Holiday eating help needed

matfatcowboy

In my family the "holidays" are centered around food. I don't' just mean Christmas, or thanksgiving, I mean 4th of July BBQ's, Easter lunch, memorial day cookouts, literally every holiday has a meal that is associated with it. For instance Thanksgiving is tomorrow, which is celebrated by 4 (yes 4!!) days of nonstop food availability when my family gathers.
That being said, I'm not so good at the will power. If I had strong will power I probably wouldn't be over 300#. So all of that to ask....

How do you get through a holiday without over eating? I'll try anything that doesn't involve sewing my lips shut.

Tblackdogs

My suggestion would be to eat a small and healthy breakfast. Eat a small and healthy lunch. Take a walk if you can. And then at Thanksgiving Dinner(s) make it a game to only eat the few things that look most delicious to you. (For me that would likely be an appetizer, stuffing and cranberry sauce. I might take a little bit of other things so I don't look weird or rude but I'd really only eat my three favorites! )Then try not to gorge yourself on the foods you chose. Pretty sure that if you do this each of the 4 days, you will feel good about yourself at the end of the weekend!

RodaRose

On Thursday, instead of grazing and snacking and eating before and after the meal, eat the Thanksgiving meal ONCE. Appreciate the meal and then move on to clean up, take a walk, or do something else.
Your mention of sewing takes me back -- when I went to someone's house I used to take my needle point or whatever handcraft I was working on. Even if I was not working on something, I pretended to be. That way I could still be somewhat engaged in the conversation/ snacking activity if I wanted to be and then look busy if I did not want to be.
If there are kids around, put yourself in charge of finding something for them to do while the adults are preparing and munching.

concordancia

Put the food on the plate, sit down and eat it while doing nothing else but enjoying the food and the company. No tv, no computer, no munching at the poker table. This does wonders for me to stop the grazing. Don't sit down in front of a plate of a single food, don't pick at things standing at the counter, etc.

Invite a group to go out and do something active. Obviously, this depends on the weather, but even if it is miserable, sometimes entertainment places are open for the holidays, especially in areas with large immigrant populations.

If your family doesn't have a game tradition, find a game that large groups can play and/or that can be set up tournament style. I grew up playing Euchre, but it could be any card game or something like Pictionary played in teams.

esjones12

Luckily my family is small and not big on celebrating holidays and traditions and such. But there are tons of tips and tricks out there - from keeping your phone and a glass of water in each hand (can't eat food if both hands are full!) to eating healthy food before and bringing healthy snacks instead. You can also keep one meal as your "cheat" and just be really strict the whole week leading up to it. It might prevent a loss on the scale that week, but one meal is unlikely to completely ruin your progress.

But honestly it comes down to finding what works for you in your unique situations. It takes time, consistency, and yes - a little will power.

Best of luck!

gothchiq

The nutritionist told me to eat some complex carbs before hand. For example a small sweet potato. I will be doing this. My inlaws are the fattiest sugariest eaters ever, and I have worked too hard to get rid of my fat to allow them to sabotage me with junk!!!

matfatcowboy

Thanks everybody, we have a huge family (100+ for the 4 day extravaganza) so I'm going to be spending lots of time outside, away from the kitchen i think.