Hi all,

I've been doing okay so far, foodwise. I'm trying to decide how to handle Christmas Day.

I'll be cooking. I will be cooking for friends and family who want all the usual dishes. I'm going to make what they've asked for.

So far, I've negotiated every Holiday obstacle. I've not had one homemade cookie. I haven't eaten any of the chocolate/treats that my students gave me. I did not even have one bite of anything unhealthy at the staff carry in. I've stayed on the straight and narrow. I'm pleased about that.

But.

At this point, I actually think that I psychologically need to allow myself to eat on Christmas Day. I *think* my strategy is going to be that I do not cheat even one day before, and not even one day after, but.. that on Christmas day itself... I'm going to eat what I want. I haven't yet decided about portion size. At first, I told myself that I was going to allow myself to eat as much as I want, of whatever I wanted. Now, since I've had a few successes foodwise this month, I'm wondering if I should back off a little. Maybe, I can eat small portions of whatever I want instead of large portions? I'm not sure yet. I'm working on it.

I'm actually asking because I wonder what everyone else is doing? I'm hoping maybe someone else will have a better idea than mine, or that I'll be inspired to behave better because all of you are! *smile*

So. Christmas Day strategies... what's yours?

Best wishes to all of us!

On Christmas, I'm going to try very hard to indulge, but not over-indulge. In other words, I'm going to pay very close attention to what I'm eating and eat only enough so that I'm satisfied. Usually on Christmas, I'll get pestered with a ton of chocolates and I know that, after a certain amount of sweets, my body will start craving 'real' food--vegetables, fruits, that kind of thing. So I'm going to listen to it and try not to think about it too much or feel too badly if I eat more sweets than planned.

I'm going to eat whatever I want, but not over-stuff myself. There's usually so much food that I can't have more than a spoonful of each thing anyway. I'll also load up my plate with salad to get in some veggies (and there are some delicious salads!) and cut down on other stuff.

The desserts will be my issue. I'll have a little of whatever I want, though. I'm trying to stay on plan until then (I have a party coming up that'll be a little of an exception, but not much).

thankfully i'm not spending christmas with the fambam this year. gas is waaay too expensive. my dad's a diabetic, so he can't have any sweets - i don't think i'm going to have too much trouble navigating through this one.

if you're going to splurge, you should still track the calories. that might help you know when to stop. it certainly helps me!

new years eve is my biggest concern. maybe i'll make it my cheat day.

I think there's a way to find a happy medium between allowing yourself to relax a little bit and enjoy the holiday and eating everything you run across.

Ask yourself what you most want from the day. Is there are particular food you only get once a year? Maybe a bit of that is your splurge. Or maybe you just want to allow yourself to try a bit of everything. So then your plan is to fill your plate once, but not go back.

My advice would be to ask yourself what's most important to you, make a plan for what you're going to eat and allow that. You get to both make decisions and maintain control.

A bit of advice though... don't let alcohol be much of your plan or you could lose self-control easily.

I hope you get to enjoy your day!

Free-for-all most likely as it's going to be a double-whammy birthday/Christmas celebration with my also-dieting-dessert-loving boyfriend; however I need to watch it because I'm flying from Japan to Germany on the 26th and I don't want to be bloated/sick on the plane!

I'm cooking, as usual, it's my main cooking of the year, and I enjoy doing it.

Our Christmas is quite stretched-out, timewise (even more this year if the weather deteriorates in the UK, even more if SIL can't get back from Maine). So Christmas Day it's just me and my mother. She has quite wobbly digestion, and yet persists in eating stuff that disagrees with her, so I try and make stuff that looks festive, tastes great, won't screw with my diet too much and won't wreck her digestion.
Same Boxing Day.
Monday, God willing, we have the Christmas Dinner proper, in the evening.
Tuesday is the day when we're having (a very strapping) Afternoon Tea as our main meal, and I get the carb re-feed ~ if I dare!
Wednesday all the meals are - pick your own leftovers!!
Thursday, they all leave.

I say no thanks to sweets and chocolate.
At meals I major on protein and tons of veggies.
For desserts, I have a sliver of whatever it is.

I know to some it might sound a bit unfestive and dull but it really is my pleasure to stick as tightly to Plan as I can.

I will indulge a bit on Christmas dinner, eating a spoonful of just about everything, probably. Where I plan on really making a difference is NOT snacking away on all the plates of goodies/appetizers before the meal is served. Then immediately back on plan the next day. I know from the Thanksgiving experience this year that I will be crave-y and hungry for a few days after a splurge, but I also know now from experience that it will go away. I'm not worried about the actual calories consumed that day, but getting right back to it after -- that's always been my downfall! THAT'S where I have to really dig in. And the more I make Christmas Day a free-for-all, the harder it will be for me.

This is why I love Weight Watchers, I'll have my weekly points and activity points so I can indulge while still be on my plan.

And because I'm taking some days off around Christmas, I can go on some nice long walks.

Usually Christmas morning I go to my sister's and she makes cappuccino and her husband serves Port (that yummy dessert wine.) I'm going to offer to make my Pumpkin Oats for people for breakfast.

I will probably use most of my WPs on bread & cheese and wine, since those are what I love and have to keep out of my house. But there will also be a lot of fruit and veggies for me to snack on and I think we are having brisket for dinner. I'm also going to bring some seltzer water and make some mocktails for people who want a break from the wine.

We aren't a big cookie family, and I'm the heaviest one. There aren't a ton of desserts or heavy foods.

It's not holiday over indulging that got me to this weight, it was many many days of mindless eating.

I was thinking adapting about my Thanksgiving plan, although, for various reasons (extended travel, more family, kids around which means a LOT more candy/sweets in my family) Christmas is going to be much more challenging.

Christmas Day, and Christmas Day only, will be "off-plan" in the sense that I'm going to allow myself to eat what I want, within these boundaries:
- Do I really, really want it?
- Is it only available at this time of year?
- Will it make me feel (physically) ill to indulge?
- No bingeing or crazy portion sizes.
- Everything gets tracked and counted.

I've actually already planned my Christmas dinner, because our family pretty much sticks to our traditions. There are parts of the meal I've never enjoyed, so I'm fine to skip them. I'll make my own veggies, too, just for me - I did that at TG and no one cared.

My big splurge will be to have 2 of my mom's desserts that she only makes at the holidays - a yummy pie called Mystery Pie, and dessert bars called Magic Cookie bars (some people call them 7 layer bars). I'm going to have one or two pieces of each and not feel guilty.

Then, December 26, I'm pretty sure I'll be very happy to go back to my non-junk food ways!

Let me please counsel anyone who is going to go off-plan for Christmas to have some indulgence, just go a bit easy to make sure you don't make yourself ill! I went out for a meal with my mum a while ago and figured I'd try to make the best choice I could manage but not worry overly much. Result? Ow ow ow bellyache! Go steady, enjoy, but remember your body has got out of practice processing fatty foods and may not be that keen to see them again.

I am lucky in that I hate Christmas food and always have, there is no temptation at all to have a Christmas dinner, any alcohol, any xmas pud, it's all stuff I can't bear. I always find I can't get what I'd really think of as a celebration because people are too busy pushing xmas things, you can't buy plain cookies because it's all chocolate ones (yuk) you can't buy simple cakes cos it's all rich fruit ones (yuk) all that sort of thing. I shall be having something not a bit Christmassy and everyone else can eat as much turkey as they want, the less that comes near me the better - horrible stuff.

That's how I felt over my somewhat indulgent food choices at my staff party Friday! I ate so many more processed carbs and sugar (in addition to a little alcohol at a TGIF after) than I usually do, and I don't think my body knew how to deal anymore. The feeling of a sugar crash was HUGE...so much worse than it used to be, and my digestion still isn't 100% recovered.

This Christmas, I'm going over to a friend's family, and I'm pretty darn happy about it. My reasoning is somewhat horrible though...I love, love, love these people, but they are less-than-fantastic cooks Dry turkey and ham, instant mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes from a can with more sugar and marshmallows...these things are not hard for me to turn down It was requested that I bring a caramel apple cheesecake for dessert, and I'm sure I'll have a tiny slice of that, but otherwise, I'll just be eating enough to be polite ~

I'm not going to be with family, so there is less stress involved and I don't have to worry about going overboard with the foods.

I am going to have "Jewish Christmas" with some Jewish friends of mine. We are going for dim sum and then to a movie

While dim sum food isn't exactly the healthiest, you can get some pretty good options and I'll definitely budget my calories for it.

Truth be told, my mom doesn't make any food for Christmas dinner that I like. I can't remember the last time I ate any Christmas dinner. So I'll probably make a dinner I'd eat any other day of the year. I might bake some cookies for everyone and have a couple but they'll be budgeted for in my calorie count.

I'm a bit worried about this. My husband son and I are going to my family's place like we always do. We stay through the new year. It is a huge food free for all. My mom is a major food pusher. The puts out major spreads THEN dinner. I think I'm going to indulge a bit on christmas day but trying not to fall into old habbits is hard when I'm there.

I'll for sure go to the store to buy snacks that are good for me.