Since all of us are preparing for the holidays, I thought I'd start a new thread. I'm interested in how everyone plans to handle the whole holiday thing. Are you baking? Do you have any great recipes? Are you planning on upping the exercise? Are you planning on eating or managing eating somehow? Tell us! Tell us! You have all taught me so much; I am anxious to continue to learn more from each of you!

Great thread idea, Goal!

I just counted and realized this is my eighth holiday season since I changed my life back in 2001.

It might not work for a lot of people, but I bake as much for the holidays as I used to back in the Fat Days. I just don't eat what I bake! Christmas cookies are a big family holiday tradition and I love making them, so I keep baking as long as I don't get into trouble. But the day I find myself eating a dozen cookies out of the freezer is the day that I would stop, pronto!

Today is actually my Cookie Day because I'm not working. I've been looking forward to it for weeks and will put Christmas music on and pull out all the old recipe cards from my grandmother. Even though she's gone, it makes me feel connected with her to remember our times together in the kitchen. There are three kinds of cookies in the freezer already and I plan to knock off six more today to finish the cookies.

As for holiday meals, I plan to enjoy Christmas dinner in moderation and I always allow myself three cookies from the stash. It's worked for me for the past seven years!

I don't change my exercise routine at all, but it's not like I really have anything to compensate for because I don't change my eating habits.

I think it's all about knowing ourselves and understanding what temptations we can deal with ... and what's going to send us over the edge. After all these years of maintenance, my "no" muscle is pretty strong.

Meg, that sounds so nice. I would love to do that today. You have just inspired me to spend a doing doing that before Christmas baking.

I have small kids so baking is part of the season at my house. They really enjoy cooking together. This is a big treat for them as they are normally on all-natural, organic diets that consist of only whole foods. I do look for ways to lower calories though by cutting butter and oil when I can as well as sugar. They don't miss it and that way if I do indulge a little bit, it isn't as bad for me.

As far as exercising, I will probably do my normal workout @ 5:30 every morning.

I bake only one small batch of cookies with DD to give to Santa and that's it. I am the cookie monster, and just can't have that stuff in the house and expect to do well. I do like (& can control) fudge though, and usually ask my mom to make a small batch for us.

I also try to avoid drinking for the most part. Too much temptation to go into with lowered resistance.

I find it is easier to manage my weight if I avoid as many of the parties as I can politely avoid, and keep things relatively low key here at home. We are also trying to make non-food and healthy food traditions for our little family (Turkey Trot on T-day etc) and I think that is good for all of us. While I don't begrudge anyone an occasional treat, my kids don't need all that junk any more than I do. A little bit will do.

As far as exercise, we find biking on Thanksgiving and Christmas day to be fantastic. There is virtually NO traffic. A great tradition! But mostly I try to do what I'm doing. If I'm planning a workout on a Wednesday, and Christmas is a Wednesday, I really try to do it. Consistency is very important.

Anne

We visit San Diego for almost two weeks every year to spend time with family. I am always really good the few days before Christmas and then tend to get a little lax the days after Christmas. I really want to stay focused on maintaing and not going overboard with all of the holiday treats and all of my favorite San Diego restaurants!
There is nothing worse then coming back home with an extra 5 lbs.!
It is difficult for me to lose those lbs. I sure can gain them fast but they take a long time to come off!
I am making a commitment to all of you that I will stay on plan and enjoy just a few treats on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and that is it!
I will continue my exercise regime and remember I am there to visit with friends and family not just to eat!!

Meg, I too use some of my Grandmothers' cookie recipes. They're some of my favorites. I used to love baking with her. I now bake them with my daughters and though they never met her, they DO feel the connection. What is it about food - and connections? There's just no two ways about it - food very often equals love and family and wonderful memories. Though of course that's not an excuse/reason to OVERdo it.

Well, I'm getting away easy this year. I normally host a holiday party with my husbands side of the family. Somewhere between 40 - 50 people. I make/bake everything myself. I've been doing it for years. I did skip one year - 2006- the year that I was losing weight. There was no way on earth I was ready at that point to host such a party. Doing all that baking and cooking would have been a disaster. I didn't want to risk it. But I was right back to it last year and hosted the party.

So get this, my MIL calls me up last Thursday, the day before I was going to make MY calls to invite everyone over, and SHE invites me over. And I'm like "Huh? What? But, but I always make that party. I look forward to it all year" And she says, "Well, let's do it at my house this year." I'm fuming. Just fuming. And there was nothing I could do. She's my mother in law afterall and I didn't want to start anything. . So I said, all right then, you'll have to tell me what you want me to bring and she said, I will. And that was that. She took away my party. My kids are miserable about it. As are all their cousins. And basically everyone. My house is much better suited for a party. Whatever.

Moving right along. So, like I said, I'm getting away easy. Doing all that baking and cooking in preparation for the party usually leaves me to do waaay to much "testing".

My plan is to stay POP right up until the holidays. And then allow myself a few treats at the family holiday bash. My MIL is an awful cook, so there won't be much of problem with overdoing it.

We celebrate Chanukah, which lasts 8 days. So there will be more parties and special foods (there goes those memories and love thing again) besides the big family party. I will see where I stand, weight wise, in a couple of weeks. That will determine just how much or little "sampling" I can do.

Agony? No. Ecstasy? Not really.

I've learned that it just doesn't pay to over indulge. Also, I'm a firm believer in "everything in moderation" so I'm not deprived. I have no problem taking half of something so that I can fit it into my plan.

I'm also a huge believer in moderation. I definitely give myself more leeway at the holidays, particularly on "treat" foods at special events. But I tend to watch my actual -meals- very carefully. So at a Christmas buffet, I'm more likely to take lean protein and veggies with maybe 1/4 cup of mashed potato, and then splurge on a dessert or a few cookies or a drink.

I have a hard time moderating the alcohol, since it is such a part of celebration for me. Last year, I struggled a bit more. This year, so far, so good. I look forward to it EVERY year. Even if I have 5 lbs to take off afterward (more than I ever have...but even if I did), I think it'd be worth it.

I bake cookies once a year, at Christmas and that has never changed. I eat them, too!
There are just a few times a year where I say it's okay to eat, and Christmas eve is one of them. We make 4-5 kinds of cookies for Christmas Eve dinner (DH and I hosted this the last few years). I really don't eat the cookies after that day, but I can eat them on that day. I also can't bake them too far in advance, because I have no problem eating freezer cookies!
My specialty cookie is the nutmeg log.

We also do a cake with a special frosting (I know I've mentioned this before), that was my grandfather's cake.

I'm not a big drinker, but will likely have a holiday brew, if we happen to get them.

I have a few treats that I am going to indulge in this month. One is an eggnog latte, and then one stop at a local bakery. But to have those, I must stay on plan other days this month.

With all that said - I have made a commitment to bring it on for this month. I decided to keep my food plan as always, and add an extra cardio session in the morning. So far, that has worked well, and the scale is dipping as we speak, which is huge for me ( - where's that turtle icon?).

This is going to be my first holiday season maintaining and I'm a little nervous. My plan is to just take things in moderation - I don't want to cut out something I really want and then resent it later. I might up the exercise a little around Christmas itself, but that is as much for holiday related stress management as it is for calorie control!

I used to make Chex mix, fudge and peanut butter balls as gifts, but didn't last year because I felt pudgy and unattractive, didn't think I had the willpower to make them last year and not overindulge. This year I think I might be able to handle it... I've made it through 25 free truffles that DH brought home from his Black Friday shopping, triple chocolate macadamia & cashew cookies & pound cake sent over by his ex, and a dessert selection I would have run from on previous Thanksgivings. I believe I can now have a small amount of my holiday goodie items wihtout going totally crazy. We'll see.

I do love eggnog - I've had some in my fridge for a week and stayed away from it because it has 220 cals per half cup. I'm thinking I'll have a little tonight instead of an evening snack. I will have to measure it out or I know I'll go crazy with it.

recipe, please?

Okay - at the risk of turning this into a food porn thread!

Nutmeg Logs

1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon rum flavoring
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 cup sifted flour
2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (must be fresh grated)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream softened butter with the flavorings. Beat in the sugar, then mix in the egg. In a separate bowl, stir the flour, nutmeg, and salt. Mix with the butter/sugar mixture. Shape the resulting dough into snakes about 1/2 inch in diameter, and cut the pieces to 3 inches in length. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Frost with rum frosting. Make grooves in the frosting with a fork, and sprinkle ground nutmeg on the logs while the frosting is still moist.


Rum Frosting

1/3 cup soft butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon rum flavoring
2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Cream together butter, vanilla, and rum. Stir in sugar and milk and beat until creamy.

Christmas this year is a little different for me. And much easier I think.

We go to my cousin's for Christmas eve and celebrate with the "Estonians". She is quite aware of her health and the food is not too bad calorie and fat wise.

Then we usually go to my DH's family on Christmas day and celebrate with the "English". That is the calorie "blow-out" as my SIL, though a good cook, does things like wrapping bacon around broccoli and dousing it in maple syrup as a "healthy" vegetable.

Except they've moved so far away that I can't get back the same day to go to work the next (I always dog sit over Christmas and New Year's with the same yellow lab Casey).

So I'm going up to a horse barn with one of the other dog walkers, a friend of mine. I don't know what we'll do there but it likely won't involve food or booze.

Most of my Christmas focus is on events, not food, so I think it'll be easy for me to at least maintain my weight.

If I get treats as gifts from my clients I will immediately donate them to the local food bank.

Dagmar

I'm not sure it's agony or ecstasy. I bake alot. The kids feel like it's a huge part of the holiday. And I use my mom and grandma's recipes too. I can stay away from the sweets, but there's no special cheese trays, spreads or balls until Christmas Eve. I could eat every ounce. We try to fill the holiday's with lots of activities that aren't primarily food related (caroling, Bethlehmem walk, plays, and lots of sledding) but it seems food gets dragged in anyway. Luckily my kids aren't heavy so I try to just let it go. I so worry that they are making those associations that every event needs cookies and cocoa.

Thanks, Lori! My 8 year old DD has decided nutmeg is our "secret family ingredient" so I think we will make these. And I'll have one. After I run 5 miles. After you cut them, do you bake them laying on their side or do you turn them so the cut ends are on the cookie sheet?