Holidays

lucyleigh4 wrote: »

How do you guys maintain during these times?

I maintain in a relaxed fashion as my priority is enjoying time with my family and not worrying about a temporary weight gain.

I zigzag my calories. There's always a day or two every week when I eat more, then I keep a 400 deficit the rest of the time. Holidays will just be my high calorie days. Not worried about it.

I pick the foods I really want to eat because they're special and build the rest of my eating around that. I also STOP eating when I'm not hungry. So after that nice glass of eggnog, I'm probably not really that hungry for the 3rd cookie and should grab some veg.

At long munchie events I also bring or go for foods I can keep munching without guilt. So I grab my favorite high calorie foods, then fill my plate with veggies.

Finally, the big problem isn't Thanksgiving or Christmas or Halloween. It's the weeks and weeks of eating in between. I have learned that most Christmas cookies look better than they taste. And that eggnog has more calories than I can possibly imagine and so I should drink it in small glasses. And that I like turkey and you can eat a lot of it for not that many calories.

Life is too short to eat bad food. Life is too short not to eat good stuff.

I enjoy spending time with my family and loved ones and really don't sweat a couple of pounds that are going to come right off after the fact.

I try being proactive with the exercise calorie offset, which MFP shows quite clearly. So, if I know a big meal is coming up, the day before I'll burn 1000 calories to create the deficit, with some weight training that'll require some muscle rebuilding, then eat 3000 calories the next day (way too much food!), which should help to rebuild muscle. Then, the next day, try doing another 1000 calorie burn. This burn/eat cycle demonstrates the correlation between eating and exercise. So, putting away a 1000 calorie piece of pie with ice cream will require 1 hour of very high intensity (85%), which is pretty painful, or 2 hours of medium intensity (70%). Is it worth it? I think so.

For 2 days I will eat around 3000 cals, its just 2 days - which I enjoy immensely...then it'll be back to eating at around 10% deficit which is what I do at maintenance as that accounts for any logging inaccuracies.

I find any slight gain over Christmas disappears within a few weeks.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I enjoy spending time with my family and loved ones and really don't sweat a couple of pounds that are going to come right off after the fact.

^^^ this. Holidays only come once a year, so enjoy them with your family and your friends. Whatever little you put on will come off after January 1st

I tell myself that it's just food and if I really want it I can have it anytime of the year, whether that would be buying a frozen Lean Cuisine turkey and stuffing meal or baking my own pumpkin desserts. By taking out the whole concept of getting these foods ONLY on this one day and therefore MUST eat as much of it as you can to stay satisfied until next year, I find myself able to resist the urge to binge much better and more capable of portioning out normal sizes for myself. Just because everyone else's plates may be overflowing as others are getting up for seconds or thirds, doesn't mean you have to. Just because someone else helps themselves to four different slices of pie and polishes off each one doesn't mean you have to. Enjoy the day still, don't go crazy restricting every bite, but focus more on enjoying family than simply enjoying the food they brought. Out of respect still try different things, just don't feel the need to eat all of it, a lot of it, or second helpings of it. If anyone urges you to eat more just politely decline and say you're full or had enough, you don't need to tell them anymore than that or even mention that you're watching your weight, or else you run the risk of them telling you not to worry about it because it's a holiday and encouraging you to eat even more.
Just try to enjoy conversation, eat slowly, and drink plenty of water! Listen to your body signals and stop when you're full, and be mindful of alcohol!
But most importantly, if you do go over and aren't as successful as you had hoped, just bounce back the best you can and start watching what you eat again. Just because you ended up eating a huge plate for dinner doesn't mean you're doomed and may as well eat a ton of desserts, too. Every calorie still counts, and your body will keep track of it. It's better to pick up somewhere than nowhere. By deciding not to have a second slice of pie could easily save at least 400 calories which even though you may have gone over, will be 400 calories less you'll have to worry about doing damage control for later.
Happy holidays!

I try and stick to my calorie goal for all the weeks leading up to Christmas and then take a logging break Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It's two days, the most I ever gain is two pounds, which is pretty easy to lose.

I don't bake or care for sweets and if I cook I make simple meals. I have a small family and I don't have a very busy social life around the holidays; therefore, I practice self-control when needed, and I enjoy the season. Any way, is still too early to worry about Thanksgiving or Christmas food.

First of all I am going to enjoy the holidays this year. I will up my workouts, do some at the gym and at home to keep my calories intake from getting out of control. Then I will enjoy the food that is made at this time of the year. I will have many days that I will be eating what I am suppose to so I should not gain much if any this year. Another thing I have learn this time of year is when I get food I only take a spoonful (tablespoon) of each thing that I like (NOT everything) and when I do that I usually do not gain any weight. I can not wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas top get here.

In trying to figure out my maintenance level, I lost a few extra pounds. So for now, my goal is not to lose any more and try to remember that I have an extra couple of pounds to deal with and not worry so much between now and New Years. I will still try to eat mostly healthy. And then reassess after the holidays.

I will do the same as I did last year and use my banked exercise calories to offset any gain. This worked well last year and I was actually surprised when I lost a pound instead of gaining. I think the fact that I am the cook, baker and hostess for the holidays helps. By the time I am done cooking, cleaning and taking care of everyone else I find that I am not really hungry. Should I gain a few pounds I now have the tools in my arsenal to lose those said pounds pronto.

I keep up with my usual workouts and I'll eat a little lighter leading up to those days.

This will be my second holiday season in Maintenance. For Thanksgiving I made the mashed potatoes, veggies, gravy and pumpkin pies. I pre-planned my dinner & dessert menu and ate lighter earlier in the day. This way I got to eat all my favs and still remain within Maintenance I did the same for Christmas Day.