A joke between my son and I involves me eating something fattening and throwing out the phrase, “No more for me. I’m watching my weight.” I stare blankly then add, “Oh, I’m not trying to lose any. I’m watching it, you know, just lookin at it!”
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you see things) this holiday season I really am watching my weight. Literally. I’m on Weight Watchers. I’ve lost 20 lbs since August. I’ve got another 40 to go, and that only gets me back to when I still had some baby weight to lose. (My baby’s 13 now, but lets not go there). But what I adore about this program is that it really is about a lifestyle change. Where in the past I had a long list of food off limits (which included all my favorite things, of course), I am now focusing on choices, not restrictions, and I love it!
Thus, with the holidays upon us, we have made some lifestyle changes to keep us from overeating.
The first involved Halloween. We live in a neighborhood where we get hundreds of kids, and in the past, we’ve bought several giant Costco bags of chocolate “fun” bars. Then we proceeded to have lots of “fun”. So much so that we usually had to run out the night before Halloween to restore the supply we’d dwindled down over the prior week. Well, this year, we got smart and ordered Bazooka eyeball gum balls from Oriental Trading Company.
It worked great! None of us touched them until it was time to give them away on Halloween, and for the first time, we spent the holiday candy-free. That was, of course, until our son went out Trick-or-Treating and came home with a bag of chocolate that he promptly dumped on the coffee table right as Dad and I were watching “Phantom From 10,000 Leagues”. I admit, nothing enhances bad special effects quite like Reeses peanut butter cups. But even so, this year, our candy fest got limited to that one night. The next day it was business as usual and the scale remained my friend.
Thanksgiving will be next. Easy, because this year we will be spending it at a friends house. We’ll eat what we want while we’re there (love those 35 weekly bonus points!) and come home to a house absent of turkey legs, stuffing and half-eaten pumpkin pies.
Christmas might be more challenging. We’ve already agreed that the holiday boxes of Sees candy are out. I’ll still make fudge and shortbread, but in a greatly reduced supply, and probably much closer to the actual holiday instead of starting December 1st.
But I’m not worried. What I love about Weight Watchers over everything else I’ve tried is that it truly is about moderation and making lifestyle changes. In the past, I would have tried to get through the holidays without eating a carb. And when I failed (on or around October 30th), I’d say to heck with it! and go whole hog, gaining at least 10 lbs before I stopped the insanity sometime in January. This year, my goal is to simply not gain. I won’t kick myself if I don’t lose anything. Just maintaining will be such a gross improvement over prior years that I would consider that a success.
So tell me, are the holidays a food fest in your house? Do you traditionally put on a few pounds, or are you pretty good about moderation? Anyone trying to lose weight over the holidays? And what tips do you have for getting through it without busting through seams?
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I’m training for a half-marathon in January and desperately hoping I will out-exercise the holiday goodies. I don’t eat much of the huge turkey dinners, but I do love me some festive sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles.
Congrats on the 20 lbs!!
Wow, Avery, good luck on the half marathon! And I hear you. I’ll only miss the crispy turkey wings from my hubby’s barbecue, but other than that, I’d take a plate of iced sugar cookies any day!
Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday of mine since we get together with all of our relations. It is a huge affair! Well, I do tend to overeat on the holidays, but, heck! It only comes once a year! I guess the best way to not overeat is to have a little bit of your favorites and then load up on salads, veggies, and fruit. That way you will have ate your favorite fattening stuff but not so much of it.
Also, getting a lot of exercise always helps too! Going for a walk after the big meal to walk off some of those calories is good idea.
I do like Thanksgiving, too. It’s a much more relaxing holiday than Christmas, and that’s a good tip about loading up on less fattening items. Though, I’m kinda with you on the idea that it’s one day a year, so why not go for it? He he.
Lori, since August?!? That was just a little while ago! Good for you! Last year, I discovered I could freeze raw dough and/or the cookies and dessert bars I made and spread them out over months instead of eating everything all in December.
Ooh, I like that idea. Though I wonder if we’d have the discipline to leave it in the freezer. My joke is that people either eat like cats or dogs. The cat people eat in moderation and stop when they’re full. The dog people eat until the food is gone. All I can say to that is bow-wow. LOL
Lori, thanks to you I too joined Weight Watchers and have lost 19 pounds(as of Saturday morning) since mid-August. I did great at Halloween and didn’t even touch candy. My one big cheat for Thanksgiving will be my dad’s dressing. I can cut out pretty much every other thing about Thanksgiving but the dressing. I will also eat just a very small piece of his chess pie. With Christmas, my only big thing I will eat will be my grandmother’s asparagus casserole and her chocolate chess pie. The rest with the help of Weight Watchers will always be in my diet.
Liza, you’re doing amazingly! I agree that the program itself helps a lot through the holidays since really, everything a person eats is technically on the program. It’s just how much of it you have and how often. I love that! Good luck and keep up the good work. It’s a great feeling going into 2010 20 lbs lighter than we were before!
Christmas is always a food fest in my family. I don’t know what it does to my weight, as I don’t go near the scales during December.
Lori, its great that you’ve already lost 20lbs. I think its a good thing that you are only aiming not to gain over the holidays – before I fell of the Weight Watchers wagon, I saw so many people disappointed because they didn’t lose anything the week that Christmas occurred.
Thanks, Lyn! I know what you mean about people trying to lose weight over the holidays. I guess for people who don’t normally gain, that would be okay. But for me, just breaking even is an improvement.
Congrats on doing so well! Keep it up!
For me the key is moderation. Plus after losing 103 pounds I tell myself “I will not binge and go back to ruin all my hard work.” Now it’s just second nature to eat healthy and pass up on second at dinner or those tempting sweets. Though I must confess ice cream has not been given up. I just eat a small portion of it.
Wow Nicole, what an inspiration! 103 lbs! That amazing. Congratulations. And I agree about moderation. What I liked about WW is that it taught me what moderation is, exactly. I would either under-shoot it and deprive myself, or go too far and not lose anything. I think that’s been the big win for me with this program. (Though I’m waiting for that second nature thing to kick in! LOL)
Wow lori, 20 pounds is great! I’ve never tried weight watchers, though there is a neighbor of mine who has lost over a hundred pounds on their program.
I have been on the food lovers program and have lost 15 since september. I like the fact that i can eat what i want in moderation, and you watch portion sizes and cut back on white bread, sugars, and regular sodas that are total calorie bombs. I was floored to realize how many teaspoons of sugar are in a can of pepsi, it think it was lke twelve teaspoons. So im on diet dr. pepper, and i love it.
For the holidays, i’m going to stay on my program and work it as best possible. But still splurge on a a peice of mothers pumpkin pie, and my corn casserole, yummy. But not take any leftovers home so to refuse temptation. And i think this year instead of the bags and bags of homemade cookies, candy, and peanut butter balls that i just take a tray of assorted goodies and just enjoy my family instead.
Good luck with your wiehgt loss. (Its the only time anyone-especially women-like being called losers!!!)
jody
Jody, congrats on the 15 lbs! Your program sounds similar to WW and one that’s very manageable over the holidays. Good luck with it! (Mmm and that corn casserole sounds yummy!)