mind...it is one meal. Even if we over indulge it isn't the end of the world. Start fresh with the next meal.

89nunu

A fork, a knife maybe a spoon and shuffle it all in before anyone else gets the chance to!

But if cutlery is unavailable or too far away I'd be happy to do this too:

Capt_Apollo

Five Mike turkey trot on thanksgiving, followed by eating all the things.

Christmas eve I'm working and going straight to dinner afterwards, but I will probably run the next morning.

I will not be logging my food on thanksgiving, Christmas eve, or Christmas day.

As a friend of mine once said, "too many people are concerned with what they eat between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when they should worry about how they eat between Christmas and thanksgiving."

lsgibbs83

As a friend of mine once said, "too many people are concerned with what they eat between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when they should worry about how they eat between Christmas and thanksgiving."[/quote]

Love this!

mccindy72

I used to just eat tons of whatever the hell I wanted to eat (holidays and bday only account for 5 days out of the year, so who cares if you go over your limit?). Now I can eat so few things, I'm just going to eat a lot of the few things I know I can eat, and make a gluten free pie crust with a filling I know I can eat and work my way through most of the pie through out the afternoon and evening. Yep, for both Thanksgiving and Christmas....

skullshank

i will be bulking

JagerLewis

I'm careful with what I eat before I get together with family and make sure I get in an awesome workout. Then, I eat everything that I like within reason. I still use gravy, still eat the stuffing, and will have some pecan pie (probably not the whole slice though). Just enjoy yourself, don't stress about it. Remember Thanksgiving is pretty much a one meal deal, so any diet is not up in smoke if you indulge in your favorites.

mccindy72

oh, that looks so... painful....

dopeysmelly

I'll be eating what I normally eat, but eating less of it. I love all the foods that happen around Thanksgiving, not just on the day, but I'm already pre-logging some days so I know what the calories are like for the foods I normally have. So, an almond croissant last year, will become half an almond croissant this year, and since losing the weight I can't really drink more than 2 drinks over an entire day, so I'm forced to have less of that. Work parties etc. I'll have a glass of wine, skip the nibbles and then switch to water or diet soda.

I'll be logging some things and not others, but using the recipe builder to figure out the nutrition of foods like stuffing.

We're hosting/cooking, so it makes it much easier.