Christmas parties? What to do?

You could take your own food if it has a buffet. Otherwise, eat beforehand so you only have to nibble on something small. Steer clear of the pastries and cakes. TBH most parties I've been to provide some sort of salad, plain meats like ham and chicken and fruit options. If you know the organiser perhaps you could have a word about what will be available.

I have some Rules.

If it is a buffet, I fill up half my plate with salad. Meat is the size of a deck of cards, and carbs are about 1/2 cup. I pick if I want the bun or the potato.

As much fruit as I want and one sweet dessert choice only.

Keep a cup of sparkling water in hand to ward off any "topping up".

Eat, drink and be merry :drinker:

Also, trying to fill up my plate with mostly veggies seems to help a little.
I don't go to a lot of parties though, so it's not as much of a concern for me as it would be more social people.

I have 2 to attend tonight. I plan to eat before I leave, bring a bottle of water in my purse and stick to cheese, meats and veggies if I feel like it would be uncomfortable to not eat.

I enjoy them to their fullest and then get back to the grind the next day. A few days out of the year of excess and merrymaking isn't what made me fat... it was treating everyday like that that did.

I went to a Christmas Party yesterday. I had a little bit of everything (except the cake with coconut, cause I hate coconut... and the shrimp dish that was there cause I don't eat seafood). It was wonderfully delicious and I enjoyed the company.

Pick and choose which goodies you want to have in which quantities, or which parties/food it's worth indulging in more than others. This time of year, there are always some days I'm going to just enjoy myself and not worry about calories. Other times I'd rather just try to eat less or stick to healthier options. As you get the hang of it, it's not that hard to blend in while still making healthy choices.

Moderation and portion control - focus on the veggie plate or offer to bring one, but if not, (1) drink water beforehand (it makes you less hungry and battles the sweet tooth) and keep drinking sparkling water during the event, as ignatca mentioned, (2) if you like to drink, have a glass of wine or two but decide your limit in advance, and (3) make sure to have one cookie or dessert and/or one portion of the unhealthier items (cheese?) so you don't feel deprived; it is a holiday party after all. The key is to fill up on the healthy stuff (water, vegetables) so you don't overload on the unhealthy stuff.

Portion control.

I usually look at the food. 80% of it is food that I either do not like or I could have any time I want it. I eat some of the 20% that looks tasty and/or is a special treat and ignore the 80%.

Annamarie3404 wrote: »

Do you attend Christmas parties? If so, how do you get out of eating all of the goodies? Rarely is there anything healthy to eat or drink.

Why would I want to get out of eating all the goodies? That doesn't sound very enjoyable. I don't eat bad food, so I don't know why you would purposely try to avoid good food...

Annamarie3404 wrote: »

Do you attend Christmas parties? If so, how do you get out of eating all of the goodies? Rarely is there anything healthy to eat or drink.

I don't attend many Christmas parties. But I've got my work lunch coming up and there will likely be a morning tea a day or two before Christmas.

One thing I do is to exercise more. On the day of the most recent morning tea (someone's farewell), I climbed the 5 flights of stairs to my office 8 times rather than my usual 5 times, plus I went on a longer walk at lunch.

Another thing I do is to aim for the fruit and veg. I can get a decent plate of fruit and veg, and look like I'm eating quite a bit, but I'm not consuming huge amounts of calories.

My husband and I went to a friend's party back in November (not a Christmas party, but similar), and we brought a huge veggie tray and a smaller cold-cuts and cheese platter ... made up in the deli department of our local grocery store. I hardly ate anything that day because I had a massive final exam earlier in the day, so I was hoping to "pig out" just a little bit at the party. I was going to eat lots of veggies, but I told my husband that if they had cake, I was having cake. Sadly, everyone came with healthy choices! There were other veggie and fruit platters, salads, little chicken sandwiches on whole wheat, etc. etc. And no cake!! The "worst" I could do was a small slice of quiche.

But yes, if you can bring something, get a veggie platter made up at your local deli counter ... or make one yourself.

arditarose wrote: »

but I actually get really sore when I consume a lot of sugar. Like my body hurts to the touch. I might try to be carefully strictly because that has been bothering me lately.

I get a whopping headache. Never used to! But a couple weekends ago, I had fudge ... and wow, that headache was not expected!

arditarose wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

but I actually get really sore when I consume a lot of sugar. Like my body hurts to the touch. I might try to be carefully strictly because that has been bothering me lately.

I get a whopping headache. Never used to! But a couple weekends ago, I had fudge ... and wow, that headache was not expected!

I know a few people who get headaches from eating chocolate. Strange that it just started happening for you though.

I'm still trying to figure the soreness thing. It happens when I eat in excess. When I eat in excess it's usually carbs/sugar. Really sucks. It's very painful.

It wasn't just one small piece of fudge ...

Up till a year ago, my body was used to eating a decent-sized package of fudge in one go. Then, this past year (almost a year) I have been watching what I'm eating, and I haven't eaten a lot of sweet stuff. I haven't been craving it either ... it was actually surprisingly easy to drop from my diet.

So I suspect that knocking back that quantity of super-sweet stuff all in one go was a bit startling to my system. I also went rather jittery at the same time.

I don't worry about it. I do tend to eat dinner beforehand so I'm not loading up because I'm hungry, but that's the only thing I do. One night isn't going to wreck everything I've worked for, and if I'm concerned, I'll cut down a little bit for the next couple of days. If you're going to the party and worrying the whole time about your calories, why go?

Last night was my first sweet dessert in a month. I had 2 small bites of cheesecake and half a jelly donut. Even before my guests left I had a migraine. I used to suffer from migraines all the time, and realized I hadn't had one in almost a month. I'm not saying it's necessarily cause and effect, but it's something I'll be aware of going forward.

Between a couple of weekends baking treats that required sampling of the product and having gone to 3 parties already, I've not forced myself to push anything away. I've over indulged several times but have still managed to lose a little bit of weight along the way.

My resolve was to simply up my cardio for December and it seems to be working for now. But the true calorie bombs still await as we get closer to Christmas and New Year's and I only hope that the added exercise pays off.