What's your plan to stay on track through the holidays?

sobriquet84

My plan is to make it 2 bad days, rather than a "season."

yup.

pixiestick

1) I am vowing to avoid drinking cals during Christmas (a week with my folks and a week with my DH's family). My love-affair with eggnog is very costly... and cals accumulate so quickly between hot-chocolate, mulled wine, cider, and specialty coffee drinks.

2) I am also thinking that I will try and get at least a 30min workout in every day. I figure if I get myself off on the right foot first thing in the morning, then the rest of the day should be easier.

3) I will be on my "maintenance" cals. The goal for the two weeks with family and non-stop food is not to lose... I just don't want to gain anything.

midnight333

Very easy answer: married no children, and both sets of parents dead.

At least we don't have any issues over in-laws.:laugh:

Rebane1

I will visit my family a bit longer than just the holiday and the plan is to increase the calorie limit so that the weight will not increase, but I really don't expect to see no new and exciting numbers either. If the scales will show red light... happens but no sulking about it. As a dog owner I can also increase the exercise time with no strange questions or comments. Big family dinner will be total exception - I will just enjoy the evening and if it involves extra food then it does.

We can't put too strong walls around us. Yes - we can get rid of some weight then but it comes back sooner or later. If you want to maintain your weight one day, it must become a part of your natural well-being. Part of my well-being is keeping some traditions and one of them is a meal that is tradition for years in my home and for centuries in this country.

AggieFan2011

My plan is to make it 2 bad days, rather than a "season."

^^this

This x 2

This x 3!!
Thanksgiving day is going to be a splurge day as will the day my family all gets together for Christmas. I might even throw New Years Eve in there too, but other than that I plan on sticking to my goals and either exercising a ton or saying no to the delicious Christmas cookies and pie that I will for certain be surrounded by during that time of year.

SanteMulberry

I will eat like I always do during the Christmas "season". The one exception that I will make is for Christmas day and I will eat whatever I want that day---although, my tastes have changed since I started my "no sugar, no wheat" plan. I can't stand most sweets now (way too sweet---nauseatingly so). I do like dinner rolls, mashed potatoes and stuffing though, so I will eat a small amount of each (I can't eat that much at one sitting anymore anyway). I might have a piece of chocolate, a shortbread cookie and/or some egg nog, for a snack, on Christmas day--because they are favorites. I am really not tempted to binge anymore since I got sugar out of my life. I run high blood sugar levels so it really isn't a good idea anyway. I will take a long walk to compensate for the extra calories. The day after, I will get right back on my program. In the past, the whole month of December was a problem for me because we would go to so many Christmas parties. Now, when I'm offered sweets, I just tell people that I cannot eat wheat and that eliminates most of the problem. :happy:

claritarejoice

This is a good reminder to plan ahead. We are spending Thanksgiving with my husband's family and Christmas with my family. For Thanksgiving we all share in the cooking, so I will bring healthy stuff that I will eat - the salad, veggies and roasted sweet potatoes (no added sugar). I will eat normal portion sizes - my mother-in-law makes jollof rice and I will just have a half cup instead of 3 cups like in the past. For Christmas, my parents are health freaks so I don't have any concern about food at their house. They never have baked goods around. I am going to take my workout dvds with me to visit them so I can make sure I have a chance to work out every day.

bluefrog_2001

My plan is to make it 2 bad days, rather than a "season."

Me too!

almalaurathomas

This is from my blog-

With the holidays approaching..

So, I have been doing some serious thinking about the upcoming holiday season and how it is going to affect my diet. I decided that I will NOT let it! For Halloween, my boyfriend and I have already decided the night after trick or treating, HE will sit down and fill up two medium zip lock baggies of the kid's favorites and put them away for safe keeping. The rest is either going to my parents to munch on or in the garbage! I was thinking of maybe even letting the kids have a little "lemonade stand" where they could sell their candy to other people for a penny. It would be fun for them and teach them how to share, make money, and be creative!

For Thanksgiving... well, that's simple. We decided to make our own Thanksgiving dinner instead of eating at a family member's house. That way, I can track every calorie and know exactly what I am eating. I plan on portioning out my meal to where it is under at least 500 calories. I am going to continue with my usual breakfast and snacks throughout the day. I think I am also going to do a little bit of exercise that day, just because all my meals are normally less than 400 calories. Actually, a lot of my food and snacks are anywhere from 60 calories to 300. I usually don't go over that for a meal unless we are at a restaurant. I was worried about this day in particular because I was worried of how people would judge me. "It's Thanksgiving and you aren't going to eat the same meal as us?", or "why are you eating so little?"... Then, I realized this is about ME. Those people are not the ones who carry this weight, I AM. So let them judge me, but I refuse to gain a few pounds over a holiday!

Christmas isn't usually too hard for me to begin with, so I am hoping it remains that way this year. I do bake a lot of cookies and treats for the kids, so we will probably resort to baking some more healthy choice food items instead of cookies. For the kid's stockings, we will do the same thing we did at Halloween. As a matter of fact, I will probably stock their stockings with more gadgets and fun stuff versus food. I am changing my lifestyle, so I might as well teach them good habits in the process. Why reward them with food on a holiday? Not everything is about food.

For every holiday or event where there will be food, I am going to try to prepare a "healthy option" for myself. When we go out to things such as "trunk or treat" and "Christmas light watching", I am going to trade in the hot cocoa and snacking on candy for munching on a banana or maybe even trying peanuts. Who knows, I may like them! These may sound like simple changes, but as much baking, cooking, and events we attend during the holiday season, all those small things will add up pretty quickly!

I am not going to fall into the typical trend of failure around the holiday season just to make my New Year goal to get on track again. I don't plan on getting off track to begin with!

secrets_out

Will power?...nah stretch pants!!

newmooon56

Plan - or actual life style approach is:

Keep workouts steady- now is not the time for excuses. My workouts are set appts that cant be broken.

Have indulging meals (thanksgiving, xmas, new years eve) and not DAYS of indulging.

Eat lighter and more carefully a few days before and after

Say no to most treats I dont love- yes to the true few that are only seasonal that can not be passed up.

Enjoy get togethers for the sake of the company and only eat if hungry.

This is also how I would treat a night out or special occasion. I think if your lifestyle is such that you eat well normally and get your workouts done- you can have an over the top meal once in a while.

jmeyer925

I can tell you from experience that letting myself "enjoy" the day makes me feel awful the next day, and never worth it (for me at least, I'm more hard on myself than others).

Now, I'm also not going to completely deprive myself. I'll enjoy the foods and wil be willing to l go over my limit by NO more than 400 calories. I could EASILY eat an entire pecan pie, a full dinner, a full bottle of wine, and then go back to the frige a couple hours later. I've learned most of the time it's all or nothing (again, that's me, not every one is like that).

The bad thing about hosting is that I won't get the time to exercise the day before and of (because we're constantly cleaning). But the good thing is, that I can make a big salad to share, and maybe make some good side dishes.

This is my first holiday I'm going to attempt to be in control... I'm so worried. Yet it's going to happen, so I'm preparing myself now!

honeybee1036

My plan is to enjoy the holidays, but not so much as to overindulge. And I am planning on walking a little extra before and after.

Takarameri

Portion control and maintaining my workout schedule. I probably won't log on the day my family does Thanksgiving but I won't eat three-five servings of anything either. I'll eat a little of everything and stop when I am full. That last part will be the key step here.

DenyseMarieL

I am going to partake in ALL the goodies offered ( it's only once a year!) and run, run, run, run! My treadmill is going to start smoking.....

jeanmoreno

What holiday???? lol

neverstray

When you say "through the holidays" you mkean from Thanksgiving to Christmas, right? So, that's two days. I say, enjoy those two days, and stick to your plan the rest of the time. I don't find it THAT hard. I don't really have a problem at parties. It's when I'm alone at home at night that gets me. So, I try to not have stuff at the house.

gmallan

I'm pretty much going to eat whatever I want for Christmas (we don't do thanksgiving here in Aus). I'm going to still be aware of what I am eating especially snacking. Mindless snacking is a big thing for me. I probably won't count calories at all but will ask myself whether I really want something before I have it - if I do then fine, I can eat it. If I don't them I won't eat it. I'm trying to make a change in my attitude from being on here but I'm not 100% there yet. I want to make sure I enjoy everything I eat on the day

NavyKnightAh13

Thanksgiving I will be working out but I will eat in moderation, its one day and my husband, myself, and our child will know whats going in our mouths...we don't celebrate turkey day with the family, but rather the 3 of us!!!!!

Christmas is a bit of messed upness because we have 3 to go to, 4 if you count the one that we have ourselves. The first one comes early in the month because my husband's dads side of the family celebrates it early and goes out to Ole Zims (hopefully i can pre log it, if not then i will be working out and trying to avoid the fried stuff), after that comes my moms side of the family on Christmas Eve, and they make everything themselves so the trick will be to have a sample, not plate. Then Christmas morning, we usually don't eat in the morning anyways, and then will be my husband's moms side of the family, who is the one that makes fun of me for not eating 3 plates of food. I eat a quarter plate of food, so even though they home make everything too, we will only be there for one meal and not two. Trick there is to not participate in wine (which i never do but most of the rest does) and to pick out to the best of my abilities what is healthy that doesn't have tons of gravy and salt piled on top, or bread crumbs. :huh:

I will be working out a lot especially before each and well that is about all i can do. Also not eat when I am full and ask for both water and soda!!!! (diet of course, regular soda makes me nauseous) :drinker: :flowerforyou: :laugh:

magerum

Will power?...nah stretch pants!!

Hahha This^^^^