How are you going to handle Christmas day?

Hi everyone, I am quite new to SW. Been attending group for 6 weeks. Been doing quite good, losses every week, some big, some small. Lost 1st 2lbs so far. Feeling quite good about things.

Before I begin, I did do a search on this topic before I began the thread to see if it existed already, but I couldnt find anything, so sorry if a similar thread exists and I have just missed it.

Anyway, so I wondered how everyone else is going to handle Christmas? Are you going to try to calculate/syn everything, or are you just gonna have a great day, see what happens, and if you gain, just draw a line under it? I dont want to gain, but at the same time, I dont want to be counting everything on Christmas day.

If I was having Christmas at home, it would be a bit easier, because I would be able to pre-plan, but my partner & I are going to be with his family and we are going out to a restaurant for Christmas lunch (his Nan insists!). I am a vegetarian, and there is only veggie option at the place we are going. So, I dont really have a choice there. So I accepted this and thought "Well, one high-syn meal will be fine". I have also been given a bottle of Baileys to enjoy over Christmas, as I love Baileys, and used to drink it all the time, but now I just drink it at Christmas. I hardly drink throughout the year, so I really want to enjoy my Baileys over Christmas, and I dont want it around after Xmas.

Now, I am actually fine with all of this, but I just feel a bit anxious about going back to group and having gained, but if I do.. then I can just say, so what, it was Christmas, lets start a fresh. Am I bad for not really wanting to care what I eat on Christmas day? I know there will be chocolates and mince pies too which, quite frankly, I want to indulge in, seeing as I have pretty much indulged in NO Christmas food so far this year (normally for me Christmas is a 2 month affair, and I start eating all the nice Christmas treats early November!!).

So what I am saying is, I wanna relax at Christmas, have some drinks, and eat what I want, and not worry or count anything? Is that bad? Cos I pretty much track everything all of the time, even when I have a bad day or make slip ups, I always track my syns, so I know how badly I have done. But Christmas should be the one time of year we can eat and drink what we want.
 
Hiya

I don't think it's bad at all that you want to enjoy Christmas Day. I'm sure a lot of people will be planning to go off plan for the day and just enjoy themselves.

Your Christmas sounds almost exactly like mine! My partner and I are also going to be at his parents house and we are also going out for dinner on Christmas Day. I'm not planning on going too off track on Christmas Day, I think at the restaurant I'll just get as many vegetables as I can and keep the syns to a minimum but you know what they say about best laid plans so I'm not going to get too caught up about it.

As for the Christmas treats, I'm just going to try to avoid them! I'll be at my parents place for a couple of days before Christmas but they're not big on Christmas so I'm not expecting there to be many temptations there. When I'm at my partners parents place I tend not to snack at all as his two sisters are like supermodel slim and gorgeous and I have huge confidence issues when I'm around them so I tend not to eat anything when they're around, other than my main meals. None of his family really drinks much either so Christmas is usually a sober, treat-free, awkward and unfulfilling time haha!

That being said though, I think you have every right to treat yourself and enjoy the day. You're clearly focussed on being on plan so I'm sure that once Christmas is over you'll be able to get right back on it. It may or may not end up in a bit of a gain but it's only once a year and a week on plan will soon shift the one or two pounds that might sneak on and then you'll be right back where you want to be. It's probably better to enjoy yourself than try to resist everything and end up having a binge. I find that if I tell myself I can't have something that's all I want. If I let myself just eat what I want then I don't want it as much and tend to eat less anyway.

Whatever you decide, best of luck and have a wonderful Christmas! :)
 
We're going out to a restaurant for Christmas dinner too and I had to make my menu choices before I'd started SW so I plan to enjoy the day and just draw a line under it! All the family is coming to my house for Boxing Day buffet, so at least I'll have more control and can make sure that there are plenty of SW options for me to grab :)
 
Relax enjoy Xmas. You will probably damage control yourself by not eating all the bad things and just enjoy your food and baileys. Nobody at class is scorned for gaining! Everybody's in same boat. Those who don't get to class are the ones who will struggle to get back on track. I gained 7 lb last year and I'm a maintainer!
 
I'm bascially going to have the day off plan but make sensible choices as well if that makes sense, so rather than having a massive cooked breakky I might just have a bacon sandwich (with bacon baked in oven, no butter on bread, SW friendly bread), I'll eat until full but make sure I eat loads of veggies for my main dinner. I dont' like wine or sherry or champagne but I will have a couple of baileys. Although I am planning on having Boxing Day off plan as well for my dinner that day I am doing the spiced roasted gammon with sweet roasted vegetables out of of the Christmas Cookbook. I'm just doing a meal planner for the christmas period and factoring in lots from that cookbook to help me me a flexi lexi LOL!

I want to enjoy Christmas, accept a gain gracefully but not go off the rails so spectatularly or for such a long time that I can't get back on track.
 
Hi,
I am at home for Christmas so doing all the cooking, my meals will be sw friendly. However I am giving myself a time frame to be off plan, from the Monday eve when everyone arrives till the Friday when I weigh in. Going to a panto on the Friday so I am driving but when we get home may have some wine but will count it. This is what I did last year and gained three pounds , I want to enjoy Christmas as well, so wine will be drunk, mince pies and chocolate ate. Just make a decision on when you are getting back on plan
 
I'm going to my partner's family on Christmas Eve, staying there for Christmas Day and going to my family to celebrate on Boxing Day and the 27th. I will therefore be off-plan for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day, Boxing Day dinner and the day of 27th. Also NYE evening. The rest of the time I will be strictly on plan, eating lots of superfree and going for long walks.

The times I'm off-plan, though, I plan to stay sensible with some 'rules':
- I will have looked up syn values of likely foods in advance so they are in the back of my mind.
- I will make any substitutions/priorities I can happily do without lessening my enjoyment. I'm fine not having stuffing or cranberry sauce but bread sauce is the best bit of Christmas dinner for me! I love veggies so will have lots of those but I will also have proper roast potatoes cooked in oil.
- I'll prepare some substitutions in advance. I'll make a fancy fruit salad for breakfast and have that with just one croissant instead of three, and I will make some low-syn mincepies, scanbran ferrero rocher, and Free salmon pate.
- I will think carefully before eating - do I really want it or am I just eating for the sake of it? I will eat slowly and really enjoy things, and try to stop when I'm full.
- I'll think about how I will feel after eating. I know that if I stuff myself I'll feel horrible all afternoon and really greasy food makes me feel sick nowadays. I know that since SW my alcohol tolerance is a bit lower, and if I drink too much I'll wake up at 3am feeling really ill.

In the last two weeks before Christmas my plan is 10 syns per day except for pre-planned Christmas parties, when I'm flexisynning to the amount I need to enjoy myself while being on plan as much as possible. I had hoped to lose a bit more before Christmas which was ruined by the last couple of weeks off the rails, but at the end of the day I still want to enjoy the season so that I know I can do it again next year when I'm hopefully at target.
 
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I'm going to my partner's family on Christmas Eve, staying there for Christmas Day and going to my family to celebrate on Boxing Day and the 27th. I will therefore be off-plan for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day, Boxing Day dinner and the day of 27th. Also NYE evening. The rest of the time I will be strictly on plan, eating lots of superfree and going for long walks. The times I'm off-plan, though, I plan to stay sensible with some 'rules': - I will have looked up syn values of likely foods in advance so they are in the back of my mind. - I will make any substitutions/priorities I can happily do without lessening my enjoyment. I'm fine not having stuffing or cranberry sauce but bread sauce is the best bit of Christmas dinner for me! I love veggies so will have lots of those but I will also have proper roast potatoes cooked in oil. - I'll prepare some substitutions in advance. I'll make a fancy fruit salad for breakfast and have that with just one croissant instead of three, and I will make some low-syn mincepies, scanbran ferrero rocher, and Free salmon pate. - I will think carefully before eating - do I really want it or am I just eating for the sake of it? I will eat slowly and really enjoy things, and try to stop when I'm full. - I'll think about how I will feel after eating. I know that if I stuff myself I'll feel horrible all afternoon and really greasy food makes me feel sick nowadays. I know that since SW my alcohol tolerance is a bit lower, and if I drink too much I'll wake up at 3am feeling really ill. In the last two weeks before Christmas my plan is 10 syns per day except for pre-planned Christmas parties, when I'm flexisynning to the amount I need to enjoy myself while being on plan as much as possible. I had hoped to lose a bit more before Christmas which was ruined by the last couple of weeks off the rails, but at the end of the day I still want to enjoy the season so that I know I can do it again next year when I'm hopefully at target.


I plan to do exactly this! X
 
We talked about this yesterday at group and had three styles of coping with Christmas described as being on a motorway.

One was having everything and going back in January with a big weight gain - the hard shoulder
Two was being in the middle lane and trying to stick to the plan when possible but if necessary eat more syns on certain days and
Three was to be in the fast lane and stick to the plan the whole time.

One or two were going to be on the hard shoulder (someone said they were in the field at the side of the motorway at the moment) a couple said they would be in the fast lane but most of us felt we would be in the middle lane if possible.

Maybe this system would help you so that if you do overeat on one or two days you can then move into a different lane when things are better.
 
We talked about this yesterday at group and had three styles of coping with Christmas described as being on a motorway.

One was having everything and going back in January with a big weight gain - the hard shoulder
Two was being in the middle lane and trying to stick to the plan when possible but if necessary eat more syns on certain days and
Three was to be in the fast lane and stick to the plan the whole time.

One or two were going to be on the hard shoulder (someone said they were in the field at the side of the motorway at the moment) a couple said they would be in the fast lane but most of us felt we would be in the middle lane if possible.

Maybe this system would help you so that if you do overeat on one or two days you can then move into a different lane when things are better.

That's really good!
 
We talked about this yesterday at group and had three styles of coping with Christmas described as being on a motorway.

One was having everything and going back in January with a big weight gain - the hard shoulder
Two was being in the middle lane and trying to stick to the plan when possible but if necessary eat more syns on certain days and
Three was to be in the fast lane and stick to the plan the whole time.

One or two were going to be on the hard shoulder (someone said they were in the field at the side of the motorway at the moment) a couple said they would be in the fast lane but most of us felt we would be in the middle lane if possible.

Maybe this system would help you so that if you do overeat on one or two days you can then move into a different lane when things are better.


Thats clever. Myself, I plan to stop at the services for a wee and a bag of Percy Pigs on Christmas Day
 
I plan to have a day off, last year I was at SW and I did this and I honestly felt like I enjoyed it more rather than worrying about it. I've worked hard at group last 5 weeks and hopefully this week will do well to so think I can allow a bit of time off! Im sure I'll gain, but I'll take it and just motivate myself to loose it again.
I bet the first SW group after xmas will be gains for many, but sometimes I dont feel bad for it if it was worth it!
 
Im having xmas eve evening, xmas day and boxing day off..then nye and nyd off. However im cooking xmas dinner this year so will be using lf sausages and frylite so it wont be too bad! Im hoping :)
 
Another good tip from class was treat yourself to a small Xmas tin. Then every morning put syn treats in it what you intend to have that day. Hopefully you'll savour them and not feel left out ;)
 
I probably shouldn't admit to this seeing as the majority are being so good but I said from day 1 of joining that xmas would be my off plan time. I've done everything right so far and will be 100% until my pre self agreed carnage can begin.

At the moment it looks to be Monday 22nd, Christmas and Boxing day off, maybe half day Xmas eve.

Rather than just allow myself to go mad, what I have done is written down all the things I want to eat and given them slots on various days. For example, I love PB on toast, so that's my special xmas day brekkie, I have a pulled pork joint in the freezer which will be my boxing day tea....etc etc. Family and hubby have been told to buy me minimal treats, or at least smaller versions! Fortunately, the gym is open most of the time and my classes are on as normal so it shouldn't take long to get back on track!
 
I'm planning on having a few days off plan with wine and mince pies. I'm going to a really nice pub on the Sunday for roast pig with the trimmings (I'll have a bit less crackling but don't want to miss out.

And on Xmas day I'll definitely have Xmas pudding!

However, I've also taken up running (6 months ago), so I'm going to go on a long run (for me) Saturday/Sunday, Xmas eve and boxing day - about 7.5k. That'll just have to do.

And I'll have wine NYE too. I might run NYD depending on how hungover I am ;)
 
I'm staying solidly on plan over Christmas. I'm at home so simply won't buy treats apart from for a family buffet on Boxing Day which will have SW friendly elements (and I may well opt out and have one of my batch cooked 'ready meals' from the freezer). Christmas dinner itself is pretty SW friendly anyway - I'll just cook my normal SW roast and add LowLow Cauliflower cheese (hexa) and a Lynda Mac sausage as a pig in blanket/stuffing substitute for me (the others will have the real things lol) :) I don't drink anyway and all family members have been given firm instructions not to buy me edible presents!

To be honest I want the weight loss more than I want treats
biggrin.gif
 
Re: Whats for tea tonight?

Well..everyone seems to have a plan! Whether its to stay on plan or go mad for the day, I hope everyone has a nice time. Thanks for all the replies! Its given me loads to think about :) now I've just got to worry about my birthday which is on Friday! Il probably just have another day off to be honest x

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