Your thoughts on a Christmas Meal freebie?

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YeaYeaPueblo
YeaYeaPueblo Posts: 68 Member
edited December 2015 in Food and Nutrition
We're hosting a Christmas Day Potluck and the menu is already stacked with lots of carbs, cheese, sugar, fat and booze. I'm planning on sticking to my meal replacement smoothies for breakfast and lunch, then allowing indulgence for dinner. Good idea? Bad idea? How strict is everyone else going to be with Christmas dinner?
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  • YeaYeaPueblo
    YeaYeaPueblo Posts: 68 Member
    edited December 2015
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    I'm planning on having a drink or two, too!
  • mpat81
    mpat81 Posts: 351 Member
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    I am having my big meal at brunch and I will go ahead and have everything. I'll try to be under for the week though!
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    edited December 2015
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    I have a handful of special occasions per year - Christmas, birthdays, weddings, etc. that I don't have calorie goals at all for those days. It's not how you eat 10 days per year, it's how you eat the other 355. I don't binge to absurd amounts but I definitely eat more than usual on those days.

    As to why - my diet is part of my life, but it's not my whole life. Everything else isn't on hold for either weight loss or eventual weight maintenance.
  • Virkati
    Virkati Posts: 679 Member
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    If you don't make room in your eating plan for all the regular events that happen during life, things will go awry. Birthday parties mean cake and ice cream. But you choose how much you consume. Holiday parties mean cookies and pies and big dinners, but again, you chose how much you consume. Since there are no "bad" foods, there are only choices that you make. And @rankinsect hit the nail on the head...it's not how you eat 10 days out of the year, it's how you eat the other 355. It's not a free-for-all though either. It's choices you're making. You'll be faced with those choices for the rest of your life. You're being more mindful of them now. You're deciding what's worth the calories and what isn't. Personally, I don't log on the holidays or party days. I'm more interested in having a good time at the party that only happens once a year.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,180 Member
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    I am on a planned diet break.

    I had a diet break in June for a month, and I've had a couple short diet breaks on one or two weekends since then, so I am due for a decent one again. :):)

    While I don't plan to go crazy, and will make some attempt to stay within maintenance, it will be a full two weeks of eating whatever I want! :) And today started with a kiwi fruit shortbread cookie one of my co-workers brought back from her trip to New Zealand last week. Just one small one, but it was delicious!! Now I'm eating cashews. Tomorrow is our Christmas morning tea, and I plan to eat whatever appeals to me. But I don't plan to bring lunch, so like I said, I won't go crazy with the eating.

    However ... although I plan to eat freely, I also plan to exercise lots. I did the same thing during my June diet break and that worked well for me. I have most of the next 2 weeks off (starting about noon on the 24th), and my plan is to cycle, walk, and do weights and core work just about every day. If it is warm enough, and I'm brave enough to venture into the chilly Tasmanian water at our beach, I might even swim on a day or two!!

    I gained 2 kg during my June diet break, and lost it again about 2 weeks later. I figure I will likely gain 1-2 kg this time too. But come Jan 4, I will resume the diet, and if all goes well, I will lose the Christmas weight and perhaps hit my goal weight by the end of January or beginning of February.

    That's the plan!
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    We do not do Christmas, but I do not see Christmas food calories as any different from any other celebratory day like a birthday or a family reunion.
    Eating what you want or eating sensibly as you describe --- it will not matter as long as you get back to what you have been doing successful for a while now.
  • allaboutthefood
    allaboutthefood Posts: 781 Member
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    YeaYeaPueblo wrote: »
    We're hosting a Christmas Day Potluck and the menu is already stacked with lots of carbs, cheese, sugar, fat and booze. I'm planning on sticking to my meal replacement smoothies for breakfast and lunch, then allowing indulgence for dinner. Good idea? Bad idea? How strict is everyone else going to be with Christmas dinner?

    I say enjoy your day, one day won't ruin all your hard work. Right now I am just maintaining till after Christmas, I'll be happy with just staying the same weight for now. Merry Christmas
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    I'm not logging this week. But one day off won't derail you as long as you keep it to one day. It isn't the holidays that brought us here, it's eating as if every day is a holiday.
  • Strawblackcat
    Strawblackcat Posts: 944 Member
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    It's ultimately up to you. It's not a one day, or even one week indulgence that made you overweight. It was the indulgences over the rest of the year that did. Personally, I'll probably stick to my eating plan, but that's more due to my various food intolerances rather than a desire to stay under my calorie allotment. It's much easier for me to stick to my typical diet than it is to stray off of it and struggle to figure out the ingredients in everything so that I can know if I can eat it or not.
  • YeaYeaPueblo
    YeaYeaPueblo Posts: 68 Member
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    Thanks for all the input! I think I'd like to try to squeeze in a workout on Christmas before guests arrive, but if I can't no big deal. I'll try to make up for it during the weekend.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    edited December 2015
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    Best part about Christmas is Family and their ability to make awesome tasting food. I will more than likely eat 10,000 calories and could give a hoot I train all year for days like this..

    Plus I love to eat lots and lots of food when people are around drives them nuts I can do it and stay in awesome shape especially at work where I get the "your losing to much weight" comments.. My evil side..lol..
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    It's one meal. I've enjoyed every Holiday so far and didn't care if I went over. With a good deficit the rest of the week, worst case I was breaking even.

    I have to be more careful this time because it's been a really bad month though (there isn't really anything planned worth indulging on for me anyway), but otherwise, I'd just indulge!
  • smotheredincheese
    smotheredincheese Posts: 559 Member
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    I'm going to give myself Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day off. I'm not even going to attempt to calculate how many calories I eat, I'm juts going to enjoy it.
  • GsKiki
    GsKiki Posts: 392 Member
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    I honestly never restricted any food from my diet, I've just always been more careful about how and when I eat it. So for holidays it's not going to be big difference. I might go a bit over my usual goal, but I don't think it's a big deal. I also noticed that my body is reacting to amount of calories, and not that much on the quantity, which makes it a lot easier for me not to overeat, but at the same time fully enjoy all the food.
    My advice would be enjoy, relax and listen to your body!
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
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    rankinsect wrote: »
    I have a handful of special occasions per year - Christmas, birthdays, weddings, etc. that I don't have calorie goals at all for those days. It's not how you eat 10 days per year, it's how you eat the other 355. I don't binge to absurd amounts but I definitely eat more than usual on those days.

    As to why - my diet is part of my life, but it's not my whole life. Everything else isn't on hold for either weight loss or eventual weight maintenance.

    This is pretty much how I do it. As long as you limit it to one meal/day you'll be fine...and might even enjoy yourself!
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
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    It is one day, and will not make much of difference.
    The problem occurs when we let one meal, one day, one week, drag on for days, weeks, months, years.
    Enjoy the special occasions and continue with your program the rest of the time.
    This is, or hopefully, will be a lifetime commitment, and we need to be realistic.
  • megjay18
    megjay18 Posts: 78 Member
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    i agree with everyone else - give yourself an indulgence meal. not the entire day, but a meal. try to get some extra exercise in, if you can, but otherwise - have fun!
  • jenfitnessmama
    jenfitnessmama Posts: 138 Member
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    I plan on eating whatever I want! At Christmas my family tends to make A LOT of food and it's the only time of the year I really allow myself to let go and have fun! I won't be logging my calories for that day :P
  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
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    One meal won't make you thin and one meal won't make you fat.
  • neohdiver
    neohdiver Posts: 738 Member
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    I'm playing it by ear. Normally I'd take a day or 3 off.

    Unfortunately, the reason for changing how I eat this year is diabetes - which doesn't take days off. That gives me considerably less flexibility. Since I'm still early in my changed manner of eating (81days), I am not feeling particularly deprived - and don't really expect to feel deprived at Christmas. I've managed 3 Thanksgiving dinners, and 3 Christmas parties so far without feeling like life is unfair. But I'll be out of my home and work environment for several days. I'll take staples - but I may decide to live with the ADA recommendations (below 180 blood glucose at 2 hours) for the next week rather than the normal BG levels I'm striving for (below 140 aside from rare, brief spikes following meals).

    Being 24+ lbs lighter, and feeling so much more mentally alert, really helps stave off feeling carb deprived!

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