The Big Day is upon us. For me, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a treacherous obstacle course in eating. While I love the holidays and look forward to the various social gatherings, I don’t look forward to the vigilant restraint I must keep during November and December. Over the years I’ve told my clients that the best approach this time of year is to put aside goals of weight loss and focus on maintaining their current weight. This is a great approach as it allows you the freedom to have a little fun while continuing to keep an eye on the scale. Continue your exercise program and put in extra effort to make all of your gym "appointments." Then, when January rolls around you will be able to resume your weight loss program without having lost too much ground.
While the season is a battle for me as well, I usually come through it without any weight gain. In the past, my approach has been to stay on my standard strict diet and refuse any indulgences during the entire holiday season. Not much fun huh? It wasn’t fun and was exhausting at times as I worked so hard to avoid my favorite foods. This year I have decided to release a little restraint and have a little more fun while continuing to work hard in the gym. My plan of attack has been plotted and I encourage you to join me.
1. Relieve yourself of the anxiety that comes with big, festive meals by giving yourself the freedom to indulge a little. Instead of fighting so hard to avoid all of the traditional holiday foods that you love, allow yourself to choose 2 or 3 of your favorites. Indulge a little, but don’t overeat to the point of discomfort. Have a nice, large meal, but avoid second servings and stop eating when you are full.
2. Other than the designated special meals such as on Thanksgiving and Holidays, follow a healthy, strict diet. When you wake up the day after Thanksgiving, immediately return to your healthy breakfast, followed by your usual lunch, dinner and gym date. Now is the time to avoid the extra evils that hang around the holidays: office treats, afternoon holiday cookies, and leftovers.
3. If your social calendar includes several holiday parties allow yourself one indulgence per party per week. If you must attend more than one party per week, indulge at the first event and avoid the goodies at the second event. Therefore, outside of the big meals, you can enjoy treats once per week. I pray that I don’t need to identify for you what counts as an "indulgence," but yes, alcohol is also considered naughty. My tactic: I choose my indulgence before I arrive at the event. If I’m in the mood for red wine, I will enjoy it and avoid the cookies. If I really want dessert, I will skip the wine and look forward to the dessert tray.
Remember: it is always difficult to remain disciplined. It is hard work, but it will be worth it when January arrives and you don’t have to work your buns off-literally- in the gym. This year will be a first for me. I hope you’ll join me and drop me a note on your experience!
Thanks, nice post, this is my first year having thanksgiving in the U.S. since I became a vegetarian so I have a feeling that the over eating will not be such a big issue with me this year, some how the vegetables and side dishes just do not leave me feeling the heaviness I used to get from meat. Though my weakness is now deserts and we all know thanksgiving is ls all about deserts.
Love, Peace and Understanding (your body and it's limits).
Ziggy
GOOD AFTERNOON Holly!!! Admirable, Admirable Indeed!!! Hard to reconcile for me though when a couple of my long held beliefs include: 1) there are no problems in life that cannot be solved with Red Wine, Chocholate, Pasta, Chocolate and Good Company and 2) The Secret Wisdom that we should be comfortable with our external appearance, weight, etc. and if we believe we are at our goal weight, we will achieve it. So far, this is not working too well for me as for much of this year, after 25 years of routinely working out daily, I can't seem to find the gym lately. Getting to the point, THANK-YOU FOR INVITING ME TO BECOME YOUR INTENT FRIEND, I KNOW I AM INSPIRED BY YOUR INTENT AND YOU WILL HELP ME TO GET INSPIRED TO TAKE BETTER CARE OF MY OLD AND FLABBY SHELL!!! BLESSINGS!!!
Thank you for sharing! I was just thinking about how I was going to navigate the holidays with all the food temptations. This helps.
Thank you for writing this, it is a great reminder and full of great ideas. I made it thru the holiday season last year without gaining and that is my goal again this year. I try to remember that this is not my last supper. All of the ooey, gooey, yummy stuff I want will be available again and it helps me to make better choices.
Good post. I think what's important to keep in mind is that the holidays is about family, festivities and tradition.
When you focus on being present in those areas, you focus less on the food. Food is part of it, but only a small part.
Just thinking about it now causes unnecessary anxiety in your body and sets you up for failure and disappointment. Food doesn't have to have that much power and control – reserve that for something else.
Mindfulness will help take the anxiety and focus off the food. That doesn't mean you'll eat irresponsibly because you're paying attention to other things. It simply means that the foods that normally cause you anxiety won't have that power, and you can just enjoy a small amount of it. And, without that stress and anxiety, you will eat less.
Discipline, willpower and commitment live in the energy space where body and mind interact. They don't come naturally to anyone. It takes practice, meditation, mindfulness. Start doing a practice now so that you're better prepared when you're faced with the actual event(s).
Statistics show we only gain an average of 1-3bs. So enjoy. You're never going to have the exact same holiday memories, but you can always work off those extra pounds in January.
If you do gain a little, commit to a weight/fitness goal by Jan 30 and you'll easily see those extra pounds disappear and back to your goal weight in no time. More importantly, you'll be happy you enjoyed the holidays for what it represents – friends, family, festivities.
As someone who struggled for far too many years, I can honestly say the practice of mindfulness works and works well.
Happy Holidays!
~Liz
Dear Holly – Thank you for this timely, great advise. During the holidays its easy for me to let go of a clean diet and get caught up in the demands of the season. It is easy to get lured into the false belief that as long as I keep up with my workouts everything will be ok. Aging is teaching me that I must learn to get by with less food throughout the year. I hope you have a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving with your loved ones. Love, Greg
Ironic , your choice of words. I wonder if the Moslem attackers in Bombay had similar thoughts . . . .
Horrible choice of title!! Thankfully, this blog was written before the Bombay tragedy. Please accept my apologies if my title offended anyone.