Holiday eating and fitness strategies

As luck would have it Christmas is pretty much cancelled in the UK so I am going to be having a normal day food wise.

And I am actually quite pleased about this, on the quiet.

I decided a long time ago that I do not need to eat everything in sight just because it is Christmas, or Thanksgiving, or whatever. I didn't like the feeling of being stuffed to the point my stomach hurt and felt like I could throw up. I eat a normal sized plate of food, and only eat the food I truly enjoy. I skip dressing/stuffing, rolls, etc, because to me that's just filler.

kmccrom wrote: »

Hi everyone! I’d like to hear what approaches people are taking to eating during the holidays. What has helped you stay on track in the past? Do you still log your food on a day like Christmas Day? How do you deal with the holiday mentality around eating and still maintain a balance?

What about fitness? Do you work out more during vacations to compensate for increased calorie intake?

First, let me say that I 100% agree with others' observations that a holiDAY (or two or three) has a very different impact from a holiMONTH (full of parties and treats, off and on, but cumulatively lots, and small bits over goal rather frequently). For me, the best way to regain is that "hundred or two extra calories 4 days out of 7 for a month" kind of thing, not "one day at 2-3 X TDEE" . . . even, I suspect, if the calories are similar).

But, about the holiDAY part:

When I was losing weight, and IIRC maybe the first year in maintenance, I logged the holiday meals, even though I knew it was very approximate (because someone else cooked it). Back then, I wanted to have the more complete data for estimating my calorie needs, because I'd already learned that MFP's goal estimate was waaaayyy off, for me, so that understanding my experiential data was more important. I also logged other indulgent days, for that reason, and also as a way to understand how my own individual body responds in the days after a big day of X magnitude (I'm a daily weigher/trend app user, too).

The first year or two, I did eat quite indulgently on the holidays, but tried to stay reasonable without being restrictive (a whole slice of pie, say, and with the ice cream on it . . . but not *2* slices). In more recent years, still maintaining a healthy weight, I really haven't worried about it at all. If I feel like having 2 slices of pie, I have them. If I don't, I don't.

As long as it's a rare thing, my body seems to under-store excess calories from a single big meal/day (or even 2). I'm not saying there's zero fat gain (if I've eaten enough to see some on the scale, in theory). It's just less than I might anticipate, from raw math.

At the holiday, which usually is more about Christmas eve dinner in my family, I'm routinely wrapping up the Concept 2 Holiday challenge (machine row 200 km, which is around 124 mi, between US Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Eve.) I don't explicitly save up those calories, but my last row is usually Christmas Eve morning, so I have an extra 300-ish calories on the day from that, and I usually eat lightly earlier in the day, more to leave appetite capacity for all the yummies than to save calories. I'd say I usually end up eating at least 2X TDEE on the holiday.

The days after, if the extra intake gives me a burst of energy (sometimes does), I might work out a little more or harder than a usual day; and if I don't feel as hungry as a normal day, after that feast, I might eat a little less. (therwise, I just go back to normal routine. (Normal routine: I undereat maintenance calories by maybe 100-150 most days, but eat those back relatively soon, so that tiny deficit is maybe in play.) It usually takes my body around a week to stop playing games with the water weight & digestive contents, and give me a scale result that realistically reflects any actual fat gain. If there is some, I can decide what to do. There usually isn't some, if it's truly a rare thing. 🤷‍♀️

A bunch of stuff in that previous paragraph is stuff I learned from logging big-eating days earlier in the loss/maintenance process, and watching the daily weigh-ins thereafter, so there's that. (I've been maintaining for a little over 5 years, still logging/counting most days.)

FWIW, it wasn't a holiday, but I did a sort of case study report here on a weekend of big eating: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope/p1

That's an example of how/why I've logged big days in the past: Results are good to know, in my world. YMMV.

I dont track from Christmas eve through to Boxing day, not when I was losing and not now in maintenance. Its only 3 days out of the year and it has minimal impact - in fact I love the superpowered workouts that come after a special occasion dinner 😊 I think the trick is to not adopt the mentality of eating everything in sight for those few days - just eat what you enjoy and appreciate it. No need to stuff yourself or binge, then get back on track ASAP.

Do sport every day to get out and helps maintain and not increase weight (so much).

My plan is exercise more during these weeks and maybe eat a bit less unless I'm hungry and then for Christmas or New Year enjoy all the yummy food in moderation. I don't want to limit myself on those days. And a few weeks ago I had the idea of maybe it's cool to aim for 20kg weight loss in 2020 but I'm still 1,5KG away and I decided to just let the idea go.