People on some of the other forums are talking about their goals and strategies for the holidays, and I thought it might be a good thing for us to chitter on about. Sometimes saying it "out loud" helps -- as does hearing what others are doing!

My goal is to maintain my weight through the holidays. I do not want to see a gain! There's a pair of jeans I was able to fit in the other day -- my "skinny jeans". Come January 2nd, those jeans are going to still fit!!!

My plan to get through...

I plan to continue my regular exercise regimen. In fact, I'm going to plan to do more exercise in December than I have been (a couple hundred extra minutes). The additional exercise not only burns calories, but it's a reminder of what's important.


Thanksgiving will be at our house, so I will control a lot of the food. I am going to serve dessert, and plan to have a serving. And I plan to have a full plate of turkey, etc. But I won't go overboard. And there will be several veggies to choose from. I'm also going to try to get to the gym in the morning and workout on the elliptical to burn some extra calories. I will be okay if my calories are a little high one day, but need to watch it doesn't become more than that.

Christmas will be tougher, as I expect we'll be travelling and have less control over food. I won't be able to plan this part until I know more what we're doing.

What about everyone else???

I am hoping to maintain as well. I plan on walking more. And having smaller portions of the stuff that I really love. I also plan on lots less alcohol than in
past years. That in itself will save hundreds of caloreies
Thanksgiving will be very quiet, just a few of us at my house. That means, I can control the food too, just like Heather. I'll make a sugar free desert or two. Instead of potatoes, I plan on a broccoli cauliflower au gratin with part fat free cheese. Gotta have turkey. And I make a mean sugar free fresh cranberry sauce. I guess I"m not too worried about Thanksgiving.

We have no current plans for Christmas. I'm hoping it can just be a few of us here at home. Knowing me, it'll be a repeat of Thanksgiving dinner, cuz the thought of all that sodium in a ham freaks me out.

The hard part will be all the treats at work. I need help on that. There will be chocolate, fudge, cookies and cheese balls galore!
And, TOM is due about that time too. I can usually leave cookies alone. But it's the fudge, chocolate and cheese balls that are so hard.
I'll have to limit it to small portions and extra walking, but I'm scared I'll fail in that area.

New Year's Eve will be at home with only a few of us. Only ONE bottle of champage instead of uh um 3 bottles. And lots of veggies for snacks.

Any help regarding the chocolate, home made fudge and cheese balls, please send it my way.

Sandy -- If I really really want something but am afraid I'll overdo it, sometimes I wait until there's only 1 or 2 left and then take one. Gives me less of an opportunity to eat too much... and sometimes I miss the opportunity, and realize I don't miss it after all...

That is a FANTASTIC solution.
I am positively going to use it!
Thanks very, very much.

I'm with Sandy - what a great idea.

I've decided no baking or candy making for me except what I don't like. I'm the baker for the family, neighborhood, work, etc. But I think I took on that role because it allowed me to eat more of it.

I will prepare one thing to take when we need to attend rather than a sampler of 20 different types of sweets. I always leave the leftovers anyway.

The one thing I can stay away from is fudge - which is hubby's fav so I told him I will make him fudge - but not until the 24th.

At the end of the year I want to be lighter than on Thanksgiving - which we will host - I agree it makes it easier - I will sample a bit of my favorite things - have already asked mom to make single servings of her dressing in cupcake tins to limit my portion size - YEAH - she agreed. Have asked a niece to fix the pumpkin mousse recipe I found with SF pudding - YEAH. I've always fixed a very simple green bean dish since you gotta have something not swimming in cheese or soup.

That's my plan and I'm sticking to it!

Way to GGG!

Hey sandy could you give me the recipe for the cranberry sauce i want to try to make something healthy for thanksgiving.

Midnight, It's sinfully simple.

Fresh Whole Cranberry Sauce

I cup boiling water.
I bag fresh cranberries
I cup splenda.

Bring a cup of water to a boil,
Add cranberries and slpenda.
SIMMER for 10 minutes.
Pour into serving container.
Cool at room temperature til set.
Then serve or cover and refrigate til
serving time.
****If you don't like whole cranberries, then pour
hot mixture into a strainer & press out all the juice.

The cranberries will pop open releasing
the natural pectn or whatever it is to make
it gel. It's simlpe and oh so delicious.

Perfect timing! DH & I were just discussing this tonight.

We will not be traveling to be with family and friends this year so we are going to do something very low-key at home just the two of us.

I am going for a healthier and easier menu which includes not a lot of cooking and not a lot of high calorie, high fat, high sugar laden foods that we usually partake of during the holiday.

That cranberry recipe sounds great...might just have to add that one to the menu as well...yummy!

I hope DH & I can stick with a good plan and shake up our usual traditions....somehow temptation always seems to find a way to rear its ugly head and I don't want to fall prey.

It looks like I will probably be spending Thanksgiving alone since I am now single (we always spent Thanksgiving with my ex’s family and Christmas with mine), my parents will be down in Florida and my brother is still in Hawaii. I suppose I could try and get myself invited somewhere, such as to my step-mother’s family’s place, but without her there it would be really weird for me. So for now my plan will be to cook myself a nice dinner (or perhaps order it from somewhere?) and enjoy some quiet time at home.

Christmas will be much more difficult. I will go to my parents’ and there will be a lot of food. I will try and eat sensibly and maybe even choose the dessert. I will also have a few holiday parties to attend and I will try and plan ahead how I will handle those. If I am bringing something I will make sure to bring healthy stuff. I will also make sure not to arrive TOO hungry. One of my weaknesses is finger foods, which you often find at such parties and I am more likely to eat a lot of them if I arrive really hungry. Luckily my office is small and we don’t get too many Christmas treats that I will have to worry about avoiding.

Thanksgiving I'm going to a friend's house. I am happy to not be cooking, because boy oh boy I love Thanksgiving food. It used to mean days of gorging on leftovers. This year, I will eat a nice plate of food and one dessert. I'm not expecting it to be too difficult to eat a maintenance amount of food. I will not bring leftovers home, except for 1 serving of turkey.

Christmas Eve I am going to a dinner party, and Christmas Day I am going to another dinner party. I'll probably eat a lot and get back on plan the next day. Is that terrible?

The holiday season itself poses a much lesser threat than it used to, as I work for myself and don't have the endless supply of treats from coworkers and vendors coming in every day. But. if I go to more holiday parties and the like, I will plan to not go too hungry, and to choose my food wisely.

Heather: You have a winning idea! What a super idea to wait until it's almost gone.

I think that I am going to have to stay away from the candy! Last year this was my MAJOR weakness. Also, I ate way too much candy on Halloween this year. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be a little different this year because my sister had gastric bypass surgery and can not eat a whole lot. So, hopefully this will work to my advantage!

I have been trying to tell myself that not buying candy is like saving money, and I can spend this money on other things later on.

I really wish I had control over the food I'll be eating at Thanksgiving, but since I'm going to be over at a stranger's house for dinner in Boston with my boyfriend, I am going to say that I will try and not gorge on anything (should be easier than usual... no mac and cheese or any other ooey gooey dairy filled/buttery Thanksgiving sides). When eating out when I'm in Boston, I'm going to pick the healthiest thing I can on the menu, and make adjustments to the dishes when possible (dressing on side for salad, no mayo, etc.).

For Christmas, which will probably be a lot harder considering my parents' house is the place where diets go to die, I plan on asking my mother to not put candy in my stocking this year and making Christmas dinner so that I can have healthy things... this has worked out pretty well in the past. It's just when my dad goes and brings home tons of store bought holiday desserts... that's what throws me off.

Above all else, I plan on being smaller than I am right now after the holiday season is over.

Thanksgiving will just be my husband and son. I planned on only making a turkey breast so that I don't have tons of leftovers. I was planning some low cal sides, using a diet type butter for my dressing, and no butter and skim milk in the mashed potatoes. I love that I get to control the cooking.

At Christmas time my sister and I usually get together for a day and make lots of cookies. This year I told her I won't make cookies. Everyone will be disappointed but I planned on buying just a dozen chocolate chip cookies and that is all. We don't really eat a meal on the eve so I will make a huge veggie tray and take that to my sisters. On Christmas we usually have a ham but since my hubby just found out he has high blood pressure, we won't have that. We will stick with turkey and lots of veggies again.

Like the rest of you, I too will be smaller by January than I am now!