I have to kind of keep track...I've got too many to deal with, at least where Christmas is concerned. We've got my husband's dad's Christmas, his mom's Christmas, his Granny's Christmas and my family's Christmas. All include big meals and they're spread out over most of a month...
But at the same time, I don't obsess over it. I watch what I'm eating, but don't count like I do on a normal day. I'll be MORE careful at his granny's house, since she tends to cook with a lot of cream and butter, than I will at my family's Christmas, since it involves more veggies and things cooked without the extra cream and butter...
It'll also help this year that my brother, who does the cooking, is trying hard to lose weight. Might be a veggie-heavy holiday season...
I don't mean that the holidays are an excuse to go all out and waaay over the caloric limit. Definitely not the idea. Two or three days per year is all I am saying. I can understand wanting to count calories and I am in total agreement with the idea of being careful beforehand as a precautionary measure, but as for the actual holiday it really detracts from my enjoyment to be worrying about calories. It's not about the food, but I would rather spend my holidays enjoying the company of my family rather than worry about my caloric intake. A major part of ED recovery is not allowing food to dampen holidays. But that's just me; for others it might not ruin it at all. For me, it would seriously make the day stressful.
Hahaha and my definition of holiday does not mean from Thanksgiving until New Year's. That is my OLD definition. Right now holiday means the actual day.
I'm not going to write down anything on the big Holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc).
Luckily, I don't really care for a lot of the higher calorie holiday foods (mashed potatoes, eggnog, candied sweet potatoes for example) so I figure if I can fill my plate with the healthier options, I should be ok. Its one day, and I refuse to not enjoy the time I spend with my family
I find that my family is really understanding of my food needs, and my mom consciously cooks healthier foods when she knows I'll be there (plus she makes vegetarian options since I don't eat meat). My sister-in-law will even bring a lower calorie dessert for me, and I will make sure that whatever dish I bring is healthy as well. This makes the holidays very easy for me to handle. As for the other less-healthy options (my nemesis: mashed potatoes), I will allow myself to eat a spoonful and move on without stressing too much.
I don't count on special occasions either, but I do watch my portions...I just get small portions of everything, instead of being like, "well...I already have a lot of this so I shouldn't eat ANY of that...."
But I literally get a little of everything, even if its just a spoonful...I make sure to not leave any veggies out.
Last edited by ecsoccermom29; 10-08-2009 at 10:39 PM.
On special occasions, I try to eat sensibly while making sure not to miss out. E.g. I don`t eat the bread I dislike "just because it`s there", but by eating a little less for my main and taking it easy on the alcohol, I make sure that there`ll beenough space for the pudding (if it`s something worth having). On such weeks I`ll usually aim at maintaining, not losing.
