Holiday Weekends & Food

curwhibbles

Hey, hey! Labor Day is here, and I forget how much I make this about food! 🙇🏻‍♀️ My lack of loss always falls back on over eating, and binge. I did raise my goal, giving myself 600 more cal per day, so that my expectations are not crushed if I have frozen custard (obviously, I’m planning on it.
I have also scheduled a ton of activity, none around food, although I intend to grill.
I do commit to a continuing diary fill.
Looking to see how others plan/prevent. Let me know your thoughts! And have a safe, happy, healthy, fantastic holiday weekend. 🙆🏻‍♀️

goal06082021

There's a holiday of some kind that's marked with a "special" meal roughly once a month. Some months are more food-holiday-filled than others. One day a month isn't going to ruin anything; letting one day's indulgence spill over into the following week, month, months, etc., that's how you fall off the wagon.

My approach is like this:

1. Make peace with probably going over budget a little bit that day. It's fine. I'll get back to it on Tuesday, a thousand extra calories isn't going to blow my whole deficit for the week. The holiday will come back around again next year, I can't stress about it.
2. Be judicious in how I do spend my calories that day. If I'm gonna break the bank today I want to enjoy every f***ing bite, so I'm loading my plate up with only stuff I ACTUALLY want. They do in fact sell hot dogs AND hamburgers year-round, so I don't have to have both today, I can pick just one.
3. Same with desserts, especially if you're faced with a huge potluck-style family to-do - pick the ONE dessert that you REALLY want. Skip the cookies Aunt Betty brought from Costco, enjoy Grandma's homemade peach pie.
4. Eat light the rest of the day, but don't torture myself.
5. Log as best I can and keep it moving tomorrow.

edit to add: When it's something where I know I want to be able to indulge, I may cut my calories a bit on the days surrounding the day of. For example, I turned 30 this summer. My husband and I went out for a celebratory dinner. I wanted to get something good and not stress about it, so I cut 200 calories per day from the rest of the week, and gave myself an extra 1400 calories to "spend" at that dinner.

callsitlikeiseeit

I'm lucky, I suppose, in that all of these little holidays through the year just aren't things for us. We dont have extended family (any family) so theyre just normal days for us. Even the major holidays are just a nicer, higher calorie dinner, that I don't worry about. My birthday (a few weeks after xmas) is my one MAJOR splurge every year- I love to bake and do so all year- I just don't eat much of it. But my birthday cake - I will spend weeks deciding exactly what I want. Any kind. Any kind at all. And I will truly eat as much of it as I want on that day and the following days. I usually end up eating about half (I always make a 6" layer cake). Dont ask me the calories I dont know. I dont bother to calculate it. I am sure it is terrifying though. I've still lost nearly 200 pounds.

my point about the cake (there is one, stay with me, here) is one day (or several, out of a year) is not going to make a difference in the long run. A difference that particular week, and maybe the next, as your body digests the food and the water weight (and maybe some calories over maintenance- depending on your deficit?) possibly. but averaged out over the month, or year? negligible to nothing.

So, enjoy the day and your family. Enjoy good food. Make wise choices and portion sizes, but also don't be scared to have that special dessert. or aunt bea's fried chicken. or some of your cousin's potato salad. Just maybe in slightly smaller portions than you would have last time you got together. Another tip I have found useful, is eat before you go. Whether its a salad or some fruit, nuts and cheese, whatever. Don't go starving. Have something to eat beforehand and it will help you in selecting the things you truly want to enjoy