Holiday damage control.
 

Well I was doing so good before the dreaded Thanksgiving holiday rolled around. Because of "Black Friday" (as in most of my family worked the night of Thanksgiving.) we had out thanksgiving dinner the Monday before. Then black friday hit and my BF and i had the most stressful three days. (the day before the day of and the day after...we work at wal-mart btw) Sad to say my diet when to pot. And I had a pregnancy scare when my cycle was two days late.
Not that I wouldn't mind finally having a baby, but I'm not at the weight I want to be and I was at a holiday party where I did drink pretty heavy for the first time in my life. That's not the best way to start bringing a life into the world. talk about stress...oiy.

Damages: 10.5 pounds gained. :yikes:

I'm confident that I can drop most of it pretty well this coming week. I know a lot of it is from eating junk, and I just have to start back on my clean eating too flush it out of my system.

Christmas is 22 days away and already the pies and cookies are starting to roll out from all those people that must bake the entire holiday season. The break room at work is littered with glittery cookies and red and green cupcakes and I can just smell the sugar when ever I go in there. (funny how once you eat clean you can just taste the sickening sweetness in the air when your next to stuff like that.)

But I pledge that starting today I'll start back on my clean eating full force, as if this blip in the road never happened and I'll be back to my 242 pounds (2 pounds away from mini goal!) within three weeks, if not sooner.

Anyone else have damage control to do? :dizzy:

The hard part about the holidays is all of the food around on all the days that aren't even holidays! Crazy, isn't it? But today is Wed, Dec 2nd. Not a holiday, unless it's your birthday. So.....the sweets might be there but they really shouldn't be. I mean, would there be a bunch of cupcakes out on April 19th for no good reason?

It is possible to navigate this landmine called the holiday season. I use the same strategies I use the rest of the year: planning, consistency, discipline, getting right back to plan if I eat something junky.

good luck!

:hug: I feel ya- I went from 207 to 213 after this holiday! WAY too much stress and too much food around :(

Now it's back to clean eating AND trying to not let the pattern repeat itself on Christmas! I'm 210.5 today so that is definitely a good sign.

:hug: for all of us. I am totally with you girls.

I was at 215 on 11/19 -today 217.8. Monday I was 220+!!! And I don't know about you girls but the crap food we get at the office is my downfall. Last week alone (which was only 3 work days) we had 3 apple tarts, 1 apple pie, dozen donuts, etc...

BUT! It's over as of this past Monday. We're all back on the wagon and I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to end Dec w/a lower number than I started..

im with you chickies ... im so ashamed to admit .... 12 pounds up .... thanksgiving was a disaster black friday was a disaster saturday was all the left overs from thanks giving sunday was my cousins 21st bday so you know we had tons of food ... and scince then i havent managed to get back on track ::sighs:: hoping for a good tomorow ...

btw working in any retail enviroment is stressful ... i can see how diet slip ups happen there .... much less walmart i think id shoot myself if i worked at walmart on blackfriday AND i was on a diet the sheer volume of work would kill me .... id feel entitled to some extra food lolz

Tell me about it Chunkey Munkey...I had to suck down energy drinks to survive Friday and Saturday. And I hate energy drinks because they always give me headaches a few hours later, and I just got off my caffeine fix the week before.

I think people bake WAY more than they thought they needed and end up bringing their basket of sinful goodies to work to sit in our break-room. Most days it's easy to ignore it... some days though, when my energy is lagging I really feellike sucking down a slice of pie or cookies or whatnot. I have yet to give in to that sort of stuff at work, but at home... forget it. all the leftovers from Thanksgiving finally went away... sadly because we ate it all. *sigh*

Planning, planning and more planning. Have healthy snacks with you. Make yourself some rules. Make yourself some definite NO's. Turn a blind eye to those other foods. They're not meant for you, they're not intended for you. Make them out of the question - no ifs ands or buts.

I agree with rockinrobin. Just say no!! And don't bring those leftovers home!! If you cooked at your house, send them away or throw them away!! A waste yes, but better in the trash or down the garbage disposal than on your body.

Kinda late for thanksgiving but make a plan for Christmas. Tell yourself you're not having those bad things and stick to it. Easier said than done but it can be done and you'll feel better for it.

Yeah, Thanksgiving really sent me for a loop too. I just haven't been able to get back on track until today. It was just so NICE eating what I wanted again, in quantities that were filling, even as I saw the scale going up. Hopefully I can turn it around now, though.

two pounds down today. 8 pounds to go. huzzah for detoxing.

You know, not that holiday food is around all the time, but it really beat it in my brain how this is a lifestyle change. I know that once i reach my goal, i can't go back to eating like i did before. i will always have to watch what I eat and take the creeping scale as a warning. But I also know, that birthdays and holidays only come around a few times a year, and as long as i eat great the rest of the time, then I should be okay.
Sometimes it makes me nervous about maintaining. Sometimes I will get relaxed about my weight loss when I hit a certain point, even though it's no where close to my goal.

I'm in! I gained 6 lbs over TGiving. Now I'm down a couple, so I still have 4 more to go. Le Sigh.

I was on plan with exercise yesterday. Ate a little too much but that's ok. I have a plan for today. :)

Good luck, chickies!! :hug:

That's the thing. We say to ourselves, "well Thanksgiving is just ONE day". But what about Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, VAlentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Family birthdays, Anniverseries, Weddings, Labor Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Super bowl party, social functions, business events, vacations and on and on and on. That's a heckuva lot more then just ONE DAY. All of those ONE DAYS really add up.

Each one of those days can't be a free for all. I like to look at my social calender for the month ahead and DECIDE BEFORE HAND which events I will splurge at and which one's I will stay firmly on track for. And having made the decision ahead of time, I enjoy each event equally - the ones where I splurge - and the ones where I don't.

rockinrobin, that is an excellent point! And a good strategy. It's a really slippery slope to use the "just one day" approach too often.

The point is, everything we eat counts, whether we decide it's a "special day" or not.

Jay

I totally agree, it is SO much harder to lose weight during the holidays. My job brings in so much junk food anyway, and once the season rolls around our kitchen is stocked with it. For instance, yesterday someone brought in tons of homemade cookies, then she brought in a homemade pomegranite cheese cake. Ohhhhh, it is SO hard to resist. But I had to recommit myself after Thanksgiving because I had a bad week, so I resisted.

Good for your for recommiting. Don't be too hard on yourself, many of us are in the same boat as you. Just do the best you can to get though it, and you will be fine. :hug:

I am definitely with you. I gained over the holiday and now this week it has been my daughter's birthday, we are traveling 3 hours away to a memorial service tomorrow, and then helping my son move on Sunday. In 10 days I am having back surgery and then it will be Christmas. Hopefully Jan 1 I will be able to start walking for exercise again.

Great point about all the holidays RockinRobin, i forgot most of those. being a overnight worker, I miss most of the "one day" holidays. Though I do sneak into the Halloween candy bag once or twice.
But it always seems as though Christmas lasts from the day after thanksgiving all the way to Christmas day. close to like 30 days of cookies and pies everywhere. And it's hard to resist those cute little gingerbread men.

Now that I think about it, I haven't been to a birthday with cake and ice cream in a very long time. feels like it's been 2 or 3 years. Which is good for me i guess. My family is older now, we're all grown up and not many of us have kids yet so most birthdays are a gift and maybe a really good dinner. @_@ This year I'll make everyone a healthy yet yummy birthday dinner. lol

Status: one pound down. 7 more to go.

I am going to be cooking a lot of dishes and bringing them to other people's houses. I don't care if they don't eat them .. and i have vowed to stick to my plan. But I also won't deprive myself .. if there is something I really want I will have a SMALL portion

YES I feel your pain! :hug: LOL @ "April 19th Cupcakes" midwife :rofl:

My yearly downslide starts w/ Thanksgiving, then my b-day, then Christmas season. No reason except lack of self-control and planning; however I must allow myself a little pity party that I am in retail foodservice, and do not get sanctioned time to eat during work.

I have been deluding myself about portions and treats and am already up some :eek: I worked out for all but 3 days of November and every day of December so far. Since I weighed myself yesterday and saw the gain I now see the truth and that helps.

good luck to all of us, and kudos to those that are seeing this season as just another month, say April ;)

I was thinking about this thread today and I did NOT have the huge daily cookie that I've been having lately! :carrot:

Woot! :carrot: Way to go Vermontmom!

Kudos to those of you who have the self-control to say no to the cookies, holiday meals, etc. and stay on plan during the holiday season. For the rest of us who either don't have the self-control or choose to allow ourselves to enjoy the treats during this time of year, I think it is still important to plan and set limits and goals for this time so it doesn't become a free for all.

For one, I am simply trying to maintain my weight. I am willing to forgo any weight loss for this entire month in exchange for allowing myself the treats I desire. This includes Christmas cookies and eating more at the special dinners around the holidays. That being said, I am also trying to balance it out with some light eating days to compensate for some of the calories I am eating on the splurges. These are usually weekdays when no special events are planned. Also, if there is a special dinner on a certain day, I will try to eat a light breakfast and lunch to again allow more calories for dinner. Eating out more during Christmas shopping, meeting friends for a holiday lunch, there are more and more of these days coming up so I know I am either going to dread each meal or just enjoy myself and pay the price later. I know once January hits I will be back to my normal routine and will spend the first few weeks taking of the couple pounds gained during this season. And that's OK, for me.

At the moment my father has a huge plate of christmas cookies sitting on the kitchen table right now. They were a gift and has at least 6 or 7 different kinds of cookies on it. But I'm fighting the urge to snatch one. Thankfully I go to work in a hour so I'll be away from the temptation...at least till morning.

BUT!...I got recruited by a friend at work (who's much, much older) to come to her house with my bf to help her decorate all her chistmas cookies on saturday...

Get this....she makes 3 batches of cookies....each batch is...8 dozen cookies. :faint:

Her rule is... if you break the cookies... you get to eat them...I know my bf will help us out until he's full. I won't refuse to come because she's a older woman with arthritis in her hands and it's difficult for her to do so many on her own. I figure I have enough self control to not eat any...I'll just try really, really hard not to break any lol

Hi everyone!
I just wanted to give a update.
the other day my weight was 242.5 which means that I've made it back to my "Before Thanksgiving" weight
However today (and last night) my scale seems stuck at 244- 245.5 and it's driving me nuts. I know we're suppose to make room for fluctuations and to expect it but it still doesn't make it any easier. I'm trying not to get discouraged by two days weight gain even though I've kept on my diet.

In other news....there was a Christmas party at work today. I think I did pretty good. I walked past all the sweets and the mash potatoes and gravy and the roast beef. I instead got a roasted chicken leg/thigh and steamed broccoli and cauliflower. I ate only the leg and shreaded up about half the chicken thigh for my salad and added the steamed veggie combo to it. I didn't even have a free soda or the rolls or anything. My only cheat was the chicken. :carrot: I'm proud of myself.

Way to go Sakai!! That's incredible determination. I've been going up and down too, but no worries you'll see a decrease soon enough. :hug:

:carrot::carrot::carrot:

you know what if someone gives me goodies to take home, I disperse them...or if there was a plate of cookies on my table in plain sight..they would go in a container on top of the fridge....I would let everyone know where they are, but I would definitely want them away from anything associated with my day-to-day eating.

I bought this pack of archway gingerbread cookies. And it is so nice to have them with my tea. I know the cs per cookie, 45 cs. So I feel in control. those homemade things, i do not know...so I would feel overwhelmed and out of control eating just one.

Omg, sakai, that chicken salad you made sounds delicious. I would have taken a spoonful of the other goodies, and focused on larger portions of the healthy stuff!

I bombed on Thanksgiving, but even that wasn't so bad. I'm proud of myself for being disciplined and motivated this holiday season. I'm trying to adopt healthy, balanced, long-term lifestyle changes instead of going on a strict spartan diet and binging later, and inevitably going back to my old habits and gaining weight. I want long-term changes not short-term. The holidays are just one small struggle for me, in the bigger picture.

I fill myself up with good, healthy low calorie food and I take a few bites from things that I want to taste. I'm also slowly changing my palate. I know this holiday season would be WAY harder for me if I still loved sweets as much as I used to. I started reducing my sugar intake several months ago, and I've gotten to a point now where I don't crave sweets, even when they are in front of me. I used to put 5-6 tablespoons of sugar in my coffee/tea, now I put only 1 tablespoon in my tea/coffee. It took more than half a year for me to tame my sweet tooth. I also don't want my food as creamy and rich as I used to. Sweet, creamy, rich foods are everywhere during the holidays, and they are very hard to resist if that is the kind of food you love. Of course I still love rich foods (who doesn't?) but not so much that I need to eat a lot of it in order to be satisfied. In the past I just wouldn't be satisfied with a few bites here and there.

I've lost about 7 lbs since Thanksgiving, but the holiday season isn't over yet. I'm planning on continuing my habits, and not giving up.

Update:

Okay.. you know how the scale was stuck at 244-245 for a few days and was driving me nuts? well I lost 4 pounds because....

I got food poisoning

In fact. 75% of the associates at my job (day, evening and night shifts) got food poisoning from the christmas dinner. it was a catered dinner. We (the night shift) just thought that they gave us a meal that was left out all day long...but we found out that those in the morning shift who ate the moment the food got there got sick.

My BF was so sick he was living in the bathroom and couldn't keep anything down. So he was too tired and weak to work last night. Though I was a bit queasy and sore in the ab area from all the cramps, I went to work.

-_- i didn't want to lose the weight by food poisoning....We should get a complimentary bottle of pepto.

^ ^ The hardest way! :fr:

I hope you feel better soon! Gosh, that's terrible. The company should ask for their money back.

Jay

Food poisoning? Well that's one way to drop some pounds. Yuck.

I hope you're feeling better and get back to losing in a more pleasant manner. :)

Feeling much better now. ^.^ Was able to eat normally yesterday so I think i'm back on track.

yeah it was pretty terrible. Even some managers were out of commission. But I think it's pretty much blown over now.

So now I'm shifting gears to Christmas dinner. I don't want a repeat of Thanksgiving. Lots of fresh ingredients, veggies and such to help offset the fact we're having duck for Christmas. And I think I'm going to send all the leftovers home with our guests so that they arn't laying about the house tempting me for a week like thanksgiving leftovers were.

Anyone else have Christmas dinner plans?