How do you guys cope over the holiday season?
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This will be a first for me, so not sure how I will handle it. I'm not worried about the two days: Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those will just be big dinners. It's all the special (and wonderful) treats that are made this time of year. There are these Cranberry-Date Nut Bars that I make (and my neighbor makes) that are to DIE for. I swear, I cannot stop eating them once I start and I can probably pound down 800 calories in about 5 minutes. Then there are the other special cookies etc. The two meals won't do me in, but those treats will. I'm still trying to figure out how I can manage them without totally denying myself.0
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I wrote this post after the holidays last year and think it might be relevant/helpful to OP and others here who are going through their first holiday season on MFP...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10303793/who-gained-weight-during-the-holidays-i-have-a-solution/p13 -
I make and bring along my own dishes to share
That way I know they're vegan and don't contain anything weird/scary 1 -
Honestly, for me, it's like any other time of the year. I'm in the US, so if I count from Halloween to New Year's Eve I've got 62 days. In those 62 days I have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve. Sometimes I have a friend's birthday, but this year she's combining it with Thanksgiving due to conflicts. So I have 4 days with an above average availability of food and 58 normal days. I normally average my calories by the week. During this time of year, I continue to do so and just balance everything out. Last year, I weighed a decent amount less New Year's Day then I did the day before Halloween and I anticipate it will happen again this year. I plan ahead, I shift weekly calories around, and I don't stress about it. And to the comment regarding "all the special treats made this time of year", apparently all my friends are lazy because I only see treats on the actual holidays and at the parties/gatherings, never in between. lol1
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Thanksgiving is one day...Christmas is one day...I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and celebrating...they're pretty irrelevant to the whole. You can enjoy yourself and not "go mad" either. I never eat to the point that I'm going to pop...but I enjoy myself...a good plate of food and some good drink. Two days doesn't mess anything up...it's two days...get out of the minutia.
Yep 2 days, makes no difference. Make it 2 months another story.2 -
Packerjohn wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Thanksgiving is one day...Christmas is one day...I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and celebrating...they're pretty irrelevant to the whole. You can enjoy yourself and not "go mad" either. I never eat to the point that I'm going to pop...but I enjoy myself...a good plate of food and some good drink. Two days doesn't mess anything up...it's two days...get out of the minutia.
Yep 2 days, makes no difference. Make it 2 months another story.
I think the issue is that lots of people end up being invited to endless Christmas/holiday parties!1 -
VeganRaptor wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Thanksgiving is one day...Christmas is one day...I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and celebrating...they're pretty irrelevant to the whole. You can enjoy yourself and not "go mad" either. I never eat to the point that I'm going to pop...but I enjoy myself...a good plate of food and some good drink. Two days doesn't mess anything up...it's two days...get out of the minutia.
Yep 2 days, makes no difference. Make it 2 months another story.
I think the issue is that lots of people end up being invited to endless Christmas/holiday parties!
Well, that and the endless parade of food that shows up at the office/workplace over the holiday season. Still, if you can limit your celebrations to the main days and pass on the daily barrage of treats and excesses, that's a good start.3 -
dave_in_ni wrote: »The holiday season is almost upon us with Thanks Giving for you guys in the US & Canada and then Xmas. So my question is how do you guys cope?
This will be my first holiday season since my weight loss. I'm wondering what I should expect? For me I have no problem saying no, I've had various parties through out the year where I've happily went hungry as nothing but junk food was on offer, that doesn't bother me, what does bother me is the pressure from other people. " Aw go on its Christmas" I can hear it already. We don't do thanks giving in the UK but make up for it at Xmas with a massive dinner of Turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings, again doesn't bother me missing this but I can hear the wife already, or the Xmas parties, again I can go and eat and drink nothing but again it's the social pressure.
I worked hard to lose weight and I have no intention of messing that up by going mad over the holidays,
Have you guys any advice?
I try and burn at least 1000 calories a day with cardio Thanksgiving week, Christmas week, and NY's few days.0 -
The holidays themselves are no problem for me. I will eat over my limit those 2 days, I balance it out by eating below my limit other days - but it's the rest of the season that's hard! Everything from cookies to pies to rum balls will show up at work, and saying no to those is almost impossible. If I start eating any of those at work though it's hard to limit portions. After all at home I can freeze some for later, at work it will be gone so I may as well eat some before we run out...0
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If every day during the season is a party, I guess that could be a problem. But the holidays for me are just a couple of days in the year where I don't worry about it. Going over calories a few times a year for special occasions doesn't seem to affect me much, since the majority of the time I'm on track. 1
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dragon_girl26 wrote: »VeganRaptor wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Thanksgiving is one day...Christmas is one day...I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and celebrating...they're pretty irrelevant to the whole. You can enjoy yourself and not "go mad" either. I never eat to the point that I'm going to pop...but I enjoy myself...a good plate of food and some good drink. Two days doesn't mess anything up...it's two days...get out of the minutia.
Yep 2 days, makes no difference. Make it 2 months another story.
I think the issue is that lots of people end up being invited to endless Christmas/holiday parties!
Well, that and the endless parade of food that shows up at the office/workplace over the holiday season. Still, if you can limit your celebrations to the main days and pass on the daily barrage of treats and excesses, that's a good start.
Increase exercise to accommodate the increased calorie load.1 -
I stay on plan most days, but eat what I want on Christmas and thanksgiving. If I don't loose those weeks, fine. It's all about enjoying the social things and food that's truly worth it.0
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Eat everything in sight, realize that there is really only so much "damage" you can do to your weightloss in the period of a couple of days and then get back to it afterwords.
Or you could moderate a bit, that is fine too. I wouldn't moderate to the point of being a nuisance to hosts though or to the point of not enjoying yourself.5 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Curious what your definition of "junk food" is OP and what kind of parties you'd go to where nothing but that is on the menu? Personally I don't view any foods as "junk" and I believe in working in all foods in moderation.... My Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, while calorie dense and delicious, are hardly what I would call "junk food". Roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, yeast rolls, pies and assorted other delights... none of that is junk food. Why would you pass on those things? As others have said, it's also one day or a handful of days out of the year. Enjoy yourself. Passing up food prepared by a host and going "hungry" just doesn't sound like a pleasant or sustainable attitude.
Junk food, a selection of deep fried fayre. Cocktail sausages, battered chicken goujons, scotch eggs, sausage rolls. Certainly wasn't any green beans and sweet potatoes, that's why I passed.
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I lose weight leading up to Christmas, then either lose or maintain over Christmas.
Since we've got about a week off work over Christmas, and since it is the middle of summer, that's an excellent time to get in a lot of exercise. I start ramping up the exercise ... well ... about now, and come Christmas I'm getting in some good bicycle rides, long walks, plus weightlifting. I might throw a water sport into the mix too.
As for Christmas eating ... about the only thing I like in advance are mince tarts, so I incorporate them into my daily total. And then Christmas eve and Christmas day we'll eat more. I'll have a good serving of pavlova!!
And also ... the pre-Christmas parties here tend to have huge trays of fresh fruit and raw veggies, plus a few cakes and meat pies. So I load up on the fresh fruit and raw veggies, and then maybe have a small bit of cake.1 -
I lose weight leading up to Christmas, then either lose or maintain over Christmas.
Since we've got about a week off work over Christmas, and since it is the middle of summer, that's an excellent time to get in a lot of exercise. I start ramping up the exercise ... well ... about now, and come Christmas I'm getting in some good bicycle rides, long walks, plus weightlifting. I might throw a water sport into the mix too.
As for Christmas eating ... about the only thing I like in advance are mince tarts, so I incorporate them into my daily total. And then Christmas eve and Christmas day we'll eat more. I'll have a good serving of pavlova!!
And also ... the pre-Christmas parties here tend to have huge trays of fresh fruit and raw veggies, plus a few cakes and meat pies. So I load up on the fresh fruit and raw veggies, and then maybe have a small bit of cake.
This is interesting, In the UK we have mince pies which I presume are the same as your mince tarts. They are the staple over Xmas and almost forced upon you. One small mince pie contains between 200-300 calories and 2 or 3 bites later its gone so easy to go over board on them.
The parties here in the UK contain damn all that is healthy, over Xmas its all miniature finger food such as cocktail sausages and sausage roll, a selection of breaded chicken thingys all made from processed crap, endless chocolate sweets and the aforementioned mince pies.0 -
eat free on the holiday but not for the season.1
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dave_in_ni wrote: »I lose weight leading up to Christmas, then either lose or maintain over Christmas.
Since we've got about a week off work over Christmas, and since it is the middle of summer, that's an excellent time to get in a lot of exercise. I start ramping up the exercise ... well ... about now, and come Christmas I'm getting in some good bicycle rides, long walks, plus weightlifting. I might throw a water sport into the mix too.
As for Christmas eating ... about the only thing I like in advance are mince tarts, so I incorporate them into my daily total. And then Christmas eve and Christmas day we'll eat more. I'll have a good serving of pavlova!!
And also ... the pre-Christmas parties here tend to have huge trays of fresh fruit and raw veggies, plus a few cakes and meat pies. So I load up on the fresh fruit and raw veggies, and then maybe have a small bit of cake.
This is interesting, In the UK we have mince pies which I presume are the same as your mince tarts. They are the staple over Xmas and almost forced upon you. One small mince pie contains between 200-300 calories and 2 or 3 bites later its gone so easy to go over board on them.
The parties here in the UK contain damn all that is healthy, over Xmas its all miniature finger food such as cocktail sausages and sausage roll, a selection of breaded chicken thingys all made from processed crap, endless chocolate sweets and the aforementioned mince pies.
No one forces food on me. I buy a package of 6 mince tarts each week, leading up to Christmas, and my husband and I have 1 each, each night for 3 nights. Each one is maybe 200 cal and I can easily fit that into my calorie limit.
As for parties, we'll probably have 1 where I work. Maybe 2.
There is a work Christmas dinner, but I haven't signed up for it this year. The last couple years it was disappointing so unless I see a menu and like what's on it, I'm just not interested. Two years ago, the place they chose ran out of the vegetarian options by the time about 1/3 of the people had been through the line, and only provided enough desserts (a small slice of cake) for about half the people. Last year, the place we went was kind of strange. They took absolutely forever to serve food and again, only provided a tiny bit of vegetarian choices. I went in thinking I'd take a diet break and splurge ... I left feeling absolutely starving after having had a few glazed carrots and a bit of sweet potato.
I'm Canadian, and used to having quite a bit of food on hand at Christmas, but I've been living in Australia for about 8 years now, and tables groaning with food just doesn't seem to be a thing.
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For me party food is not worth the calories. The type of pastry covered, breaded, deep fried, high calorie food that can add up to hundreds in few bites is nit what i want to eat.
Last year i tried to put a few things on my plate, i nibbled and put them down. I ripped them up and i crumbled them. I made it last evening and i left a few on the plate. It looked like id eaten but i hadnt really. By the time i put the plate down all the rest of the food was gone.
Othertimes i just say im not peckish yet, ill have a bite in a bit if i feel like it. I make sure they know im happy though. I also nurse my drinks.
I hate that people think you are a party pooper or uptight if you dont eat and drink to excess. Thats never been fun to me - seeing my friends is whats fun.1 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »Eat everything in sight, realize that there is really only so much "damage" you can do to your weightloss in the period of a couple of days and then get back to it afterwords.
You obviously don't know how to "eat" properly
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