Ahhh...it's that time again. Fall. Temps turns cooler. Leaves change color. And all those holiday foods start creeping in on us. Pumpkin this and that, cider, with hot cocoa. And shortly after that Thanksgiving and Christmas parties smack us in the face with all those goodies. Before you know it, it's the New Year, and you're wondering "What the heck happened?" You're sporting extra weight. You feel guilty and unhealthy. And disappointed in yourself.

But it doesn't have to be that way! This month's theme is Prepping for the Holidays: A Basics Crash Course. This is my second Fall as a low-carber. And I lost weight the entire season. It CAN be done.

The keys to success in this WOE, or any eating plan for that matter, is three-fold:

• Consistency
• Persistence
• Time

Well, isn't that trite and overly simplistic? I'll admit it is simple, but not easy.
To let those 3 keys work for you, you need to be prepared. PLAN PLAN PLAN. I can't stress this enough. Plan ahead, log ahead. When you have a firm plan and procedure in place, you create good habits. And good habits work for you by keeping up momentum even when things get busy, chaotic, or just plain hard. You've already paved the road for yourself! All you have to do is stay on the smooth way and enjoy the scenery.

So in this challenge, we'll be working to set up and reinforce those good habits before you get in the thick of it. We'll be setting up those easy paths and building up that momentum by practicing a habit pattern to predispose us to sail through the holidays. There will be a weekly thread where you can keep track of the goals you reach. We can encourage one another, get advice about any trouble spots, share low-carb-legal recipes of our holiday favorites. In honor of this being the scary month, you can opt for the add-on challenge and get extra credit for working on a fear or scary pattern that often derails you or inhibits your progress.

We're going to compete with ourselves, trying to get the max daily score and collect the max daily pumpkins, or work toward collecting more than you did previously. We'll set up good habits in the following areas: water, electrolytes, staying under carb goal, logging daily, staying close to cal goal, hitting our exercise goal, and can earn an extra pumpkin for resisting a temptation or working on our "fear."

This is what your daily entry would look like:

10/1:

1. Water: 80/80oz
2. Calorie goal within 100:
3. At or under carbs: 28g/30g net
4. Exercise as planned: 20min HIIT
5. Hit electrolytes:
6. Logged food (carbs):

6/6
Earned 6 pumpkins.

Bonus: resisted temptation or worked on fear: +1

Daily Pumpkins collected: 7


Weekly Pumpkin Count: 13

The above is certainly just a template. You all may want to add a goal like: "Pre-logged Day" or "Planned Ahead" or "Resisted Off-Plan Halloween Treat" or "Packed On-Plan Lunch". I do not recommend nixing the logging calories or carbs, however, if you are one who becomes stressed by calorie counting, that's ok. But I recommend at least keeping track of your daily carb intake. Portion and carb creep are real. And it helps to occasionally reset our ability to "eye" our carb-count. Now would be a good time to recalibrate your carb-sense. I want every single one of you guys to coast through the holidays, enjoying them to the fullest. Preparation and consistency are key.


On the First of the month, sign in to let us know your personal goals. You can wait until you've done your daily checklist and lump it all together if you want.

Goals might look something like:

SW: 155.8
GW: 154.8
Get in the habit of pre-logging before things get nuts so I don't accidentally go over carbs and calories.
Stay on top of electrolytes so I don't get low.
Find low-carb-legal treats for the Halloween party.

To keep it orderly, on Oct. 1, this thread will be pinned in the stickies at the top of the group page and all you will have to do is go to it if the Weekly thread is buried and click on the links below. (So if you've already read the challenge parameters, try not to get too upset with me when I repeat them at the start of each Weekly Challenge thread. ) We'll accept challengers at any time of the month. Remember, you are competing against yourself, and starting on getting the basics down (or refreshing them like I am), before the hectic holiday season is fully upon us, is our goal.