Losing weight and getting through Christmas

[chalkyc2]

I started on an effort to lose weight just after Easter this year. Most likely it's a year long plan to get from over 40 BMI down to normal. Im at around 30 BMI now. I've not really 'cheated' much - and been quite strict in terms of cutting out sugar in particular. The cold turkey approach seems to have worked better than just cutting down. I don't eat chocolate....rather than I eat a bit then lose all willpower!

But...I love Christmas! I love mince pies, chocolate orange, Lindt teddies, mulled wine.... it feels completely miserable to not have any of that! But equally would it just derail me completely. Maybe I need to face up to not having any of that stuff again - a bit like an alcoholic doesn't ever go back to drinking?!

What is everyone else who is on a weight loss journey thinking about how to get through Christmas?!

Same really, I am just not going to buy all this stuff and be careful. I’m planning on having healthy options to choose from too. I’m sure I will over indulge a little it’s just a few days I will just try not to let it completely derail me

I was thinking of posting the same myself.

One thing I know is that if I buy it for this house (i.e. not as a present), it's getting eaten sooner or later. Sounds obvious but even though I was better than in the past last year at spacing treats out, in the end as they were in the house, those calories were consumed.

I'm thinking of just having Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day "off" but that's it.

On the other hand, I've also thought like you about the comparison with alcohol and it being a slippery slope 😔

OP is it sugar that derails you? Can you focus on the savoury treats instead? Not exactly healthy but cheese, nuts, sausage rolls. I bloody love a puff pastry cheese twist. So you’d get some treats without the risk of demolishing all the chocolate.

My advice would be to just have Christmas Day for all those things and to continue eating sensibly the rest of the holiday. It's really easy to get sucked into the mentality of "one mince pie won't hurt" or "it's only a treat because it's Christmas." Then there's the slippery slope of having broken your diet so it doesn't seem to matter. Then you might end up with a house full of Christmas treats that you feel that you have to eat up. You don't! Give them away or even throw them away if they're going to derail them. Also, after Christmas it's very easy to get into the mood of "the diet starts in the New Year" and a few days of mindful eating then into two weeks of eating up all the crappy Christmas chocolates even though you don't really want them.

Then you might end up with a house full of Christmas treats that you feel that you have to eat up.

This happen to me last year. I managed not to binge (hooray!) but they were still eaten.

The actual Christmas meal itself is not too bad, especially if you go light on the potatoes and emphasize turkey/nut roast.

Things like mince pies, boxes of chocolates, booze, however...

You absolutely can have Xmas Dinner and the odd treat, you just need to make it genuinely occasional and not graze on chocolates etc.

Have as little as possible in the house that will derail you. Keep planning healthy meals as your base. If you're going to plan a treat best have it after your meal as a pudding. And then stop.

And keep up your exercise including Xmas day if you can.

I wouldn’t deprive yourself of something you love, otherwise what’s the point of life?!… Just don’t binge or go overboard

Yep, as pp says. Plan when you will have these treats, plan how many you will have. This might help you stick to not binging?

And yes to exercise… move more over the holiday.

I love mince pies, chocolate orange, Lindt teddies

These are not all the same, a chocolate orange is difficult because it's a whole block which ends up being snaffled in one go. Mince pies are also highly calorific and tend to come in multipacks.

Lindt teddies are actually not a great amount of chocolate due to being hollow, and a glass of mulled wine is probably not too bad either.

Just don't start 'Christmas' too soon. December isn't Christmas - just still have the treats but only in the week or so leading up to Christmas. I guarantee you'll enjoy them more if you haven't been indulging since late November.

Buy the really nice expensive stuff, and not too much of it, and not too soon.

I think the point about not 'christmassing' too soon is a good one. I have lost 4 and 1/2 st since february and it is something that im worried about. I think im just going to let it go for christmas week and just eat and drink whatever i want and not worry about it. I figure even if i put on 7lbs it will only take me a month to get off again come January. Yes it is a pain after doing so well but im not going to let it completely consume me. Ive lived without loads of alcohol, crisps and chocolate for 9 months at this point so i dont think i will be completely derailed after a week. Fingers crossed!!

I was mid ‘slow and steady’ weight loss 3 years ago.

Firstly, well done you! You have made fantastic progress since Easter, so you know you can do it.

Christmas: I stopped weighing over Christmas week. Relaxed, ate reasonable amounts of food I really enjoy, but didn’t gorge for the sake of it. I enjoy food, but tbh came to see some of the excesses of Christmas eating as a bit revolting… to me personally. Not commenting others. But my appetite had reduced (to normal levels, not ED) and my craving for sugar had reduced.

The food is just there.Eat some… or don’t. If you are already feeling full, or had lots of sweet stuff just tell yourself you can ignore it. Don’t make a big deal jn your mind about ‘denying yourself’.

Overall a weight loss journey is a downward slope on the graph with lots of little upspikes. Put on a bit over Christmas, shrug, just get back to normal healthy eating that gives you enough deficit to carry on losing. Putting wright on over Christmas is not a reason to give up!

Once you reach your goal yes, you can adopt a healthy eating habit that incorporates higher calorie foods … but not consistently at the level that caused us to put on weight in the first place!

I think it's important not to demonise any foods and to focus on balance. Enjoy the festive food but keep things as balanced as possible. Drink plenty of water, get plenty of exercise and don't eat until you are uncomfortably fun. That's what I do and just tell myself no if I am tempted by chocolates in a dish or any extras that I want but don't need because I'm not hungry. We don't tend to have any Christmas food out until Christmas Eve and I don't drink alcohol expect a bottle of baileys over the Christmas holidays. I think denying things too much is likely to lead to going overboard once you do allow yourself anything so again it's back to balance.
I'm hoping to get my bmi back to 21 before Christmas to allow for a couple of pounds gain over the holidays. It will be more to do with the lack of 5 mile a day school run hike though rather than food and drink.

I'm a yoyo dieter and I'm currently in the mental zone to lose weight recently and I'm using going to Australia next year as an incentive to lose weight so the flight will be more comfortable.

With regard to Christmas I'm going to have treats but I'm not planning on buying them until a day or two before Christmas and not overdo buying loads of treats.

I'm doing Slimming World so plan on keeping on plan when I can and flexible the other times. I also find attending class between Christmas and New Year helps and even when I've gained weight I have lost it within a week or two.

One of my downfalls in the past was buying in a lot of treats in case I had visitors but I didn't have many visitors so ended up scoffing the treats myself. Now if I have visitors if I haven't any cake/biscuits to offer with a cup of tea/coffee left I'll make sandwiches or something like smoked salmon on brown bread and I know myself if I've overindulged in a lot of sweet stuff I'd appreciate someone offering a sandwich instead.

I am going to allow myself to eat whatever on 3days- xmas eve, xmas day and Boxing Day but otherwise I’ll be sticking on plan. It is so hard though as even in our local carols service there’s mince pies and wine after! There’s always food at xmas events

My plan this year is not to buy the treats I usually do. So I always get stollen, florentines as my Christmas treats but then I get given loads of other treats as gifts & when we go to peoples houses they have stuff so there's just so much food for the whole of December! My strategy is that if I don't have it in & overbuy I won't eat it. I'm going to relax on Xmas day but not go mad for the whole of the month

Can u buy stuff that is just for u. Then that’s what u have to eat during the Xmas week starting on Xmas Eve and that’s it. So instead of having the choice of a ton of stuff u can have a chocolate u like. Or some mince pies u like. But once u have eaten them all they have all gone. May help with eating them all at once as u know it has to be spread out.
keep it away from the rest of the family. And then when the week is over I have to be accountable for what u have eaten and stand on the scales. The problem mostly is when people fall off the wagon and hide from the scales.

i think giving urself ur favourite treats ( not to much ) and having a set amount that u can enjoy will help with the sneaking of other food.

there’s quite a bit you can do to limit sugar/carbs

1. instead of mash make it half cauliflower mash, it’s so much lighter.
2. bacon and egg keto muffins are incredible - they’re always a big hit with us at Xmas
3. prawn and avocado /smoked salmon starters
4. darkest chocolate as a sub
5. extra Brut or the driest cava is low carb, you can drink quite a bit
6. gin n slimline
7. in making puddings go for sugar free jelly, berries etc - quite easy to do a low sugar trifle

I think I am going to do the following:
Set a day or days where I will allow myself to eat a bit extra ( I haven't decided if it will just be Chrsitmas day or more)
Have treats but only with meals, so a Lindt Teddy for dessert for instance.

I am terrible for snacking so I have stopped allowing myself to snack on anything and I think I would get out of control if I just ate something at another time!

So interesting to hear everyone's approaches. I'm actually ok with treats around me - I have a family that includes two tween/teen boys and they certainly haven't held back whilst I've been on plan!! My worry is once one Lindt Teddy enters my mouth it will be a slippery slope!!

I'll think some more. I eat normal food - so Christmas lunch etc will be fine. Maybe just some Christmas pudding?! I really just want to keep going as I've worked pretty hard, but learning to cope with these type of events is good I suppose! It appears to have taken me 50 years but I now realise I will have to permanently watch what I eat even if/when I get to my target.

No snacking is also one of my rules @Foreverdecorating !!

Well it really depends on understanding your own psychology.

For me, I know that if I let myself go 'allow' myself a week off say, I will go crazy, feel horrendous and struggle to gey back on track for new years and 4 birthdays. That's a lot of time to do a lot of damage.

My plan is to allow myself one meal and the evening afterwards to eat my absolute favorite things in moderation. For the rest of Christmas week I will stay on plan but upgrade, eat bacon and eggs for breakfast (I keto) Red wine some nights, dark chocolate make healthy but luxury versions of food. Home made honey roasted ham. Pigs in blankets. Don't limit any veg so I feel really full and satisfied.

There's also the issue of relatives/extended family putting the pressure on: "oh you've lost so much, you can treat yourself, go on" etc. and not letting it drop.

Usually they don't mean anything by it but occasionally there's someone who's jealous of your weight loss and wants to break your resolve.

I'm having the same dilemma this Xmas, I usually mainline treats and alcohol Nov to Mid Jan.
This year is different as I'm having a big push to finally lose the weight, I've invested in WL Meds and they've helped me shed 11lbs in 3 weeks. It means no alcohol or big portions and my appetite has gone. I have planned 3 days off (Xmas works Do/ Xmas Day and my BDay) from now until end of Jan where I won't take my meds those days and won't check the calories. The other days I'm mindfully eating well and hitting the gym.