Logging through the holidays challenge

cardbucfan

So let me tell you how this challenge hellped me yesterday. I had all these grand plans to re-start my healthier eating habits after the hospital non-exercising, crap-eating days yesterday and boy that didn't last long! First of all, my vet sent us some English Toffee (hmmm, think I spend too much money at the vet???-that's O.K., they hand delivered our furry family members medicine yesterday when I couldn't get out of the house because of the invalid. gotta love that service!). I LOVE English Toffee. My husband was lucky I saved him a piece of it. Then, my sister-in--law sent us a container of popcorn. Older son opened it and I started snarfing. THEN, my friend brought us some Greek lasagna so I wouldn't have to cook. Well, I just knew that I had completely blown my day and had no intention of putting it in my diary because I didn't want to be depressed (especially after the Outback dinner Monday night). Then I thought of this challenge and said to myself "this is the whole reason for doing this challenge, to be mindful of the stuff we are eating during the holidays and to try to limit the damage" so I logged it. Now, I'm guessing on some of the calories, but overall, it wasn't that bad! I actually didn't even go over my calorie limit for the day! Certainly it wasn't healthy food, but it wasn't the blow-out I was thinking it was. So, the toffee is gone (burp), the good popcorn is gone (husband took care of that) and so is the lasagna. Got a workout in this morning, have eaten a good breakfast and a friend is gonna come sit with my son while I go to the grocery store and stock up on GOOD foods for the next week. So, YAY for this challenge keeping me honest!

frogmama

xmaxine89- I don't blame you for getting upset cause the ice cream was gone. Sometimes you need just a taste of that special treat. I have taken to hiding my Hershey kisses in the freezer in the garage:laugh:

cardbucfan- Nice job on logging. Sometimes it is not as awful as we think, and then just knowing we have to log it helps us to stop from eating more.

pamp1emousse

@cardbucfan - yay for this challenge working for you!!

So I'm starting to feel the festive strain weight-loss-wise.... although I know that all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving have probably been feeling it a while now :ohwell: . We've got family staying saturday-tuesday, more family thursday - friday, I've got a training course monday-tuesday... and it's only 8 days til christmas(omg got to go present shopping!) Not to mention the alcohol laden social events coming up ... All in all this adds to numerous days where I'll be over my calories without question, days where I can't fit in exercise, and days where I'll be frantically trying to compensate for those other days. Eek!
Will make sure to keep log log logging away!

cardbucfan

Maxine, we really only have 2 more weeks and this holiday season will be behind us (and this year it won't be "behind" us ). I'm trying to just maintain for the rest of this year, logging everything, trying to eat well when I can and trying to limit the goodies. Just take it one day at a time when your company is here and when you go to your events and you'll do great!

efcdcdb

Ughh! We are all in the same boat, I'm afraid. Today we had a basket raffle for charity in my office. The room with the baskets was right next to where I sit, and we had a table of candy and cookies RIGHT THERE for all the visitors. Of course I couldn't resist. I picked all day! :sad: Then, to make matters worse, I get home and find that my husband had ordered pizza and chicken wings. Oh brother!! I guess the good thing is: I didn't eat my grapes and pineapple at work - I put them in the refrigerator for Monday so I saved a few calories (I know, I know - candy instead of fruit isn't good, but calories are calories and I was going to eat the candy no matter what). And I had water with my pizza and wings - not the beer I really wanted. I won't have a snack tonight, and I am going to ride my exercise bike for 30 minutes. Oh this is SO hard.....

barty

Hi and all was going well Thursday morning, weighed in back at Goal Weight of 119 pounds Yayyy , but .....out to dinner Thursday night and the scales read 122 pounds on Friday morning :sad: but it was my Birthday so I had lunch celebrations and out again Friday night for another meal...... Saturday morning scales now at 123 pounds OMG! and I have been pigging out on the candy and cookies that were given to me as gifts that I soooo meant to give away :sad: and its not even Christmas yet lol

efcdcdb

Barty - don't worry about it...just be as good as you can for the next couple of weeks, whenever you can - don't just throw in the towel!!:noway:

barty

Thanks etcdcdb, I will not give up and am trying hard to get back on track today + I didn't go to the drinks party yesterday :happy: fewer calories and no bad head Yea!!!

cardbucfan

Oh, I was sooooo bad over the weekend. Just kind of let it all go and ate whatever and however much I wanted and paid the price on the scale yesterday by gaining a lb. I didn't log all my misbehaviour either! So, today is a new day, got to spin this morning and I've had a good breakfast and lunch. Off to shop. If I can stay away from the sweets, I might be O.K.

frogmama

so far this week things are looking pretty good. I have been to the gym the last 3 days in a row and plan on going every day until Christmas. Christmas eve is my birthday, so I know I will have birthday cake and I know Christmas day will be tough. I'm hoping on doing just a bit more exercise than normal before then to make up for the upcoming days.

efcdcdb

frogmama - sounds like a good plan! My exercise has been falling by the wayside. I've been really busy at work and haven't taken my usual 30 minute walk at lunchtime. Last night I got home from work around 7:30. Then had to do some wrapping. Tonight I will ride the exercise bike. Hopefully the treats at work are dwindling - things quiet down for a lot of departments since everyone is off for the holidays, but my department is still busy.

I just hope I can make it through the holidays without too much damage, and then get back on track. How about everyone else?

pamp1emousse

hey everyone, it sounds like everyones coping pretty well considering how hard the holidays are! i figure, as long as youre still here it's a success! i had a big big falling off the wagon, but im back! decided to try and minimise the damage rather than binging continuously til the 27th going onto maintenance calories for a while - theres no way im going to make it through without mince pies, mulled wine and chocolate so i need some wiggle room!
frogmama - sounds like youre doing great, well done! and efcdcdb - well done for getting on the exercise bike! i figure whatever you can fit in is great! 30 mins bike = 1 or 2 mince pies! (yum)

frogmama

Things have been going pretty well so far this week but tomorrow starts the festivities. I am going to try to limit the damage as best as I can, but we are going out for dinner tomorrow and I will have a glass of wine. Then home for birthday cake and ice cream. So far I haven't had any cookies in the house and that has helped, but the kids want to make cookies tomorrow. That's when my will power goes down the tubes. I will continue to log the next few days even though I am pretty sure I will go over my daily goal. I guess that's ok though cause you gotta live! Hope everyone has a nice Christmas!

chickadee2010

I haven't seen this post until now, but I'll start the challenge. I'll try my hardest to log everything.

chickadee2010

HELP!! So, confession time. I haven't exercised in a few weeks and I really would like to start again before the new year picks up. Would someone PLEASE send me a message tonight or in the morning and say that I need to start exercising? Tell me to get my butt in gear lol. I'm going to try to start treadmilling again this weekend. Notice the word try lol. Please And Thank You!!! I need some motivation and support.

cardbucfan

I've done really poorly with logging my food the past few days. I start out each day with great intentions and get through breakfast and lunch (and continue my logging streak :bigsmile: ) but then sometime in the afternoon it starts-the chocolate and whatever other goodies happen to be hanging around the house. Then I do the old "well, I've already had so much, I'll just keep on".. I thought I was past that but apparently not. Well, most of the goodies are gone now and what is left I can pretty well live without (except the Ghiradelli dark chocolate but that's good for me!). We'll have a blowout dinner tonight -our annual post church appetizer fest, a big dinner tomorrow with homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast after we open gifts and by Sunday I should be able to really get back on track. Only one more big night (New Year's Eve) and we'll really be back to normal. Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy your families, your goodies and count your blessings. We'll start back up on Sunday and soon be looking for a new challenge!

chickadee2010

I'm doing well on my calories so far today.

efcdcdb

yeah so I kind of fell off the wagon today, but tomorrow's another day :-)

barty

OK so now i am back home and I can start to try and undo the damage that i have done over the last few days :grumble: Hope you have all had a fab Christmas and not eaten as much as me!!!

cardbucfan

I started over on Sunday and have been really good with logging everything. I've stayed under my calorie goal so far and have gotten in some good workouts. Gotta go eat some celery with laughing cow, it's too close to dinner for a regular snack but I'll eat my arm if I wait until dinner is ready!

efcdcdb

well I am not doing TERRIBLE but still not eating well....still have some cookies around the house...my son was over for dinner yesterday (he wasn't here for Christmas) so we had a big dinner...tomorrow is a "girls' night" with some friends. BUT I am still logging. :laugh:

pamp1emousse

So I'm ashamed to say that I didn't log at all xmas eve and xmas day :embarassed: ...but I did sign in so I could keep my ticker going lol. Ah dear, well I went completely overboard for a couple of days before xmas eve and those 2 days but I'm now firmly back on the wagon. My weight's come off so slowly and I've worked so hard for every pound I refuse to gain one more!

Well done to everyone for ploughing on, whether you're within your daily goal or not !

cardbucfan

Alright, two more days to go here. I know I will go over on New Year's Eve (even with the double spin I have planned) and since it's gonna be a cocktail party with friends, I'll be munching and snacking all night long with no plans to log every bite (or sip!). New Year's Day I'll be good, I'll get a workout in of some sort (don't plan to sip that much) but we'll be having crab legs for dinner and the sodium will kill me on the scale. So, my plan is to weigh tomorrow morning (I think it's gonna be good-that I will have lost my 2 lbs. gained during December) and then skip until the following Sunday to get rid of that extra "celebrating". Happy New Year's everybody, come join some of the Valentine's 10 day challenges. I'm in 2 of them and hope to hit my goal weight by Valentine's Day. I actually hope to get there before the end of January, I have two big events to go to and I really want to look amazing for them!

barty

Well I was doing well the last two days until..... a party last night ....bagels today and out to a New Years Dinner Party tomorrow night Guess what my New Years Resolution will be?

efcdcdb

I'm kind of looking forward to starting out on the right track in January. I am getting sick of eating candy and cookies, even though I keep doing it. :laugh: It will all be gone, gone, gone by Monday 1/3. I'll have to stock up on celery and peppers for munching at work too - that place has been driving nuts!

efcdcdb

OK - this challenge is officially ended. I think it helped a few of us...most who joined didn't stick with it very long - or if they did, they never posted. :sad: My guess is that they aren't in very good shape, now that the holidays are over (pun intended :happy: ).
Well I made a few friends through this challenge...because of that, and the fact that I did log every day, it was worth it! I can't say that I was perfect through the holidays - not even close, but I don't think I did too much damage, and now I will start the new year ready to put all that bad eating behind me, for awhile at least. :laugh:

pamp1emousse

I just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who was contributing to this thread - I know I went a bit downhill in the days before christmas but this has been so so useful and has got my back on the wagon many a time :happy: I had a total disaster today and still got the courage to log it all and found that after the little run I'm going to force myself on I'll only be 100 calories over maintenance anyway! Anyway, I would've never been so honest with myself before this thread so thank you! :flowerforyou:

barty

Well thank you efcdcdb for the challenge, I have ended up at 121.5 pounds so only one pound up from the start of the challenge and 2.5 pounds from my goal weight that I reached in August, I'am sure it would have been a lot worse had I not logged everyday. May I also wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year X.

frogmama

Well I made it through logging everyday until yesterday. I can't believe I forgot to log. It was a pretty hectic day. I did make it to zumba in the morning and then we had a nice family New Years Breakfast- not too bad though. I did have crustless ham and broccoli quiche and some apple strudle. I worked in the afternoon and was set to have spare ribs for dinner but when I got home the house smelled terrible. The family had the ribs in the oven, but they really stunk. I found the wrappings and the date was marked sell by 12/26! I called the store where I had purchased them on 12/30 and they said to come in and they would refund my money. Now it was 6:30 and no dinner. One of the daughters suggested fried balogna and onions. So, I replaced $40 of ribs with $4 of balony! Hopefully tomorrow will be back to healthy eating.

efcdcdb

ha ha ha - funny story frogmama :laugh: