What is YOUR Holiday eating strategy?

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Replies

  • GrumpyHeadmistress
    GrumpyHeadmistress Posts: 666 Member
    Halloween I’m at a funeral so little fun to be had there!
    No thanksgiving here.
    Holiday (5th to 20th November) I will continue to count and measure except on days I fly. Usually lose due to increased swimming.
    Christmas - eat all the things and worry about it on the 27th!
  • CaliMomTeach
    CaliMomTeach Posts: 745 Member
    Thanksgiving is just one day so I say eat whatever and move on. The month of December is more challenging as delicious eating options present themselves throughout the month I find. Last year, I just ate what I wanted for a couple of weeks and attempted to log. It did slow down my weight loss, and I even gained a few pounds, but it came off. I will probably take the same approach this year, though I am pretty much done with losing and just want to stay around the same weight. I agree with the poster above who said that she doesn't log on vacations.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    For me, I will usually bulk/gain in the fall/winter so it works out perfectly. That covers Thanksgiving, my daughter's birthday, Halloween, Christmas, New Years, my birthday, my son's birthday, Valentine's day and sometimes Easter.
  • sprinklemepink65
    sprinklemepink65 Posts: 10 Member
    Plan, budget, eat what i want & enjoy!
  • iamthemotherofdogs
    iamthemotherofdogs Posts: 562 Member
    I've cut out added sugar, so I'll be skipping Halloween candy. I plan to buy myself some sugar-free dark chocolate to partake in if I get desperate. Thanksgiving, I'll just go heavy on the turkey and proteins, and probably go for a long bike ride that morning to give myself wiggle room for treats. I'll also be sure and make myself a side or two that I know the nutritional info of and fit my goals so I can stay somewhat balanced. I'll log to the best of my ability-- always a wild card in the mix when other people are cooking, but I'll do my best-- and remind myself it's one day a year.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,262 Member
    On Thanksgiving and Christmas, I eat what I want. In general, I splurge on the foods that I don't get the rest of the year and eat little to none of the foods that I have the rest of the year. For example, I'll eat plenty of sweet potato casserole and skip mashed potatoes. I don't log either day.

    The rest of the time, I keep to my plan or might have a maintenance day if I am in the middle of cutting calories. I don't really have a bunch of high calorie get togethers but I do struggle a bit with easily available baked goods so I try not to have too much in the way of Christmas cookies in the house.
  • Sunnybrooke99
    Sunnybrooke99 Posts: 369 Member
    One thing I do is I’ll bring food gifts, like cookies, or chocolates, to Christmas parties, or set them out for the kids for some snacking, and just have a couple. If someone just loves it, I’ll send the rest home with them, and let the gifter know how much their treats were enjoyed by everyone.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,455 Member
    I use a lot of the good strategies that people have outlined above, and I continue to log everything, even on Thanksgiving. But mostly, I try to remind myself of the things in this thread which I posted a couple of years ago... it's all about perspective.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10303793/who-gained-weight-during-the-holidays-i-have-a-solution/p1
  • cat_lady77
    cat_lady77 Posts: 203 Member
    Last year around the holidays, I literally did not care - at times it was almost like I TRIED to overeat with the idea I would start good habits in the New Year...yeah, well it took a lot longer than that & now I've been stuck with extra weight since then. I gained about 10 lbs in the last few months of 2016.
    This year, I will NOT be keeping those tempting leftovers at my house - they will go home with family or they will get chucked. Last Xmas we did family dessert at my house & there was literally a table full of cookies, cake, & candy when everyone left. I have zero self control so I just kept eating it.
    I don't mind having leftover turkey, roast, veggies, whatever, but the cakes & pies will not be welcome after the actual holiday. I am standing my ground this year!
  • ISweat4This
    ISweat4This Posts: 653 Member
    Eat whatever I want and log it. I do not take a plate home.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    I enjoy the food and try not to go crazy, log everything, typically end up going over, but it's never been a huge deal. I always try to keep active though!
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    My strategy (has worked great the last two years): Eat what I want and start over the next day. It isn't really going to matter if you eat an 8000 calorie meal or not. You may not lose anything that week, or you may, just don't beat yourself up about it. Stay away from the scale for at least a week because the sodium will probably be out of control, and don't let it be an excuse to eat what you want for weeks on end. Do it for the day, exercise more if you can before and after, and have fun with family. I guess one thing I do try to do on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I try to eat more protein than anything else. But beyond that, I eat what I want.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    edited October 2017
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I also don't treat the entire 2 months as some reason to just eat everything in site...I enjoy the actual holidays and the rest of the "season" is just pretty normal.

    ^THIS
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    anewell28 wrote: »
    With Halloween, Thanksgiving, and winter celebrations coming up, what is your strategy when it comes to holiday eating?

    Have you used a strategy before and been happy with it after?
    Trying something new this year?
    Do you log everything still or neglect logging at all?

    I'm very interested in these answers because I haven't figured out my plan yet!

    Halloween isn't really a thing for me...it's a thing for my kids.

    Thanksgiving is one day...I enjoy myself, but I'm not really one to just sit there and eat and stuff myself...never have been, don't like that feeling.

    Christmas...see above for Thanksgiving.

    I also don't treat the entire 2 months as some reason to just eat everything in site...I enjoy the actual holidays and the rest of the "season" is just pretty normal.

    This sounds about right to me. I might go out drinking on or around Halloween, in which case I'll log just like any other night out. Thanksgiving I won't log - it's just one day, and it's basically the only holiday my mom cares about, so I'm just going to take it easy and enjoy myself. I just got back from a three-day no logging cabin trip and it went fine. I think I've gotten a lot better at knowing when I'm full and making smart choices even without the help of a scale, even when I give myself permission to eat whatever I want.

    Christmas isn't a huge food holiday for me, so I'll probably just log as best I can (and I'm actually thinking I might skip the family thing entirely this year). I've gotten pretty good at estimating calories when other people cook for me so I'm not worried about that. But I agree with @cwolfman13 here (per usual): it's really hard to screw up that badly in a single day, but enjoying the holidays doesn't need to mean going crazy for two months either. I think someone earlier mentioned gaining 12 pounds over the holidays - no WAY did that happen in just two days.
  • alcomer
    alcomer Posts: 101 Member
    I don't think about logging on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - then I get back to it with a lot of xtra water the next day. Although I do try to fit some treats into my calorie goal throughout the holiday season, I don't want to feel deprived of any goodies :)
  • kristen8000
    kristen8000 Posts: 747 Member
    Halloween is a non issue - I don't eat or really like candy.

    We are doing our "Thanksgiving" in Cancun this year 1 week early. All inclusive. I'm eating whatever the heck I want and not logging. Come the day we get home, I'm back to logging again. And getting on the scale that very next morning. I'm in maintance after reaching my goal on Sept. 25th. Since then, I've never actually ate at maintainance, still trying to work my way up. This week will probably shock the heck out of my system and I'm prepared for some weight gain (I know most of it will be water from the shock of "different food".)

    For Christmas, my parents will be joining us. I'll make a normal sized meal (usually ham, some kind of potato, and a veggie). I'm not a big dessert fan, so I plan to only have things for others. There are only 4 people attending this dinner, so I have no reason to go off my rocker.

    Now, in between all this madness. I have a rule that I don't eat "work food". So if I don't bring it to work, I don't eat it. So that pretty much eliminates the urge to eat the cookies, and what not others bring into the office.

    My birthday falls in between all this too - that day I'll probably have a no log day. But I'm hoping by that point my "lose mentality" has lessened and I'm comfortable eating more.