Is it appropriate to go on a diet during the Christmas Holidays

Your life, your choice.

I don't think there is an inappropriate time to start monitoring your diet. I mean, do you really want to gain weight over the next month? I know I don't...but there will be indulgences so I plan to fit them in.

There have been many posts already mentioning that "it's only a day or two", something to that effect. However if you're like me, the period between Halloween and New Year's is an almost constant bombardment of those indulgences.

Most of our birthdays are in November, so we have celebrations every weekend and even during the week. Thanksgiving is an entire weekend going to multiple homes over the 4 days and hosting one myself. There's office parties (in office and after hours) for both my husband and I, kids' parties, another two birthdays in the family to celebrate, and delicious goods brought in to work every day baked with love (or store bought, no judging!) And the actual Christmas celebration involves going to multiple houses again and out to eat & drink with friends in from out of town throughout the 9 day period between Christmas Eve and New Year's.

So, all of that is just to say I totally relate. It is so much easier to say "F- it, I'm eating all the delicious foods!" Well...I believe you can have all the foods, but less of them. Eat a cookie and have it fit in your daily calories. Eat turkey and pie, have it fit in your calories. Drink a 6-pack or bottle of wine and go over your calories for the day, but start over the next day because one day will not hurt your progress. Or even set your calorie goal to maintenance for a month so you won't gain anything substantial overall and can start up after the season.

If you're truly serious about losing weight you can take this opportunity to figure out how to control your day-to-day consumption around all the temptation, because there will always be another party or holiday or box of doughnuts around the corner.

It is better to start today than wait until after the holidays or New Years Day. You will feel better about yourself for doing so.

My Thanksgiving diet is to wear a pair of jeans that I can barely fit into. I will not be unbuttoning the top button. I have to eat a normal dinner or I am going to be in agony.

Agree w/DragonGirl & Lounmoun; go ahead and start. Just eat smaller portions of hi cal foods and eat your regular food plan most of the time. Also agree w/iofred, it should be a lifestyle, not just a project or diet w/an end date. You can do it!! If you mess up, forget it and move on; you only fail if you quit. Good luck.

I hit my lowest weight ever last Xmas eve!

I think it's actually a GREAT time to start a diet because you'll get a crash course in how to handle food pushers and the occasional splurge as part of your life. Too many people get started on Jan. 1 and then they get unhinged after the Super Bowl and just give up. Better to learn how to moderate when you actually have challenges thrown at you!

Like others said, Christmas is a day not a period.

In my opinion it is not appropriate to diet on Christmas eve or Christmas day or New Years Eve.

Also in my oppinion it is not appropriate to eat like it is Christmas when it isn't.

I think the "Christmas is only one day" stuff is a bit of a regional variation. Certainly traditionally in the U.K. it is NOT just one day, but arguably 3 days, with NYE/Hogmanay coming hot on the heels.

The absence Thanksgiving here means Christmas is, in general, a Much bigger deal than I have experienced in the US, and food is a huge part of that, from mince pies and Christmas cake and chocolate and dates and nuts and cheese...., through to the big meal itself and Christmas pudding. Thus, whilst all the comments about maintenance and holding back absolutely apply it will be very hard, just due to culture and tradition.

I would not start a new diet over Christmas therefore, but instead aim to not put on weight, eat and drink mindfully (not treat it as one last blast) and have a clear plan for starting afresh, including not overstocking and eating leftovers well into the New Year!

subakwa wrote: »

I think the "Christmas is only one day" stuff is a bit of a regional variation. Certainly traditionally in the U.K. it is NOT just one day, but arguably 3 days, with NYE/Hogmanay coming hot on the heels.

The absence Thanksgiving here means Christmas is, in general, a Much bigger deal than I have experienced in the US, and food is a huge part of that, from mince pies and Christmas cake and chocolate and dates and nuts and cheese...., through to the big meal itself and Christmas pudding. Thus, whilst all the comments about maintenance and holding back absolutely apply it will be very hard, just due to culture and tradition.

I would not start a new diet over Christmas therefore, but instead aim to not put on weight, eat and drink mindfully (not treat it as one last blast) and have a clear plan for starting afresh, including not overstocking and eating leftovers well into the New Year!

It isn't here (US), either. Between the office and friends' Christmas parties and then Christmas Eve and Christmas followed by New Year's Eve and New Year's day, we easily have just as many celebratory days. And on this side of the pond, it's compounded by coming right off of Thanksgiving.

Granted, how much the celebration centers around food and how fattening that food is likely to be is going to be both regional and beyond that, down to your family and traditions. Mine is heavily into food.

The point still holds. That is still a very few days out of the year. The problem is when every day of December you indulge in holiday cookies or cakes or coffee drinks and put yourself at or above maintenance. In general, if you can reign yourself in to indulging only at the actual celebrations you should be in decent shape with no or little additional weight that needs to be worked off in the New Year.

^^
General you

OP, I think the reason people say "shouldn't" (when they do) is that starting a food-restrictive program during the holiday season can be doomed to fail for many people. But not all.

The thing is that food temptation is at an all-time high during the holiday season.

So a person already struggling with his/her weight (as s/he is, or else a weight loss diet wouldn't be on the table) already has had issues controlling quantity, calories, etc. So putting giant plates of "you have to have this or it just WON'T be Christmas" goodies in front of that particular person's face for five solid weeks, yet expecting that particular person to start dieting at that time, can be very unrealistic.

So I totally get the idea behind this.

Know thyself. You could always try easing into things by choosing maintenance calories during this time, then going to weight loss calories after the holiday season. BUT if you are confident of yourself and are very committed, sure, you could start now just as well as at any other time. Know (and be VERY HONEST with) yourself, and go forward.

subakwa wrote: »

I think the "Christmas is only one day" stuff is a bit of a regional variation. Certainly traditionally in the U.K. it is NOT just one day, but arguably 3 days, with NYE/Hogmanay coming hot on the heels.

Oh yeah, I agree with that. One or three, same thing. But lately there have been some people in the forums here, talking about the Christmas period as the period from Thanksgivings to New Years. That's what bothers me.

It's HARDER to diet over the holidays! Between co-workers bringing in baked goods, the company New Year's party, Grandma's turkey dinner, the focus on sugary fatty treats in general... well it's a big old dietary mess. Oh, and the days are shorter and colder, and routines get disrupted, so exercise may be harder to do.

An idea is to simply try to STOP any holiday weight gain, without expecting to lose any. Keep your expectations lower. If you happen to lose any, awesome--but that's just a bonus. On January 2nd a lot of the holiday craziness disappears.

An idea is to simply do some planning in the meantime. Try out a free yoga class. Try making a lower calorie lunch with high protein. Try kale. Whatever!

Just don't pressure yourself too much at a time when like it or not, it's much harder to stick to routines and diets and so on. You might have expectations too high and get unnecessarily discouraged.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

iofred wrote: »

I assume with a "diet" you mean calorie count? Using MFP and sticking to the calorie count "should be" a style of life rather than a diet, so using this you should not need to go on a diet, but you might include a couple of "Cheat days"

MFP is just a tool...it's not a lifestyle. It's a tool that can be used to help you along and teach you. The lifestyle aspect is actually changing the way you live your life...changing your eating habits to be healthier...regular exercise, etc. I used MFP for a handful of months while I was losing weight...haven't logged a thing in what will be four years this spring.

Absolutely ...

In my case, I used MFP as a tool to log regularly for two 16 week periods of time in order to increase my awareness and make some adjustments. I haven't logged regularly in a year now.

As for lifestyle ...

Exercise has been a part of my lifestyle since I could first move ... nothing new here.

I have also been slender most of my life.

And there's no way on earth I want to 'stick to my calorie count' for the rest of my life. I reached my goal a year ago ... I'm done!

But every once in a while, I go back on the diet for a short period of time in order to make those minor adjustments.

And relating back to this topic ... for me, the weeks approaching Christmas are a good time to do just that.