As difffferent time zones pass through their Christmas festivities best wishes to all in keeping to their plans for today. I had a planned increase in my allowance today and I stuck within that. Even more crazy, I allowed myself a special candy bar for my dessert today and because I was not hungry I didn‘t eat it! That is truly unheard of that I‘d put something down in my Fitday then not have it just becasue I can.

The day is far from over yet, and both my family members who were warned to give me anything but chocolate, provided with multiple altternaatives, then even told if htey must get my chocolates please please get a particular sort that is quality rather than quantitiy, they both gave me giant boxes of chocolates! So there‘s a long way to go before I can call it a done deal, but so far so good, it‘s 3pm here and dinner is over.

Good luck to all.

Kind of weird here. Had very little sleep, due to work (late finish, early start); and worries about the oldest dog, who had a turn; and a hijjus sugar hangover. Also mother not feeling too great. So we had dry toast and tea for lunch, and just ate some plain boiled ham for dinner. I feel fine now but still worried about dog and mother.

Rosinante, our Karen is probably feeling the same way. What marathon Christmas is for women of the cloth! I hope dog and Mum improve after a day of abstemious eating.

Rose, I have the same problem. Friends know I'm diabetic, know I am overweight, know I'm always dieting and I STILL get sugar gifts. Good for you sticking to your plan and even avoiding a Fitday extra. Hang in but enjoy the season.

My non-food treat for today is about to happen. I always soak in a hot tub and read my new book on Christmas day. After that I am taking the doggage to visit the nursing home (lots of folks have NO visitors on this Day ) and then will be going for dinner with very dear friends who fold me into their family.

Enjoy the remains of the day and remember this is just the first day of Christmas. ... and a partridge in a pear tree!

It's only 10AM here, but for breakfast I made a sausage, egg and cheese casserole (Atkins friendly) for the family and my mom threw together some breakfast potatoes for them to eat with it, not me. I got some sugar-free candy (the reese's are SO GOOD! You can't even tell the difference!) and had one sugar-free peanut butter cup and one sugar-free jolly rancher. In a couple of hours I'll probably make an Atkins shake and a salad, dinner I'm not so sure about but hopefully I'll be eating at home so I can just grab some leftover roast from last night and a salad.

I'm going to my aunt's house later today to receive presents from my extended family, but they all know I'm dieting and doing really well so I doubt they would give me food-related gifts.

We always served gingerbread scones, apple sausage and creamed eggs on toast for Christmas breakfast.

This year, to be South Beach friendlier, we served sugar-free whole wheat ginger spice cookies, turkey apple sausage, and skipped the eggs on toast entirely.

Delicious and on plan.

The snow means we'll miss out on going to visit friends for dinner, but we have shrimp and left over breakfast planned for dinner.

Merry Christmas Chicks!! Christmas is really my favorite time of year but I am finding that I kind of lacked the spirit this year that I usually feel. I think its because of the pressure of my college exams and my family is sick. Poor hubby slept all morning with a flu and the kids are a little under the weather. It still turned out to be a pretty good Christmas for the kids though. It is the last year that Santa will visit us, as the kids are getting older (8 and 10) and have figured out that he is probably not real . I think they just went with it this year for the extra gifts LOL.

I plan to be off plan this holiday . After going low calorie for over a year and losing most of my weight, I needed a break. I have been slightly off plan for two weeks now but I haven't noticed any weight gain ...yet. I did overdue the sweets yesterday and I felt sick from it, lesson learned. Today is a nice meal with the family then leftovers tomorrow. I am officially calorie counting and back on track monday. I bet I will have to move my ticker up a pound or so and I will have a couple hard days when I get back on track but I really don't regret it at all. I just needed the break

one thing to remember about the sugar gift, people buy them because they love you, and they probably don't think about it when they buy it. I'll give you an example. I had a very good friend, who I knew liked cats. I bought her a nice stationary set with pads and pens with kittens thinking it was a great gift. After I gave it to her, it totally dawned on me, and I kid you not, that she could never use them. She has cerebral palsy, and does not have enough control of her limbs to be able to write! (HELLO ME! WHY GET HER A STATIONARY SET!!!!!????) Why? Because I knew she liked cats, and I would like a stationary set, and in my mind she is not a girl who can't write, but my good friend. I realized my mistake, and felt like ****, but she wouldn't let me replace them, because it was the thought that counted. People do not always see us as we see ourselves. Next time you get chocolates, expensive, or homemade, just remember the thought. Perhaps that friend doesn't see you as their "diabetic friend", or their "overweight friend", but simply their "friend". Now if you have mastered a little self control in this difficult journey, then enjoy a piece of chocolate every few days, and think of the love it was bought in (I usually keep my chocolate in the freezer, I finished a Christmas Chocolate orange last Halloween... LOL), if you know it will be an unbearable temptation, then appreciate the sentiment, and have a taste then give it to someone else to enjoy. Either way, lets not fault our friends for trying... (Unless you know they are purposefully trying to sabotage you, in that case, key their car... LOL (JUST KIDDING! )

I'm okay. My family sometimes stresses me out because of their eating, but I brought my own food this time around and insisted on eating modified versions of their food.

The only thing is that I did eat Godiva chocolates and homemade chocolate chip cookies with grain sweetened chocolate chips (the healthy version, no butter, vegan, whole wheat pastry flour).

I'm sure I could do better. I wanted to bike ride today but I didn't. I don't know what I'll do for dinner. Either way, I'm going to be over 1500 calories, which is my allotted amount.

I stuck with my budgeted points at my mom's and actually weighed less when I came home than I did when I left this morning. Now I'm having sushi. And it is so good.

There was a minimal amount of bread and cheese, which is usually my down fall and since I had to drive home I just had a glass of wine. I'm having water with my sushi instead of beer since I don't think the beer will be worth the points.

Big snow storm coming tomorrow, so maybe some APs earned shoveling snow or snow shoeing.

I have splurged on desserts the last 4 days, and had a pretty big Christmas dinner tonight. The cravings are going to be fierce the next 3 or 4 days. I am prepared, and TOTALLY COMMITTED to being back on plan starting NOW.

Shannon - I really admire your realistic and positive attitude. You made the decision to enjoy this holiday and are fully committed to getting back onto your program despite the dreaded cravings. Hopefully they will quickly pass and you can continue reaching toward your goal.

I find a lot of comfort and resolve from what several posters here say - 'QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION!'' You Go Girl!!

Thanks, newbie, we are all figuring this out one day at a time, aren't we? I have always fought against that "all or nothing" mentality -- either I'm going totally gung-ho in every way, or I'm in an all-out continuous eating frenzy. I am really happy about the way this holiday is going for me. Yes, I have over-indulged on my aunt's 7 layer bars. But when the rest of them ordered pizza for dinner, I had a salad (followed by another 7 layer bar). When everyone ordered buttered popcorn at the movie theater, I had a little baggie of my own low-cal from home. Then ate a 7 layer bar when we got back. Today at the work potluck, I went down to the cafeteria and had my usual salad and chicken and turned my back on literally hundreds of meatballs, sweets, cheesy potatoes, etc. And when I was done working, went to Christmas dinner and had myself a nice splurge with family.

In the past, I would have just indulged in ALL of it, or, less likely, not had anything off plan at all. This time I have really picked and chosen what might be most enjoyable, probably gained a pound or 2, and am going in to January feeling like winter is the perfect time to really commit and focus -- what else is there to do? When spring comes around, NO WAY am I going to be wishing I would have spent the winter getting closer to my goal. No WAY!!!

I planned to be off plan today knowing I'd go over my budgeted calories. Traditionally my mom makes orange sweet rolls for xmas morning. She asked if she could still make them which was SO awesome. I said yes and had some.

We also had a traditional turkey with all the trimmings. I ate what I liked without going crazy.

For dessert my mom makes lots of pies. She didn't want me to be left out so she made a sugar free fresh strawberry pie. I felt very loved.

We are visiting from out of town and will be here through new years day. It will be very very hard for me to suddenly jump back on plan with all the leftovers and they way my mom cooks. But ive just decided I'm okay with a pause in weight loss for a week and will try very hard not to stray too much.

Had a great Christmas! Like you, Rose, I also marked things down in Fitday that I wound up not eating--who knew that could happen to me?

I decided that maintenance calories (or what calculators estimate are my maintenance calories) would be my goal for the day; I've actually stayed about 300 calories lower than that because I'm just plain full. There'll almost undoubtedly be a "bounce" on the scale for the next few days, but it won't last long because most of the gain won't be fat; I haven't eaten enough to gain significant fat.

The real test will be how I react to my usual foods tomorrow when I'm right back on plan. After Thanksgiving, I felt a little deprived for a few days afterward until the excess sugary and/or extra-fatty stuff was out of my system. I already know I can deal with that, though, as I've done it before.

I survived Christmas! I'm on a low-carb plan but don't like turkey or ham, so I brought some leftover roast from last night's dinner. My aunt didn't have salad, so I brought 2 cups of salad from home and 2 tablespoons of Italian dressing. I indulged in green bean casserole, which is my favorite, and luckily probably the best thing for me on their menu!

For dessert, my aunt had cheesecake, apple pie, lemon meringue pie, chocolate cake, and maybe a few other things. All I had was one little taste of cheesecake--it wasn't even that great! I had 2 sugar-free reese's peanut butter cups and 5 sugar-free jolly ranchers.