Im just sitting here pouting and wondering why I started my weight loss 2 months before the holidays? What was I thinking? Im having such a HARD time staying on track and staying motivated! Im eating whatever I want and I just cant seem to push myself to go to the gym. It wouldve been much easier to start AFTER the holidays! However....I will be here now AND after the holidays and will just consider it a head start!

I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable holiday season!....Now, back to work everyone! (And special Kuddos to those who never got off track! lol)

~Veronica

Hey, just think you're ahead of everyone else who will wait until Jan 1 to start.

Just keep pressing forward. This is my first holiday season after losing weight and I thought I'd do better than I actually did. LOL! Not that I did poorly but (according to my mental timeline) I should have been in maintenance now. I'm not. Oh well... I'm still ahead of those who are waiting to start. So are you!

Keep going!

You and I started at about the same time, and you have lost TWICE as much as I have!

Anyways. I'm honestly glad that I started before the holidays. I was toying around with it for most of October, but I got serious with it at the beginning of November. I was just getting into a work out and meal planning routine, and then BAM! Thanksgiving. But I'm glad because I got through the holidays and still lost weight. What a huge challenge! Even if you gained some pounds back, just get right back on the wagon and get back on track...that in itself is an accomplishment.

This weight loss and eventual maintenance thing is a permanant thing for me. I'm not doing it just for a season or for a few months. I'm not going to be on a diet this year and then I'll get to enjoy it like my old self next year. I'd have to face the holiday challenge sooner or later, so I did it, I lived through it, I'm still going strong with weight loss, and I don't have to do it again until next year, hehe.

My biggest challenge over the holidays was actually not my own willpower, but the pressure to eat eat eat. Quite honestly, I could have eaten a turkey and ham salad while everyone feasted on mashed potatos and stuffing and everything else, but people kept insisting that I eat a "real meal." I just kept my portions small, but sampled everything, and ate very slowly so I was done and satisfied when everyone else was finishing their second plates. I also ate very light for the rest of the day and dodged taking home leftovers, haha. So I don't feel too guilty. I ate more that normal and things I wouldn't normally eat, but it was a one day planned thing and I don't feel bad about it.

Haha, I started mine like two weeks before the holidays, so I feel your pain. xD I've been loose in my calorie counting the whole past week, and I haven't exercised at all (besides running around shopping, that is) since last week. But it's okay! It's the holidays!

I find it easier, rather than stressing about calories and exercise during the holidays, to just watch your portions. Instead of trying to estimate how many grams of whatever are in your mother's homemade potatoes, just eat them, but don't eat a lot. Fill up on lean meat and veggies, then go for the comfort stuff. ;3 My goal for this week is to maintain my current weight instead of losing any more.

Anyway, good luck, I know it's hard. Especially when your relatives keep giving you candy and cookies... <.<;;;

I think that it makes sense to look at it the other way - if you're finding it hard to stay on track during the holidays (aren't losing what you'd like to be), imagine how much you'd have gained during the holidays if you'd thought "I'll just eat whatever I want in November and December, and will start fresh January 1." Even pre-holiday "failures" may not be so much failure, as a hard to measure success (you have no way of knowing if you would have otherwised gained - or how much that would have been).

I joined Weight Watcher's about five months before my wedding, and with all the wedding planning stress, I didn't lose an ounce (in fact, I gained one pound), but I'm a stress eater - and if I hadn't been a WW member for those five months, I bet I would have gained 30 lbs or more instead - so was those five months really wasted? I don't think so.

In more than three decades of dieting, I've often started diet plans in October/November to head off the holiday pounds. I'm not sure I ever made it to January 2, without regaining at least some of the weight I lost in October/November.

This is the first Christmas in memory that I weighed less on Dec 26 than on Dec 24. I was so excited not to see at least a couple pounds of water weight gain, I was so excited.

IMO what you describe is a indicator of why a lot of people have a hard time (myself included) with the holidays.

What we do is turn what could be 3 special days (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years) and turn it into a 6 week no holds barred binge fest cause it's the "holidays".

I've had a little more success this year only giving myself passes on those days, and forcing myself to count calories even the day after - like today. If I want to eat leftovers, which I have, I just have to count it and stay under goal.

My guess is that most people don't actually gain much if anything on Christmas itself, it's all the cookies beforehand, and leftover binging afterwards.

I tend to start before the holidays and I'm not sure why. I've been successful starting at this time, I think because the motivation is high.

Megan, I have a similar attitude in my thinking that this year is a diet year and perhaps next year I can be a little more normal. But then again, hopefully next year my whole outlook will have changed and "normal" at the holidays will look a whole lot different.

I did ok with two back to back Christmases. My biggest achievement was discovering that I LOVE yellow/red/green peppers to dip in salsa! So much healthier than chips! This was happy discovery because I really don't so much like peppers.

I know what you mean. It is so difficult with an occasion to binge always around the corner. I just think of it like this. At least I'm not gaining as much as I WOULD if I wasn't on a diet.

You are ahead of the game! I recommitted again in November and while I have taken the last several days off of exercising I am still eating pretty well. Life will settle back down again and I'll be right back on my routine. :clap:

You are way ahead of the folks who are going to jump in on January 1st! (not that that is a bad thing either but you were here first!

Yep, I hear you. I started on Thanksgiving of all days! BUT... while many people gain weight during the holidays, I lost 9 lbs. And I still ate all of my favorite holiday foods, just in smaller quantities.

I also think about all the people who start diets on January 1st and don't follow through. (How many times have I done this??) The way I look at it, my success and established habits will give me the momentum to keep me on track after the new year. And I'd much rather be on maintenance come New Year's 2011 rather than starting over again.

best time to start is before the holidays. even if you haven't started yet, the best time to start is NOW always NOW - not Monday, not after Thanksgiving, not after the holidays, NOW. Trust me you are so much further ahead of the game NOW!

think of all the people who are going to start on January 2nd (because the 1st is a recovery day of course) - that's not you!

It's normal to be faced with challenges this time of year. I haven't been perfect but all I have to do is think of how much further ahead I am than I was last year this time.

Hang in there - you made the right decision!!!

Managing our weight is something we all will be working on every day for the rest of our lives. There will be always be holidays, deaths, parties, sickness, stress, surgery, and stuff we can't even imagine that life will throw at us. The key is to stay on track through all life's ups and downs. It's easy to find an excuse to go off plan -- our job is to find a way to stay on plan through all of life's challenges.

A big ole' MAJOR yes to what Meg said.

Challenges, challenges, challenges. They will always be there. Of course there ARE times that are more challenging than others, but that's no reason to abandon ship - that's time to dig deeper and harder. Doesn't mean you should stop working at it, just means you should work HARDER. The greater the challenge, the greater the reward. It feels MARVELOUS to get through those rough patches adhering to ones principles and plan.

I think of being a parent. There are times that are more trying than others. It doesn't change the fact that I am still a parent and still have responsibilities to my family. The harder the challenge, just means the more effort I have to put into it. But that's okay. I'm up for it. I'm committed to my family and will do whatever it takes. Then there's the good times, the less trying times, where it all seems easy shmeazy. When I think of raising my family, the first thing that I think of is the JOY they bring me, NOT the hard times.

It IS after all a lifestyle change. For life. Every day. 365 days a year, regardless of the circumstances. Luckily there's some room for missteps, but by in large, we adhere to our principles, our beliefs, never losing sight of the big picture.

And I think that's why you started before the holidays. There is never a better time than the present. The here and now. Today. And every day.

Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions happen all year long. Learning to deal with them is necessary if we will be able to maintain after reaching goal. It's sad that these happy times are all looked at as occasions to eat. It's not as though we don't eat every day already. We need to learn to appreciate people and make them the focus of the occasion, not food. I'm down 14.4 pounds since October 19 and I've had some treats and feel wonderful with my accomplishment.

yes, this is how I'm working on training my thinking. whether I lose, maintain or gain over the holidays -- and yes, I find it really challenging food wise -- it's still a holiday where I'm thinking about my eating consciously. not pigging out for the sake of pigging out.

I think it's great you started before the holidays, no matter how you did, you are ahead of the game.