Staying motivated during the holidays

Is it the actual day of the celebration? Or is it the time of the year?

I try to focus on catching up with family and be so distracted by spending time with them, food (especially those goodies) are an afterthought. But I also have a food plan as well- I know I can't resist cannolis, pusties, and pizelles, (can you guess I'm Italian! LOL) so I limit myself- 2 mini cannolis, a chocolate pustie, and 3 pizelles and THAT'S IT! no other treats, and besides I get headaches when I have too much sugar.
A good example would be my cousin's wedding recently. I allowed myself to have whatever I wanted- just as long as I liked it. Didn't have any cake, only had 1.5 mini cannolis and one chocolate shot of bailey's during the venetian hour. Had one small piece of pizza during the appetizers (it was DRY ugh!) and of course had dinner, fish. Other than that, I was so busy catching up w/ friends and relatives (and twerking!) that I didn't really care about the cake and other goodies.

I plan to indulge but not over-indulge. Saturday I walked 10K. I plan to do this every Saturday. I live in a warmer climate so I don't have to fight the elements. That said, I have kettle bells and light weights at home. If I had a basement I would have a treadmill too. Sometimes I run in place during commercials if I'm indoors in the evenings.

If you are going somewhere and you know there will be lots of food, I would eat at home something bulky and filling. I hate walking around feeling like a load of bricks are in my stomach so that will curtail my eating out of control... just a nibble here and there when I get to the destination event.

My husband and I purposely started our lifestyle change during the holidays last year. Figured if we could make it through them it would be a true testament to our commitment to make a change. Not only did we manage to get through them we are almost a year to the date and still living our healthy and fit lifestyle. Couple things I did that were a success was 1. if going to someones house I always brought a healthy dish or a great salad with protein so that would be my "filler". I also did not deprive myself but I had the one bite rule. If I wanted something I would allow myself a bite of it and it MUST be logged. (do not blindly enjoy) I also made sure that I drank at least 16oz of water before eating anything. At work, we get tons and tons of baked goods and candy delivered during the holidays so I kept healthier versions of snacks in my desk if the urge to give in came upon me. It was one of those things where I had to question myself, are you hungry? If I was then I would eat a healthy snack like almonds or a piece of fruit. If I wasn't hungry I would just tell myself you don't need it... (I talked to myself alot during this lifestyle change, still do lol) Another thing I did was if I knew I was going to a party that day/night, I got on the treadmill in the morning and/or took a zumba class to get in an hour of exercise. I also some times increased my calories to maintenance for those days. It will be a year on the 28th of this month and we have lost a total combined weight of 139lbs. While we still have a few more lbs to go, we have a new outlook on food and our way of life. For me this time of the year I find myself depressed with it being so dark and shorter days, so I make sure that I push myself to exercise because while I don't want to do it, after I am done I feel amazing and that always keeps my desire to stray in check. Good luck! Stay strong!!

The holidays are rough on everyone, the only advice I can give is don't give up and try to keep a positive attitude during these last few months of the year.