You need to come up with ways to manage the holidays and other special occasions. They will be with us always. If you just give in and throw caution to the wind, the pounds will arrive. I'm happy to say I've maintained (and I'm on maintenance so that's what I wanted to do).

Thanks for the continued replies, everyone, and yay! for the one's who have maintained, stayed on track (with those veggies!) or have even lost.

Well said, I agree with MissH. I allowed myself to enjoy the holiday. I ate a slice of German Chocolate cake and a slice of marble cake.
I'm changing bad habits that took me a long time to develop and the change does not take place over night.
I'm changing my lifestyle, not depriving myself of something I enjoy now and then. I weighed in at my Weight Watchers meeting today and gained 0.2lb. For the day after Christmas, I'll take it.
I've seen too many holidays where I've just lost it and ate and ate until I couldn't hold any more, but yesterday I was satisfied without being uncomfortable. I did not feel deprived at all. Now I'm back on track.
Best wishes everyone.

Denise

Yay!!!! I'm a loser as well. I'm down 1 1/2 pounds, which is my lowest I've been down since I started this, Sept 4. But yeah, I'll take it. I found me a nice tray of zuchinni, red pepper and cucumber sticks. Had a bite or 2 of vegetables and rice, 1 mushroom ravioli and a nice sized piece of salmon, made without oil. And I had 2 bites of a marzipan covered vanilla cream cake that literally made my head spin It was super sweet, yuck.

Now I've got a big old New Year's Eve party coming up and then I tell you it's enough already. ENOUGH. Why does food have to be a part of EVERY celebration? There's only so much temptation a girl can handle and I'm just about at the end of my rope. Yikes.

I thought I was being very careful. Christmas eve I was 140.5 and spent most of my day in the kitchen (preparing not eating!!!). I was on my feet from 7:00 AM until almost 3:00 PM getting things ready for that evening and for the following day. I was busy and getting more movement from my body than my usual day at the computer! We had plans to go to a friend's house for Christmas eve, but I got a phone call from her husband--she had fallen and was showing signs of a concussion (she's okay). They had to cancel the dinner party. No problem, I have an extra 4 people for the holidays and only a limited amount of meals purchased. I'll just throw on one of those emergency meals--burritos with sour cream and pico de gallo, Spanish rice and refried beans. Everyone enjoyed the meal and we watched a movie before heading to bed.

Next morning, I was 143.5! 3 pounds. Too much salt I surmised.

Christmas day I was also pretty good. We had a balanced breakfast. No nibbling during the day. No candy or nuts in sight. Dinner was turkey and I went easy on the potatoes and stuffing and heavy on the steamed green beans.

Next morning, still 143.5. Nothing came off. Perhaps it isn't the salt. I even changed my ticker.

So, I'll be back on the bandwagon on Wednesday--as soon as the house guests leave. 10 pounds to lose now (I was 135.5 on Thanksgiving--that's 8 pounds more than I should have to lose!!!). New goal--meet 133 by my birthday.

I managed to maintain and possibly even lose a little despite the fact that I did eat more than I had originally planned. I don't own a scale, so I use an unforgiving skirt as a gauge and it seems to be a bit looser now than it was a week before Christmas.

And even though I ate more than I would have liked, most of it was healthy food or at least not the cookie and chocolate types of foods. However I did eat some junkfood and I still have a few treats left that I'm slowly eating. Fortunately cleaner eating has cured me of wanting to eat the entire package in one sitting.