Holidays Ahead!
 

Hi Everyone!

The holidays, all of them, will be starting in on us in very short order. Whether your favorite holiday is Halloween, Thanksgiving, Boxing day, Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, New Year's Eve, Superbowl Sunday (or any football day this season ;) ), Valentine's, Mardi Gras, St. Patty's day, or Easter. We now enter a long period where each month has some "special" food oriented event. Each of us has at least one that will be a challenge should we choose to stay in an active phase 1 and not "phase off" or have cheat days.

The most challenging, and most immediate of these events for many will be Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought it might be appropriate to resurrect a post made last fall by MeghanO. Some of you may remember her. If not she is one of our original posters and developers of this board. She had a great coach and great communication with that coach. Here is a link and repeat of an original holiday post she shared. It was a message sent by her coach to her and others on the plan.

THE MANY APPROACHES TO GETTING THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/3017915-post380.html


THE IRON WILL APPROACH
Some of you are only weeks from graduating at your goal weight. I guarantee some of you will choose the iron will approach, eating nothing that would compromise your fat burning. Good candidates for this approach would be individuals who are very new to the program and haven't mastered a strong set of healthy eating habits yet. Also, those of you with only a week or two left on the program will extend your program by 1-2 weeks by eating foods that would compromise your fat burning. So, if you're traveling to someone else's house, bring a large platter of veggies and some Walden Farms or bring a big mixed greens salad or some other creative side that's safe on your program.

If you plan to use the Iron Will Approach, here are some key phrases you can use to excuse yourself politely from eating things you don't choose to eat:

The Crafty Dismissal: "Ooh, that looks delicious! I'm stuffed so I'll just have to take it home for later" (then store it in your freezer till graduation, pitch it in the dumpster, give it to your dog...)

The Firm Hand: "Thank you for respecting the fact that I have some personal goals I am working on and, while that looks delicious, it would compromise my goals so I'll have to wait. Thanks!"

The Medical Excuse: "My doctor recently told me I am pre-diabetic. I really have to watch out for foods that spike my insulin. I'll have to pass". Guess what! If you're overweight, you really are pre-diabetic.

The Allergy Excuse: "I recently found out I am violently allergic to that! No thanks!" I have used this many times, as I have 16 legitimate food allergies. It works! The one question you might get is, "wow, what happens when you eat that?" and your response can be as simply as this, "You don't even wanna know!" That'll stop the conversation right there.


THE ONE DAY PASS APPROACH
Thanksgiving comes ONCE a year and there will be a number of dieters who feel they've earned a day off from Ideal Protein. Okay. I concede. Many of you HAVE earned a day off! Here's how I'd like you to procede if you choose to eat things that will compromise your fat burning.

1. Moderation is KEY. Let's not un-do all the healthy habits we've built on this program. Practice regulating portion sizes. Don't go back for second helpings. Skip the cookies-they're so full of sugar and fat and just not worth it. Have some mashed potatoes and gravy (one moderate serving), have a small piece of pumpkin pie (skip the cool whip, don't eat all the crust-super fattening), only have one or two glasses of red wine (this is Ideal Protein's alcohol cheat of choice-red wine) NOT the whole bottle, not a half-pint of liquor, etc. Plus, if you don't moderate, you may feel very sick... eewwww.

2. The one day pass is just that- a ONE DAY pass. You are not authorized to spend the whole week of Thanksgiving on an eating spree. It's not healthy and it's destructive to all the new healthy habits you've worked so hard to build.

3. If you use the ONE DAY PASS approach, you must go to bootcamp for three days starting Friday after Turkey Day. Bootcamp means Phase I, very low carb-no restricted items. This will give your pancreas a chance to rest and recooperate from the holiday abuse and get you back to fat-burning mode faster.

GOING HOG WILD APPROACH
This is not an acceptable approach if you are serious about changing your body, your health, and your life. I will question your motivation to lose weight if you use this approach. Here are some things to consider before going hog wild:

1. "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." Have you heard that before? Don't expect to do something the same way you always have and expect to get different results. Binge-type eating and lack of portion control is part of what led many of you to the weight at which you started your Ideal Protein journey. It takes an average of 28 days to build a new healthy habit. It only takes one minute to break a habit. Tread carefully.

2. You are likely to feel very unwell that night, the next day, or even for several days after. You may feel hung-over, even you didn't drink but overdid the sugars.

3. You will start carrying excess water (bonded to the new carb molecules floating through your system), feel bloated, and probably feel guilty and have regret. Wow, that's not worth it.

4. That's expensive! Going HOG WILD will cost you because it will stop your fat burning, waste at least 5 days of your program and extend your program by one to two weeks total. Again, not worth it.

IN CONCLUSION, you have a choice to make about how you will approach holiday eating. If you choose the IRON WILL or the ONE DAY PASS approach, please know that you should still write down everything you eat and you will not be "in trouble" for having a small piece of pie. Make choices you can feel good about.


THank you to my Wellness Coach Kim for that email!
Meghan





Repost of original message

What a sensible post. Thanks so much.

Thanks for sharing

Thank you Meghan this is very helpful!

That's awesome! I had kind of been thinking a little about the holidays myself. My assumption is/was that I will take the iron will approach but the idea of having a moderate meal followed by restricted products for 3 days doesn't sound awful. We don't have any extended family here so it will just be my husband and our girls so I don't think it will be too big of a deal, but I'm going to see how I feel when I get closer to Thanksgiving. I kind of had hopes of moving to the next phase by Christmas, but we'll see where I'm at by then. If I haven't moved on then I may go for the moderate day and then, just be very careful for awhile.

Great info! Thanks for reposting!

With all the travel and events I have had the past three months I am still managing good weight loss success despite what I term "smart cheats". I am not advocating anyone else do these without serious thought about where you are with your diet and how good your control is. The longer you have been good on your diet the better your sense of control is likely to be. For me if I have to eat something not on plan I will choose fat over carbs to keep ketosis going. I will severely limit the portion size to a taste or very small serving. My cheat might be a few slices of apple or a few berries or some bacon bits on my salad. Sometimes I have added two tablespoons of Greek yogurt with a tsp of peanut butter mixed in. If faced with birthday cake handed to me I take one bite of the cake, minus the frosting and locate the nearest trash can quickly. If I am going somewhere with a group for ice cream or dessert, I bring an Atkins indulge bar and eat half of it ( taste like mounds or snickers).
I figure that even when I go into maintenance I can still use these techniques to bypass temptation and have longterm control over what I eat.

Thanks Carla for reposting Meghan's very informative post.

After careful consideration, I've decided to go with the IRON HOG approach, otherwise known as dinner at my mother-in-law's. If we go there for Thanksgiving dinner, there's not even a remote chance I'll eat too much or want seconds... :rofl:

I like this approach :D...... go where ya know the food will be less than desirable :p. Then you can say "oh no I couldnt ....and really mean it"

Another point is that all those foods will be there when you are at goal..... its not forever.... I froze things that I couldnt have while on IP that you only get once a year (halloween candy, easter bunnies, christmas cake ect) and they were nestle nicely in my freezer waiting ever so patiently for me. Making the most of the event and not the food is key, make the most of what you can have just as Carla suggested try not to focus on what you cant.

Salesgod -- that is hilarious and wise! I need only to go to my own mothers... (gross) to avoid eating too much, which is why I likely gained weight when I left the nest! Finally got to eat food with taste and not burned!

Great advise Carla, thanks for reposting!

Thanks Carla for reposting a wonderful post!!!
and Dave- you made me laugh!!! maybe your Mother in law cooks ferret????

Sandra- I love your dancing ladies! I remember when there was only 3 of them.. now there is 7!! wow! Before you know it you will have 'an army' like Carla does!!! :D

I am way to new to this diet (9 days) to be confirming what I will do.....but mentally I do not plan on a single cheat until I reach my goal.....period. Ask me again at Thanksgiving. I see no trouble spots between now and then. My plan is Turkey and salad and brocolli....that should do it. Now, my trip to vegas between Christmas and New Year's Eve....that should be interesting.

Wow -the holidays on IP.... I am going to have to get creative with my menu. I have found that I LOVE cauliflower steamed with sea salt. It tastes way better than eating it plain. I like to use that as a subsitute for mashed potatoes. It's awesome with my 5oz steak for dinner.

Does anyone has any creative ideas of a IP friendly yummo thanksgiving dinner??? I know many of the traditional menu items will have to go, but I maybe I'll just do baked turkey, cauliflower (disguised as mashed potatoes) and green beans?? (no gravy, no sweet potato casserole, boo hoo) I think I've read once that someone had created a IP friendly stuffing with mushrooms, zuchinni, etc...

I'll just take it a day at a time until then.....