The holidays (Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, whatever else is in there....) can be pretty challenging for many of us. I thought it might be nice to start a thread where people can share their plans for dealing with the holiday-related food challenges in their lives, or ask for help in figuring out how to avoid or minimize those challenges.

My challenge: Eating a Thanksgiving meal at a restaurant with my parents. Visiting my parents usually disrupts my routine and makes it difficult to get back on plan. Eating out can be challenging too, since sometimes the better choices aren't always the most appetizing ones. It doesn't help that I got into the habit of ordering soft drinks and partaking freely of the bread/chip basket at restaurants as a child.

My solution: Try to arrange a lunch or early dinner with them so I feel less inclined to stay overnight. The quicker I get back to my apartment, the quicker I'm likely to get back in my routine. Depending on where they want to go, either look at the nutritional info online or just think about the options on the menu beforehand. Give myself a few relatively healthy options to choose from. Make decisions about things like drinks and bread beforehand.


Anybody else want to share?

I eat whatever I want - just keep the portions in check and don't take home leftovers. It never seems to affect my weight the next day.

I am hoping the weather will allow me to get a good walk in before the family meal. I am actually going out to eat this Thanksgiving (first time) and I am kind of excited about that. I actually think it will make it easier. I do plan to enjoy everything just be reasonable about it.

I plan on cooking some decent squash stuff. Lower in calories, and since I cooked it, I'll feel obligated to eat it. One of my friends linked me to this recipe.

Other than that, I'll be using the plan of reasonableness. I can have what I want--I just have to be reasonable about portion sizes. I'm not counting that day.

I lose weight very slowly so this is my second Thanksgiving and Christmas season on my new eating plan.
Last year I had the most wonderful plan... I would stay on plan every single day and the day of the holiday I would eat anything I wanted. Then the next day right back on plan and not weigh for several day's so I wouldn't get depressed. Sounds easy right!?? Wrong.
What actually happened was I like to prepare all the side dishes the day before so all I have to do is stick them in the oven to get hot and bubbly. And I bake the ham or turkey the day of the meal so it will be hot and fresh. The first problem came in to play the day before during the pre-prep. I kept tasting everything. I was so full but could not stop eating. Then the day of the holiday my husband and I ate all this high in calories, rich, starchy and sticky food. We were so full. We both had been eating lite for months. We were not use to eating rich high carb foods. We both got very sick. The rest of the family were fine (they had not been eating lite like we had been doing)
So I had looked forward to getting to eat for weeks and was too sick to even enjoy it.
So this year We are grilling steaks, baked potatoes and having a lovely salad. I told my daughter in law to bring the deserts. This year I will have the smallest steak- 1/2 a potato, small salad and a thin slice of pie. I'm not going to expose myself to all that food. I know me and I can't be trusted!
Happy Holiday's Everybody!!

I always host Thanksgiving at my home and this is my 3rd year in my new lifestyle. My game plan includes:

1. Focus more on my loved ones than the food.
2. Start the dishes IMMEDIATELY after we eat. It keeps me from picking.
3. Send most of the leftovers (including pies) home with others. I do however like to keep the turkey leftovers.
4. Get right back on track. This can be tricky for me.

I use Carter's approach from here http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/4104805-post4.html

Holiday foods are not once in a lifetime opportunities, they are definitely going to be around next year, and really, I could get/make any of them any time I want. So for holidays, I stay on plan and stick with the meat and roasted veggies.

My goal is to get through the weight loss portion of my journey faster and then next year, I'll be in maintenance and deal with enjoying holiday treats in moderation.

Since I'm maintaining (a bit above my original final goal) for an indefinite period, I have the challenge of not losing any ground.

I will be in the company of assorted cousins for 6 days this year. My mom was one of 12 kids and the last of her siblings passed away this summer (my mom was first in 1975, my last "blood" aunt passed away in July.) While some of us still have one parent, all of us have lost the parent that binds us as family and we are spending Thanksgiving celebrating them.

I'll be traveling and that means disruption. Then 4 days in someone else's home. And a day of return travel. It will be a lot of fun. The important part is family, but the food will be there, but these folks are all "normal" eaters. I was the heaviest in my whole family. Now I'm not. Now the challenge will be to see if I can stay on my self-imposed "eat like a thin person" plan. If I just eat the same things as any one of my cousins, I should be OK - they all are average weight and never had any problems.

Note to self: It's the company you keep, not the food you eat.

Lin

Well put.

Holidays are so hard. I went grocery shopping today and Sam's club had so much candy already. Chocolate covered pretzel gift tins and junk like that. The grocery store wasn't much better. Crud, this is going to be a long holiday season.

For me, getting back on track is always the very hardest part. If a holiday is followed by a weekend, I am usually done for until Monday. I always plan to well at parties and Holidays. Sometimes I rock it and sometimes not so much. My plan is to just say no to the sweets this year. "not today" as someone posted earlier. I feel like that will put me on the totally wrong track. The savory food in moderation on the day of the holidays and the 2 Christmas parties I know I have that are not in my control. Otherwise I am counting, measuring and weighing!

I am going into this holiday with my eyes wide open. Maintaining is not good enough for me this year. I will have a loss.

I think if you go to a more upscale restaurant you might have an easier time of it because they have more choices. Avoid anything that has a sauce, ask for dressing on the side if you order a salad. I liked to order some sort of a salad with a piece of grilled chicken on it. Hopefully the restaurant will have more than just a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings. If that is all you can get, make sure to ask for gravy on the side and ask if you can substitute items (salad instead of stuffing). Then only eat half of your plate. I never, ever order anything than water at restaurants. I feel it is such a rip off. If you order soda you usually pay the same for one glass as you'd pay for a large bottle. And then they add ice which makes it even worse.

This year is my turn to host Boxing Day dinner for my husband's family. I'm okay with making the dinner but for myself will only have a small piece of turkey and I'm going to look at finding some recipes for roast broccoli/cauliflower. I like to get away from the traditional meal, turkey is a must but I am looking at different side dishes this year like sweet potato instead of regular mashed potatoes. Definitely this year as well I am going to make some kind of salad which I have never done before but I think it will go over well. I am staying away from all goodies this year, it's just say no time. I figure I've had more than my fair share of cookies and chocolates, I've just got to put my foot down and say no thank-you!

I've been handling the holidays the same way for about 4 years now - I decide what's the most important to me. Booze - I can live without it, so I don't bother. Chips/dips/candy/chocolates meh they're nice but nothing special. My mom's turkey dinner on the other hand - heaven! So I have a gorgeous meal, no substitutions for a single thing, enjoy it savour it relish in it! Then, help pack up the leftovers so I can have some white meat for sandwiches, and a piece of pie i'm too full to eat after dinner to have the next day LOL

it's a MEAL, it's not a week long/month long bender of a free for all LOL I'd much rather have the 'real thing' in moderation than all the fat free/substitute this for that fake dinner in the world!

Oh and MY shortbread cookies - I keep 6 in the freezer to dole out 1 at a time. Lasts for a long time, because I want them to ~ too heavenly to gobble up all at once, I want my tea & cookie spread out for a few weeks!

So pick the most important things to you, choose where you 'spend' your calories, and don't give yourself permission to go whole hog (sorry) for the month!

My plan....We only have one meal on Holidays. Eat a VERY small portion of everything I want. Count calories. No seconds. I get full pretty quickly now so it shouldn't be a problem . Oh and still stick to my excerise and running....I don't think the holidays will be to much of an interference

I'm going out to eat this year - no leftovers ... yay!