Holiday Lessons - learned the hard way

kristinksmith
kristinksmith Posts: 44 Member
in Motivation and Support
Between work, the holidays and kids' activities, I was looking forward to relaxing the reins over the holidays. I figured I could splurge here or there and not have too many problems because I had gotten into some pretty good habits. If I gained a little weight over the holidays (say 2-3 lbs or so), I would have been ok. But I was wrong.

Here is what I learned over the holidays:

- Bad habits come back very quickly. So cheating a day or two or three over the holidays is OK. Taking a two months cheat is not good. Instead of losing weight, maintaining or even going up a little bit, I gained back my average monthly weigh loss and then some. Lesson learned: be consistent!

- Up until Thanksgiving I was very honest about tracking what I ate - even when I went over. During the holidays, I tracked most of my meals -- but not really my snacks. And often times it was late at night or even the next day, so I didn't accurately recall all that traveled to my stomach. Big mistake. I knew I was being bad -- and I should have realized how bad my cheating was when I didn't want my MFP friends to see it. Lesson learned: be honest!

- I think about food all the time. From June till mid-November, my thoughts about food where very healthy. I was thinking about what I could eat, planned accordingly when I wanted to splurge and I saw results. I started enjoying experimenting with outfits again, had to buy new clothes because mine were too big and felt good about how I was looking. As I cheated, I started thinking about how bad I felt after eating, started to worry about whether clothes would fit. Lesson learned: food can make me feel good or make me feel bad. Choose food that makes me feel good!

I've learned many other things such as exercise really does make me feel good, weight training gives me the best results and that I really want to succeed. My typical rule for logging weight is to only log losses, but it will take me quite some time to get back to my low. I know that I need to see success on MFP to help stay motivated. So today I reset my weight to my true number, I went for a run, ate within my goal and accurately logged all food/activity.

So I guess this was also a success -- because while my holiday binging was not a good plan, I can look back and see that it was only a minor set-back in the long run. And I learned a lot in the process.

Here's to a happy, healthy 2014.

Replies

  • kw1452
    kw1452 Posts: 113 Member
    This was nice to read.

    Over my holiday, I gained back EVERY pound I had lost... I'm now back at my starting weight. But I'm trying to not be depressed about it. Instead I'm doing more nutritional research and am getting more serious about changing the way that I eat.
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
    Good for you getting back on track! Years ago, I remember a diet doctor on some morning TV show saying, "It doesn't matter what you eat between Thanksgiving and January 1st, most of your weight came from what you eat between January 1st and Thanksgiving." You had a vacation, now you are back and are ready to get back to your plan! Awesome!
  • sandobr1
    sandobr1 Posts: 319 Member
    Sounds like me, For sure not always being honest or realistic about portions is what got me into trouble. I finally strung together a few good good days in row and really got back to exercise and feeling much better these days. I also got a bunch of new clothes for Christmas in smaller sizes some of which were tighter than when I tried them on originally. I donated or ditched a good amount of my bigger clothes so really there's no going back I'm not buying big clothes again! If you're looking for new pals feel free to add me!
  • Jamiegirl2009
    Jamiegirl2009 Posts: 98 Member
    Thank you so much for the inspirational and honest look at what the holidays are really like and how being truly honest is the way to go, who wants to lie to themselves, your clothes will never lie to you ever is what I have learned lol your pants will never say yeah they still fit... especially if they don't. Thanks for the read.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    Between work, the holidays and kids' activities, I was looking forward to relaxing the reins over the holidays. I figured I could splurge here or there and not have too many problems because I had gotten into some pretty good habits. If I gained a little weight over the holidays (say 2-3 lbs or so), I would have been ok. But I was wrong.

    Here is what I learned over the holidays:

    - Bad habits come back very quickly. So cheating a day or two or three over the holidays is OK. Taking a two months cheat is not good. Instead of losing weight, maintaining or even going up a little bit, I gained back my average monthly weigh loss and then some. Lesson learned: be consistent!

    - Up until Thanksgiving I was very honest about tracking what I ate - even when I went over. During the holidays, I tracked most of my meals -- but not really my snacks. And often times it was late at night or even the next day, so I didn't accurately recall all that traveled to my stomach. Big mistake. I knew I was being bad -- and I should have realized how bad my cheating was when I didn't want my MFP friends to see it. Lesson learned: be honest!

    - I think about food all the time. From June till mid-November, my thoughts about food where very healthy. I was thinking about what I could eat, planned accordingly when I wanted to splurge and I saw results. I started enjoying experimenting with outfits again, had to buy new clothes because mine were too big and felt good about how I was looking. As I cheated, I started thinking about how bad I felt after eating, started to worry about whether clothes would fit. Lesson learned: food can make me feel good or make me feel bad. Choose food that makes me feel good!

    I've learned many other things such as exercise really does make me feel good, weight training gives me the best results and that I really want to succeed. My typical rule for logging weight is to only log losses, but it will take me quite some time to get back to my low. I know that I need to see success on MFP to help stay motivated. So today I reset my weight to my true number, I went for a run, ate within my goal and accurately logged all food/activity.

    So I guess this was also a success -- because while my holiday binging was not a good plan, I can look back and see that it was only a minor set-back in the long run. And I learned a lot in the process.

    Here's to a happy, healthy 2014.

    Thanks. I managed to put on 6 lbs between Thanksgiving and Christmas. For now I need to get my act together, exercise daily, be very honest in my tracking and drink more water.
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
    during the holiday season I put myself onto the maintenance calories for my goal weight. I logged everything, although less exact then before i.e. a bit more estimating then before and I actually lost 1/2lbs, which I thought was a good outcome. I did go over by quite a bit some days, but it usually evened out over the week.

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