The Holidays

Well, the holidays are rapidly approaching and this time last year I was in my pre op stage so it was easy to just say no to all of the goodies, but now, almost a year from my VSG, I am afraid it won't be as easy, so I am asking all surgery veterans and grads what are some tips and tricks to make sure I stay on track?

Two things. First, I logged, everything I ate. Religiously. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I made sure that if I ate a couple of cookies, I balanced out the calories. 

Budgeting calories is like budgeting money. Sometimes you spend extra, so you need to find other times to cut back.

The second thing is, the "holidays" are three or four days. That's manageable. You can do anything for three or four days and be fine. If you turn the "holidays" into a "holiday season" of three months, you'll be royally screwed.

I like that Grim, thanks!

Holidays are always tough.  My best advice is:

1. Limit the "cheating" to the main meal.  Don't get into grazing.
2. At the main meal, remember dense protein first.  Then you'll have limited room for the carbs and deserts.  You can have a taste of anything.  Just don't over do it.
3. Get back on track ASAP. 

The commitment to get back on track is the most important of these. As long as we can keep the holiday eating to the exception, it won't hurt us long term.

I had several events around the Labor day weekend, and I gained a few pounds.  But I'm on it now, and will get back to goal before thanksgiving -- and then have to do it again! (smile)

best of luck with the holidays

Carol

The holidays are one of those things I worried about a lot, but that ended up being no big deal.  I do remember worrying that my nephew would quiz me about drinking protein shakes for breakfast, so I had decided to tell him that I was a cyborg and that was my nutrient sludge to keep the joints lubricated ;)  I tried the first year to eat normal breakfast, but my body gets unhappy if I skip my shake for more than a few days in a row.  

My family has a few "special" meals during the holidays and I let myself eat off plan for those.  I still did protein forward, which meant I didn't have a lot of room for anything else, but I still let myself eat a bite of the other things.  But the main point is that I kept the indulgence to single meals.  Not the entire day and not multiple days.  

How this worked for me:

Thanksgiving dinner - turkey plus bites of sides, plus dessert (we make molten chocolate cakes, yum)
Day after Thanksgiving breakfast - eggs, breakfast meat, small slice of coffee cake

Christmas breakfast - eggs, breakfast meat, some grapefruit, small slice of coffee cake (we have different traditional coffee cakes for each holiday)
Christmas dinner - all the meats (we grill filet mignon and salmon), bites of sides, small scoop of ice cream

New Years Day - this is Appetizer Day in my family (which evolved out of Junk Food Day when I was a child) so I make a lot of appetizers and we graze all day.  Post-VSG, I still make a lot of appetizers but I make protein-forward appetizers in addition to the others and I stick to those and actually forgo the grazing for distinct meal times instead.  

That's how it works for me.  I'm happy with my methods and I've never gotten grief from my family.  I don't do any real "holiday baking" so it's not like I have a lot of temptation floating around.  Thanksgiving is at my house, which means I'm in control of all the food.  New Years is also at my house, so I'm also in control.  Christmas in the past has been at my parents' house, but my mom and I have always done all the meal planning for the week together - which keeps me in control.  This coming Christmas will be at an AirBNB, since we're working on forming new traditions since my dad died, and, again, my mom and I will meal plan together which keeps me in control.  

I think it would be harder if I had less control over meal planning?  But if that's the case for you, I would recommend talking with the person who does have the control about ensuring your nutritional needs are met.  :)

Baking - was always a part of my holidays - I am no longer the baker - I don't even have flour in my house anymore - when I did need to buy sugar, I tossed the 5lb bag to my daughter in the store and said, just think,  you need to carry 16 of those to equal the amount of weight I've lost.  No cookie is worth that. :)

As for the other posts - I like them all  - protein first, save those calories for the big meal, and 1 more thing - stay away from the alcohol. 

Eat a meal before all parties to fill you up prior to arriving.  At a holiday dinner, get an appropriate serving of protein on your plate, and then a dab of everything else you wish.  That protein on your plate will be eaten in full, and you will enjoy a bite of the other side dishes.  Save a couple of bites for dessert.  You should be too full to enjoy any more of that if you did this right, and you'll not go overboard and not feel at all deprived.

I have referred to the time between Halloween and the New Year as "The Eating Season". Once I really caught on to what that meant, it was really easy for me to look at the glut of food through a different lens. I realized that throughout the ages holidays and festivals and celebrations revolved around feasting. Having a glut of food was a SPECIAL occasion. Today we have a glut of food 24/7 365 days per year. There is no scarcity of food. However, we still continue to celebrate with feasting. None of this is bad. 

But, over the past 60 or 70 years Americans, with the help of advertising and big business looking to make a hefty profit, have adopted the philosophy that the holidays last for two full months - and then some. The baking, the candies and the treat laden break room tables beckon to us with food issues. We are inundated by food in all the media we use. 

I chose last year to make the holidays into very separate occasions. Thanksgiving was 2 days. Christmas was 3. New Years was limited to two meals. Every other day was like a normal day to me. I had a plan and stuck to it. I reminded myself that one piece of chocolate might as well be a pound over the course of a day. I reminded myself that in my world when my guard is down there is no such thing as eating 1 cookie. I eat 4, 5 or 6. So rather than an Eating Season last year I gave myself days of no logging, eating as I pleased with the knowledge I would be back on plan as soon as the designated time was over. I maintained my weight from Halloween through January with little effort taking this approach. After January, I went back into WL mode and lost most of the rest of the weight off that I wanted off. 

Thanks. I like this strategy.

Holidays can be challenging. Take one holiday at a time. Halloween is coming up, I purchase candy that I do not like and whats left over I take it to work. If you leave anything out in our kitchen at work, its usually gone within the hour!  Thanksgiving and Christmas, I bring my own snacks and feast on protein.