Christmas - Are you staying on the SW plan or allowing yourself a couple of days off?

Pearlie

Member
Hi everyone!

I'm quite new to Slimming World and I just would like to hear what everyone's eating plans are going to be round Christmas. As I'm doing SW at home, I don't go to a class or see a consultant so I'm not sure if they recommend you can Flexi-Syn on Christmas day or if you do stick to the plan?

I was thinking of sticking to the plan all through Christmas (as best I can!) then having Christmas day off as I'm with all my family and it maybe tricky to stick to the SW plan with all those temptations about.

Or... do I just take that 1 Christmas day off, enjoy it and then get back on the plan on Boxing day?

any advice would be appreciated

Have a great SW week everyone! :)
 
Hi Pearlie,

I'm new to SW too, I don't go to class either so I'm not sure what others recommend. I also don't understand about flexi-syn either. Over Christmas, I plan to stick to EE, except for Christmas day. I will have a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings and I will enjoy a Baileys or two along with some celebrations. Then boxing day, I will be back on plan. Otherwise I will end up scoffing from the start of December until the new year!

Daisy x
 
Hi

I think I'm going to try making SW stuff for Xmas day and be a bit flexy but mainly stay on top with my own roasties etc

I may make cakes like the 1/2 cake on YouTube so should be a good holiday ?
 
Cheekypasterfeild that's sounds great I think that's what I'm kinda aiming for too x
 
Personally I'll be having it off. I've started doing enough exercise that a meal off plan doesn't really affect me, but even if I weren't I'd still have it off.

I'm a firm believer that some things are more important than dieting and that life is far too short to miss certain occasions just because of healthy eating, by all means try and not gorge and eat everything in sight, but I couldn't sit with my family and watch them enjoy Christmas dinner (for me a huge part of the Christmas enjoyment is the food), on other occasions yes but Christmas, give me all the food! You realistically wont go your whole life without a few slip ups, binges or treats, as long as 99% of the time you're good and on plan and treating your body right there's no reason you shouldn't enjoy the day if that's what you want!

The problem is not letting a few days off turn into a month or a year, definitely have a plan! But I actually find it's all the stuff on the lead up that's harder to ignore, roasted chestnuts and treats at the markets, pre-tastings of Christmas food, nibbling whilst cooking the day before, candy canes etc!
X
 
I stayed fully on plan last Christmas and it was much easier than you might expect :D

Christmas dinner is just a slightly jazzier Sunday roast anyway - so I did cauliflower cheese (traditional in our house) using melted LowLow (HexA), braised red cabbage using apple squash instead of grated apple (syn free), SW roasts and parsnips for me (the rest of the family had goose fat roasted ones) and Linda McCartney rosemary & red onion sausages wrapped in lean, trimmed bacon as a combo of pigs in blankets/ stuffing. Gravy I synned.

Starter was a mock smoked mackerel pate (quark, lemon juice, dill and tinned kippers in brine) which I had on crisp cucumber slices (and the rest of the family had on melba toast). And - as is usual in my house no-one had room for pudding anyway lol.

Apart from that I had a running buffet for Christmas day tea & Boxing day ... lots of lean cold meats, salads, crudites, home made hummus & dips, heaps of luscious prawns, hot jacket potatoes etc and plenty of fresh fruit.

I didn't feel deprived at all and managed to lose 5 1/2lb over the week lol.

This year I'm at target but to be honest I don't come 'off plan' ever as it's my normal way of eating now, so this year's Christmas food will be much the same :)
 
I'm sticking to slimming world, Christmas for me is never all the trimmings so it won't be any different, we just have a chicken roast dinner, I will syn the gravy and Yorkshire pud, Iv got the new Xmas cook book so going to try out a desert recipe for Xmas day, the only thing I will miss is the roses but I'm happy to avoid as I would always sit there and scoff them all and I want to make a change for life and Xmas should be no different, I'm not going to deprive myself so if I go slightly over my syns then I'll make sure I cut back the rest of the week, I weigh in on Wednesdays so Xmas day being in Thursday I'v got the rest of the week for any damage control I may need but I doubt I will :)


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I stayed fully on plan last Christmas and it was much easier than you might expect :D

Christmas dinner is just a slightly jazzier Sunday roast anyway - so I did cauliflower cheese (traditional in our house) using melted LowLow (HexA), braised red cabbage using apple squash instead of grated apple (syn free), SW roasts and parsnips for me (the rest of the family had goose fat roasted ones) and Linda McCartney rosemary & red onion sausages wrapped in lean, trimmed bacon as a combo of pigs in blankets/ stuffing. Gravy I synned.

Starter was a mock smoked mackerel pate (quark, lemon juice, dill and tinned kippers in brine) which I had on crisp cucumber slices (and the rest of the family had on melba toast). And - as is usual in my house no-one had room for pudding anyway lol.

Apart from that I had a running buffet for Christmas day tea & Boxing day ... lots of lean cold meats, salads, crudites, home made hummus & dips, heaps of luscious prawns, hot jacket potatoes etc and plenty of fresh fruit.

I didn't feel deprived at all and managed to lose 5 1/2lb over the week lol.

This year I'm at target but to be honest I don't come 'off plan' ever as it's my normal way of eating now, so this year's Christmas food will be much the same :)

Oh Molly you make me so jealous! I wish Christmas was in my house then it'd be slightly friendlier to SW. Your food sounds lovely!
 
That's how I'm trying to look at it now as my normal way of eating doesn't feel like a diet it feels quite natural and flowing lol.

Great ideas there I may follow them too x
 
Hi everyone

Thanks so much for all your support, ideas and great replies! :) I really appreciate it.

I think I'm going to stick to the plan as best I can as I know in January I'll regret it if I take a couple of days 'off the plan' I'm worried that for me a couple of days will turn into a couple of weeks then I'd find it harder to get back on track.

So... I'm going to plan to mostly stay on SW as best I can and having more syns on Christmas day but still keeping an eye on what I have (for example a handful of quality street rather than the entire box). I'm also starting to exercise so I'll fit that in round my Christmas plans too.

Hopefully we can all help and support each other on here in the run up to Christmas (since at my work there's already people bringing in chocolates and mince pies!)

Have a great week everyone xx
 
I'm lucky in that I work in a very small office (just me and one part timer), so I don't have to deal with Xmas meals out or temptation in the form of chocs/ mince pies, which does help!

For Christmas itself (and birthdays etc through the year) I've developed a coping strategy lol ... instead of focusing on the food (which I'd always done before SW), I focus on enjoying the company of the people I love and making the most of being able to spend quality time with them. The food is just secondary - I don't overbuy it and 'naughty' leftovers that I've provided for other people (crisps/ nuts/ chocs/ puddings etc) are sent home with them as food parcels, so temptation isn't in the house all the time :) Everyone is also primed not to buy me food presents!!

You're right Llamasoxs - it is much easier being in my own home and environment than it would be if I was going elsewhere! Thankfully I'm at that life stage where my adult kids still want to come to me rather than the other way around (mainly so they avoid the work I suspect ;) ) and I'm a long way geographically from my extended family, so the idea of visiting people for the day doesn't even crop up - I'm not quite sure how well I'd do if not able to be in charge of cooking my own food. I'm lucky too in that my kids (and grandkids) seem to like SW friendly food - last year it was mainly the 'naughty' stuff left on the buffet table, because they had ploughed their way through 'my' stuff, and my husband is one of those (enviable) people who just sees food as fuel, isn't at all interested in sweet stuff and left to his own devices would happily live on meal replacement drinks, so Christmas food and nibbles not being around doesn't bother him one bit.

I'm still looking forward to my huge box of crevette prawns arriving though! Lush :D
 
You're right Llamasoxs - it is much easier being in my own home and environment than it would be if I was going elsewhere! Thankfully I'm at that life stage where my adult kids still want to come to me rather than the other way around (mainly so they avoid the work I suspect ;) ) and I'm a long way geographically from my extended family, so the idea of visiting people for the day doesn't even crop up - I'm not quite sure how well I'd do if not able to be in charge of cooking my own food. I'm lucky too in that my kids (and grandkids) seem to like SW friendly food - last year it was mainly the 'naughty' stuff left on the buffet table, because they had ploughed their way through 'my' stuff, and my husband is one of those (enviable) people who just sees food as fuel, isn't at all interested in sweet stuff and left to his own devices would happily live on meal replacement drinks, so Christmas food and nibbles not being around doesn't bother him one bit.

I'm still looking forward to my huge box of crevette prawns arriving though! Lush :D

We tend to go to my parents for lunch rather than the OH's and my step-dad used to be a chef so I struggle with avoiding everything! I'm sure even the veg taste better! I always use the excuse that I don't celebrate Easter (and dislike chocolate!) so Christmas is both combined, naughty I know!

I'm very envious of people who only see food as fuel, I have a friend who always pushes away plates half finished and says "I've had enough now" she's not full, she's just had all she needs! I'm a huge foodie and I hat waste so that just doesn't work!
 
I love food too, I just try to think about what my body could do with in a fuel way but I like it delicious lol I'm just not there yet haha
 
If you manage to stay on plan all the other days and only have Christmas Day off, I think you will have done really well! I normally just have xmas eve, xmas day and Boxing Day off then back on plan unless I have a party/meal out. I didn't put any weight on last year, don't know how but I don't think I'll be getting away with that this year now at target lol
 
I'm a huge foodie too (and equally envious of those who are disinterested in food!) ... that's one of the things I love about SW - that I can still cook and eat fabulous food but in a healthy way and different foods. I find these days that my body can't really tolerate wheat and fatty foods - they make me feel bloated/ sick/ sluggish and upset my stomach, so reminding myself of that when I'm tempted keeps me on track. The waste thing bothers me too - but I've discovered a solution to it :D I serve from serving dishes so that leftovers haven't been on plates and then employ my trusty soup maker - Boxing Day soup is fab!! :D

My eldest (and her OH) are both chefs, so I know exactly what you mean about avoiding stuff - they do tend to shove vast quantities of olive oil, butter and cream in stuff and it all tastes divine (especially when you've not had to slave over a hot stove to produce it ;) ) Having said that, they do both like a challenge, so are up for reproducing recipes in a SW friendly way when we do visit - you could always set him the challenge and see what happens lol
 
I had the whole of Xmas week off last year as well as a weekend at the start of December for a party and managed to put on 10lb!!! Not this year, I'll stick to it apart from Xmas day and Boxing Day (going out for a meal).
 
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