Christmas is coming, are you prepared?

How are you preparing for the holidays coming up?

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve?

Do you have a plan in place to help you get through?

Halloween is a great one, my favourite.

Snack sized chocolate bars, yummy!

Thanksgiving for us Canadians is in October. 

Turkey, stuffing, carbs, carbs and more carbs.  Pumpkin pie is a vegetable, right?

Christmas, just like Thanskgiving but with presents.

New Year's Eve, The last night of the year when you don't care what you eat or drink, because you are going to start fresh the first day of the year.

New Year's day when you get on the scale and start all over again, after the feast.

9-27-08, no holiday but have a wedding and girls nitght out = drinking no calorie counting that day

Halloween = no special plans, don't have to buy candy to hand out

thanksgiving and christmas = eatign but right portion, except grandma's stuffing and dessert

Halloween is an easy one for me... kids NEVER come TRICK OR TREATIN at my HOUSE !!!

Thanksgiving... Ugh... We always have 3 stops.  that means 3 dinners, I think I will just eat my Favs. at each one I go to... Stuffing and Corn at my Grandpas... Turkey at my Mother In-Laws... Dessert at my Father In-Laws.

And we do it again at Christmas... 

New Years.... I plan on drinking my dinner... (so I can splurge on the Cals.)

Halloween is the hardest one, it's my Husband's birthday so sadly I will cheat that day.  Going to be baking his cake as usual so I'll find some lower fat options for then.. .hopefully I can find one for frosting too and if not, I'll just suck it up and scrape that off my piece of cake!

Thanksgiving and Christmas, portion control!  But, ok the baking is going to be difficult.  I'm thinking if I 'cheat' with a sliver of pie then it won't feel like punishment from not having Any and I don't have the guilt of knowing how far over my limit I was (with full pieces) and then trying to make it up later working out. 

I doubt I'd count on Christmas day, although the last few years I've found myself getting full very quickly, and wanting the treats to last, so maybe I'll try with that (i.e. one small thing a day that doesn't push me over) this year. Makes each bite of chocolate so much more worth it.

Halloween here in the UK isn't as big a deal as the US, however I do intend to have a pizza filled horror night here that night, thusly, I shall probably go over, but try and get some extra exercise in during the day.

No thanksgiving. I do have mine and the boyfriend's second anniversary coming up, though. I'm thinking that might be a splurge day dinnerwise, might actually have a pudding...

New Years, well, hmm. I don't really know much about the calorie count of wine vs schnapps, but if it turns out wine is better, I'll go for that - much cheaper too.

I think the key thing with these special days is to stop when you've had enough and save the remains for later. I read somewhere that a lot of people when they were being brought up were taught to finish their plates so they could have pudding and this has psychologically instilled this need to finish everything. Save it for later - enjoy it and savour it for longer :)

Original Post by spoiled_candy:

How are you preparing for the holidays coming up?

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve?

Do you have a plan in place to help you get through?

Halloween is my absolute favorite!!! I get more joy out of decorating the house and taking the kids trick-or-treating than actually eating any candy.. although I do tend to steal a few pieces.  No family here for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so they aren't quite as difficult to watch what I eat as they used to be. I have 3 little ones, so New Years Eve is pretty much out of the running.  It shouldn't be too bad of a Holiday season.

ladyduece- Use cool whip for icing.  It tastes great and it's way lower cal/fat than regular cake icing. :)

Halloween should be easy.  I don't think kids go trick or treating at apartments so as long as I keep dodging the candy isle at the store I should be fine.

Thanksgiving: My plan is to fill my plate mostly with good stuff like salad/veggies and turkey and limit my stuffing intake and save room for a small slice of pumpkin pie.  And if I have wine...I'll stick to one glass...which will be hard since we are visiting my crazy grandma..haha.  I'm also running a turkey trot that morning so I'm not too worried.

Christmas: This one will be harder.  Most likely I'll go home for a longer visit which will mean more time for temptation.  My mom usually goes crazy and makes tons of cookies and desserts...but I can make it. 

New years: I might be going to Timesquare in NYC this year.  So goodness...this might be hard.  Good thing I'm not too fond of champagne.

Halloween and Christmas are terrible for me, there's always candy out all season, and if it's there, I eat it. Thanskgiving only takes one day of restraint, and even if you do go overboard it's not empty calories. The candy kills me, Just hanging out and all of a sudden I've eaten 12 mini reeses cups; or half a bag of candy corn. I have no idea how I'm going to get through it.

Halloween will be ok for me but I don't know about Christmas because their so much food!!!

I'm just trying to focus on portions. I know that if I don't allow myself to have something savory that I've been looking forward to all season I will just end up eating more than I wanted to. So, if I allow myself to have a little bit of everything in the correct portion I think I'll be okay.

I think that's a good tactic, but it's hard when you have a table full of food in front of you. Even that, I can do ok... maybe. The bowl of candy on the living room table is what gets me in trouble. I need a shock collar or something.  I think I can do it; just have one or two and savor them rather than just eat them casually.

Original Post by junebaby:

Halloween is an easy one for me... kids NEVER come TRICK OR TREATIN at my HOUSE !!!

Thanksgiving... Ugh... We always have 3 stops.  that means 3 dinners, I think I will just eat my Favs. at each one I go to... Stuffing and Corn at my Grandpas... Turkey at my Mother In-Laws... Dessert at my Father In-Laws.

And we do it again at Christmas... 

New Years.... I plan on drinking my dinner... (so I can splurge on the Cals.)

Do your family members nag you about not eating more?? Well here is what to do:

If you have multiple dinners, take just a little of everything. And eat very very slowly. While people are chowing down, just take small bites...and cut the food up. Take time with your plate. While others are on their second helpings you should still be on your first! And then, once everyone else is stuffed, just act like you are too. Chances are you will be content at least, because having eaten slowly, you allowed your body to realize that it does not need anymore food.

I have a party this weekend for Halloween, but I'm stuffing my purse with things like pretzel sticks, so I should be alright-as long as I stay away from the Jello that my cousin usually spikes with alcohol!

I'm terrified of Thanksgiving and Christmas, which I spend with my dear Granny and Grumps.  Everyone congregates at the grandparents.  The last family event we had, I was dieting, and everyone hounded me because I was eating salad while they stuffed themselves with cupcakes, hot dogs, and burgers.  I eventually gave in, but that was the beginning of the end of that particular diet!

My grumps has been telling me that everyone that was skinny last Thanksgiving and Christmas are now severly overweight.  So if they start ragging on me for being on a diet, I'm gonna tell them to go look in the mirror at their backsides to see who else should be dieting!

Halloween i will be going home (GA) for the weekend and my bf will be with me. i only plan to go out to the clubs and have some drinks, maximum of 3 per night.

Thanksgiving will involve lots of food i'm assumming, i don't even really know what's going to happen because the family hasn't made any plans as of yet.

Christmas will involve alot of food and partying, etc. enough said about that and New Year's i'm going to England for a week and a half. To be completely honest with myself all I plan to do is be consistent with working out 4xs per week and drinking my water and trying to stick to my allotted calories daily to ensure no weight gain. if i don't lose then i guess that will be okay but i don't want to get to England and can't fit any of my clothes i plan to bring with...

 I just survived Thanksgiving where I went home for a week and still lost weight. I think most of you have the right idea. The key is controlling the portions and not denying yourself anything. I had two dinners, and lots of dessert. I wasnt able to count calories because it would have been too hard to figure out, I just made sure that I exercised everyday.  The most important thing is to not restrict yourself. This christmas and New Years may focus will not be on losing weight, but rather maintaing (this will still be an improvement from gaining every year), and I will get back on track in January with everyone else who has made losing weight their resolution.

good luck

Halloween was a tough one ill admit i had a few bite size snickers and kit kats!

Thanksgiving i set aside green beans, and corn with no added salt or butter.  I had 2 pieces of white meat turkey and 2 pieces of the dark meat turkey. to drink i had my usual diet cherry pepsi tastes like the real thing! for dessert i had half a slice of pumpkin pie with lite cool whip on top. and i didnt eat anything besides that all day

On Christmas i plan to do the same but maybe add a little bit of stuffing!

On New Years eve there is so much food it is going to be hard! i plan to eat my 70 calorie ranch rice cakes as a snack. eat a few pieces of shrimp, and eat some of the veggie tray. and a sandwitch on whole wheat bread with lite mayo.

I let myself do whatever I want on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years within reason.  However, I "punish" myself or make myself make up for eating what I want on these days.  Like I had a can of pop and a slice of Apple pie and ice cream on Thanksgiving day.  For the next seven days after Thanksgiving I am adding 10 to 15 minutes more carido a day.  I do 30 now on the treadmill, and then on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday I train or teach in Tae Kwon Do for two hours.  This lets me cheat a little within totally throwing my diet out the window.

James

My plan is to enjoy myself.  One day every few months or so is not going to do me in.  I am not passing on stuffing, and gravy - no way, no how!  Lol

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