Surviving your birthday/Thanksgiving/Christmas

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Queen_Vanellope
Queen_Vanellope Posts: 35 Member
in Motivation and Support
Last year I was on a diet and fitness routine that was going very well. I made it through Halloween without touching a single piece of candy, for the first time in my life. But then my birthday came, and I realized I had completely forgotten to tell my mother that I was dieting. When I went to visit, she presented me with the most beautiful chocolate cake - the kind that looks like it cost a small fortune - and I couldn't bring myself to tell her. So I had a slice. It was my first sweet in months. Then I thought to myself, it's my birthday! I'll have another! I ended up eating most of that cake over the course of that weekend. Thanksgiving was the following week, and it was all too easy to slip back into overindulgence. By the end of November, I was completely off my diet. By February, I had gained back 15 of the 22 pounds I lost. I was still exercising every day, and still am, but I've only been maintaining up until this point. This is my first attempt at counting calories. I'm in my 4th week, and have lost about 9 pounds, and it's going well. But the Holidays are almost here again.

I'm not the kind of person who can "just have one" piece/slice/cookie.. I avoid those foods entirely because I don't have good self control around sugar, specifically. I can portion control everything else, but sugar is my kryptonite (and pizza). It's really easy to avoid on my own, but not around the holidays, when my friends and family are insistent that I eat everything and that I don't need to lose weight.

I'll be better prepared this year, but I'd like to know: How do you do it? Do you completely avoid sweets, or do you have a method of only having a small amount without going nuts? I'm the family baker during the holidays - I make several cakes, pies and about 200 cookies each year. Any tips on how to stay motivated while doing all that baking?
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  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
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    Depends on what it is. Some things I don't care for, some I can take in moderation, and a few things (baked goods) I only stop eating when the entire thing is gone.

    So I try to balance between avoiding certain things as much as possible, picking portion- controlled things, sharing a bite of someone else's instead of a whole piece, etc. A little of each strategy helps keep me on track.
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
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    I love sweet things, and I often have to remind myself that this is not the last time I will ever eat cake! So I don't need six slices of birthday cake, because at the age of 25 I can reasonably expect to have another 25 birthdays (perhaps even double). I don't need to eat a mince pie, if I don't really fancy it, just because it's December and someone has offered me one, because there will be lots of other points during that month to have one and I can get a M&S multipack whenever I want.

    You CAN exert self control over sugar. The more you tell yourself you can't the harder you make it. You are losing weight, so you can do. Of course you are human, and sometimes you will pig out (I do!), and I understand totally that sometimes it's easier not to start if you're in a nibbling mood, so don't. That's a totally legitimate choice (see mince pie example). And recognise that by always eating when your friends and family put pressure on you to do so, you are reinforcing this behaviour - they will learn that at first you will say no and eventually you will eat some, so they'll keep encouraging you because they believe that's what you really want. 'No, thank you' is an adequate response.

    TL;DR I don't eat what I don't really fancy, and 99% keep to a reasonable portion, as I will get to eat more of that food again at another time.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I used to make these huge baskets of cookies, candies, muffins and breads for the older people in my family. I actually found that I ate less sweets during the years that I did that because with all of the taste testing I got a little sick of it by the time the holidays actually rolled around. Sadly, all of the people I used to make baskets for have passed on and now I don't make more than a few dozen cookies to take to parties.

    I don't have the same problem with sweets you seem to have. I can have one piece of cake or one cookie, if that's all my calorie allowance allows, and happily move on so I'll admit that I don't understand the urge to devour a whole cake or a whole plate of cookies. I may be completely off-base here and you know yourself better than anyone. Do you think that if you "practiced" having a single cookie every few days that you could ever get to the point where you were satisfied with just one? Self-control is basically like a muscle, the more you use it the easier it should be to "flex" it when needed.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,484 Member
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    These things happen year in, year out, so you have to work them into your life style.

    At the moment I just eat what I want on these occasions. And if I see I have gained just shave a few calories every day.

    When I am counting, and wanting to lose, I will set a date range where I can eat what I want, log it, all of it, and return to my deficit goal on the day I had planned to. December to mid January, I am easy on myself, too many events that I want to enjoy.

    Can you allow yourself a little extra, eat at maintenance, so you can enjoy a sampling of all your hard work?

    Could you bake lower cal versions of some of your favourite things?

    Cheers, h.
  • jaqcan
    jaqcan Posts: 498 Member
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    When you're counting you can know exactly how much of something you CAN have. During Halloween, I may go over a couple days, because I love candy. But I'll track it all. And I'll have to limit myself to 1 or 2, or work for it (exercise).
    Christmas I'm kinda worried about, but this is the first year we're on our own with no family around, so I really get to choose what we have in the house. I'm doing our annual baking day, but we won't have batches and batches of goodies. I'll do it the Wednesday before Christmas, and probably take the week between Christmas and New Years "off". Then just like a new years resolution, jump back on. I've got months under my belt at this point, and counting calories has been the EASIEST attempt yet. Here in the Mississippi Gulf Coast it's so hot here, it's hard to get my walking in, but once it cools down I plan on walking a lot more, and I'll be earning all those holiday treats!
  • Queen_Vanellope
    Queen_Vanellope Posts: 35 Member
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    Thank you for replies. MFP has made me hyper-aware of everything I'm putting in my body, so I imagine it will be much easier this time around. And logging is kind of like playing a video game. It's its own motivation, making me want to stay under my calorie allowance or hit my calcium goal for the day. I feel like I earn an achievement every day that goes by. I don't think I'll have as much trouble as I had last year, especially now that I know the exact nutritional content of each slice/cookie I bake with that handy-dandy recipe thingy.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited August 2015
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    jaqcan wrote: »
    When you're counting you can know exactly how much of something you CAN have. During Halloween, I may go over a couple days, because I love candy. But I'll track it all. And I'll have to limit myself to 1 or 2, or work for it (exercise).
    Christmas I'm kinda worried about, but this is the first year we're on our own with no family around, so I really get to choose what we have in the house. I'm doing our annual baking day, but we won't have batches and batches of goodies. I'll do it the Wednesday before Christmas, and probably take the week between Christmas and New Years "off". Then just like a new years resolution, jump back on. I've got months under my belt at this point, and counting calories has been the EASIEST attempt yet. Here in the Mississippi Gulf Coast it's so hot here, it's hard to get my walking in, but once it cools down I plan on walking a lot more, and I'll be earning all those holiday treats!

    The walking is a good way to look at it. I'm just starting to ramp up for the winter race season (it's too hot to run much in the summer here) so by the time Thanksgiving rolls around I'm running 6-12 miles at a time, 3-4 days per week, instead of 3-4 miles. That gives me a lot more wiggle room with my calories at just the right time. :smile:
  • Queen_Vanellope
    Queen_Vanellope Posts: 35 Member
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    I've been training for my first 10k, which is in two weeks. I ran 10k three times this month. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going - that will make things WAY easier.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Brandy_AM wrote: »
    I've been training for my first 10k, which is in two weeks. I ran 10k three times this month. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going - that will make things WAY easier.

    Congrats on the 10K! If there are any 10K races in your area in January (or maybe a half marathon?) find one and sign up now. It's a great way to keep going.
  • morkiemama
    morkiemama Posts: 897 Member
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    I, too, am the family baker. I actually lose my motivation to eat baked goods thanks to the baking marathon of DOOM I do every year. If you are capable of it, cram all of your holiday baking into 2-3 days. Up super early and up super late into the night (we're talking like 2am ovens still going), I guarantee you won't want to look at another cookie all year LOL. :)

    More practical (and less exhausting) advice would be to assure you have set meal times during your bake-nanza. Make sure you stop to eat healthy full meals, which will help you significantly cut down on absent-mindedly snacking. Another tactic I like to use is limiting myself to ONE taste test of each batch. I usually split this with another party in the house.
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,862 Member
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    I might up my calories to maintenance this year for a couple of weeks. It would beat gaining 20# like I did last October through January 1st. Start at Thanksgiving and end Dec 27th? It's a tough time of year. I'll see how I'm doing in a month or two.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    Birthday plus the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, Easter, Independence Day): 6 days a year. NO BIG DEAL. Eat all you want those 6 days. You won't gain weight. It's 6 days. Don't get foolish overeat during the entire holiday season. Just have a single treat here and there that fits into your calorie goals, that's easy enough to do.
  • lseed87
    lseed87 Posts: 1,110 Member
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    Surviving December sucks.

    6th - sister's birthday
    16th- my birthday
    20th- friends birthday
    22nd? - uncles birthday
    23rd- sister-in-law's birthday
    24th- nephew's birthday
    30- friends birthday


  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    I enjoy it and log it. There's no reason I can't do my best to be on point the rest of the days of the year.

    I'll be damned if I'm not going to enjoy holiday or party food.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    lseed87 wrote: »
    Surviving December sucks.

    6th - sister's birthday
    16th- my birthday
    20th- friends birthday
    22nd? - uncles birthday
    23rd- sister-in-law's birthday
    24th- nephew's birthday
    30- friends birthday


    why do other people's birthdays cause problems for you? Eat enough to fit into your calorie goals. Other peoples' birthdays aren't an overindulgence excuse - that's what YOUR birthday is for.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,947 Member
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    Brandy_AM wrote: »
    I've been training for my first 10k, which is in two weeks. I ran 10k three times this month. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going - that will make things WAY easier.

    Yes ... I find that exercise helps me a lot.

    Before I go out to dinner for special occasions, I try to get in a decent bicycle ride or a long brisk walk or hike (2 or 3 hours or more). Or I climb lots of stairs (25 flights is about 150 cal).

    In the cycling world, there's a tradition of cycling your age in miles to celebrate your birthday ... and that's exactly what I did on my birthday. Then I had some chocolate cheesecake. :grin:

  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    edited September 2015
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    I indulge on my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. No holds barred, I eat whatever I want for that one day. Egg nog, chocolate, pie, stuffing, whatever. Then, back to calorie counting the very next day. No weekend of indulging. Not even a treat on Christmas Eve, I have to wait until Christmas. This worked amazingly well for me when I lost 27 pounds a couple of years ago. I only allow such indulgences on these three holidays, every other special occasion I have to earn my treats with banking calories beforehand or doing more exercise.
  • Micheller1210
    Micheller1210 Posts: 460 Member
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    I understand your frustration all too well, but were in this together! I have several birthdays celebrations from August through January. And feel I'm out of the woods come feb.but then it's valentines, mouths day, father's day, ....lol and the cycle never ends.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Holidays aren't a season, they're a day. There seems to be this perception, presumably drawn from the retail aspect of jumping from one lot of decorations to the next, that these holdiays have expanded and become their own chunk of time.

    I eat what the heck I like on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I enjoy my birthday cake. I get smashed and eat ALL the canapes on NYE. But they are single days.

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