Keeping our *kitten* Together Over the Holidays
josiereside1
Posts: 199 Member
Would anyone would be interested in joining this accountability thread for minimizing weight gain over the upcoming holiday season or perhaps even continuing to lose (that seems impossible to me!).
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This is something I struggle with every year usually I just quit logging I put on almost a stone last holiday season November- February for me with birthdays & Christmas in the mix this time I'm determined to log even if I go over with the exception of the thia buffet for my daughter's birthday no way I can log that I can even pronounce some of the food lol2
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Me 🙋🏻♂️! This is where I lost all self control last yeah and ended putting 30 pounds back on until I recently started back up. It’s the trifecta of downfall with food for me 🤦🏼♂️1
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Over the past 3 years, this time of year is when I usually gain back some weight. But I'm determined not to this year. I was thinking that even just maintaining until after the New Year might be a fantastic goal.8
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I was just thinking about this topic today. Haven’t seen the family since May, but will see them for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ve lost 30lbs since June and hopping to lose 5 more before Thanksgiving. I really want to Wow them as they don’t know I’ve lost the weight. I’m really hoping to stay in control so they know this weight loss is here to stay! Any tips and encouragement will be most welcome!5
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Hello all! Well lets get this going! About me... 53 y/o, married, mom to 4 furbabies, 2 cats, 2 dogs, live in Palmetto, FL. I work out 6 days per week, 3 lifting, 3 running. The exercise part I have down. The food part, well lets just say when I don't have control of creating the food I don't track it! I tend to cut calories a little more during the week to help prevent the weekend gain. I tend to follow IIFYM or flexible dieting making sure to try and hit protein. I have had a tough year with 3 surgeries between March and June. I am more determined than ever to get the body I want! Hope we can help each other out here !
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I'm in. I have 2 preschoolers so my house is always full of treats over the holidays (hot chocolate, cookies, cakes, sweets etc lol)... I want to lose 20lbs by march so if I binge over the holidays it will really set me back.
Also, I have 4 furbabies too, a dog and 3 cats
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Me! I'm already freaking out about Halloween. My kid gets way more candy than he can possibly eat and it usually ends up in my mouth. =(0
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I’m getting worried about the holiday season coming up!
Thankfully, my husband and I are doing just us for Thanksgiving this year so I will have total control over that holiday but we are visiting my parents for Christmas and I am worried!0 -
This is the first year since I can remember that I haven't opened up the Halloween candy before Halloween. And, I have no intention of doing so. It's gonna get opened on Wednesday. And, if there's any left over - it's gonna go to the Dentist's office to donate to the troops.
In the past, I'd open the bags up - and sometimes had to buy more - LOL. But, always turned out we never had that many trick or treaters. So we'd always end up eating way too much candy. I think that was the beginning of the Fall downslide into weight gain. BUT, no more !1 -
Yes, I'm already slacking.0
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josiereside1 wrote: »Would anyone would be interested in joining this accountability thread for minimizing weight gain over the upcoming holiday season or perhaps even continuing to lose (that seems impossible to me!).
Well ... Christmas is almost 2 months away ... and it's just 2.5 days ... and it is in the middle of summer when the weather is good for going out cycling, running, walking, swimming at the beach, etc. etc. ... so ... it shouldn't be much of a problem.
Just plan to get some good exercise in before your Christmas dinner.0 -
I'm in! I always have a hard time around the holidays.0
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josiereside1 wrote: »Would anyone would be interested in joining this accountability thread for minimizing weight gain over the upcoming holiday season or perhaps even continuing to lose (that seems impossible to me!).
Well ... Christmas is almost 2 months away ... and it's just 2.5 days ... and it is in the middle of summer when the weather is good for going out cycling, running, walking, swimming at the beach, etc. etc. ... so ... it shouldn't be much of a problem.
Just plan to get some good exercise in before your Christmas dinner.
Well there are also tons of other holiday events this time of year, several Xmas parties, etc... so the holiday season is more than just a day or so. Also, although it may be summer for you, it may not be for many. I live in Florida so almost always summer but you cannot out run a bad diet!
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I plan on keeping my loss set at 0.5 per week, and understanding if I go over. Hopefully see the goal for "loss" will make sure I don't go over the goal for "maintaining." If I plateau I'm ok with that.
Some tips from my journey the last few years:
-Take leftovers to work, let the coworkers help you out!
-Avoid snacking between meals. Every calorie you snack on is less you can spend on the family meals
-If you are at a gathering but meal won't be ready for a while, don't chat around the appetizer table. If you need food to tide you over until meal, take a small serving on a plate/napkin and walk away from the temptation!
-Focus on portion sizes, not what you eat. I found the strategy that works for me is to get one serving-spoonful or one slice of meat. Mentally I tell myself "i'll get more for seconds" but by the time seconds come around I am full and don't overeat.
-Log everything! If you go over, you go over. You might surprise yourself, things might be fewer calories than you think they are.2 -
Winogelato has a great thread she runs every year at holiday time. It explains holiday gains and what to do about it. Since she's been on MFP for years and is a long time maintainer, her advice is gold. It helps take the stress out of the holidays.2
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I have a plan! I’m going to hit the gym hard the day before thanksgiving, and thanksgiving morning. I’m going to burn a million calories so I can eat as many potatoes as I like.
Same for Christmas.
I will eat any meat and veggie carbs but I will send the carbs home with other people/ toss them so it’s just one day and not weeks of derailing2 -
JessiBelleW wrote: »I have a plan! I’m going to hit the gym hard the day before thanksgiving, and thanksgiving morning. I’m going to burn a million calories so I can eat as many potatoes as I like.
Same for Christmas.
I will eat any meat and veggie carbs but I will send the carbs home with other people/ toss them so it’s just one day and not weeks of derailing
I run a turkey trot every year day of Thanksgiving... It used to be a 5 miler but this year only a 5K but better than nothing! My workouts are always on point... it is the food and booze that get me derailed!2 -
JessiBelleW wrote: »I have a plan! I’m going to hit the gym hard the day before thanksgiving, and thanksgiving morning. I’m going to burn a million calories so I can eat as many potatoes as I like.
Same for Christmas.
I will eat any meat and veggie carbs but I will send the carbs home with other people/ toss them so it’s just one day and not weeks of derailing
Solid plan. Plus food tastes better when I'm running a lot 2 -
josiereside1 wrote: »Would anyone would be interested in joining this accountability thread for minimizing weight gain over the upcoming holiday season or perhaps even continuing to lose (that seems impossible to me!).
It's not impossible! We can do it! I'll join you, I'm doing this already anyway- might as well have some company!
I find that the best thing you can do for these occasions is come up with a game plan and do your very best to stick to it. Having a plan of attack in place usually helps keep me on track.1 -
Last year I switched to maintenance for the holidays. This year I'm SO close to my big, 50-pound goal, that I'd like to hit it before Thanksgiving. The treats have already started rolling in to work, so I'm going to have to check in with my determination.
The holidays can be stressful for a lot of people. Switching to maintenance and banking calories for the week to fit in an occasional big meal can be a good, moderate strategy.1 -
josiereside1 wrote: »josiereside1 wrote: »Would anyone would be interested in joining this accountability thread for minimizing weight gain over the upcoming holiday season or perhaps even continuing to lose (that seems impossible to me!).
Well ... Christmas is almost 2 months away ... and it's just 2.5 days ... and it is in the middle of summer when the weather is good for going out cycling, running, walking, swimming at the beach, etc. etc. ... so ... it shouldn't be much of a problem.
Just plan to get some good exercise in before your Christmas dinner.
Well there are also tons of other holiday events this time of year, several Xmas parties, etc... so the holiday season is more than just a day or so. Also, although it may be summer for you, it may not be for many. I live in Florida so almost always summer but you cannot out run a bad diet!
Well ... actually, you can, in a way. You can lose weight with exercise. But you do have to put in quite a bit of effort.
One Christmas season a few years ago, I started going to the gym every day for about an hour and then going for a decent bicycle ride after. I ate slightly more than usual because it was Christmas and I was visiting my family.
I lost weight.
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Me! I'm already freaking out about Halloween. My kid gets way more candy than he can possibly eat and it usually ends up in my mouth. =(
My mother divided up our candy into little baggies ... one or two pieces per day each for a week in each bag. Then she froze the lot.
Each week, she would get out one bag and that's all we would get that week.
Several years the candy lasted nearly till the next halloween.3 -
Here are some of my plans to try and control the holiday craziness:
For Halloween; I'll give the kids a week to eat what they want of the candy. Then what's left will either go in the garbage, good stuff in the freezer for treats later in the year, and hard candy will be re-purposed (I use them to make flavored vodka in mason jars and give it to my dad as a Christmas present.)
For Thanksgiving: I am bringing food that works best with my diet to the big family meal. I'm bringing a pretty fruit platter and making a roasted veggie and quinoa salad. I'm going to try and fill up more on those before eating too much other stuff. And I'm bringing my own apple cinnamon infused water to drink instead of the caramel apple sangria my mom always makes.
For Christmas: I will be bringing all the extra Christmas cookies to my office. I will also freeze half of the leftovers so I can eat them at a latter date and not binge eat everything just to get it gone before it goes bad. I'm also purposely buying cute Christmas Tupperware so I can pack them full and send them home with our holiday guests.2 -
Kimmotion5783 wrote: »josiereside1 wrote: »Would anyone would be interested in joining this accountability thread for minimizing weight gain over the upcoming holiday season or perhaps even continuing to lose (that seems impossible to me!).
It's not impossible! We can do it! I'll join you, I'm doing this already anyway- might as well have some company!
I find that the best thing you can do for these occasions is come up with a game plan and do your very best to stick to it. Having a plan of attack in place usually helps keep me on track.
My problem is, especially Thanksgiving Day.. I want all the food and more!0 -
Okay, starting the month at 148.8...0
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I think you can eat on holidays. It won't derail the rest of the plan, just slow it down by a couple days.
So if I eat (say) 4000 calories on Thanksgiving that's 2200 over my goal of 1800 (without exercise calories) for the day. Let's just say we'll take that family walk or play catch with all that energy after dinner, so really I'm only over by 2000 for the day. If I eat at a 0.5 pounds per week loss rate, that would put me back at 1550 for just ten days to come back even...or I could just not worry about it and stay at my daily goals and it would get absorbed into my weight.
I've never gained actual weight with one day of excess. It always shows on the scale, but it always drops back off in the next week.
It's all the days before and after. Holidays should be about friends, family and good food. There aren't enough of those days in my life.3 -
cmriverside wrote: »I think you can eat on holidays. It won't derail the rest of the plan, just slow it down by a couple days.
So if I eat (say) 4000 calories on Thanksgiving that's 2200 over my goal of 1800 (without exercise calories) for the day. Let's just say we'll take that family walk or play catch with all that energy after dinner, so really I'm only over by 2000 for the day. If I eat at a 0.5 pounds per week loss rate, that would put me back at 1550 for just ten days to come back even...or I could just not worry about it and stay at my daily goals and it would get absorbed into my weight.
I've never gained actual weight with one day of excess. It always shows on the scale, but it always drops back off in the next week.
It's all the days before and after. Holidays should be about friends, family and good food. There aren't enough of those days in my life.
I know one day won't cause the damage it is just that we have social events almost every weekend up through New Years. I do eat at more of a deficit during the week to help counteract but that does not always work and I also need to be properly fueled for my workouts.
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Read the thread "Who gained weight during the holidays? I have a solution". By winogelato. It's a classic.0
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snowflake954 wrote: »Read the thread "Who gained weight during the holidays? I have a solution". By winogelato. It's a classic.
Great read!! But when you have social events every weekend through New Years it is tough not to gain more than just a pound or 2 and yes tracking consistently would help but I know when I am spending time with friends/family, I am not sitting there with my phone taking the time to log.
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