HOLIDAZE

Holiday meals and events: I allow 500 extra calories for each of ten events between Thanksgiving and New Years. These days include the holidays, catastrophe days, Reg day, parties, unplanned events.

Baked goods: I enjoy baking and the time spent with family when we do it. My solution is the three days of cookies, I can have cookies for three days of the holidays. So its usually baking day, Christmas eve, & the day after Christmas, when I have no stress left and I can enjoy them and not shovel them in.

Exercise: Always a challenge for me.
I cut down my daily goal from 60 mins to 45, and I do extra on days when I can & avoid feeling guilty when I miss a session. Guilt is my obstacle here miss one session equals miss a month so I remove the guilt & avoid the consequence.

Family Stress: Tends to get me, so I am learning to ignore people.
That's right, when I don't like what they are saying, doing I just walk away.
I refuse to let them ruin my holidays anymore, I can't control what they say or do but I can control my reaction.

Enjoy the best and leave the rest. Thats my mantra.

My biggest challenge this year willbe getting DH to accept that Christmas week is not one huge pig out!

Most of it will be spent at our place with only the two of us and I plan to have lots of healthy food around. He can have all of that he wants.

All the food and booze gifts I get will be regifted or given to the food bank to make someone else's holiday a little more festive.

When we go to North Bay to see his family will be when few healthy options are available to me. So I will take reasonable portions of meat and potatoes and push them around a lot on my plate. If there are any veggies I will load up on them.

Desserts will be my downfall. I find it hard to stop after having that first bit of sugar. Again I'll try the pushing around on the plate strategy.

We can do this!

Dagmar

Holiday Party tonight!

I checked out the menu online and even though I guess it won't be exactly that (it's last month's menu still), they have grilled salmon, tilapia, shrimp, chicken.....sides available with the grilled dishes are seasonal veggies and rice, but there are substitutes of broccoli, tomatoes, and sweet potato fries avail.

I'll have a grilled protein with 2 veggie sides. No dessert. No wine, thanks.

Well, it was good to have a plan. I had garlic chicken, veggies, sweet potato fries, no wine, no dessert,, 2 bites of bread....down 1/2 pound this morning! Which after a restaurant meal is pretty fantastic if I do say so myself! Maybe I should have had another veggie rather than the sweet potato fries, but I'm pretty proud of myself!

WTG

OK, I had my first holiday moment. I saw an ad for "holiday bread" from Panera -- basically a sweet bread with raisins and chocolate chips and such in it -- and had the sudden urge to spend the next two months stuffing my face with holiday goodies.

I didn't actually DO anything or eat anything, but I felt the urge, and I'm sure I will be feeling it again many times over the next two months. Just goes to show that even after keeping off the weight for nearly 4 years, I'm far from "cured."

I was at Target today, browsing the Halloween costumes that were 75% off. Scored one for next year for each kid @$4.99, yay! But right behind me was all the candy. I noticed bags of caramel candy corn and was tempted. I walked away, though. Had I bought the bag, I would have eaten the bag.

Time to foucus as a cheesecake looms in my immediate future...

You can do it, Gina!!!

Oh man, my weakness. I feel for you!

My 10 year old saw a cheesecake commercial the other day and came running into the kitchen and asked if I would make TWO cheesecakes for Thanksgiving this year. I felt terrible, but I told him NO. I'll make 2 pumpkin pies, (which everyone loves, and I can resist) and that is it for Thanksgiving desserts. He begged me to make my white chocolate raspberry recipe. As much as I LOVE him, and that recipe, I refuse to make it until Christmas when we will have enough guests to finish most of it Christmas Day. There will only be 6 of us for Thanksgiving. One pie will be served for dessert, I'll send home a few big slices of pie with Grandma and Grandpa, the boys will all get a left over slice, and it will be gone. My 10 year old son is one of my biggest supporters, and he understood, but that darn food = love thing has to rear it's ugly head every holiday season!

All I want for Christmas is my weight to remain the same!