You need not deprive yourself over the holidays

cheryl5542 · November 2023

Instead of spending time remaking every Thanksgiving dish to be “diet friendly “ just eat less. A spoonful of potatoes is more satisfying than mashed cauliflower and you don’t feel deprived. A spoonful of dressing with a drizzle of gravy. Pie? A couple bites of pie and skip the crust or share a slice of pie with someone. There’s no need to remake classics in the name of “dieting “. Have whatever everyone else is having. EAT LESS and EAT SLOWLY. Avoid the pre-dinner snacks and the alcohol. I bet you’ll feel satisfied, less deprived and you’ll stay within your daily calorie target. Moderation in all things! Plus unlike everyone else, you won’t feel stuffed and bloated!!😁

rileysowner · November 2023

This is one approach. Another is to realize that the issue is not Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and a few parties. If a person only over ate on this handful of days, and stayed at their deficit all the other days of the end of November through to the beginning of January, they would not gain weight, and they would possibly even lose weight. The issue is all the days in between where the eating of those days where a person has the attitude of "I cheated yesterday so I might as well cheat today." If one instead takes the approach of this is a one day, one meal thing and tomorrow I am back to my normal eating, it would be far better for them.

no1racefan2 · November 2023

DH and I are having Thanksgiving by ourselves and while we aren't 'remaking' traditional dishes into diet foods (because we try not to feel like we are on a 'diet') we are making dishes that better reflect our tastes and our nutritional goals.
Smoked Brisket
Garlic Mushrooms
Cornbread Stuffing
Green Beans (no casserole, gross)
Pumpkin Pie (but more paleo style, with almond flour crust and sweetened with maple syrup)

I think the key is to eat foods you truly enjoy, and not eat everything just because it's tradition. And like the previous pp said, it's just one meal or one day! Although I'll be finding a way to fit those leftovers into my plan, mmhmmm.

springlering62 · November 2023

It’s just the two of us. We’ve agreed on a simple roasted turkey tenderloin, basic green beans, mashed potatoes made with light sour cream, mini-Apple pies (Pillsbury has single serve frozen pie crusts now!!!), homemade vanilla skyr ice cream with crumbled Claxton fruit cake whirled in, and sweet gherkins and a small batch of corn muffins for him.

Yay for portion controlled mini crusts!!!!!! Apple filling adds hardly any calories, yet much joy will ensue. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

sollyn23l2 · November 2023

cheryl5542 wrote: »

Instead of spending time remaking every Thanksgiving dish to be “diet friendly “ just eat less. A spoonful of potatoes is more satisfying than mashed cauliflower and you don’t feel deprived. A spoonful of dressing with a drizzle of gravy. Pie? A couple bites of pie and skip the crust or share a slice of pie with someone. There’s no need to remake classics in the name of “dieting “. Have whatever everyone else is having. EAT LESS and EAT SLOWLY. Avoid the pre-dinner snacks and the alcohol. I bet you’ll feel satisfied, less deprived and you’ll stay within your daily calorie target. Moderation in all things! Plus unlike everyone else, you won’t feel stuffed and bloated!!😁

I'm going to be honest.... to each their own, but for me, this sounds awful. Basically torture. A couple bites of pie? No thanks. A spoonful of dressing? Nope. A spoonful of potatoes? What's the point? It would be absolute torture. I'll eat satisfying portions on Thanksgiving. Thanks.

Corina1143 · November 2023

I'm so lucky I love salad so much!

AnnPT77 · November 2023

I agree with the premise that a person needn't deprive themselves over the holidays.

But to me, that means indulging a bit, because it's a food-centric holiday. There are a handful of such holidays in the year. That's a drop (or few) in the ocean. My routine daily habits, day in and day out, matter much more. It's those habits that account for the overwhelming majority of my outcome.

Sure, it makes sense not to eat like a total madwoman to the point of being overstuffed (as I might once have done), but I can have a nice portion of some of the delicious rich foods, a moderate amount of wine, plus an actual dessert.

When I was losing, that big meal might mean at most a handful of days delay in reaching goal weight, which was OK with me. Now that I'm in maintenance, I still enjoy the holiday quite freely. Usually the scale impact is imperceptible. If there were to be up-creep, a painless small deficit for at most a couple of weeks would balance things out mathematically.

Once the holiday is over, I'm going to go right back to my regular routine, happy, calorie-appropriate habits, no drama or catastrophizing about how something is ruined so I might as well give up and eat wildly. The holiday meal is just food, not some epic battle in which good needs to triumph over evil.

That may not feel right to everyone, but it's been working fine for me for years now, loss then maintenance.

vivmom2014 · November 2023

I agree that "diet" versions of old favorites can be pretty depressing. My MIL, forever counting points on Weight Watchers, is the queen of low fat/no salt/diet mayo/ersatz Ranch/baked chips/no fat sour cream dishes that don't interest me in the least. (It's questionable whether these so-called diet friendly foods interest anyone...)

Thanksgiving is laden with expectations, memories, food, food and more food. We're not real big on holidays anymore at our house, and I don't eat turkey, so our holiday meal won't look traditional at all. I think these holidays stir up more trouble than they're worth, sometimes...but I sound like an old grouch if I say that.

Eat what you love, and if it's a bit too much, adjust back to sensible the day after.

xbowhunter · November 2023

I have worked my *kitten* off to get to my goal weight this year.

When special occasions come up, I eat what I want. It's what I do the other 364 days that really count...

SuzySunshine99 · November 2023

It's only one day....I don't see any need to only have a few bites of crustless pie.

The problem comes when you make it more than just one day. The "holiday season"...really, Halloween through New Year's Day....tends to be full of family functions, parties, treats, special meals, etc.

So, I don't worry about the day itself (Thanksgiving, Christmas), but I do try to limit all the other opportunities to over-indulge this season.

Speaking of making substitutions though...I let my husband know that the stuffing I am making for Thanksgiving is not going to meet his dietary needs. He can't eat gluten or onions. The stuffing recipe is my Grandmother's and my family will disown me if I alter it in any way. I'm not going to use gluten-free bread, and I'm not leaving out the onions. He'll be fine...he can eat everything else.

kshama2001 · November 2023

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

It's only one day....I don't see any need to only have a few bites of crustless pie.

The problem comes when you make it more than just one day. The "holiday season"...really, Halloween through New Year's Day....tends to be full of family functions, parties, treats, special meals, etc.

So, I don't worry about the day itself (Thanksgiving, Christmas), but I do try to limit all the other opportunities to over-indulge this season.

Speaking of making substitutions though...I let my husband know that the stuffing I am making for Thanksgiving is not going to meet his dietary needs. He can't eat gluten or onions. The stuffing recipe is my Grandmother's and my family will disown me if I alter it in any way. I'm not going to use gluten-free bread, and I'm not leaving out the onions. He'll be fine...he can eat everything else.

I used to make two stuffings, my mother's recipe and my partner's mothers recipe. This year I did something different and helped make hot meals for 850-875 people in my community. We picked up traditional Thanksgiving dinners yesterday and had that tonight.

kshama2001 · November 2023

cheryl5542 wrote: »

Instead of spending time remaking every Thanksgiving dish to be “diet friendly “ just eat less. A spoonful of potatoes is more satisfying than mashed cauliflower and you don’t feel deprived. A spoonful of dressing with a drizzle of gravy. Pie? A couple bites of pie and skip the crust or share a slice of pie with someone. There’s no need to remake classics in the name of “dieting “. Have whatever everyone else is having. EAT LESS and EAT SLOWLY. Avoid the pre-dinner snacks and the alcohol. I bet you’ll feel satisfied, less deprived and you’ll stay within your daily calorie target. Moderation in all things! Plus unlike everyone else, you won’t feel stuffed and bloated!!😁

This is basically what I do, except it's going to be slightly more than a few bites of pie once I finish digesting my moderate dinner.

VegjoyP · November 2023

My lifestyle is not a diet and I love every single thing I eat as a WFPB Vegan.Ido not enjoy traditional food and don't enjoy over indulging. In fact I thoroughly enjoy life and food way more knowing I can eat whatever I make and feel good. To me it's not " diet food". To me it's the most nurturing thing I can do for myself. It's so liberating not to have " temptations" I hate being over fed and the bloating lazy feeling when I used to over do holidays.

You need not deprive yourself over the holidays

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