Living the Lifestyle (LTL) - Thursday 11/01/18

EliteCoachKal

We meet here to explore, share, celebrate, and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Thread starters for November below:

Monday - Imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday - whathapnd (Emmie)
Wednesday - Jimb376mfp (Jim)
Thursday - EliteCoachKal (Kal)
Friday - savignr (Bob)

Our topic for today (and my very first contribution): Halloween is over and now we move toward Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Did you eat candy yesterday, and if so how are you feeling about it? Are you beating yourself up for a slip or was it a carefully planned indulgence that fit into your macros for the day? How will you approach the upcoming holidays and the temptations associated with them? Do you have any rituals that help you through this time?

Jerdtrmndone

No candy for me and I feel good. Use to be a free for all.I treat a holiday pretty much as a weekday or weekend ad stay in control.

Al_Howard

Had two "fun" pieces, tracked them, and moved on.
The holidays don't throw me much on the eating, but the drinking at the gatherings.........

gadgetgirlIL

Didn't have any opportunity to score Halloween candy yesterday. By the time I finally got home from work after 9pm, all the candy my DH was passing out was long gone. He actually ran out for the first time ever this year.

As for the upcoming holidays, they are a single DAY each not a holiWEEK or holiMONTH. I will indulge on Thanksgiving and Christmas but I'm also selective about what I eat and go for the items I can't get other times of year. Leftover desserts will end up portioned out in the freezer. In addition, I will head up to Wisconsin the day after Thanksgiving for 3 days of hiking on the Ice Trail and connecting roads. There likely will be another hiking weekend around Christmas and maybe even a trip south to find a place to do my 200K(s) bike rides to finish off my 12 month streak.

Jimb376mfp

Last year I passed out candy for kids, DW bought $30 worth of candy last week, I decided to return all three candy and I bought myself some frozen veggies for stir fry,

On Halloween I went to aqua aerobics class and our teacher had goodies for us. She had some pretzels too but I passed on all,

Today was my WI, I was down -3.6 Lbs

As for Thanksgiving I will not be able to attend with family due to my restrictions on travel post surgery, my DIL has the best dessert spread at Thanksgiving, Do no temptation this year.

cakeman21k

No candy for me at all yesterday (a first for me)
And the holidays are just 1 day each granted there are 4 of them (I count super bowl sunday)

88olds

I didn’t eat candy. Halloween candy is generally not very good candy. I occasionally eat candy, but I try to do better than that kid candy.

Holidays. They are individual days, not an entire mindless eating season. Thanksgiving and Christmas I’m definitely having pumpkin pie. With plenty of whipped cream too. When tracking I did a pretty thorough study of how to make Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner fit my plan along with the pie.

I couldn’t make it work. I wasn’t going to remake my entire week for the sake of one piece of pie. I wasn’t going to pretend I was making up the needed points at the gym.

I just held my head high and went over my numbers. Did no real harm in the long run.

imastar2

I was given a mini kit kat at church ate it accounted for it then just moved on. Feel great today.
As far as Holidays I'm going to pig out at Thanksgiving Buffet with Family. Christmas will be a quiet Christmas Day Dinner at home and will most likely over eat cause I love DW's sweet potato casserole and Chocolate Pie Dessert

SW 400.8
CW 349.6 🙂
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

51.2 lbs Total Loss

minimyzeme

Thanks for helping us out, @EliteCoachKal . That's a great set of questions as we come into November!

Did you eat candy yesterday, and if so how are you feeling about it? Are you beating yourself up for a slip or was it a carefully planned indulgence that fit into your macros for the day? How will you approach the upcoming holidays and the temptations associated with them? Do you have any rituals that help you through this time?

I didn't eat candy on Halloween, or yesterday, despite having a Costco-sized bag of it in the kitchen. I didn't get nearly as many trick-or-treaters as I expected but had no trouble refraining from chocolatey stuff I would have snarfed plenty of pre-WW. The truth is, it really doesn't taste as good to me as I once thought it did. Now gimme a good piece of homemade pie, and I'll figure out a way to make that work!

Which brings me to your next question. The holidays used to be a complete food fest for me. I mean that was the #1 thing about them as far as I was concerned. My obsession with food changed on WW, maybe with more mindfulness, maybe because I finally accepted the correlation between what I was eating and how I was feeling (run down / out of energy). I actually took my WW leader's advice. I re-prioritized the food part of the holidays. I spent more time with people I cared about and wanted to be with, enjoying the food but not going crazy with it. I managed it instead of it managing me.

I've continued to use that same strategy, buoyed by the benefit that I'm back to a more mobile and energetic weight. I like that. In fact, most of the time, I choose that over whatever the tempting foods are. That said, my plan is a 90% plan. I allow for some buffer for when and where it works because I enjoy a little spontaneity in life. Holidays fall in a similar category except I can more consistently plan for what I'm doing and what I'm eating. And what I'm doing is not just sitting--I intend to be out on snowshoes exploring or on some trail somewhere on my way to a photo shoot. Being more active takes me out of the kitchen and helps me get through the holidays.

podkey

I heard from some folks that they got a few trick-o-treaters. We just don't have much if any small kids in our neighborhood anymore.
We didn't do trick-o-treating because of that. No candy = no candy to eat.
Holidays for us really is just one day that is for eating (Thanksgiving) It's not a holi-week or a holi-season just a meal.

EliteCoachKal

Great contributions everyone, thank you for your responses. I absolutely agree with not allowing a day to become a week or a month, and prioritizing time with family over food, and managing our choices. Last year I learned a tactic for preparing for a holiday of cutting daily carbs and/or fat in the days preceding the holiday so I have more to use on the holiday. In the last few months, I've gotten into intermittent fasting quite a bit and it's helped me break through a plateau I was challenged with, as well as make progress even when I was injured and unable to get into the gym. I'm thinking, this year, I'll try adding a couple of 24-hour fasts in leading up to the major holidays and see how that works. I don't imagine it's a WW approved practice, but I find the health benefits of fasting to be fascinating and I'm loving the results so far.