I don't see why some people find holidays so difficult.
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Wow. Seriously? Tell a drunk to just stop drinking. Tell any addict to "just stop" doing it. Duh! Seems so easy on paper.
Holidays with my family are really nothing more than a cooking competition, and I am NOT kidding! Everyone in my family can cook (including me) - my mom and my grandmother have pubslihed cook books. There is homemade everything...especially breads and confections of alllllll sorts (and I make THE best pie crust of all of them and I have been assigned pies this year) so believe me, it is HARD to to go Thanksgiving and Christmas and not eat badly!!! I am "good" as far as I only take one plate of food, but let me tell you, my mom's friggin' homemade buttermilk rolls are like crack if you are a carb addict (I AM!) and it is really hard to resist! They are fluffy, chewy globs of deliciousness for which she gets water from MICHIGAN to make!!! I have given myself permission to have ONE. Because if I don't do that, I will totally mentally cave and eat 3. No joke.
People are on this website because, um, they want to lose weight (for the most part) so it would only seem logical that a day focused on FOOD would present itself as an obstacle! It's really easy to say just don't overeat. Maybe that would be easy if my family cooked from a box and the food was the same as I eat everyday....but at my family's holidays, we are talking homemade chocolate covered peanut butter balls....made with fresh ground peanuts!!! :sad:
I have my strategy this year already planned, one of which is I am absolutely NOT taking home any leftovers!!0 -
Wow. Seriously? Tell a drunk to just stop drinking. Tell any addict to "just stop" doing it. Duh! Seems so easy on paper.
Holidays with my family are really nothing more than a cooking competition, and I am NOT kidding! Everyone in my family can cook (including me) - my mom and my grandmother have pubslihed cook books. There is homemade everything...especially breads and confections of alllllll sorts (and I make THE best pie crust of all of them and I have been assigned pies this year) so believe me, it is HARD to to go Thanksgiving and Christmas and not eat badly!!! I am "good" as far as I only take one plate of food, but let me tell you, my mom's friggin' homemade buttermilk rolls are like crack if you are a carb addict (I AM!) and it is really hard to resist! They are fluffy, chewy globs of deliciousness for which she gets water from MICHIGAN to make!!! I have given myself permission to have ONE. Because if I don't do that, I will totally mentally cave and eat 3. No joke.
People are on this website because, um, they want to lose weight (for the most part) so it would only seem logical that a day focused on FOOD would present itself as an obstacle! It's really easy to say just don't overeat. Maybe that would be easy if my family cooked from a box and the food was the same as I eat everyday....but at my family's holidays, we are talking homemade chocolate covered peanut butter balls....made with fresh ground peanuts!!! :sad:
I have my strategy this year already planned, one of which is I am absolutely NOT taking home any leftovers!!
Can I come to your place for Xmas this year please? Lol. It's one day, enjoy it!0 -
Or we really love all the special foods prepared by family members with love and because it only happens a few times a year we indulge and have a full belly and put on a pound or 3 and enjoy every minute of it and then go back to the hard work and dedication of weight loss the other 360 days of the year.Holidays are just like any other day as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who uses the excuse to binge or whatever just cause it's a holiday has no willpower or self control at all.0 -
I think what's weirdest about this thread is that it was started in July, pretty close to as far from the "holidays" you can get and still be on a calendar.
Either the original poster is himself obsessed with the holidays or is trolling. And successfully trolling given the length of this thread.0 -
thank god. a 21 year old male with 10lb to lose has come to save us all....
I totally agree! How amazing to find such clear thinking and insight in one so young.
Totally with you OP and the whining in this thread is evidence of the neurotic thinking and whacked out relationship some have with food that a few days of the year throw them into such a tizzy and such a victim mentality.0 -
Or we really love all the special foods prepared by family members with love and because it only happens a few times a year we indulge and have a full belly and put on a pound or 3 and enjoy every minute of it and then go back to the hard work and dedication of weight loss the other 360 days of the year.Holidays are just like any other day as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who uses the excuse to binge or whatever just cause it's a holiday has no willpower or self control at all.
Healthy attitude right here! :drinker:0 -
The holidays are bad not just because of Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Eve/Day. If you work in an office like I do, you get gift baskets starting by Thanksgiving. The patients bring you boxes of candy or Christmas cookies. The day after Thanksgiving and Christmas, even if you give all your left overs away, everybody brings their left overs to work! Usually it's the desserts.
You're just doomed. The devil on the one shoulder that says "just have one" seems to win but then then one turns into two and so on...
So basically it's a battle with yourself. Who will win?0 -
Well. I was going to reply. Then I read all the other comments that exactly explained what I would've said. LOL. So. yea. To put it bluntly, that's friggin ridiculous. The whole thing. Don't make an overall judgment of the entire overweight human race and assume you have so easily solved everyones problem. if YOU don't know why people make a big deal out of the holidays, where people feel most vulnerable and lonely and sometimes overwhelmed, OR just simply enjoy some great food, booze and family time...then you have absolutely no common sense. But good for you, so glad you wont be gaining!!0
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I'm of the opinion that it's what you do MOST of the time that matters. How I eat between November and January doesn't matter as much as how I eat between January and November.
It's a mental battle, more than a physical one. If you overeat for the holidays, gain a little weight, then feel defeated and quit... you're screwed. If you overeat for the holidays, gain a little weight, then work on getting it off, then you'll be fine. The actual weight one gains during the holidays is minimal, one study suggests a half pound to five pounds ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10727591 ).
Excellent points Lorinna! (And I love the Halloween look!)0 -
nvm0
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I have a mother and friends who frequently pressure me to eat junk and unhealthy items. It is always a struggle even when it is not the holidays.0
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Or get some therapy to learn a healthier relationship with food? After all is Christmas or Hanukah or Thanksgiving or New Years Day really about food. Some of these days have significance roots in faith or our spiritual beliefs. Change your focus and don't make it all about the food. You determine what you think and do.Unfortuately, many of us have difficulty resisting the temptation and eating sensibly and avoiding calorie laden foods that are abundant and traditional at these holidays that are centered around food and eating.
Well, don't go on "one of those" holidays then...0 -
I'm of the opinion that it's what you do MOST of the time that matters. How I eat between November and January doesn't matter as much as how I eat between January and November.
It's a mental battle, more than a physical one. If you overeat for the holidays, gain a little weight, then feel defeated and quit... you're screwed. If you overeat for the holidays, gain a little weight, then work on getting it off, then you'll be fine. The actual weight one gains during the holidays is minimal, one study suggests a half pound to five pounds ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10727591 ).
^^^^ this
and I know the OP lacks a little empathy, but there is good advice in his post. A lot of people make the holiday season a whole lot more stressful than it needs to be, because rather than just letting themselves enjoy eating for one day, they deprive themselves to the point where they snap and binge. Most binge eating is the result of excessive restriction and a lot of people are in a cycle of punishing themselves for being "bad" and eating too much, and overeating. If you take the emotions and morality out of the equation, and stop seeing overeating as morally wrong, then it can be a lot easier to just see the whole situation in the plain logic of what it is, which is what the OP does on this thread. It really is that simple, if people wouldn't complicate the whole thing with guilt and excessive restriction. Give yourself permission to enjoy a day of eating and celebration. When you give yourself permission to do this, it's easier to avoid binging. Then the next day go right back to the healthy diet and exercise. One day is not going to screw your progress long term. And so what if you don't lose that week... it's one week of the entire year.0 -
Unfortuately, many of us have difficulty resisting the temptation and eating sensibly and avoiding calorie laden foods that are abundant and traditional at these holidays that are centered around food and eating.
Well, don't go on "one of those" holidays then...
Are you serious? You think those holidays are avoidable? They have permeated into our society.
For freaks sake... just support each other in our weaknesses. This thread is utter BS.
Eating till you pop is not mandatory nor are holidays. I don't see any reason to make the excuse because it's holidays to pig out. I pity those people who can't control themselves if food in in front of them, they are the ones with no hope in keeping their weight off. Bit like saying they are forced to eat it cause it's there..... isn't that how they got fatter in the 1st place?
Wouldn't it be grand if we were all as perfect as you.
Hardly perfect, but know enough to know that a holiday is not an excuse. Make an excuse today & you will find a reason to make one tomorrow.
We all have our struggles with different things, some with food, some other things. Your superiority attitude is belittling those who struggle with food. Obviously most are trying to get healthy or they wouldn't be on here, but there is no reason to make someone feel bad for having a struggle with something that you do not struggle with.
Edited: For spelling
I don't see any belitttliing, only straight talk. No one can "make" you feel anything. What you feel is your choice. Stop giving others power over you that they don't deserve.0 -
Another approach: make your two week diet break coincide with Christmas! That's what I've done for the last 2 years.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html0 -
I just spent 3 hours making the most succulent Christmas dinner you have ever had, served it to you with impeccable plating on our finest china.
You're going to tell me you don't want to eat it? Why? Does it suck? Do I suck? Have I done something to hurt you this year? Why don't you love me? Why? WHY? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!?!?
mom in law is that you???0 -
... says the person who has lost 0 lb.
yup.0 -
There is pumpkin pie.. and stuffing.. and cookies..
did I mention cookies??
And my clients send me chocolate covered everything! And it's so good.. cause it's high quality chocolate covered everything! omg.. chocolate covered espresso beans!! They are crack!!
Did I mention cookies??
No matter who I visit there is food everywhere. And unless it's fresh raw veggies.. it's probably not healthy.
Did I mention cookies?
And the cookie exchange I participate in.. for the good of the community of course.. :~p
No stretchy pants this year.. i'm just gonna work my butt off at the gym.
GO TO THE GYM! GAH!
Oh and did I mention cookies??0 -
I love the assumption that I do not have a battle with food..... my ticker does show how much I lost & needed to lose right? I'm guessing that made me a fan of food...and still does. But making an excuse to over eat again just cause people put food there in front of me & don't want to offend is kinda how I got there with the need to lose weight.
Funny though how just cause I have some control now on what I put in my mouth comes across as a perfect person with no empathy. I have no SYMPATHY for those who make the excuse though. Don't eat it. You can't complain how hard it is then. Eat it & then you complain about how much food you were 'forced' to eat right?
:yawn: :noway:
You seem to confuse simple with easy, and you're also probably a robot.0 -
Yes but croissants in France.....0
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I think it's harder on people who actually cook the meal, because then you have all those yummy leftovers hanging around the house for days, and it's hard not to indulge. If it's a calorie surplus for one day, no big deal, but if it's every day for several days...that's another story. Last Thanksgiving, we went to family's house, and there were like 10 different amazing desserts, on top of all the buttery, cheesy, gravy smothered entrees. I haven't been as strict with myself lately with the things I consider "junk foods," and I have just tried to make sure they're within my goal, and I think I might be able to control myself a little better this go around...I hope. Lol.0
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i think its all the cookies n sweets n eggnog n seasonal sugarcoffee starbucks drinks that we get anxious bout gaining 3pounds n w all that leftover halloween candy 2 haha0
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thank god. a 21 year old male with 10lb to lose has come to save us all....
^^^ This
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lol why do you care if other people worry. if they choose to worry about it that's their choice.
some people struggle with eating issues and it can be very hard to have self control and very hard to limit intake.
i have the opposite issue with the holidays and eating problems. i am terrified of eating in front of people, and i have a lot of fear foods or trigger foods. but i am going to try to work through it, and hopefully get accepted to a research program i am been screened at to try and get better, recover, and be able to have a healthy relationship with food instead of being terrified of eating.
but you don't know what each person's situation is, and it really doesn't concern you.
and great job at losing 0 pounds, you must be proud0 -
It's all about what I'm doing 80-90% of the time that matters...not 10% of the time...but people seem to want to blame that 10% for most of their failings.0
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thank god. a 21 year old male with 10lb to lose has come to save us all....
OP is only 21 years old? I've got socks older than that. :bigsmile:0 -
LOL at the people who think it matters that the OP's ticker say 0 Lbs lost or that he's 21...it doesn't make him wrong. The holidays are just one day of many days over the course of a lifetime. It seems people like to talk about "lifestyle" but truly don't understand that concept...
Health, nutrition, and fitness are lifetime endeavors...you're really missing the boat if you're worried about a handful of days...they are meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
Also, who knows...maybe the OP has lost 100 Lbs...you know, there is weightloss that happens outside of MFP. I've lost 40 Lbs all told but my ticker doesn't reflect that...I'm sure I'm not the only one.0 -
LOL at the people who think it matters that the OP's ticker say 0 Lbs lost or that he's 21...it doesn't make him wrong. The holidays are just one day of many days over the course of a lifetime. It seems people like to talk about "lifestyle" but truly don't understand that concept...
Health, nutrition, and fitness are lifetime endeavors...you're really missing the boat if you're worried about a handful of days...they are meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
Also, who knows...maybe the OP has lost 100 Lbs...you know, there is weightloss that happens outside of MFP. I've lost 40 Lbs all told but my ticker doesn't reflect that...I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Just folks way of trying to invalidate info that points to their own dysfunction instead of facing it. I especially like the bolded part of your post. Very true.0 -
This will be my second holiday season since making the switch to healthier eating, and I'm kind of iffy about worrying about my weight. Last year was zero Halloween and zero Thanksgiving, but the Cousins' Christmas Party was the first week of December and I got to spend Christmas through New Year's staying with a friend in Idaho.
The CCP was a massive food event, but it was mostly about my husband's family. He got to take two weeks' leave from overseas, so we also got plenty of exercise while on vacation :happy: .
The Idaho trip was a mix of huge family dinners and skipping meals due to a disinclination to rummage through other people's fridges. Also, my friend's parents both have lap-bands but still eat like crap, so the more casual meals involved me attempting to find something healthy on the table. I loved those guys to death, but I definitely gorged on any salad I could find. I think I managed to lose two pounds while I was there, even with airport food.
This year, my husband is definitely not getting leave (he's home now, but they're understaffed), and I'm working retail. The store will open Thanksgiving morning and close Sunday night. EVERYBODY will be working, and we're planning on constant rotating shifts. I've been informed that the company will be providing dinner, but I'm pretty sure that's so the people who can't go home won't starve. Ditto for Christmas, minus the marathon.
So basically, I doubt I'll be eating the best or getting much real exercise until January, but it will be less about family pressure and more about surviving.0 -
LOL at the people who think it matters that the OP's ticker say 0 Lbs lost or that he's 21...it doesn't make him wrong. The holidays are just one day of many days over the course of a lifetime. It seems people like to talk about "lifestyle" but truly don't understand that concept...
Health, nutrition, and fitness are lifetime endeavors...you're really missing the boat if you're worried about a handful of days...they are meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
Also, who knows...maybe the OP has lost 100 Lbs...you know, there is weightloss that happens outside of MFP. I've lost 40 Lbs all told but my ticker doesn't reflect that...I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I think you need to think this one through a little more. of course age and sex matter. as a 21 year old male he can likely metabolise twice the cals i can in a day. as an individual with little to lose, it is very unlikely he has experienced the complex relationship with food that so often make holidays fraught for those with food issues. and i seriously doubt he has a lot if experience of being a parent through yhe holidays, or even of going 'home' to family, or hosting family at his home.
so in this case, actually i would say age and sex matter a great deal.0
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