With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up I can see a lot of stress, cooking, and general disarray in my future. So I'm wondering should I put off dieting until after the holidays or should I just man up and start now, knowing I'll more than likely to have to quit for a while then pick up again later. With everything I have going on within the next two months, (my fathers birthday, mid terms, thanksgiving, Christmas, my best friend getting married, and quite a few other things) I can see the stress and frustration of trying to eat right no going over so well. Any opinions?
I think every little bit that you can start to change now, even if you start with small changes, will make it all the easier for you to make bigger changes after the holidays! Best of luck!
Personally I think that there's no better time to start than right now. Yes it will be difficult through the holidays - goodness knows I'm staring down the holiday season with a ton of trepidation. I've got my birthday, my brother's birthday, a huge church Thanksgiving feast, Thanksgiving w/ my family, Thanksgiving w/ the hubs family, Christmas holidays, New Year's, etc.
However. There's always going to be something. After the holidays there are more holidays - my hubs birthday, Valentine's Day, Easter, etc.
So, if you're serious about making the change I would start right this minute and know that the holidays are going to be difficult to navigate but life happens and you just make the best choices that you can make in any given situation because weight loss (especially significant weight loss) is a life time commitment to a healthier lifestyle.
I know there are food temptation times coming up but there always will be; if you wait for the Right Time to start, you never will. I speak from experience.
If you start making your plans now, you could be en route to being in control by the time the festive feasts come round (sorry, don't know when Thanksgiving is).
Oh my. There is never a better time to lose the weight and get healthy than this very minute. Don't push it off. Get a jump start. It's time. There is no such thing as the perfect time, well that's not true. NOW is the perfect time. But there will never be a time without stress, food temptations, celebrations, joy, anger, boredom, lonliness, etc.
The trick is to learn how to eat healthy in spite of all those things. You have to learn how to co-exist with food in a healthy matter, regardless of the circumstances. And you can do it. You've got the ability to do so. We all do.
The thing is, is to say "screw all that, it doesn't matter. Nothing matters more than getting this weight off. Nothing matters more than becoming the best me that I can be. I'm done being fat. I'm done pushing it off. I'm done settling for an inferior quality of life. I'm done settling for second best"
Wow, that was a mouthful. But really. DECIDE to do this. Today. You push it off till after the holidays and chances are you'll have 10 more pounds or better to deal with. And at least a few extra months of misery. You start now and you can very well have 10 + pound less of you. And a few extra months of joy and happiness.
Make yourself a solid plan and start implementing the changes right this second. Stop pushing it off till *tomorrow*. You can tomorrow away your life. Do it now. Do it now. Do it now. Your life is calling you.
there is always going to be something to "wait" for
go for it now, when the first of the year rolls around you will be so happy and proud of how far you have already come, instead of the alternative.....sad, mad and regretful.
Why not put off other stuff until after the holidays?
You don't have time to sit around, that can wait until after the holidays - for now, go for a walk every single day.
Put off feeling bad about what you are eating, and waking up the next day thinking "what did I eat yesterday?" (I can't be the only one who used to do that.
Put off putting your needs second. People are expecting you to the be the same old person, but make the changes you need to make and put off worrying what they'll think until after the New Year.
Put off allowing what you feel to dictate what you do. Stressed? So. How does eating junk make it better? Don't want to go for a walk or take 15 minutes a day to plan your meals? So what, you know it's better for you so do it even if you are too "busy" (hint, no body is that busy) or don't feel like it.
Put off making excuses. How do these things "my fathers birthday, mid terms, thanksgiving, Christmas, my best friend getting married" have any relation whatsoever to you not putting yourself first and doing what you need to do to be healthy??
Don't even wait until tomorrow. Do something right now to start turning the ship around. Then do another thing, then another. And keep doing things that are going to get that ship pointing in the right direction.
I originally started my weight loss December 16th of last year. I am glad I did it, even if it was close to Christmas. I was careful about what I ate during the holidays. I am glad I started at that moment. I recently gained back 17lbs of a 55lb loss. I am now working on getting it off again, and more. So, my point is -- if you want to change your lifestyle start now. You will be happy you did, and you will feel better.
Last edited by Asherdoodles87; 11-14-2010 at 06:55 PM.
I'll jump on the bandwagon and say start now, too. If you look at my signature, you'll notice that I started my weight loss journey on December 30, 2009. I had intended for it to be a "New Year's Resolution" until I got to thinking:
"You know what? If I want this? Why on earth should I wait two more days? Changing myself and my life for the better is worth giving up drinking like a fish on NYE and shoving myself full of cake."
And so I began on the 30th of December instead of putting it off until January 1st. Maybe its just me being critical of myself, but I honestly feel that if I had just put it off again, this would have just ended up being another half-baked New Year's Resolution that never got off the ground, not a true blue lifestyle change.
So yeah, go for it now. Think of it this way: if you get the ball rolling now and start working on your relationship with food now while you're in the midst of the holidays, it will be smooth sailing for you once they're over!
No matter what you choose, I look forward to hearing of your progress! =)
Last edited by Enduring Infinity; 11-14-2010 at 07:33 PM.
Reason: eek, bad grammar! fixed it!
Should I wait until after the holidays?
