Holidays

lucyleigh4

With Thanksgiving & Christmas coming up, of course there will be lots of meals and goodies. I have pretty good self control with all of it, but the foods in general are much higher calorie than I would normally eat. How do you guys maintain during these times?

sijomial

lucyleigh4 wrote: »

How do you guys maintain during these times?

I maintain in a relaxed fashion as my priority is enjoying time with my family and not worrying about a temporary weight gain.

snowflake930

Same as usual. Keep monitoring my weight and portion control. This is will be my 2nd year maintaining, and my 4th holiday season. I can not let myself overindulge too much, even on maintenance. I will not go back to where I was and in order to achieve this goal I can not permit myself to my old way of eating, "anything" that I wanted. Just the way it is for me now.

Francl27

I zigzag my calories. There's always a day or two every week when I eat more, then I keep a 400 deficit the rest of the time. Holidays will just be my high calorie days. Not worried about it.

Panthers89

There is no way to avoid the extra food and calories. I try to pick up my cardio a little more and I realize the weight will come off in January after the holidays as long as I get back to good habits and exercise. This will be my 5th Thanksgiving and Christmas on MFP - I add more calories to my daily goal because the holiday food will be there and it's worth having this time with family and friends.

nxd10

I pick the foods I really want to eat because they're special and build the rest of my eating around that. I also STOP eating when I'm not hungry. So after that nice glass of eggnog, I'm probably not really that hungry for the 3rd cookie and should grab some veg.

At long munchie events I also bring or go for foods I can keep munching without guilt. So I grab my favorite high calorie foods, then fill my plate with veggies.

Finally, the big problem isn't Thanksgiving or Christmas or Halloween. It's the weeks and weeks of eating in between. I have learned that most Christmas cookies look better than they taste. And that eggnog has more calories than I can possibly imagine and so I should drink it in small glasses. And that I like turkey and you can eat a lot of it for not that many calories.

Life is too short to eat bad food. Life is too short not to eat good stuff.

Francl27

nxd10 wrote: »

I pick the foods I really want to eat because they're special and build the rest of my eating around that. I also STOP eating when I'm not hungry. So after that nice glass of eggnog, I'm probably not really that hungry for the 3rd cookie and should grab some veg.

At long munchie events I also bring or go for foods I can keep munching without guilt. So I grab my favorite high calorie foods, then fill my plate with veggies.

Finally, the big problem isn't Thanksgiving or Christmas or Halloween. It's the weeks and weeks of eating in between. I have learned that most Christmas cookies look better than they taste. And that eggnog has more calories than I can possibly imagine and so I should drink it in small glasses. And that I like turkey and you can eat a lot of it for not that many calories.

Life is too short to eat bad food. Life is too short not to eat good stuff.

Yeah not mine, lol! I don't drink though, for me it's not worth the calories. But give me all the pies. And desserts. Last year I made a chestnut Yule log that was fantastic.

cwolfman13

I enjoy spending time with my family and loved ones and really don't sweat a couple of pounds that are going to come right off after the fact.

MsJulesRenee

As long as you are consistent the other days of the year 2 days of indulging shouldn't be an issue. Now overeating on leftovers...that's another story. That's what usually does me in. Last year I took home enough for two small meals for work and left the rest. Went to a couple work parties and extended family parties, ate what I don't usually have the rest of the year and ditched the rest. You will always have a chance to eat sugar cookies and mashed potatoes any day of the year but dark turkey meat and homemade pies are always on my "to eat" list.

jimskelton

I try being proactive with the exercise calorie offset, which MFP shows quite clearly. So, if I know a big meal is coming up, the day before I'll burn 1000 calories to create the deficit, with some weight training that'll require some muscle rebuilding, then eat 3000 calories the next day (way too much food!), which should help to rebuild muscle. Then, the next day, try doing another 1000 calorie burn. This burn/eat cycle demonstrates the correlation between eating and exercise. So, putting away a 1000 calorie piece of pie with ice cream will require 1 hour of very high intensity (85%), which is pretty painful, or 2 hours of medium intensity (70%). Is it worth it? I think so.

bioklutz

I will eat to much and regret nothing! I will probably temporarily gain a few pounds which will disappear in a few days without making any adjustments.

LivingtheLeanDream

For 2 days I will eat around 3000 cals, its just 2 days - which I enjoy immensely...then it'll be back to eating at around 10% deficit which is what I do at maintenance as that accounts for any logging inaccuracies.

I find any slight gain over Christmas disappears within a few weeks.

Francl27

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

For 2 days I will eat around 3000 cals, its just 2 days - which I enjoy immensely...then it'll be back to eating at around 10% deficit which is what I do at maintenance as that accounts for any logging inaccuracies.

I find any slight gain over Christmas disappears within a few weeks.

Lol I ate 4200 for two days last year. Then got so sick on the 3rd that I only ate 450 calories.

AskTracyAnnK28

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I enjoy spending time with my family and loved ones and really don't sweat a couple of pounds that are going to come right off after the fact.

^^^ this. Holidays only come once a year, so enjoy them with your family and your friends. Whatever little you put on will come off after January 1st

arditarose

It's not very hard to maintain during the holiday season. Check your maintenance calories, if you've been in a deficit for awhile, maintenance is going to seem like such a treat anyway. You can eat in a deficit some days, at a little surplus on the holiday itself or whatever. Take a jog or two. Don't sweat it.

hgycta

I tell myself that it's just food and if I really want it I can have it anytime of the year, whether that would be buying a frozen Lean Cuisine turkey and stuffing meal or baking my own pumpkin desserts. By taking out the whole concept of getting these foods ONLY on this one day and therefore MUST eat as much of it as you can to stay satisfied until next year, I find myself able to resist the urge to binge much better and more capable of portioning out normal sizes for myself. Just because everyone else's plates may be overflowing as others are getting up for seconds or thirds, doesn't mean you have to. Just because someone else helps themselves to four different slices of pie and polishes off each one doesn't mean you have to. Enjoy the day still, don't go crazy restricting every bite, but focus more on enjoying family than simply enjoying the food they brought. Out of respect still try different things, just don't feel the need to eat all of it, a lot of it, or second helpings of it. If anyone urges you to eat more just politely decline and say you're full or had enough, you don't need to tell them anymore than that or even mention that you're watching your weight, or else you run the risk of them telling you not to worry about it because it's a holiday and encouraging you to eat even more.
Just try to enjoy conversation, eat slowly, and drink plenty of water! Listen to your body signals and stop when you're full, and be mindful of alcohol!
But most importantly, if you do go over and aren't as successful as you had hoped, just bounce back the best you can and start watching what you eat again. Just because you ended up eating a huge plate for dinner doesn't mean you're doomed and may as well eat a ton of desserts, too. Every calorie still counts, and your body will keep track of it. It's better to pick up somewhere than nowhere. By deciding not to have a second slice of pie could easily save at least 400 calories which even though you may have gone over, will be 400 calories less you'll have to worry about doing damage control for later.
Happy holidays!

Francl27

I think it's harder also if you restrict too much the rest of the time... Look at Halloween. Everyone's worried about all the candy and I'm like 'I have my favorite candy in my cupboard that I've been eating one piece or two at a time for months, it really doesn't affect me'.

I made some delicious apple pie two days ago that I ate (possibly too much of) last night, so it will probably be easier for me not to completely piggy out on it on Thanksgiving when I make another one, and maybe I'll just have some of the other desserts instead of that one too (one can hope, right).

But yeah, it's definitely tougher for people who don't have much self control like me. I mean, I can have just a small piece of cheese and a couple crackers and only have a small serving of everything at dinner, but once it's dessert time, all self control goes out of the window. I just love my dessert. And this year they're asking me to bring croissants too, so at 300-350 calories a pop... yeah that's gonna be fun. Just so glad that alcohol doesn't tempt me.

LisaTcan

I try and stick to my calorie goal for all the weeks leading up to Christmas and then take a logging break Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It's two days, the most I ever gain is two pounds, which is pretty easy to lose.

kbmnurse

No alcohol for me. I eat pretty clean on the days surrounding the holiday. The holiday I eat what I want.

Gisel2015

I don't bake or care for sweets and if I cook I make simple meals. I have a small family and I don't have a very busy social life around the holidays; therefore, I practice self-control when needed, and I enjoy the season. Any way, is still too early to worry about Thanksgiving or Christmas food.

Tblackdogs

First of all I agree that you should enjoy the holidays. But, with that said, why do we need to overeat to enjoy ourselves. I bet if you look around at your next holiday celebration, the people who've never been overweight will not be pigging out. In my family, my father was always gaining and losing weight. He would clean our plates at restaurants, he'd totally pig out at Thanksgiving and at parties he would justify by eating a lot by saying, "it's a party!" My mom on the other hand wasn't overweight a day in her life. I never saw her finish everything on her plate or eat until she was sick. On holidays, she enjoyed all the special foods but didn't have seconds (or thirds) and ate until she was full. My goal this upcoming holiday season is to channel my mother. I'll eat whatever looks good, definitely avoid what doesn't and I will consider myself successful if I don't feel stuffed.