The Christmas Test...

Neliel

Hi guys! I thought i'd share this thought with you and wondered who of you were maybe doing this too.
I've decided on Christmas day i'm going to eat like I would normally eat at Christmas - just to see the phenomenal amount of calories I take in over one day!
People tend to completely lose their heads when it comes to food over the Christmas holidays and i'm thinking this may be a bit of a shock and a wakeup call to me to see just how awful my intake can be / has been when I just don't pay attention to how much i'm having!
Anyone else doing anything similar? Are you taking a little break from this or are you going to continue being sensible?

nonoark

I did fairly well on Thanksgiving, without trying much. When ordering pizza last night, I only ate 2 pcs. I do not think Christmas will be too devastating since somewhere I was shocked to notice my stomach has shrunk and when I eat something heavier I seem so full/bloated so much faster. I already am planning on eating whatever. Good luck tomorrow!

KittMahan

I'm taking a one day break Neliel... just posted this on my page:

"Montymahan is serving notice to all MFP friends that he will *not* meet his food and exercise diary for 12/25/10 and be under his calorie goal. Further, he will *not* feel one tiny bit of guilt over splurging for Christmas day! He will, however, weigh himself on Christmas Eve, just before the binge, and revel in the progress he has made to date."

Not to say that I don't like your approach. Here's what I've done over the holidays so far, it's what I've done since I started my weight loss plan 8 months ago.

"...Just because something looks wonderful and pretty doesn't make it food. A flower, or piece of art, or a face can be pretty, that doesn't mean you eat it.

Just because something smells wonderful and tasty doesn't make it food. Body wash, fresh baby skin, a spring morning breeze can smell wonderful, this doesn't mean you eat it.

That wonderful looking cake there looks and smells wonderful but it's not food. It's not something that I eat..."

I repeat this over and over till I believe it. The ability of the human mind to tell itself lies and then believe them is an awesome thing. I'm trying to use it to my advantage lately, rather than letting it ruin me.

The cake is, indeed a lie. It says "eat me and you will feel wonderful." Good one Neliel

undercover

Luckily I'm not that into the most heavy Christmas food, and I am ill (virus/feber/cold) so I won't be drinking any alcohol tonight. My problems is usually that I tend to overeat the chocolate, hazelnuts and drink a lot of soda. I think I will be able to do just fine, and I've put myself into maintenence mood over this weekend, which gave me an additional 550 calories to eat.

ickybella

I will be logging everything, but I plan on at least trying to eat sensibly. I too have put myself up to maintenance calories, plus I'll be getting up early to do a monster workout, and then I'll have two of anything that looks good but might be fattening (two pieces of chocolate, two devils on horseback, two bites of anything too naughty, two glasses of wine) and if I go over, I go over, but I absolutely hate the bloated, stuffed feeling, so I my real aim, even if I don't stay under calories, is to THINK about what I am doing. If I am not hungry, I will not eat. If I do go over, I won't feel guilty, but if I have a food hangover the next day, I probably will.

eva512

On Thanksgiving I gave myself 4 days to pig out(left-overs of course) I found I could'nt eat as much as I use to. But still put on 2 pounds. It took me 2 weeks to lose that 2 pounds. The question you have to ask yourself is "Is it worth it?" For me it is!!! As long as I know I'll get on board and drop the weight,my mothers wonderful cooking is worth it.

ElizabethMcCathern

There's that saying by Marilyn Monroe I think, that said "I won't even get out of bed for less than (x-amount of) dollars". Well, seeing as how i just started (and don't want to start over) I'm not wrecking my diet for anything less than pecan pie! Mashed potatoes, soft, yeasty rolls, heck, even ham.........they will all be avoided. But if someone carries out a homemade southern pecan pie.....well, all bets are off!

redgrandma

Happy Christmas to everyone, especially UK members snowed in, we have not had a white Christmas for 20 years in my bit of Devon but we are really making up for it this year.
Yes I'm taking a break from logging calories for a few days. I'm not really in to the sweet things, cake, mince pies, but will overdose on the cold meats, cheesy biscuits, Pringles,. nuts, wine etc .and just enjoy it all.

The thing I am trying to remember is that Christmas is a couple of days, a week at the most, so I will get back in line by 1st Jan and will not let left overs, gifts of chocolate, and the general habit of nibbling snacks drift on for ages.

Christmas does not go on for weeks and weeks!

I am so pleased with my weight loss, 9 pounds since I joined this site in Sept, I dont have masses of weight to lose but I'm enjoying looking better and want to continue the good work next year.

lanadee

My gift to ME is NOT to over eat or lose my head. I lost weight over Thanksgiving. I intend to do the same on Christmas. I have spent my whole life finding one excuse after another to eat what I wanted. I am not sa ying it is not hard. But now my "treats" are occassional instead of constant. I have found that I have no other choice. My weight is out of control. And so am I. I am a sugar-holic. A carb-a-holic.
But when I weigh in after the new year I won't have gone backward and that makes me happier than the cookies, candies or rich foods that are calling to me. I wish I COULD go on and off..but for me...it is either ON OR OFF unfortunately.

Merry Christmas to you all! Stand strong ;-) If not....plan some might fantastic workouts to go WITH your new years resolution to be good ;-)

Debtappe

I think a one day break is a great idea. Go for it and enjoy the day. This is a lifetime change and you have to allow yourself a break now and then. Thin people also eat more on holidays...

Wendybirduk

Luckily the only day off we now have is Christmas Day as we are working the rest of the holidays. This means we only have tomorrow to get through and we have bought everything we need and no ridiculously fatty foods. We might have a roast dinner if we can be bothered to make it lol. (last year we were too tired to bother).

No matter what, I will be logging my food and drink just to see if I am really bad. At least then I know I have to work harder to get it back off!

Merry Christmas everybody! Don't worry about food too much just enjoy yourself!

Dhathri

I like the analogy montymahan has used. I will try to remember that.

DJJW

I'm going in cautious. I'm so close to the 140's I can taste it. And it taste better than pumpkin pie.....ok, well its close!

MisdemeanorM

I gave myself a break at Thanksgiving. I thought i would be over, but I ended up under 1900 for the day (goal for maintenance 1990). I did skip dessert though because I was not hungry. In the past I would have forced down a piece (who are we kidding, two pieces) of pie. Now, it makes no difference to me if I have pie now, or later when I am actually hungry and can enjoy it.

Don't stuff yourself and go overboard, but eat what you enjoy and until you are full. You might be surprised at how few calories it turns out to be compared to a typical day in the past!

staps065

Unfortunately, I've been on a week-long "break" and have been eating way too much even with an aggressive daily workout and calorie burn (650 - 900 a day!). I really need to be on my best behavior today and tomorrow (we are seeing family both days with lots of eating planned! Yikes!) I keep telling myself that I need to get my a** in gear and be more moderate in my daily consumption so I can enjoy the festivities of Christmas, New Years and the associated parties and leftover goodies. My daily habits have been crap and I really need to take things under control.

That said, I normally do well around the holidays and splurge a little on the actual holiday and figure I'll make up for it in the days following... It also doesn't hurt to "cheat" every now and then to ramp up your metabolism and get some reality that it’s no way to eat on a regular basis. Now I need to only get my head from out of my butt and where it should be this holiday season.

Merry Christmas to everyone! :happy:

modernfemme

Oh, I can eat like no one's business. Seriously. It's kind of sad.

With that being said, on thanksgiving (2 days in a row actually to please 2 families) I stuffed myself on both days and only gained about 1/2 a pound. Even if I gained 2 pounds, it's totally worth it. Just gotta go back to normal afterwards, using the new habits I am making for myself. *fingers crossed*

Doing the same for Christmas.

KcFitCoach

I plan on just doing what I did on Thanksgiving. Enjoy the foods, but eat MINDFULLY. If I am full, I will stop. If it's not something I really like, I'm not going to eat it and waste the calories. And I will alternate water with the cabernet ;-).

I am cooking tonight and the menu is beef tenderloin w/ cabernet sauce, mashed potatoes, chilled peapod salad (peapods, water chestnuts, cherry tomatoes, green onions in a vinagrette), caesar salad and rolls. Appetizers out tonight will be carrots and celery with dip, pretzel thins and hummus and spinach dip and crackers. My MIL is bringing a cheesecake dessert. I'm ecstatic because I don't really care of cheesecake!

I plan to skip the appetizers and drink cold water while I'm cooking. At dinner, I'll enjoy some cabernet. OH YEAH, I am having that filet tenderloin, but I am likely going to skip the mashed potatoes (not a big fan - make these because my family loves them), have a small serving of each of the salads and skip the rolls. I'll be skipping dessert and enjoying a flavored decaf coffee instead.

I will definitely be over, but hope to not be astronomically over. Hitting the elliptical shortly here!!!!

schnarfo

Im with you on this. gonna eat and drink whatever I like and still log it but not feel any guilt what so ever

reinventingandrea

My gift to ME is NOT to over eat or lose my head. I lost weight over Thanksgiving. I intend to do the same on Christmas. I have spent my whole life finding one excuse after another to eat what I wanted. I am not sa ying it is not hard. But now my "treats" are occassional instead of constant. I have found that I have no other choice. My weight is out of control. And so am I. I am a sugar-holic. A carb-a-holic.
But when I weigh in after the new year I won't have gone backward and that makes me happier than the cookies, candies or rich foods that are calling to me. I wish I COULD go on and off..but for me...it is either ON OR OFF unfortunately.

Merry Christmas to you all! Stand strong ;-) If not....plan some might fantastic workouts to go WITH your new years resolution to be good ;-)

I'm with you! I've worked too hard since July to blow it even if it's only a pound or two at Christmas. I lost 2 pounds the week of Thanksgiving so I don't see why I shouldn't at Christmas. We're having a nice family Christmas dinner on Saturday but I've planned a healthy menu for myself (and anyone else who wants to join me) and other traditional foods for those who want them. We don't all have to look like Santa at Christmas lol!

Merry Christmas to all!

deborahkidd

be careful not to get sick when you are not used to eating that much.

Mirabilis

On the first day of Christmas (Dec 22), my cupboard gave to me, 900 calories over my 1340 daily. The overage consisted of breakfast at Tim Horton's (900 cal) and a Cracked Peppercorn Burger for dinner (just the burger at 800 cal).

On the second day of Christmas (Dec 23), I was over by 200 cal but trying to be careful. There were Christmas cookies involved (2 of them) and I made an Austrian Rehrucken cake for Christmas Eve. There are fiendish amounts of chocolate involved, so I think I did pretty well.

On the third day of Christmas (Dec 24), I expect not to be too far off my calories because my mom and sister don't indulge in stuffing and starches as much as they used to.

On the fourth day of Christmas (Dec 25), I expect to be over by 1000 cal because we're travelling to be with the in-laws and they love the fancy dinners. On the other hand, prime rib with yorkshire pudding.....

On the fifth day of Christmas (Dec 26), travelling back from the in-laws, I'm probably over calories because we'll have to eat out one meal.

On the sixth day of Christmas (Dec 27), back to normal plus some exercise!

EDIT: You know... the worst thing for me is the eating out. I can be pretty creative with my diet and still make calorie goals otherwise, but it's become pretty amazing to me how little the restaurants actually try to give you healthy choices.

Neliel

Exactly my point people. It's only once a year we really overdo it (Unless you celebrate Thanksgiving or other holidays). I'm not saying i'm going to eat until i'm physically sick, I'm going to be conscious of what I have because i've learned to do that since joining MFP.
I'm expecting a rather shocking diary entry nonetheless