How I Plan To Eat Everything I Love And Not Gain Weight This Holiday Season

Dietitians get a bad reputation for being "Food Police" but most RDs I know, myself included, LOVE food! 
That's why I am going to order you NOT to deprive yourself of your favorite dishes this holiday season.

Think "Quality of Life" 

When it comes to quality of life and food choices there are two things you need to remember:

1. Enjoying your favorite foods should be part of your life. 
2. Enjoying the results of the healthy food and exercise choices that you have made so far also increase your quality  of life by making you feel better, physically and mentally. 

Here are the strategies I plan to use this holiday season in order to indulge in my holiday favorites while maintaining my weight. 

Exercise- No excuses are good enough (from you or others), its okay to be selfish with your health.

• You need some me time. 
• You will feel so much better about eating dessert if you do it! 
• I don't care if your in-laws are in town, take them with you to the gym or let them watch the kids. 
• View hostility from family members as jealousy and brush it aside, they will get over it. 

Make a Pocket Plan- Before each holiday meal I'm going to make a written plan and keep it in my pocket.

Any time I feel like doing something that future-self would frown upon, I'm going to touch that paper in my pocket.

1. First, it will say what foods I want to eat and how much of each dish I can have (the easy part). 
• The goal should be moderation, not calorie counting!
2. Next, a list of behavior-related eating strategies and how to implement those strategies.  (The following are mine...)
   
• Eat slowly:  I will use my non-dominant hand (left hand) and I will put my fork down in between bites and not pick it up until i have finished that bite.   
• I will not go into the meal STARVED- I will not fast all day and I will make veggies (raw or cooked) for an appetizer so I don't fill up on junk-food style appetizers.
• You can not "save" all your calories for one meal... our bodies don't work like that.
• No mindless boredom snacking: Walk away from that buffet! Stick to the pocket plan
3. Last and most importantly, I will write down positive reminders to myself; reasons for sticking to my pocket plan (because eating is mental). (The following are mine...)
• I lost X number of pounds and I worked really hard to do it, I'm so proud of myself. 
• I don't need seconds or portion-overkill. How would I benefit more by eating extra helpings (30 minutes from now)? 
• It took me 60 minutes of sweat and tears to burn the calories in that extra slice of pie that I will eat in 5 minutes. 
• I'm saving room for dessert!
• I feel so proud when I eat in moderation and don't feel sickly stuffed. 
• I am in control of my own health

At no point am I telling you not to eat one serving of everything that you want, only the extra helpings that you don't need. 

Handling peer pressure: I will not eat because others are eating or offering me food

I grew up with a Jewish grandmother who was raised during the depression. Basically I have a lot of experience in handling "sabotage"...

Be prepared to say "no" to the following statements:

• "You have lost so much weight already, you deserve seconds/ extra/ more food"
• "You can just work out extra tomorrow or you worked out today, don't worry about it."

Most of the time your family will say these things with good intentions, you can kindly respond "no thank you".  

In the rare event your choices are met with anything less than praise, remember that your motivation, success, and willpower makes people jealous...  and you should (mentally) say to them, "GET OVER IT, its my body and my health so I'm going to do my thing!" ...But kindly say "no thank you".

In summary, think "quality of life".  Allow yourself to (moderately) indulge in your holiday favorites! .