A few weeks ago, I made some very bold statements regarding the holidays. About how I wasn’t going to let the holiday season be an excuse to make bad food choices and pack on the pounds. About how my accountabilibuddies would be the push I needed to say no to the eggnog, cookies, and dips. And while I can’t say with total honesty that I was successful, I was better than I could have been, and for me, that’s a win.
I’ve decided that rather than focusing on the negative (I gained about 3 pounds), I will focus on the things I did right, the things that worked, the things I did comparatively well this year compared to years gone by. I hope that by celebrating my achievements instead of focusing on my failures, I can inspire myself to do even better next year.
I didn’t stuff myself on Thanksgiving. I truly think this is the first time in memory that I didn’t eat myself uncomfortable on Thanksgiving. I had a little bit of everything, including pie, but I didn’t force it. I wasn’t overfull, I was happy. This is a huge accomplishment for me, and one I think I can repeat next year.
I backed off the eggnog, big time. One of my favorite things about the holiday season has long been a big ole eggnog cocktail. I used to do rum, but these days, it’s bourbon. Something about that sweet, rich eggnog, combined with the bite of the bourbon, with a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg on top… I’m actually salivating just thinking about it. And usually, I give myself “permission” to drink as many of these as I want, because it’s a “special,” seasonal treat that I can only have a few weeks out of the year, even though an 8 oz glass of eggnog contains 223 calories, 20 g of sugar, and 11 g of fat! This year, I’m pretty sure I only had three. One on Thanksgiving, and two in the days around Christmas.
On more than one occasion, I took a taste of a treat (cookie, sweet, etc), and when it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, I stopped eating it. I have a weird thing with sweets, where if I take something, and it’s not as tasty as I thought it would be, I eat the whole thing anyway because it’s a treat and I should like it. I don’t know why, but it’s true. Even if a cookie is too sweet, or too dry, or tastes a little off, I will still eat the whole thing. This year, I tried really hard to focus in on what I was eating, and if it wasn’t just right, to stop. This may not seem like much, but for me, it’s huge. If I could completely break myself of this habit, I’d be a lot healthier.
I got my veggies in. This will always be an accomplishment for me, because I didn’t start eating most vegetables until I was an adult. But I made sure that if vegetables were available at a meal, I took a nice big serving and ate them first. I almost always eat the vegetable portion of my meals first these days because it helps me feel more full and ultimately, eat less of everything else.
Of course, none of this changes the fact that I was pretty much binge-drinking Ketel One and club soda, eating from sunup to sundown, and generally making poor nutrition choices for two straight weeks, but like I said, for me, these are all small victories that added up to a less disastrous-than-usual holiday eating season.
How did you fare with holiday eating/weight gain?
What’s your favorite holiday treat you just can’t turn down?
Nicely done! *high five* Not eating to the point of being stuffed is so hard at the holidays. I’d like to say I managed to do that, but that would be lying. Thanksgiving was easy because we were in Aruba and didn’t have a big dinner (PBJ FTW), but Christmas was full of delicious food at multiple dinners and I may have eaten more than I should have… especially treat-wise 😦 I do need to get better at this!!
It’s a lifelong struggle for me, but I feel like I get better every year.
I like the idea of not finishing what you eat (in terms of treats) when you don’ t like it. I was engaging in a bit of that, too, this holiday. I should try this out during the rest of the year, too. 🙂
It’s a good trick, and something I need to keep working on.
Maybe that can be my goal for 2015–if I don’t like it, don’t eat it. 🙂
Good for you! I wish I could just stop and stop picking when I was full and or finished. But no, I just keep on going. I have no will power (even if I posted about it, haha), and will eat whatever is in front of me, even if I don’t like it!
Alex and I don’t really leave food on the table..
I try to counteract that by surrounding myself with things I won’t regret eating–like extra veggies and such. And even if I do overeat, I am lucky that I don’t carry it with me to the next day–I leave it from day to day.
Yeah, I am no good at stopping when there is food in front of me, and unfortunately for me, it does carry over from day to day. I’m trying really hard to get to a place where I can divorce myself from some of the emotional aspects of eating and let food just be food/fuel for my body.
Holidays are hard – but you’re totally right to focus on the positives! I guess my distaste for eggnog might have helped me over the holidays! Although I did eat until I felt gross on Christmas day. I totally do the “eat a treat even though I don’t really like it” thing. I guess I’ve never really thought about it before – thanks for putting it in my brain!
I found that I do it ALL THE TIME, which is dumb. Why eat it if it doesn’t taste good?
This is great! Progress is progress and a great accomplishment. I think I get a little bit better every year too. I don’t usually eat till I’m stuffed anymore (that used to be a huge problem of mine too), but I need to eat more veggies. That’s definitely my weakness. Although I had decent portions of food and didn’t go overboard for the holidays, it was definitely heavy on the carbs and meat! And I can never turn down mashed potatoes – with cheese!!!
Mashed potatoes are my kryptonite. So good!
so many – cookies, stuffing, pies & desserts.
Pie is always a winner with me.
Nice job! I’m sad to say I slipped a little on the diet during the holidays. It’s so hard when bad stuff are the only options. Luckily I ran a butt load of miles to help burn it off!!!!
Keep up the good work!
You did indeed run a buttload of miles! I’m hoping that getting back to running mini buttloads of miles will help me too!
Oh there was most definitely weight gain. I just don’t know how much nor do I want to know. I just know what I need to do now to get healthier.
I really like this approach of looking at the things you did right rather than what you did that wasn’t so right. You had a lot of success this holiday!
Thanks, lady! Hopefully I’ll continue to get better every year 🙂
I am usually ok around Thanksgiving because I don’t actually like most Thanksgiving food but Christmas is and was another story. 😦 But I have managed to resist cookie Friday for the last 3 weeks so that’s something!
That IS something! There have been cupcakes in the kitchen at work since Monday and I haven’t had a single one!