ARRRG!! Too much food revolves around X-mas! - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

flatiron · 12-22-2008, 05:10 AM

GOOD LORD I never realized how much food revolves around my Christmas!

Someone (a nice neighbor) hung a beautiful home made pound cake in a bag on my door! My ex in-laws gave me gifts of giant can of peanuts, giant tin of popcorn, gift certificates to Starbucks and McDonalds. Good lord I haven't eaten at McDonald's in 10 years.

My sister and her boyfriend is talking about a fresh ham and fried turkey (in peanut oil!) for Christmas Day. No less than 3 friends wives gave me homemade cookies, fruitcake cupcakes and fudge as gifts.

I've been to 2 Christmas parties this year and trays of goodies are thrust in my face and not taken away until I tell them no 20 times. One friends wife would NOT take no for an answer until I tried one of her sausage balls! I swear!

Even the kindly elderly couple I do some fixit stuff for sometimes invited me for lunch today and she say "Oh I know you are on a diet and I am a bad friend but just one won't hurt you!" then she put a whole tray of home made peanut better cookies with chocolate on top of them right in front of me. I ATE TWO!

I am being buried in an avalanche of food! LOL! And it's not over yet!

I have a yearly ritual for Christmas Eve with some of my family where we eat those Lil Smokies in BBQ sauce and eat Grandma's family recipe Toll house cookies and wash it down with Egg Nog. We have done this for as long as I can remember.

I never thought about it before but a LOT of people who give me gifts give me inexpensive food items???

On one hand I feel guilty about complaining because I AM lucky to have a close family and lots of good friends and I know there are billions of people in the world who will go hungry Christmas Eve but on the other hand ...

I wonder if family and loved ones look at me and see a rather rotund fella and just figure I wanna be fed???

I am doing my best to resist but BOY IS IT HARD!

And it ain't over with yet I still have to make it to New Years!

I started on Dec 1st and I have been doing so good, off to a good start on living a healthy lifestyle.

My BIGGEST problem is not them it is ME I am so weak... I always say no but if the person persists I almost always give in and I always tell myself "Well one won't hurt" and then I am SOOOO PO'd at myself later!

110 here I come · 12-22-2008, 05:15 AM

Hi Flatiron..

It's not because your a "rotund fella" as you put it but that the holidays are all about coming together and food does just that... Our family is the same so unlike you I can't begin my weightloss until January... It would be too much angst for me and with the kids and hubby it wasn't worth the headache. I completely understand the challenge though and I have NO willpower when it comes to the baking etc. especially when lots of the items are ONLY around at Christmas. It's like I need to eat them knowing I may not see them again for a whole year.. lol... Well that would explain how I became so pleasantly plump.... lol...

Enjoy your holidays.. do your best and remember they will soon be over and you'll get right back on track

Merry Christmas!

flatiron · 12-22-2008, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 110 here I come

Hi Flatiron..

especially when lots of the items are ONLY around at Christmas. It's like I need to eat them knowing I may not see them again for a whole year.. lol...

OMG my Mom's Divinity candy and my Grandma's cookie I see only once a year thats why they are so hard to resist!

flatiron · 12-22-2008, 06:26 AM

Woot Woo! I Have My Ticker Finally! :d:d:d

PhotoChick · 12-22-2008, 08:42 AM

You know ... another thing about the holidays and then tie it in to this economy ... one of the first things that you read in the holiday magazines and planning magazines is if your budget is tight this year, make gifts for people instead of buying them. Now that's really good advice, but what can MOST people make? Cake. Cookies. Candy.

I would venture to guess that when the economy drops, the amount of homemade food that gets given as gifts, taken to parties, taken to the office, etc., shoots up.

It's a catch 22 situation for many of us for sure. And I know I've contributed. I can't afford to buy little gifts for the people in my office building as I've done in the past, so I spent the last 5 days making chocolate kahlua truffles and chocolate dipped cake balls.

It's a crazy thing, isn't it?

.

Jacquie668 · 12-22-2008, 08:56 AM

Luckily I'm a vegan raw foodist, so I'm limited and I like it that way. I don't like meat, I don't like cheese, I really don't appreciate dairy and eggs either, but I will eat a slice of cake or something that has it (but no cheese).

So, basically because I'm so darn picky I tend to do okay when it comes to the holiday goodies. However, if there is chocolate...oooooo...I do love that. Dark chocolate!

hehe

flatiron · 12-22-2008, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhotoChick

chocolate kahlua truffles and chocolate dipped cake balls.

OMG! Chocolate Kahlua truffles sound SOOO good! mmmmmm

And I already ate sausage balls so I might as well eat cake balls! LOL!

flatiron · 12-22-2008, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacquie668

Luckily I'm a vegan raw foodist, so I'm limited and I like it that way.

A good friend of mine owned a Healthfood grocery store for 25 years with a deli attached and she is a vegan and also a GREAT gourmet chef and you would be surprised what she could cook that's vegan friendly and very fattening! LOL!

She makes a avacodo and peanut cake that is SO good but I about fainted when I saw the sugar (raw honey) and fat content of it! LOL!

MotoMichelle · 12-22-2008, 11:17 AM

The holidays have been rough here too. I have a Christmas Lunch today at my office I have to manage somehow. I have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day where I won't be in control of what is made (but I can control what goes in my mouth!)

I have to admit I'm just hoping to get through New Year's without gaining. January 1st will be a great day as things will get back to normal!

I feel your pain!

Thin4Good · 12-22-2008, 11:44 AM

Flatiron- That wouldn't be Heritage would it?

mandalinn82 · 12-22-2008, 11:55 AM

Yeah, it can be ROUGH.

I bargain with myself. It's way too easy to go into "Well, I can only get some of this stuff once a year, so I'm going to eat myself silly on all of the Christmas goodies and just give up". But that would mean eating a LOT of stuff, even the stuff that ISN'T special/once a year. So my plan for handling holiday goodies is:

1. Eat most meals and snacks on plan, and keep the exercise on-plan too.
2. If something only appears once at Christmastime, eat a small-to-medium portion with no guilt. Don't make myself sick on it, but enjoy it. A cookie won't kill me. I will never, ever, ever feel guilty eating my traditional Christmas breakfast, even if the potatoes are fried and the eggs have kielbasa and cheese. I do it once a year and it is worth it.
3. If I can get something ALL the time, DON'T eat it just because it's Christmas.
4. Drink in moderation, and pick lighter options when possible.

That means that at your typical Christmas party, I avoid the storebought ANYTHING (cookies, dips, etc)...stick to veggies, lean proteins, etc, have a drink or two, and then have a piece or two of something I can't really get the rest of the year. It works out fairly well for me.

And remember - the person giving you a food gift was just trying to send their good wishes (I'm another cookie-basket-baker and I give them to close friends/family). Friends of mine take my baskets in to share with their workplaces, or put them out at their own holiday parties, or even bring them to parties they are invited to. So long as someone enjoys them and the recipient knows I was thinking of them and sending good cheer, I'm happy.

Jacquie668 · 12-22-2008, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatiron

A good friend of mine owned a Healthfood grocery store for 25 years with a deli attached and she is a vegan and also a GREAT gourmet chef and you would be surprised what she could cook that's vegan friendly and very fattening! LOL!

She makes a avacodo and peanut cake that is SO good but I about fainted when I saw the sugar (raw honey) and fat content of it! LOL!

Ohhh that sounds so good! At our family events I usually bring in this kind of food, but not nearly as fancy and wonderful as that cake you mentioned. Mostly they eat cheese, dairy, and other things. I mean mac & cheese, baked, is a staple for these people.

The only time they get to try something new and interesting seems to be when I bring stuff lol. I got a comment one time "your food is always so vibrant and colorful..it makes you want to eat it" lol. That is how healthy food is fun, colorful, very tasty and vibrant!

Though I do love chocolate...and if there is chocolate watch out. I'm gonna have some.

The darker the chocolate the better. God help me if there is ever a dark chocolate cake in front of me. ACK!

BillBlueEyes · 12-22-2008, 12:32 PM

Hi flatiron - I agree with 110 here I come, it not just the "rotund fella" that draws the food pushers. I've been rotund and more recently not so, and the food keeps getting offered.

It's really OK to graciously accept a food gift and then pass it along to someone who can use it. But it isn't easy to say NO twenty tmes straight. Good luck.

JulieJ08 · 12-22-2008, 12:43 PM

Mandalinn, well said! That's me too!

The tough part is not having a treat. I'm down with that! The tough part is that there's such an avalanche of treats.

midwife · 12-22-2008, 03:10 PM

Just keep telling yourself "Holiday, not Holi-month." Repeat as often as necessary. This has been my daily, hourly, minute-ly mantra. I'll have chicken enchiladas and tamales on Christmas Eve, and make reasonable choices on Christmas Day, but one of my mental "conditions" for loosening up my plan on Christmas Eve & Day is sticking to plan from here to then.

It's HARD. I can be so in my zone one minute and so tempted 30 seconds later.

We're making cookies today.....