Considering taking holidays off

I agree with this! It's a lifestyle change, so you can't sit and count calories EVERY SINGLE DAY. Learn to eat good and be sensible, and on days when you want to enjoy yourself- do! Just don't make too much of a habit of it, and don't go overboard and eat everything in site. Just enjoy those good treats, or a meal out for your birthday without feeling guilty or worrying about calories.

I don't agree. I think that if you have your diet right, you don't have to have these "splurge" or "off" days. You can't always count on yourself to get back on track, so why set yourself up for failure?

I do not agree with this. Everybody is intitled to self fulfillment at some point in time! I have been very successfull on my journey to better health, with one day of "splurge". I still keep my self to a minimum but It's more then any other day. If you do not treat your self in some way what is the point? It's a lifestyle change not a diet! That is why diets fail! People discipline them selves to the point of hatred of the object of discipline.

Now, I do not agree to all of the holidays. There are times when you need to have the piece of pie, but not everytime. And if you are already planning ahead to cheat. This will not work. Plan to not cheat, and if it happens then it happens.

This is a rule that my wife and I stick to. We work hard to eat right and exercise. Special occasions are not days of restraint. However, I always count what I eat for my own information. And usually I can't eat as much as I used to because my body just can't stand it anymore.

I know what you mean about wanting to take holidays off... I have a big Italian family, so how can I possibly eat only 1200 calories a day on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and Easter and Thanksgiving?!

So this past Easter... that's what I did. EXCEPT- not fully. I had everything I wanted, BUT- I only had a little bit of it. Instead of eating 3 or 4 pieces of bread over the course of the day, I ate one. And used the balsamic from the tomatoes instead of butter. Instead of 10 pieces of salami, 5 pieces of mortadella, God knows how many lovely imported piecesof proscuitto, and one piece of provolone cheese, I had 4, 2, 1, and a half (respectively). When we went to my in-laws for dinner, I had only as much ham as I would have put in a sandwich, a spoonful of green bean casserole (and let me tell you, I have polished off half an entire green bean casserole by myself for dinner some nights!), and one bite of mashed potatoes. I had tiny bits of dessert- half a cannoli, a bite of cream puff, a bite of eclair, and a small scoop of ice cream with a little bit of chocolate sauce.

When I got home, I logged (approximately) everything that I had ate. And when I saw those numbers... I almost died. I thought I had done really well- I knew that I was probably over, but I thought that I had eaten in moderation (especially compared to how I normally eat on holidays!) and yet I was still insanely over. On a "normal" holiday, I would have eaten probably three times that amount easily, without thinking about it. I was about 600 calories over for the day and 50 grams of fat!!

But, was it worth it? Yeah, I think it was. And even though that was a "bad" day and I *really* saw that on the scale the next morning (went up 3 lbs?! Eeeek!), I enjoyed the day, had a little bit of everything, and had some of my favorites food, and *didn't* overindulge like I usually would.

Long story short... you can still have those "free" holidays *without* going crazy. Don't deny yourself, certainly, but don't go off the deep end and eat everything in sight because you know that it is a free day and you can. Also... you listed a LOT of holidays. If you have those in your head as days you can eat whatever, you are going to wait until those days and then eat an insane amount because you've been waiting for it and thinking about it for so long, and you know you won't get another one for a while.

So sure, enjoy the good food. But just ... be careful.

I also agree. for me this is a lifestyle change and I am going to be eating like this forever. I can't imagine never having a treat or never having a drink. What I do is make preparations for it by maybe eating less at the other meals, exercising more, and for sure not making a frequent habit at it. It's all in how much you want it. And I think we all want it enough to be here every day.

I tried to take this past weekend "off" - Saturday we went on a bus trip to a casino, then Sunday was Mother's Day. Even in the casino buffet we went to for dinner, I still ended up gravitating toward healthier foods. Don't get me wrong, I still indulged in fried foods and dessert. But if something didn't taste absolutely fabulous, I left the rest on my plate. Even desserts. I sampled a few things, but only finished one of them. And I had an equal balance of vegetables (steamed and fresh) and "junk." I had to laugh... the buffet's idea of a salad bar was lettuce, grape tomatoes and cucumbers. Then a plethora of potato salads, etc, and dressings. Guess the salad bar is not a big draw at casino buffets! :laugh:

And I started my day on Saturday with an awesome workout and healthy breakfast, knowing there would be lots of opportunities to indulge later in the day.

Anyway, my point is that even with allowing myself to indulge, I guess I've been doing this long enough that I don't want to blow the progress I've made even for a "treat day." I look at more like "treat meals" or "treat portions," not whole days. But everyone has to do what works for them.