Have you made plans for the holidays?

[dreamof145]

I know it is still September, but it is time to start planning for the holiday season. It will be here before we know it and we'll be reading posts about how the temptations of the holidays are too much to handle.

We can celebrate the holidays and still maintain our way of eating...but we must make our plans now before we get pulled into the danger zones of eating off plan.

First of all, holidays are more than the foods that surround them. We can't make the Halloween candy, Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas cookies disappear, but we can change the way we celebrate these holidays. We can create new traditions, surround the holidays with ACTION plans instead of all the eating.

Go places, do things, enjoy each other's company. Too many holidays are planned around the table.

We need to put positive energy into creating plans that will agree with our new life-styles. The holidays are very special times. We are very special. We owe it to ourselves to take the time to do this!

[Heidi3]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

yes my plans are to finish two bathrooms and my husbands studio then sheet rock the rest of the basement and put in French doors .....I am beside myself with excitement

[choeve]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

LOL Heidi I was hoping to get a new floor in my bedroom for Thanksgiving. That ought to work off a few pounds. haha


We go to my moms house Thanksgiving day for only one meal and for Christmas we go for Christmas Eve and then again for Christmas Day Lunch so I have only those three meals to worry about. I usually bring a couple of dishes for each meal so I can make them low carb so I have stuff to eat with the Turkey and Ham. I'm working at a new company so I have no idea what kind of treats will show up here. Will just have to cross that bridge when I get there and make sure I have planned well each day. We don't really do Holloween since my daughter is only 2 1/2. We just take her to the church fall festival. She still get candy from there, church, and daycare and of course her memaw. I'm thinking this year let her have a few peices then throw the rest out, due to the fact that all this year I was the one who ate most of the chocolate she got for holidays.

[Heidi3]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

I am sure I will make some wonderful food but seriously we are determined to get this work done this winter ....

I can not stand living like this forever!!!!

[G-Mom]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

I make goals around the holidays so that I stay motivated and that I won't cheat when I get there. How silly would it look if I lost a bunch of weight and everyone notices, then I start shoveling in the christmas cookies? The Atkins way of life is lifelong not just on non-holidays.

Sweets don't tempt me at family functions, but if they tempt any of you, I would make plenty of low carb desserts, and take a bunch of them, arrange them together and put up a sign saying they are low carb. You can eat a few of these and not feel deprived, plus you might just have family members eat them up and ask you "these are actually low carb? Wow!"

[not2late]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

Sweets don't tempt me either... I'm only tempted to punch those few annoying relatives when they start with all the anti-Atkins stuff.

HELLO people?!? Now you're concerned about my diet, but when I weighed 250 pounds you didn't say one word?????

Not a single word when I had to catch my breath because walking 2 flights upstairs tired me out, but now that I walk 5-6 miles a day, you find the voice to tell me how I'm ruining my life and killing myself????

Like I said, sweets aren't the major temptation during the holidays for me.....

[dreamof145]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

The reason I posted this today was because I was going through last year's plans and revised them for this year. I've planned more activities to get us out of the house and into the spirit through doing rather than eating. We used to sit around together and watch old Christmas movies, but that leads to snacking around the tv.

I'm volunteering to do things around the town also so that I will be keeping busy and burning fat.

The first year I was on Atkins, some of the family would roll their eyes and make negative remarks, but they keep quiet now. I think it has finally sunk into their little heads that I am serious and that my life-style doesn't revolve around food.

[sadie147]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

Canadian Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks, we rotate cooking the dinner, this year it's not my turn but I'm not worried, there's so many foods that are legal at holiday dinners. I skip the potatos and stuffing, but have veggies, squash, turkey etc. I usually also bring a home made s/f cranberry sauce, and a sugar free desert. This year I may make 2bigs pinto bean pecan pie or a pumpkin pie.

[BabyDreamer]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

Wow, G-Mom, you look amazing. This is the first time I have seen your picture and you are so motivating! How long did it take you to lose to where you are now?

Deb

I make goals around the holidays so that I stay motivated and that I won't cheat when I get there. How silly would it look if I lost a bunch of weight and everyone notices, then I start shoveling in the christmas cookies? The Atkins way of life is lifelong not just on non-holidays.

Sweets don't tempt me at family functions, but if they tempt any of you, I would make plenty of low carb desserts, and take a bunch of them, arrange them together and put up a sign saying they are low carb. You can eat a few of these and not feel deprived, plus you might just have family members eat them up and ask you "these are actually low carb? Wow!"

[jimmie 48]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

we will be around family this year and i don't know what kind of baggage that will bring.
at the very least we will deep fry a turkey and i'll make some kind of pumpkin dish that i like and some other low carb desserts.

the meals are not the problem. mom makes enough cookies to feed a 3rd world country and it's very hard to explain to her that i will not be eating them. she thinks one won't hurt.

[knicknack]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

Luckily, I've never been a big fan of any of the winter holiday food. The only thing I ever eat at thanksgiving is turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. I'll eat salad if there is any, and my mom usually makes me some broccoli or spinach or something to go with my meal. So, leaving out the potatoes really won't be all that hard, gotta say.

This year I'll be at my boyfriends house for thanksgiving, so we'll see. But, I don't anticipate any problems since I don't like any of the food anyway. I don't know what gene I got but it certainly helps during the holidays!

(I do like pecan pie, but no one ever makes that it seems. But pumpkin? EW!)

I'm going to belize or something after christmas, so that gives me extra-special incentive to be good til then! Gotta look good on the beach!

[G-Mom]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

Wow, G-Mom, you look amazing. This is the first time I have seen your picture and you are so motivating! How long did it take you to lose to where you are now?


Deb

Hi, Deb, thank you! My Atkins journey has had it's ups and downs! I started at the end of June 2003 at 322 lbs, and got down to 285lbs by Thanksgiving of that year, then (to make this post relevent to the topic) fell completely off the wagon for the holidays! NEWBIE of the year award! Started back up in March 2004 at 288lbs, went all the way to October 2004 and got down to 242 lbs. Then WOOPS here come the holidays (plus a move to a new state) and G-Mom falls off the wagon! I see a distinct pattern here!

Now fast forward to January 2005, I weighed 241 pounds (how I didn't gain weight over the holidays is a complete mystery!) and started again. I went at it hard until August 2005 and got down to 214lbs, then it wasn't the holidays, but I was just so burned out of being obsessed with dieting, and quit. (I didn't get it in my head that Atkins is FOR LIFE) Yippee, free for the holidays! Oh, brother, soooo stupid! This time I ballooned, big time. I think I went up to 235lbs by February 2006 and felt like a total moron, so I started up again, then disaster happened, I broke my left fibula and severely sprained my right ankle. Needed surgery and couldn't walk without severe pain, so I was totally reliant on my family. I didn't want to force them to feed me low carb, so up went the weight again.

In April 2006, I was absolutely determined! I felt like crap, I was eating crap, even when I wasn't hungry, and fell into old habits again, so that was it! I hit my Atkins hard, swam in my pool almost everyday from June on (until it got too cool), then started walking.

NOW, the holidays are right around the corner, WHAT WILL G-MOM DO? Will I follow my stupid pattern, or will I actually meet my ONEDERLAND goal at Christmas? I suggest everyone make a Christmas goal. Why would you ever cheat and mess achievement up? This year, I won't be cheating, I will PLAN like Becky will do.

Let's all start planning now! It's not too early. We can be skinnier, and doing great at our Atkins in January, instead of starting over, yet again.

[ttdriver]

Re: Have you made plans for the holidays?

Great thread, Becky!

For me, the key to getting through the holidays on plan is to keep in mind how I want to look and feel come January!

Betty