What are your game plans for the holiday temptations?!

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eringrace95_
eringrace95_ Posts: 296 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I only just started my journey in April so no major holidays have had a chance to try to mess me up yet. I feel like as long as I keep with moderation I'll be okay but do you guys have any tips or tricks for making it through the holiday season?!
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  • eringrace95_
    eringrace95_ Posts: 296 Member
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    Oh and I'm in Canada so my thanksgiving is in October, so coming up!
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
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    Thanksgiving/Christmas are only a few days. Don't make them a few weeks.
    Enjoy the festive foods but be sensible; is this is the last opportunity you'll ever have to eat that particular item, do you need two helpings? Is it necessary to take advantage of every single chance to eat, say, a mince pie, or would it be better to save calories for what you really fancy? Stay active.
  • eringrace95_
    eringrace95_ Posts: 296 Member
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    yesimpson wrote: »
    Thanksgiving/Christmas are only a few days. Don't make them a few weeks.
    Enjoy the festive foods but be sensible; is this is the last opportunity you'll ever have to eat that particular item, do you need two helpings? Is it necessary to take advantage of every single chance to eat, say, a mince pie, or would it be better to save calories for what you really fancy? Stay active.

    Thanks!! Awesome advice
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    One day out of 365 is only a bleep in the scheme of things. I thoroughly enjoy the holidays and when they are over I get back to logging. No big deal to me. You need to put this into perspective.
  • greynotesfall
    greynotesfall Posts: 28 Member
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    This year will be extremely easy for me. My husband is military, so we're far from family. He will be gone over the holidays this time around, so I won't even make any holiday food. And I'm a homebody so, other than work and grocery shopping, I really won't even leave the house.

    Usually though I recommend not denying yourself all of the yummy food. Definitely eat the things you want, but watch your portion sizes. If you are tracking your calories over the holidays I feel it is better to slightly overestimate them to allow for variations of different recipes. Holidays should be happy occasions and you don't want to dampen your mood by thinking of all of the things you have to miss out on!

    Exercise wise, if you like sledding or skiing or anything, those are fun exercises to slip in to help with extra calories you may be consuming. Once it starts snowing regularly, of course. Good luck!
  • eringrace95_
    eringrace95_ Posts: 296 Member
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    Thanks for the replies!!
  • JeffBrown3
    JeffBrown3 Posts: 161 Member
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    I'm going to eat whatever I want and however much I want. If I eat a big meal on Thanksgiving, Christmas and my birthday I won't gain hardly anything. I'm gonna enjoy it and go back to logging the day after.
  • moribunny
    moribunny Posts: 417 Member
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    You could also switch to maintenance calories over the holiday season. This way you won't gain or lose, but you can fit in more things you'd like to eat. ^__^
  • eringrace95_
    eringrace95_ Posts: 296 Member
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    Good ideas!
  • robspot
    robspot Posts: 130 Member
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    yesimpson wrote: »
    Thanksgiving/Christmas are only a few days. Don't make them a few weeks.

    This!

    The number of times in the past years that my "Christmas" eating and drinking has started on December 1st is depressing!

    As someone said on another thread, it's not what you eat between Christmas and New Year that makes you fat, it's what you eat between New Year and Christmas. Wise words :)
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    Eat what I want and move on.
  • vivelajackie
    vivelajackie Posts: 321 Member
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    I plan to drink the nog. I plan to eat the ham. I plan to fit a piece of pie in there and drown it with wine.

    Seriously though. Enjoy the holidays. Don't feel guilty for letting yourself have a little fun. Log and move on and don't let it become the entirety of winter. You should be okay.
  • neldabg
    neldabg Posts: 1,452 Member
    edited September 2015
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    bunnyxhime wrote: »
    You could also switch to maintenance calories over the holiday season. This way you won't gain or lose, but you can fit in more things you'd like to eat. ^__^
    ^This. Also, I plan only to do this on my Birthday (I'm a December baby!), Christmas and New Years so it doesn't make a dent in my progress. However, if some of the food is fast food, I won't eat it. After eating clean for so long, I don't really like/crave fast food. Maybe it's all mental, but I can just *taste* the artificiality. It's like the lowest quality of food available and so not worth it health-wise and taste-wise. I'll just eat all the home cooked food provided.

  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
    edited September 2015
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    Thanksgiving doesn't worry me. The "feast" includes so much healthy stuff that I rarely gain. Looking forward to it.

    Halloween has me shaking in my boots. Last year was my first year ever that I didn't overeat mini chocolate bars purchased for the kiddies. I was oh so proud to have consumed exactly none. But within a few days of Halloween I went on a sweets mini-binge. Plan to eat a decadent but not overly sugary treat like ice cream or cheesecake that evening.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
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    Oops. Part of my post didn't post. A short version: get my Christmas shopping and decorating done before Dec 1 to avoid stress eating.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I eat all the foods... more specifically, the foods I don't get to eat the rest of the time (so desserts, typically, lol). Go light on the rest. But just those 2/3 days (we do Christmas Eve too but don't care about New Year Eve). And keep a deficit the rest of the week.

    We have a wedding this year in December too though. That's gonna suck.
  • mlcollins89
    mlcollins89 Posts: 87 Member
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    I think in the case of special occasions you have to give yourself a break; enjoy the food, have pice of cake (or two!), have the mashed potatoes, the gravy, the stuffing. The next day, get back to business and don't punish yourself.

    I found this summer I constantly had various celebrations, back to back. It was very challenging to "splurge" and then get back on track. Once I start eating unhealthy choices, I have quite a bit of trouble stopping.
  • masterloafer
    masterloafer Posts: 16 Member
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    I love that everyone is being so supportive of having some soul food. I've had a few "cheat days" here and there this summer and I'm so riddled with guilt about it that I usually way undereat the next day and feel gross about for a week or so. This is all fantastic advice! I'm looking forward to my mom's buttery smashed potatoes and sugar pie!!
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
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    I go for the foods I don't get much of outside the holidays - like my aunt's spinach dip & my mom's cheesy potatoes. I start with one small portion of everything I want & evaluate my dessert options, too, so I can decide which one I want (or if I want both).

    If you're currently trying to lose, consider taking a few days at maintenance so you have more calories to play with.

    I do absolutely recommend you continue to log, even though it'll be a lot of "guesstimates." Better to have an idea of what & how much you ate, rather than nothing.

    If you weigh yourself within a few days of the holiday meal, you'll probably see a gain - don't panic and wait a week or so and see what happens with your weight.

    And, most of all....

    Enjoy!!!

    :mrgreen:

    ~Lyssa
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Same thing I always do, plus a few more wine calories. I cook the way I want to eat, and I eat the way I want to eat most days. I don't use holidays as an excuse to overindulge in foods I don't really want to eat.

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