Forgive me if someone has already posted something like this. Just wondering what you all are planning for holiday feast days? I'm calorie counting, aiming for 1200. My plan is to allow 1600 for a few select days like Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Day (my family doesn't really celebrate on New Years Eve). What I'm worried about is that I will be spending about a week at my parents and I don't want to do 1600 or possibly more every day that week. My mom and dad eat their fare share and tend to feed me well. I don't want to make them think or say I am restricting too much either. Thoughts?

I am calorie counting and staying on plan irregardless of the holidays.

However, your plan seems total reasonable. Good luck!

I also calorie count. My normal range is 1200-1300. I plan to indulge on the 24th and 25th but not to the point of eating until I'm uncomfortably full. I'll drop my calories a bit lower than usual for a couple of days after.

I am staying OP until the 24th and also the 25th. I have allowed myself 400 extra calories for each of these days. This way, I know what I'm looking at, I can have something "extra", and then get right back on plan.

We had two Thanksgiving celebrations this year. My plan for both involved calorie cycling (so that I ate fewer calories the day before, allowing the rest for the next day). I also fasted on the day of Thanksgiving until the big meal. This was actually pretty manageable. I think I will do a repeat for the December holidays as well.

All good ideas. Moving Forward, did that work for you? Did you gain any weight?

No weight gain! I basically held steady through the week and then started losing again the next week. I'm going to do this again at Christmas. It takes some planning, but I was then able to indulge guilt free.

I'm glad that worked for you. It wouldn't work for me as experience has shown me that my willpower is no match for my hunger. I've recently learned that eating slightly MORE on the day of a big celebratory dinner is better for me. That way I'm able to exercise restraint and not do as much damage. So that's what I plan on doing during the holidays: have an extra snack a couple of hours before big dinners or parties.

F.

Normally I eat at a slight deficit in the days/weeks leading up to big events/special occasions/holidays where I know I'll be eating a lot more. That way, I just eat with reckless abandon and don't usually have any permanent gain, aside from some bloat and water weight for a few days.

This time around however, I am taking a different approach as I'm trying to trim up a bit instead of just maintain. My plan for Christmas is to eat as I normally would up until the holiday dinner(s) and definitely limit my portion sizes during the meals.

I'll also be making sure not to miss any workouts, not to bring any snacks or leftover treats/alcohol into the house, and not drinking any sugary or fatty cocktails. I *might* treat myself to one coffee with Bailey's in it, but I'll measure out the Bailey's instead of just pouring myself a huge cup and adding a splash of coffee! hahaha

My plan is to eat mindfully. Enjoy the food. Not eat things I don't totally love. But I will not be calorie counting on Christmas Eve, or Christmas day. I have to allow some sort of break for myself.

Thanksgiving was a disaster, I way overate and it was awful. I was just shoving food and not thinking about it. While it's normal to overeat on days like that, it wasn't just that for me that day, it was a binge and that made it all so very unenjoyable.

But the thought of count calories every single day for the rest of my life isn't realistic for me at all. I count for a while, then take breaks form it. And I think that is a maintainable way for me.

As far as what other people think though, I couldn't care less. People become the food police real quick with me. It's not their body, it's not their choice. No one seemed to care when I shoved my face and became obese, it's really none of their business now that I've lost weight and try to watch what I eat. Not to say it doesn't make me self conscious sometimes, but I don't let it dictate how I eat around people.

I'll be doing what I did for Thanksgiving - count my calories all week, up through the 24th, then on Christmas day no counting and just eat what I want. I will resume counting calories on the 26th. For the week of Thanksgiving I lost a pound ( a little less than usual ) but I still lost.