Christmas

fishiewishy
fishiewishy Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I love all the food at Christmas, and definitely don't want to be unhappy over the holiday season, which I would be if I couldn't eat all the food.

Is the answer to this just double exercise to combat it, and eat a little bit of the food I love rather than just being angry and not eating it? Then go back to really dieting afterwards? I don't need to lose a huge amount of weight, just a few pounds, it's more about toning up and maintaining my goal weight when I get there.

Replies

  • dhimaan
    dhimaan Posts: 774 Member
    A couple of days of overeating won't derail you. Log it and dial in afterwards. I have a 2-3 month plan, a couple of days wont make that much of a difference.
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    Im not a food lover so its never been a massive deal for me. I dont like roast dinners so ill be passing on a starter and having a small roast dinner (we dislike turkey so it will be beef) with lots of veg ( i love veg). I love love love Christmas pudding so will have a normal sized portion of that. Ill have mince pies on the lead up to xmas and a small steak sandwich with a glass of champagne on xmas eve. Thats about all the xmas food for me. I will be avoiding the tins of chocolate and saving them for treats in the months ahead. I also dont go mad on alcohol because i have a low tolerance. What Xmas foods are essential for you?

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    fishiewishy wrote: »
    I love all the food at Christmas, and definitely don't want to be unhappy over the holiday season, which I would be if I couldn't eat all the food.

    Is the answer to this just double exercise to combat it, and eat a little bit of the food I love rather than just being angry and not eating it? Then go back to really dieting afterwards? I don't need to lose a huge amount of weight, just a few pounds, it's more about toning up and maintaining my goal weight when I get there.

    Yes. That is exactly the answer. Find a plan and follow it. Do xtra extra exercise. Eat some of the food you love. :) Get right back to logging and staying under
  • blueboxgeek
    blueboxgeek Posts: 574 Member
    I love Christmas foods but I also know that eating far too much with leave me feeling pretty peeved with myself. So I am planning on eating at maintenance calories for most of the Christmas week. I won't lose anything but if I stick to maintenance then any gains should really only maybe be from increased sodium compared to my normal plan.

    I'll make sure I do exercise every day. On Christmas day we have planned to go out for a walk with the kids around a local park while the turkey is cooking. I'm hoping that with exercise I can get away with eating around 2300 cals a day and not really gaining. And I can work pretty much all my favourite Christmas foods in to that :)
  • Kate_UK
    Kate_UK Posts: 1,299 Member
    I'm planning on sticking to my 2 fasts (I'm doing 5:2) both the week before and week between New years and eating pretty much what I want inbetween. I don't have the same capacity for sweets and chocolates that I had before starting 5:2, and the fact that I don't deny myself most of the week means I don't particularly crave them anymore either, so I'm unlikely to go mad. Christmas comes once a year, maybe I'll put a lb or even two on, but in the grand scheme of things is that a major isssue?
  • Aetheldreda
    Aetheldreda Posts: 241 Member
    I plan on enjoying my Christmas and Boxing Day entirely. I do plan to log EVERYTHING and probably walk a few extra km before, during and after Christmas week. Yes, I intend to eat a yummy Christmas dinner (i am cooking this year so I will have my scales in the kitchen) and pudding, wine, cheese and biscuits etc.
    What I am not going to do is be miserable, cheat myself, lie to myself with my logging or beat myself up if I consume 4000 calories.
    This is just what I plan to do for myself as I know it will keep me happy, and if I'm happy, I will cope with the associated Christmas stress much, much better.
  • fishiewishy
    fishiewishy Posts: 13 Member
    Good, glad I'm not the only one! I don't really have alcohol, it's mainly the boxes of chocolates and cheese and biscuits and the roasts we have a lot of.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,597 Member
    Chances are I'll be in maintenance then, but whether I am or not, I'm taking a diet break. Just trying to figure out how long it will be ... a week? 10 days?

    There will, of course, be lots of cycling, walking, and weightlifting too.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,597 Member
    fishiewishy wrote: »
    Is the answer to this just double exercise to combat it ...

    If you've got snow, go cross-country skiing and/or snowshoeing and/or skating. Go for long walks in the snow, build snowmen, and have snowball fights.

    Get out there and enjoy the active side of a snowy Christmas. :)

  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    It's Thanksgiving. I need to deal with today before I even consider what's going to happen on Christmas. Although there's a ski resort where we're staying between Christmas and New Year's and my son happens to work there. ;) So we will probably try skiing for a day or two while we're visiting. I say try because I live in South Carolina and I haven't exactly been on skiis in about 25 years.
  • fishiewishy
    fishiewishy Posts: 13 Member
    Sounds fun though! Enjoy skiing. Happy thanksgiving!

    There probably won't be any snow in England, or it will be very minimal. I love snow though.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    I'll be on a diet break that week. Honestly, one day won't derail you as long as you get back to work the next day.
  • kellellie
    kellellie Posts: 109 Member
    I'll probably deal with it the same way i'm dealing with thanksgiving, and the same way I dealt with our vacation a month ago.
    1. Focus on what i'm eating for several weeks before hand, and stick to good choices. Do all the work before the actual day.
    2. Day OF, enjoy myself but don't go all crazy. Eat foods I am allowed to have (my diet is limited for medical reasons) unless there is absolutely no other alternative (which is never the case) I'm not tempted to eat things I cannot have because I get sick when I do. The only time that's a problem is if I let myself get too hungry, so I always carry snacks with me wherever I go. Yeah, even at thanksgiving! I also made a whole bunch of healthy foods and am bringing them to thanksgiving so at the very least I can fill up on the tasty food I made.
    3. Days AFTER, drink ALL THE WATER and go right back to eating well without all the holiday foods.

    For my vacation, I went from 176 to 181 over the 5 days we were there. A lot of salt, a lot of soreness from walking (so water retention) AND I was on my period at the same freaking time. I was right back down to 176 a week later. It didn't do any lasting damage at all.

    My "christmas goal" Is to buy size 10 jeans for myself, and that has nothing to do with the day of, its all the days before.
  • scorpcookie
    scorpcookie Posts: 113 Member
    My plan is to try and burn 500 calories a day through cardio, continue to lift some weights, stay close to my allocated calories and try to put off engaging the sweets until a week before Christmas. And try is the key word as there will be several parties before Christmas Eve even gets here, plus I will have to sample the plethora of baked goods that I make when they come out of the oven before freezing them for Christmas.

    I'm honestly just gonna try to do my best which I hope is stay in a deficit instead of near or above maintenance before the big celebrations on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the big family gathering and New Year's Eve which is when I plan on not worrying about calories at all.

    Then it's just probably staying at a deficit or maintenance until all the leftover sweets are dealt with.

    Honestly, I'm really hoping to only put on a few pounds during the holidays but this is my favorite time of year and I plan to enjoy myself and not deprive myself too much once we get closer to the big days.

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