just a little bit tired of the "how are you plannig to eat in the holydays" post?
karyabc
Posts: 830 Member
So i've being seeing a lot of post of people asking how the rest of people are going to eat/ handle Christmas ?, and i don't know, i think sometimes we get to much anxiety when this time a year arrives on how are we going to behave ourselves in the probably maybe one time a year where it's "normal" or ok to overeat and give ourselves a break, and we loose our sight on the big picture which is in my case the reason why i'm here ; to get healthy and finally take control of my life.
i dont want to make this too long, but really the holidays season are only a couple of days in 6-7 weeks, lets keep focusing in what we've being doing right, in my case i've being going to the gym for a while now for 1 hour 4x a week, and right now im pushing my self to stay for 15-20 minutes more, so by the time january comes i want to make an habit going everytime for an hour and a half.
i know, believe me, how it can get hard on this season to keep doing what we are doing, this is my favorite time in the year, love everything that comes with it, but the only thing that i love more than the holiday food, family getting together, Christmas partys, etc, is me loosing a dress size or feeling how my pants are going to get more saggy or that feeling when you look yourself in the mirror and your start liking what you see; those are the things that i say to my self that don't make me worry or feel anxiety in the upcoming holidays.
the reason why I wrote this is because sometimes i get the feeling that people come here looking for approval to overeat, to listen to others saying the "this is a one time a year so I'm gonna eat whatever i feel like stuff" , and feel ok with them self because subconsciously they know they are going to overeat a lot, if you want to eat what you want to eat; do it! but lets not forget that is possible to go true this time and improve our health and no gaining weight and actually also loose weight.
PS; one---> omg and this was not to suppose to be long -__-
(soorry!). two ---> i really didn't want to offend anyone with my post in case anyone feels that way, im just getting some thoughts out of my head.
i dont want to make this too long, but really the holidays season are only a couple of days in 6-7 weeks, lets keep focusing in what we've being doing right, in my case i've being going to the gym for a while now for 1 hour 4x a week, and right now im pushing my self to stay for 15-20 minutes more, so by the time january comes i want to make an habit going everytime for an hour and a half.
i know, believe me, how it can get hard on this season to keep doing what we are doing, this is my favorite time in the year, love everything that comes with it, but the only thing that i love more than the holiday food, family getting together, Christmas partys, etc, is me loosing a dress size or feeling how my pants are going to get more saggy or that feeling when you look yourself in the mirror and your start liking what you see; those are the things that i say to my self that don't make me worry or feel anxiety in the upcoming holidays.
the reason why I wrote this is because sometimes i get the feeling that people come here looking for approval to overeat, to listen to others saying the "this is a one time a year so I'm gonna eat whatever i feel like stuff" , and feel ok with them self because subconsciously they know they are going to overeat a lot, if you want to eat what you want to eat; do it! but lets not forget that is possible to go true this time and improve our health and no gaining weight and actually also loose weight.
PS; one---> omg and this was not to suppose to be long -__-
(soorry!). two ---> i really didn't want to offend anyone with my post in case anyone feels that way, im just getting some thoughts out of my head.0
Replies
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I don't think people are looking for approval to overeat. I think they just realize that it is difficult to not overeat when there are family members constantly saying, "Here, have another helping. Here, have another piece of pie."0
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If posting it on the forums to hopefully feel less guilty about overindulging on a holiday is what they want, then I would want to help with that. There really is no reason to feel guilty indulging in the holidays.
People dieting often do start out with an all or nothing attitude when it comes to adherence. I'd like people to realize that holidays are inevitable, and if you can't resist something you love to eat, then go ahead and have it this one time.0 -
I think part of the problem is that the holidays aren't just a couple of days in 6-7 weeks, as far as parties and celebrations go. My office has a Thanksgiving lunch potluck on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, then a potluck breakfast the very next day, then of course the next day is Thanksgiving itself. Then there's the office Christmas party and all the friend and family get-togethers ("Let's do ours 2 weekends before Christmas, then you can do yours the weekend before, and then we'll be with our families on the actual holiday...") It turns into event after event after event all centered on food, because not everyone in our lives is as focused on healthy eating as we are. So it becomes a juggernaut of control and moderation which can be challenging, especially in the face of difficult family relationships and history.
Not to mention, some of us also have birthdays the day before Thanksgiving, ahem. So naturally, cake.
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I have to agree. I'm planning on eating lol. It's really food I only eat once a year, I don't really care if others agree with that or not (that sounded snarkier than I expected). That being said, with my father being diabetic and my mother's high blood pressure, the food they make is relatively healthy, low in salt and nothing has sugar added, nothing fried. So my main focus is on not over eating and keeping my portion sizes under control. Which has pretty much always been my main problem, holiday or not. If I have an off day, then I will just get back on the horse the next day with proper diet and exercise. Having a day where you don't eat your best (we all have those) is not any reason to stop eating better... you know big picture vs small picture and all that jazz. I do still plan on logging my food, I'm interested in seeing how I do, maybe that will be incentive to keep my portions under control.0
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So many people answer "It is just one day" or two days, if you count Thanksgiving. This attitude doesn't even account for the leftovers. Moreover, a lot of people have office parties and social parties and family parties. In my family, it used to start at Halloween. There was a big block party for Halloween, then my birthday, then Thanksgiving, then one brother's birthday, then the other brother's birthday, then Christmas itself, then family reunion Christmas, then the other family had New Years...
Even now, we will be visiting our families Christmas through New Year's. My mother in law will offer us home made goodies throughout the day and comment on how thin her son is. If I leave the kitchen, my father in law will say something political that will make me want to shove food in my mouth to avoid screaming. Then we will go visit my family where, even thought I am obese, I am one of the smaller adults. The kids are all active and healthy and need to have food frequently, and for some reason we usually join in with them.
You need a strategy to get through all of that.0 -
I'm going for 30K calories on Thanksgiving day and Christmas day.0
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Some of those parties are a lot easier to not overeat at than others.0
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I am planning to eat over the holidays with a fork, knife, spoon and my fingers.
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concordancia wrote: »You need a strategy to get through all of that.
For sure! I think a lot of people post to the forums just looking for help on those strategies. Nothing wrong or weak about that.
I'm lucky, we're Jewish and don't have huge celebrations during December. But our Thanksgiving is huge, and my husband has to have his latkes fried in oil during Hanukkah!
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I'm going for 30K calories on Thanksgiving day and Christmas day.
I'm with you on that one.
And from what I have seen from friends is that for the holidays they aren't going to be a deficit, they are going to go with their TDEE and be in maintenance over the holidays that way they aren't freaking out as to what they can and cannot have but still have some type of control over what they are eating so they don't gain any just not lose any. Makes sense, though I am not going that route not for Thanksgiving and not for Christmas, it is what it is and come Dec 26th I am going to work my tail off. Holidays are supposed to be enjoyed not be made to be miserable. JMO0 -
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_Terrapin_ wrote: »
Well, I am doing a 5K on Thanksgiving...lol. Don't think that will cover the 30K cals though.
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It's legit if they're truly worried about ALL THE GATHERINGS (not just the 2 major holidays).
My gauntlet:
My birthday - Oct 16
Halloween
Daughter's birthday - Nov 15
Thanksgiving
Office Christmas pot luck
Company Christmas party
Christmas Eve (my family)
Christmas Day (extended friends/family)
Daughter's birthday - Dec 30
New Year's
All these occasions have wonderful, delicious food. And LOTS of leftovers. (We're still just 1/3 of the way through my 11/15 daughter's leftover bday cake and I'm doing most of the work there!)
I get in a few extra miles of running if weather allows and try to stay near maintenance on average over that period of time.0 -
hi! i've read all of your comments , it's nice to hear other point of view of things! like i said i know it's really hard, and definitely every journey is different in each of us, i guess what we all have to remember is to never let a bad day to become a bad week and that to turn into a bad season. 0
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I have 5 holiday get-togethers between Thanksgiving and Christmas....and that's not even counting Thanksgiving and Christmas/Christmas Eve. Add them up with New Years and I have 9 outings I have to contend with. The holidays are stressful enough and I guess some of us are a little concerned about getting derailed and need some extra support or encouragement.
Funny thing is that once all that is over I'll be back to watching Netflix every weekend for the next 10 months
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Oh, then you might want to stay away from the forums later... most likely these same people will be the ones freaking out that they gained weight from all that eating... and asking advice on how to lose said weight. Oh there will be a lot of those kinds of threads.0
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knitapeace wrote: »I think part of the problem is that the holidays aren't just a couple of days in 6-7 weeks, as far as parties and celebrations go. My office has a Thanksgiving lunch potluck on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, then a potluck breakfast the very next day, then of course the next day is Thanksgiving itself. Then there's the office Christmas party and all the friend and family get-togethers ("Let's do ours 2 weekends before Christmas, then you can do yours the weekend before, and then we'll be with our families on the actual holiday...") It turns into event after event after event all centered on food, because not everyone in our lives is as focused on healthy eating as we are. So it becomes a juggernaut of control and moderation which can be challenging, especially in the face of difficult family relationships and history.
Not to mention, some of us also have birthdays the day before Thanksgiving, ahem. So naturally, cake.
My birthday is the day before Thanksgiving too!!! This year at least.
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Okay karyabc, I guess you're right. I can just eat my regular amount of calories on Christmas. The only thing I feel I HAVE to have on Christmas is gingerbread cookies, so I'm pretty sure I can fit those into my cal goal. Probably just replace my daily french toast & bacon breakfast with a coffee and eggs breakfast. That should make room for me to have gingerbread men later. I'll try your way this year. Let's see what happens.0
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Nothing wrong with planning ahead. People do tend to gain weight over these holidays. I want to have an idea in mind what I will eat. I like to taste everything, so I think I will just have smaller portions.
I do know that if I get the mentality that I will go over my calories only on special occasions it is too easy for every day to become a special occasion.0 -
This is the prequel to the Resolutioners.0
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knitapeace wrote: »I think part of the problem is that the holidays aren't just a couple of days in 6-7 weeks, as far as parties and celebrations go. My office has a Thanksgiving lunch potluck on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, then a potluck breakfast the very next day, then of course the next day is Thanksgiving itself. Then there's the office Christmas party and all the friend and family get-togethers ("Let's do ours 2 weekends before Christmas, then you can do yours the weekend before, and then we'll be with our families on the actual holiday...") It turns into event after event after event all centered on food, because not everyone in our lives is as focused on healthy eating as we are. So it becomes a juggernaut of control and moderation which can be challenging, especially in the face of difficult family relationships and history.
Not to mention, some of us also have birthdays the day before Thanksgiving, ahem. So naturally, cake.
Yep! My "holidays" actually start when I have my Christmas party, the first Thursday in December. We have a cookie exchange, and most of the cookies just take up residence at my house. From then until NYE, it's basically one loooong party. Some people need a plan to make it work. When you're 10 or 15 pounds from goal, those 5-10 pounds you put on during the holidays won't just drop off as soon as January rolls around. And if you're netting under 1500 cals per day, a couple of yummy/delicious/decadent cookies can RUIN you.
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I plan on stuffing myself ON Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then working leftovers and treats into my calories the rest of the time (daughter and I both have Nov birthdays, too, so lots of treats). It helps that we try to make lower-cal versions of favorites (roasted green beans instead of casseroles, mashed potatoes with onion broth instead of cream, etc). But frankly I've found that if I have a healthy breakfast I can't really do that much damage in one meal without making myself sick, and when the meal is over, we pack the food away and don't take it out again till the next day (no grazing on pumpkin pie). Anyway, I love celebrations and food is a big part of that for me, so not letting myself eat whatever I want at least for one meal makes me saaaaad. I have yet to gain any noticeable weight from any one holiday 0
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The problem is not and never has been feasting on feast days. It's that we feast on non-feast days that is the problem.0
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I don't mind all of the holiday meal posts. It's fun to see how others plan to celebrate, whether it be healthy or not-so-healthy, and maybe get some ideas, and give some if needed. For me, planning ahead is key. Picking and choosing when and how much I want to indulge. You should have seen me the first year I was logging my food. I was a twitchy mess trying (and failing) to stay on track and log it all. Then I decided, for this one day I'm not logging my meal. Then I got up from bed and logged it all. I've chilled a lot since then. Lol. I don't think we should throw caution to the wind to the point of undoing what we've work so hard to achieve though.
Leftovers won't be an issue for me. My father and I will be going out to a restaurant (3rd year in a row). Never as good as homemade, but he and I decided we don't need to be swimming in food. Just a really nice meal out is fine for us.0 -
MyChocolateDiet wrote: »Okay karyabc, I guess you're right. I can just eat my regular amount of calories on Christmas. The only thing I feel I HAVE to have on Christmas is gingerbread cookies, so I'm pretty sure I can fit those into my cal goal. Probably just replace my daily french toast & bacon breakfast with a coffee and eggs breakfast. That should make room for me to have gingerbread men later. I'll try your way this year. Let's see what happens.
hahahaahaha i thought you were being sarcastic!! anyway, nice! hope it goes really well, i'll be trying to do the same thing.
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NoelFigart1 wrote: »The problem is not and never has been feasting on feast days. It's that we feast on non-feast days that is the problem.
yep!! you're absolutely 100% percent right , auto control and portion control has been my two strategies to accomplish my goal
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Its not phasing me at all. We dont have Thanksgiving for a start. Just have a strategy you know you can live with is about all thats required and then go for it. I did have this idea I was going to do an extra ten minutes cardio each visit, but am knackered enough as it is.
Ill be a bit more aware this year that what I consyme ill be in the gym working off, though.0 -
lets not forget that is possible to go true this time and improve our health and no gaining weight and actually also loose weight
That is possible. Everything is a choice. We can try to make the best choices possible and keep on track every single day. I feel pretty good about my holiday plan and don't feel I will overeat.
Sometimes it can be really hard to make good choicesthough. Sometimes people decide it is easiest to just acknowledge they will eat more and get back to it as soon as possible without getting emotional over it.
One holiday a few years ago, I was offered candy repeatedly by someone even though I calmly kept saying no thanks. People ended up getting scary mad that day just because I didn't want to eat something. Food was thrown (not by me). So, there might be some intense pressure from insane relatives to eat something they are offering you and you choose to do what is necessary to get out alive and worry about calories later.
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the first step of your plan would be to package the cookies from the cookie swap for giving out. keep one of the pretty wrapped packages for yourself as your gift to yourself. its more special and less guilty than grabbing at the cookies you collected at the swap. you'll enjoy them more. if you don't off the top of your head have people to give them to rack your brain and go out and find them. your hairdresser, your dentist, your kids teacher, the secretary at your husbands work, anything. it could really make their day and then you only have the one package you reserved for you.knitapeace wrote: »I think part of the problem is that the holidays aren't just a couple of days in 6-7 weeks, as far as parties and celebrations go. My office has a Thanksgiving lunch potluck on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, then a potluck breakfast the very next day, then of course the next day is Thanksgiving itself. Then there's the office Christmas party and all the friend and family get-togethers ("Let's do ours 2 weekends before Christmas, then you can do yours the weekend before, and then we'll be with our families on the actual holiday...") It turns into event after event after event all centered on food, because not everyone in our lives is as focused on healthy eating as we are. So it becomes a juggernaut of control and moderation which can be challenging, especially in the face of difficult family relationships and history.
Not to mention, some of us also have birthdays the day before Thanksgiving, ahem. So naturally, cake.
Yep! My "holidays" actually start when I have my Christmas party, the first Thursday in December. We have a cookie exchange, and most of the cookies just take up residence at my house. From then until NYE, it's basically one loooong party. Some people need a plan to make it work. When you're 10 or 15 pounds from goal, those 5-10 pounds you put on during the holidays won't just drop off as soon as January rolls around. And if you're netting under 1500 cals per day, a couple of yummy/delicious/decadent cookies can RUIN you.
as for the one LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG party, when you're planning your calendar, pick out the few events where you KNOW the food will be extra good and give yourself permission to indulge on those days. NO use spending extra cals on hardened fruit cake, or surprise potluck fare. But aunt so and so's never off always right egg nog THAT's a day you want to partake and the cals are worth it.
Think like that and plan like that and it should mitigate the damage.
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