Let's talk about your strategy for remaining in maintenance this Christmas?
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A few things that help me over this time:
Cardio daily - brisk walk, run or insanity - builds a deficit for the larger meals ahead.
Lift weights
Try to get an accurate calorie estimation of homemade treats before eating
Drink lower calorie alcohol (Bourbon, Scotch w/o mix or light beer)
Log everything
Stick to what I usually eat (keep routine) 90% of the time.
Be mindful at family visits where the snacks and dinners are much more calorie dense than usual routine. But still enjoy them!
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Spin + weights. December is my daily month. No rest days. Some lighter active recovery days, but no "off" days.
Logging too, of course.3 -
In the past I have found that the 2 days after christmas I can't close due to low calories. Simply put; after two christmas days my body refuses to give off eating signals. Food all of a sudden becomes something I really don't want. All I want is tea and water and some fresh salad.
On balance of those four days I stayed within maintenance.
And yes of course I log, I am alive hence I want to know what the damage could be, but also learn from it.0 -
Simple... I don't plan to. I'm gonna eat all the foods and drink all the drinks. :drinker:7
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Keep doing the exact same thing I am doing right now.. But I plan to eat to my hearts desire on Xmas Eve, Xmas Day and New Years Eve and definitely the day after that cause usually waffle house finds its way into after party plans. lol2
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For that week_(6 other days) I'm doing a 300 calorie deficit each day_then eating those 1,800 calories I banked on Christmas Day added to my maintainence calories
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It's one day.
Yep same here. We celebrate on Christmas day and that's it, and it's over for another year (thank God!) Thankfully we don't have Thanksgiving here in Aus, so don't have to worry about that.
I won't be logging on Christmas though, i honestly wouldn't know where to start, and i refuse to worry and stress about calories on this one day of the year.1 -
Also in Australia ...
I get extra days off around Christmas ... I've yet to hear how many but there will be the Monday and Tuesday of the following week at least and an extra day the next weekend as well.
I use those days off to get out on my bicycle, to do walks to the beach, and to do a bit more weight lifting than usual.
And ... I usually lose a kg or two over the Christmas season.
As for food, unlike in Canada, no one (suppliers, customers, etc.) has huge platters of chocolates and goodies delivered. Coworkers don't set out boxes of chocolates and things. And so far the social club is having a Christmas dinner, but I've opted not to go this year because I didn't enjoy the last two years and this one didn't bode well either. I'm not much of a meat eater, so when the location is at a place called the Sizzling Grill or something ... um, no thanks. There will likely be an in-office tea, but I usually go for the fresh fruit ... because, after all, it is summer and there's lots of fresh fruit!
Coming from Canada, the apathy toward Christmas here has been a bit of an adjustment.5 -
HappyGrape wrote: »It's one day.
It's not for me.
2 work parties, one for our team and one with team I used to work - girls night out
Night out with few friends
Night out with the mums (my sons soccer team)
Extended family event
Out to see the Christmas lights & the new star wars & meal with my son & husband
Close family meal out the day before Christmas
Christmas day
New Years eve meal out
To top it off my friend have 40th birthday
That doesn't include few friends with kids that will most likely drop over and we will have finger food & drinks for them
Or the sweets in the office, and as I work in multinational - there are sweets from all over that people bring
The reality is that it is very busy month for us, and one to be enjoyed but I feel it can be enjoyed better with plan to avoid weight gain.
If you assume you're doomed, you're doomed. But you don't have to be. Yes, make a plan. But the plan can be different for each event, or for a group of them, if they're chronologically close.
For example, you can use "it's just a day" for one or two celebratory events; get in some extra workouts to offset others; moderate for some others that are tempting but include social distractions you can use to minimize over-eating (dance at that party for the double win!); eat at maintenance to accommodate some close calls; and plan a little cutback or new fitness goal after the holidays to compensate for any (post-water-weight-loss) gain.
You can turn this into an insurmountable obstacle in your mind, and let it become an excuse to give up, or you can work your way through it. What's your larger goal: Wallow in the holiday enjoyment in the same ol' way you always have, or give your future self, and your family, the holiday gift of your better health? Either one can work; the former one just requires more make-up time.
Take it an event, day, or week at a time. Plan to re-dedicate post-holidays if things slip a bit. It takes 3500 freakin' calories over maintenance to gain a pound. It takes a 500 daily deficit (exercise or eating) to lose that in a week.
You can handle this.
P.S. I'm bad at buffets or potlucks. I try to work out extra for those. Actual Christmas is "just a day", though I eat lightly early in the day before our (evening) celebration meal. The random events with friends have varied strategies. If it's some kind of "lots of talk & laughter with drinks" kind of thing, I'll eat a salad at the restaurant with the group, cram protein the rest of the day to hit my goal, and try to land somewhere near maintenance calories, but also go for 12 oz of water alongside each alcoholic drink (keeps me more clear-headed, avoids dehydration). I also subscribe to the "only eat really good treats, not everything" philosophy. My birthday is between Thanksgiving & Christmas. My anniversary (I'm a widow and get mopey) is between Thanksgiving & Christmas. After any indulge-y day, I always feel better if I get a vigorous workout.3 -
I'm staying for a week with tiny people (seriously, my hostess is 10" shorter than me), who are also very thin. If I visit while not trying to lose weight, I often feel I haven't eaten enough. We're going to her equally wee sister's on Christmas day, so there won't be lots of leftovers around.
The one thing that will be overrunning is booze, so I need to moderate that. I will definitely be drinking, but hopefully not excessively.
When we get home, there will be a couple of new year parties.
I'll be happy to maintain or to gain up to about a kg between 22nd Dec and 2nd Jan. Then it's back on the wagon.2 -
Have a taste of dessert but otherwise, watch everything else that I eat. It takes too long to lose a few pounds. It is not worth it to me to eat more on Christmas just to struggle until New Year's to get it off. No alcohol until late evening if at all, because I tend to eat more when drinking. I don't ever drink more than two drinks but it really causes me to throw caution to the wind.
I have been invited to a Christmas Party and plan on bringing a fresh vegetable tray.
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HappyGrape wrote: »It's one day.
It's not for me.
2 work parties, one for our team and one with team I used to work - girls night out
Night out with few friends
Night out with the mums (my sons soccer team)
Extended family event
Out to see the Christmas lights & the new star wars & meal with my son & husband
Close family meal out the day before Christmas
Christmas day
New Years eve meal out
To top it off my friend have 40th birthday
That doesn't include few friends with kids that will most likely drop over and we will have finger food & drinks for them
Or the sweets in the office, and as I work in multinational - there are sweets from all over that people bring
The reality is that it is very busy month for us, and one to be enjoyed but I feel it can be enjoyed better with plan to avoid weight gain.
If you assume you're doomed, you're doomed. But you don't have to be. Y
I absolutely do not assume I am doomed! Like at all! I feel pretty confident this time.
"Wallow in the holiday enjoyment in the same ol' way you always have, or give your future self, and your family, the holiday gift of your better health? Either one can work; the former one just requires more make-up time."
That's it, isn't it. I know that I don't want another diet! So if I don't want another diet, I have to give myself the gift of enjoying moderation and knowing when to say yes and when no.
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Consistency suit me better. I plan to track daily, up my cardio little bit, aim for small deficit on 25 days so I can enjoy extra little few days. I also don't overeat. Meaning even if I really fancy a dessert, if I am full I keep it for later. Once I am full, that's it - no more eating!
Another one I like is when I know I will be eating little more I at least try to get half of my plate with veggies on all my meals too. I find this hugely helpful as I am little bit satisfied before I start the higher calorie portion of my plate.
I also decided to look for lighter things I really love - wheat crackers with salmon and low fat Philadelphia, delicious fruit, making my own trifle with fresh cherries and skipping the cream, venison feels Christmassy indulgent yet low on calories so having meals like that also helps staying on course, but keeping it happy.
I plan to pay little extra attention to the flavor of every day food, so I feel satisfied in terms of taste while remaining in calorie balance most days.
Tracking daily
Little extra cardio
Not overeating, save some for later if I really want it but I am already full
Half plate of veggies on each meal, most meals
Focus on getting the best out of my meals in terms of both flavor and nutrient quality
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If I am going to a party, I bring something tasty, yet healthy and low-cal like my rosemary white bean dip ... I tend to graze a lot on fattening things when it is around during the holidays so I will have a little taste of many things and eat lots of salad with protein to keep things in balance calorie-wise.1
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Days that I'm going to be attending a party or going out to dinner I just eat lighter around those events. The few days nothing is going on I'll eat at a deficit to "bank" some calories as well.
Other than that it's business as usual.0 -
HappyGrape wrote: »It's one day.
It's not for me.
2 work parties, one for our team and one with team I used to work - girls night out
Night out with few friends
Night out with the mums (my sons soccer team)
Extended family event
Out to see the Christmas lights & the new star wars & meal with my son & husband
Close family meal out the day before Christmas
Christmas day
New Years eve meal out
To top it off my friend have 40th birthday
That doesn't include few friends with kids that will most likely drop over and we will have finger food & drinks for them
Or the sweets in the office, and as I work in multinational - there are sweets from all over that people bring
The reality is that it is very busy month for us, and one to be enjoyed but I feel it can be enjoyed better with plan to avoid weight gain.
A couple things...first, you're just trying to maintain right? Not lose? That really shouldn't be much of an issue...I've more or less maintained for going on four years now and my wife and I attend plenty of social gatherings, not just this time of year, but year around...actually, we have way more going on all summer than we ever do for the holidays in terms of social gatherings and parties. Weight loss would be tricky, but really maintenance should be fairly easy.
Secondly, not every single event needs to be a free for all with the food and booze...pick your spots. It's possible to socialize and enjoy yourself without eating all the foodz.
Third, I don't log and haven't in years...but when I have an overindulgence, I tend to just naturally go lighter the next day. Also, if I know I'm going to my buddy's house and we're going to be eating and drinking, I just make it a point to go a little lighter with breakfast and/or lunch...it's a pretty normal thing to do.
As the sweet in the office go, I can't help there...none of that appeals to me an never really has...I can have a cookie and easily move on with my day...and just as easily bypass the cookie altogether...that stuff just doesn't do it for me. If someone brought in a tray of Italian cured meats and cheese, that might be a different story.1 -
For me, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just two days. I don't change my plan for the rest of the holiday season.0
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I try to pick and choose what is worth it to maybe go over on. The family Hanukkah party with my brother-in-law's special latkes and salmon? Probably going over maintenance. The local industry get together? Probably not (although a lot of alcohol might make it more interesting). Client brings in pretty grocery store cookies? I will thank them profusely and leave them out for the delivery people or take them home for my husband. Client brings me homemade baklava still warm from the oven? I'm eating it.
I have learned while maintaining that there's no reason to eat food that I don't really want or am not really going to enjoy. It's a lot easier to learn how to say "no thanks" than it is to lose extra pounds!5 -
It's not just one day for me. It's (I've counted) 11 food events between December 24 and January 14 + leftovers.
My strategy is like every year:
- Accept a small specific gain, but not one gram more
- Keep working out as usual
- Lighter other meals when possible.
- Stick to my favorite dishes and skip the ones that are so-so
- No more than 2 kinds of dessert each event, pick the ones I like the most, and have one serving of each
- I usually manage to balance my planned gain evenly, but if I fail to do so, I will have a water fast day on one of the non-event days.
- No more than 1 serving of chocolate and 3 cookies a day.
- One glass of champagne for the New Year, and 0-1 alcoholic drink for Christmas Eve. None for other events, stick to diet 7up.
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I haven't counted, but like amusedmonkey, it's multiple food events every week starting last week through the new year. 6 this week (my birthday was last weekend.) going to a very special bday dinner w DH tonight. it's going ok CICO-wise. My guide for myself is similar to amusedmonkey's. Especially regarding eating only the stuff that's really special. I drink appreciably more than she does but don't have dessert at every event. And I double my mileage one day a week and add light cardio on my rest day (rather than fasting) to offset the alcohol increase. My trade offs, I guess.
One daughter commented about overdoing it on the freezer. Basically, if it's worth saving and we won't eat it in a day or two, I've been freezing it. But we still have an enormous qty of sweets out in the kitchen we won't eat before they go stale. I resist letting stuff go bad but I also respect the point that eating excess stuff you don't need is the same as wasting it.2 -
10 days to go to Christmas! So far, I am doing great but will up my cardio next 10 days little! Most of my social outings are gone, apart from 4 which are very manageable1
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first i put out poliwag, load up amnesia till it's 4 times effective, then BAM hypnosis, all the time their special attack has become useless against me,3
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Daily spin, spin doubles and 2 to 3 weights sessions. And all of the food!!0
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Other than turkey, there won't be much difference from any other day. I guess I'll just try to keep doing what I've been doing: Set to lose .5 all week, then maintain on the weekend.0
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I'm 0.5lb away from hitting my goal but have company xmas party tomorrow, drinks with friends Friday, 50th birthday party on Saturday and 70th birthday meal on Sunday. I've been eating at a deficit all week and will probably only have small/low calorie options for breakfast & lunch over the coming 4 days, plus I will make sure I get my lifting sessions in. Just a case of balancing the CICO equation. Key will be to limit the alcohol as I a tendency to say IDGAF after too many drinks!4
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We have a ton of "feasts" to attend. Work functions, two family gatherings, we always attend a "friend Christmas" with our closest because they are like family and are our only close "family", and then New Year's Eve. Add that to the fact that I love to cook and bake and I could be so screwed!! I stay on track +/- 250cal/day during the week and usually do 20/4 intermittent fasting on the weekends and special days. I still get all the treats and all the nutrition I just have a time limit. Works for me!
ETA: I always drink water. Alcohol happens maybe once a month with a glass or two of wine. But December has eggnog so there is that.1 -
I am so super duper happy! I got a new strength & muscle building 3 day split routine lifting program. The program looks awesome but as there are so many new things for me I felt I will benefit of booking some workout sessions! So I gave myself early gift - 10 private training sessions! 3 for this week
Like I have 0 worries about staying on track this month! I nailed it!
And will finish the year as I started - with super motivation to live healthy and enjoy it.
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I've been eating in a deficit the last few days, walking more, and will do the same after Christmas. Christmas Eve & Day will be eating all the things.1
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I feel you !
Already had parties last weekend
Now I have a huge 4 course dinner on xmas eve , a huge christmas lunch on xmas day and another lunch on boxing day.
Then another dinner on nye and another lunch on new years day !
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Also in Australia ...
I get extra days off around Christmas ... I've yet to hear how many but there will be the Monday and Tuesday of the following week at least and an extra day the next weekend as well.
I use those days off to get out on my bicycle, to do walks to the beach, and to do a bit more weight lifting than usual.
And ... I usually lose a kg or two over the Christmas season.
As for food, unlike in Canada, no one (suppliers, customers, etc.) has huge platters of chocolates and goodies delivered. Coworkers don't set out boxes of chocolates and things. And so far the social club is having a Christmas dinner, but I've opted not to go this year because I didn't enjoy the last two years and this one didn't bode well either. I'm not much of a meat eater, so when the location is at a place called the Sizzling Grill or something ... um, no thanks. There will likely be an in-office tea, but I usually go for the fresh fruit ... because, after all, it is summer and there's lots of fresh fruit!
Coming from Canada, the apathy toward Christmas here has been a bit of an adjustment.
Oh they do where I work - so do lots of the patients and associated services people who lease rooms on our premises.
Staff room is full of chocolates and biscuits and nuts and chips ....
But of course nobody has to eat them.
I usually have one chocolate a day at work and bring a couple more home to eat later (or not, if I cant fit them in)
One thing I think helps in Australia compared to northern hemisphere countries is that Xmas is in summer here - it is still easy to go outside and walk dog, go for a jog, swim etc than it is in snow covered countries.
and of course the daylight hours are long, being near summer solstice.
and much of our Xmas food is not over calorie heavy either - we do prawns , cold meats, salads, fruit platters - delicious and often luxury items we dont buy regularly - like prawns, cherries, glazed ham - but not hard to fit into your day without going too far over - and even fitting in some sweet treats as well.
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