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Let's put holiday eating in perspective

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AliceNov2011
AliceNov2011 Posts: 471 Member
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The reality is, you have to eat your TDEE plus 3500 calories to gain a pound. Most of us on this site have been eating considerably less than TDEE -- say 300-1000 calories less -- in order to lose weight. So if for the 3 days surrounding Thanksgiving (and subsequently the December holidays) we eat pretty much whatever we want, we would have to eat that number PLUS 1200 calories EXTRA, EVERY DAY to gain even one pound.

So relax. Enjoy. A piece of pie's not gonna kill you.

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  • Oh2BeMaintaining
    Oh2BeMaintaining Posts: 188 Member
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    I have to respectfully disagree, a piece of pie for me is never a piece of pie. I have to keep my focus and maintain my plan because going off plan for one day always lead to two and three and four and....... This year I plan to focus on the people at each holiday meal, I am going to chat and catch up and enjoy the company of those I love and don't see often. I will stay on plan and I will enjoy my holiday, the pie and the wine isn't a part of the plan for me and I'm OK with that, food doesn't make the holiday special, my family and friends do.
  • AliceNov2011
    AliceNov2011 Posts: 471 Member
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    That's great! But if you had a piece of pie, my point is, you don't need to beat yourself up or think you'd blown all your hard work.

    But I absolutely agree that making a plan -- whatever that is -- and sticking to it for the holidays is the way to go.
  • right2b
    right2b Posts: 93 Member
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    I enjoy my pumpkin pie but I don't eat the crust. So my calories count is only for the pie filling! :drinker: :bigsmile:
  • LINIA
    LINIA Posts: 1,138 Member
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    The reality is, you have to eat your TDEE plus 3500 calories to gain a pound. Most of us on this site have been eating considerably less than TDEE -- say 300-1000 calories less -- in order to lose weight. So if for the 3 days surrounding Thanksgiving (and subsequently the December holidays) we eat pretty much whatever we want, we would have to eat that number PLUS 1200 calories EXTRA, EVERY DAY to gain even one pound.

    So relax. Enjoy. A piece of pie's not gonna kill you.

    There was once a time for me when a sweet treat was only that...now , i gain weight easily and worse, if i exceed even a little on one day, it starts a hard-to-break cycle of craving. On the other hand, i know this isn 't true 4 everyone!
  • Nina2503
    Nina2503 Posts: 172 Member
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    For the holidays moderation, planning and making sensible choices is everything for me.

    I know that Christmas is around the corner, I know what this entails so will look for lower calorie versions of my favourite Christmas foods so that I can enjoy the festivities and not feel deprived. I will manage my expectations and not expect to lose any weight that week perhaps but also try moderation so I don't actually put any on.
  • trixiemou
    trixiemou Posts: 554 Member
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    Hi everyone, hope you are all fit and well,

    I am currently on a no weigh in for November so am hoping at the end of this month to see some sort of loss. Having said that I have decided that what I want to do from the beginning of December and leading up to the Christmas festivities is to start increasing my daily calorie allowance by 100. If I do this each week then I shall be close to maintenance (TDEE) by the Christmas week and it will not be such a shock to my system.

    As I have been doing this since June thought a little time on Maintenance would do no harm??????

    Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

    Cheers
    Tricia
  • AliceNov2011
    AliceNov2011 Posts: 471 Member
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    Hi everyone, hope you are all fit and well,

    I am currently on a no weigh in for November so am hoping at the end of this month to see some sort of loss. Having said that I have decided that what I want to do from the beginning of December and leading up to the Christmas festivities is to start increasing my daily calorie allowance by 100. If I do this each week then I shall be close to maintenance (TDEE) by the Christmas week and it will not be such a shock to my system.

    As I have been doing this since June thought a little time on Maintenance would do no harm??????

    Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

    Cheers
    Tricia

    Hi Tricia,

    I'm doing something similar. I'm going to let my weeks away be "reset" weeks -- eating at around maintenance -- and then cut back hard after New Year's to get it going again.

    Let us know how it works for you!
  • lilylight
    lilylight Posts: 128 Member
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    I'm going to go on maintenance for the days immediately around Christmas and Thanksgiving, and keep logging. My biggest challenge will be getting exercise in, as I'll be traveling a lot and staying with family members out of town. Need to check out guest passes for a rec center...

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