Anyone else nervous about the holidays?

I know I am. I've read tons of articles that talk about how people can gain as much as 10 lbs during the holiday season (Labor Day to New Years).

Plus the fact that I have non-supportive parents that push food on me, and will do so especially during the family holidays. Big extended network of family and friends; all eat delicious ethnic foods; and no one backs me up. *sobs*

So, am I the only one like this? Let's get some people in here for support!

Not really. I have never gained weight during the holidays especially, but around the year, slowly. But I live in Finland and we dont celebrate thanksgiving or labor day here... Only christmas and independence day.

I actually dont get it how people can gain so much weight during the holiday season. How? 10 lbs? Thats 35,000 calories OVER their daily burn!

I already have my plan for the holidays...I know that no matter what I will only eat the veggies and meat. No carbs.

And if I am good with the appetizers and main meal, I will allow myself to have dessert. Otherwise if I cant pass on the stuffing and mashed potatoes, I will not have dessert.

No one is going to tie you down and shovel food into your mouth. As soon as you realize that, you wont be so influenced by the people around you. Dont feel like you have to eat certain things to be polite. A simple "That looks/smells really delicious, but Im trying to be healthier, and I have been doing really well so far. Thank you for offering." will do just fine.

Worst case scenario-have a very small portion of whatever you want! It is the holidays afterall! Do some extra cardio the next day. I think we will all probably be working hard to work off the holiday indulgences  hah!

i love your ideas wholegraingoddess.

Like siobhansleepy i've got the family pressure going on so i've decided that in a pinch i will use the three bite rule. Nibble and savor. I hope it works!

hehe, thanks!

I read an article a while back, (idk where it could be found now)...but apparently, the first 2 bites of a food taste better and more intense than the following however many you take there after. I think that I will give the 3 bite rule a try also this holiday!

I know you posted in Young Calorie Counters and I am WAY over the age limit, but the truth is that holidays can be difficult no matter what your age is. When you're young it tends to be parents that force food on you; when you're older it may still be parents (believe it or not) or friends or even inlaws. Somehow around the holdiays everyone seems to feel duty-bound to share their food.

What I have learned though is that a little indulgence during the holidays is probably good for us. The years that I tried to restrict my intake I either ate more, or found it difficult to stick with the diet in January because I felt deprived. I now try to do a couple of things which you may find helpful:

- I select my three favorite "treat" foods and try to eat only those.

- I avoid as much as possible foods that people bring to work or school. If I do find the brownie or other treat too tempting, I'l take one but will put it in my bag to take home with me. If I still want it later in the day, I'll eat half and throw the other half away. NO, digging into the trash can to get the other half is not allowed.

-  I make sure that the holiday meals have a yummy veggie so that I can eat something in abundance without risking too many calories

- I eat an apple or small meal BEFORE parties so that I'm not so hungry that I graze the whole time. I try to keep a drink in my hand the whole time (it's harder to eat when you are holding a cup)

I am this year since I've been calorie counting since March. Before that I didn't care, or even weighed myself, so I have no idea whether or not I gained a lot.

I know I'll have to figure something out since

a) I have three Christmas meals to go to, plus one New Year's Eve party, and two New Year's Day party. Ouch. Those are hard because I know there will be three times the food needed at all of them; plus unlimited booze. My plan for those is to stick to one plateful at each meal, and try and fill it with like half veggies, quarter carbs, quarter meats. One desert at each of them, and one glass of wine or one beer. That way I can still enjoy myself. No snacking after the meals though.

b) My family is a huge candy and chocolate giver. I have asked my mom to not give me any candy, but I can't guarantee I won't get it from other sources. My plan for that is to try and give it to my brother. If I have a box of chocolate, I can't control myself.

c)and the hardest will be that I am spending the week between Christmas and New Year's and maybe a bit longer at my parents. They have so much unhealthy food there available, its so hard to resist. I mean, here, I can binge on pasta, or whatever, but I have to make it. We don't have chips, cookies, chocolate, or any high calorie, easy to eat, snack.

Honestly, I don't plan on losing during the holidays, but I will do the best I can to maintain.

Good subject! Holiday temptation is the worst, and it's constant from now until Jan 5 (Monday). I feel good for passing up the "pumpkin roll" somebody made and brought to work--lots of people said it was good, but I was able to stay away. today. That's all I can do: do my best today.

When I go to potluck Thanksgiving, I want to limit myself to "one bite" of most things...and I'm pretty immune to some foods anyway, since I enjoy eating healthy foods...but I can eat way more "healthy" foods than is "healthy" for me.

Being the "mom" of my family now, I know that it is so fun to have everyone just hanging around for a week between Christmas & New Years. There's the cookies, candy, booze and treats that are usually not around my house most of the time. I've got to find a balance between having a taste of them, while still trying to eat my healthy foods, so I'm not eating just the sugary treats.

I have worked so hard for 6 months just to lose 17 pounds--I sure don't want to gain all that back in the next couple of months. I'd say getting out and taking walks, exercising while watching videos, and keeping fresh fruits & veggies in the house along with the treats could help me "save" my progress.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

Hmm... I'm going to have to try that "3-bite" rule, thanks wholegrain. =D

Maryfway, I feel your pain. I'm Russian, so I have not only Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, but my community also celebrates Russian Christmas and Russian New Years, with maybe visiting a couple friend's houses each time. It's a little daunting lol.

Scaroppo, I love the cup idea! I'm going to have to try that one out.

I really wasn't that nervous until I read this topic, you all got me a little scared. I don't think things will be disasterous, rather just really terrible. I'm probably gain around 10 lbs - that's almost a fact. But I know I will lose them after the holidays - that's a promise!

I have literally been planning for the holidays says July.  I wanted to be at my goal weight by December 1st, so if I do gain I would leave my self enough time to lose before my real goal date.

I am SUPER nervous about the holidays.  it is not so much the food that I am worried about because I can handle my self.  It is the Beer, wine and spirits that make me nervous.  My family loves to party and Thanksgiving, the two days after and Christmas eve and Christmas day are traditionally days where my brothers and I and our parents get lit up.  I love that part of the holidays for us and I refuse to skip it.  So basically no matter what I am going to intake 3200 to 5000 calories on 6 separate days between now and December 25th.  I am going to try and off set that by eating well on all the other days,  not drinking on any of the other days and trying my very best to get some sort of work out every day that I consume that many calories.  I am damn near my goal and my goal date is not until Feb 20th 2009 so I think even if I do gain 5 lbs I will still be able to kill it in the new year and get to where I want to be by Feb 20th. 

Sadly this year I will not be able to have any holidays. Halloween was a fluke I didn't dress up, didn't go out only because things weren't the best around here. Due to some sad circumstances I will not be able to join my family for Thanksgiving and I doubt we'll be doing anything here at my fiance's parent's house. Christmas is up in the air..but I didn't originally plan on being at my family's place for that either...So I guess I'll have less temptation...

However...it is OK to indulge a little during the holidays. Reasons for usual weight gain is people don't keep calories in check and they tend to eat more sweets and candies since they are more plentiful this time of year. Not only that, but the cold weather effects a lot of people in the physical part of being in shape...depression, too cold to walk, etc. I mean there are a lot of reasons, but if you indulge a bit and don't make it an EVERYDAY thing leading up to a holiday (or eat a ton of leftovers) you're going to be fine.

If you deprive yourself you're going to be hitting yourself later on for not enjoying yourself a little. In fact you may binge, trying to make up for it. So if you want that piece of pumpkin pie, some stuffing, mashed potatoes or whatever then HAVE some. The holidays do hit one month after another..but that's where cheat days come into play...once a week, isn't going to kill you..luckily the holidays aren't together three days in a row. :P

Yeah, I'm really nervous. I just lost 10 lbs--I don't want to gain it all back.

But at least I don't have to eat any of the meat. My plan is one small scoop of potatoes, a scoop of carrots and a small scoop of stuffing with cranberry sauce. And NO dessert. Okay--maybe a SLIVER of apple pie because I love it so much!

Oh man, being an aussie sucks for christmas etc - christmas and new years is smack bang in the middle of summer - and smack bang in the middle of bikini season!

Stressy hey.

Althought we are lucky we don't celebrate thanksgiving too.

What do you say to your grandparents when they've cooked all this food and are trying to make you eat it?

i feel ever so guilty not eating what they'd like, because i know the crazed amount of effort my nanna goes to cooking, but i like my skinny body better!

xxx

Original Post by love_live_dance:

Oh man, being an aussie sucks for christmas etc - christmas and new years is smack bang in the middle of summer - and smack bang in the middle of bikini season!

Stressy hey.

Althought we are lucky we don't celebrate thanksgiving too.

What do you say to your grandparents when they've cooked all this food and are trying to make you eat it?

i feel ever so guilty not eating what they'd like, because i know the crazed amount of effort my nanna goes to cooking, but i like my skinny body better!

xxx

 Hehe, I have the same problem with my grandmothers! They get very angry when I don't want any more... "You don't want a fourth helping? You don't like my cooking?"  Guilt trips are their number one weapon lol

I have a big dinner coming up next Tuesday, including dessert. I'm guessing that my calorie intake will be around 3000 that day. I'm not scared I'm going to gain weight, I know it's physically impossible to gain a pound from eating 3000 calories. I will probably only gain .5 lb from that day. But I'm still nervous and unhappy about it because I've worked so hard at my diet all November with no results, and in one night it'll all go to waste and I will lose hope of losing any weight at all this month. There's no way around it though, it's a dinner at a restaurant that's already been planned and same with the dessert after. I guess all I can do is let go and enjoy it.

I'm so lucky we don't celebrate Thanksgiving or any other traditional holidays! I can avoid the big dinners, leftovers, and goodies.

I agreee that it can be hard to "stay on the wagon", but I plan on taking small servings of whatever I want. and STOP when I'm full. if the dessert looks good but you're not hungry, then ask the host (if you're going to someone else's house) if you can take some leftovers of it home (you could just not eat it at all, but it's the holidays, so just save the indulgence for another day). and if you're having the holiday at your house, just always remember that there will be leftovers for days after, so don't think that you have to stuff in all your favorites that one day.

I also plan on drinking lots of water and chewing gum before & after the meal (to avoid munching on appetizers). my one problem is that the only form of vegetables they really have at my family Thanksgiving is corn (with butter), cauliflower, and green bean casserole. I might make a healthy broccoli dish and bring it along if they're not gonna have any, because broccoli is my favorite vegetable.
Fortunately I don't really face any pressure from family members, as my parents know I'm a picky eater and know what I like, and the rest of my family (yes, even my meddling grandmother!) doesn't comment on food choices.

Luckily Christmas is at my house, so I have a little more control over what I get to eat. I'm making as many healthy dishes as I can this year, sneaking in some fat free gravy (probably mixing 1/2 fat free with 1/2 regular, since I'm not the only one who eats it), and making sure there's LOTS of vegetables. and another upside is that half of our family might be going to a different house for the holiday, so that means there'll be less dessert temptation.

But actually, I might end up having to work on Thanksgiving and completely miss family dinner, so I may be getting worried about nothing, haha.

I am so excited for the holidays this year!  I can't wait to see my whole family and I'm not really worried about food.  Last year, I worried way too much about food and didn't enjoy myself at all.  I'm going to focus on just listening to my body and not eating way too much, but I'm not going to deny myself a slice of pie or something if I want it!  Maybe I'll just go for a run in the morning. 

Yes I'm sort of scared since I gained 5-8 lbs last year during christmas season.

I go back to my hometown so I eat ALOT of food that I can't eat back in LA. I go back to all my old restaurants that I went to with my friends... i used to have bad eating habits then so all the places I want to go to are obviously bad for me. Oh well. :P

I'm just going to lose more weight than necessary so I won't freak out if I gain back 5-8 lbs;;;

I am a little bit scared for the holidays but I'm going to try and make sure I only eat the treats on the ACTUAL holiday day - instead of throughout the whole of December!! I know I have huuuge family meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and I am just going to let myself eat whatever at those times - two meals won't hurt me. But for the rest of the time I will watch what I eat as normal :)

Good plan peachy! That's actually my plan... but it didn't work today. xD I ate about 1700 calories more than what I normally do since I was surrounded by goodies at work... hopefully that doesn't kill me xD