Nervous about Christmas!!

starsapart

Full Member
I've been overweight my whole and I am dreading Christmas this year.

I normally bake stuff everyday before Christmas, I'll eat non-stop on Christmas day and right up until New Years Day!

I don't know how I am going to change this, as Christmas is really important to me and my family and food/celebrating is obviously a really big part of this! :(

Can anyone else relate?
 
Hiya, i know what you mean about the baking! Well, why not plan in advance, all of your fave recipes that you usually bake, and alter them so they are sw friendly? half the time people dont even notice that its low fat! Alot of chrismtas meal is actually superfree foods etc, so dont panic hun, just maybe have a think about alternative snacks etc that you could have, but allow yourself some of your favourties, its all about moderation.

This year, instead of the usual buffet etc that i normally bake boxing day, i am going to do a sw meat loaf style thing, instead of buying a huge gala pie, im just making the sw one, lots of turkey curry, salads, pastas etc but i am gonna have my usual sticky toffee pud for desert christmas day, we love it too much, but i will syn it! And as for chocolates etc, which i normally shove down my neck at christmas, i will pick my fave type and buy a small pack, and ask that nobody buy me any, and just have my own little pack! if i am feeling angelic, i may even just make the sw ferrero rocher on christmas eve and munch them christmas day! xx
 
I'm hoping to lose enough before Christmas to allow myself to pig out a bit, and then try to claw it back in the New Year.

Sorry if this isn't much help, but Christmas is really tricky, although the advice above is great, but I won't have the discipline to adhere to it sadly :D

Of course, my 'pig out' won't be on the same scale as it used to be in the bad old days. Hopefully, I'll naturally choose better options and eat a little less, limiting any damage.
 
losc2522... that's great advice, thank you! I will try to have a look at my recipes and alter them slightly. I guess the great thing about SW is that you can eat anything, it's just the amounts that have to change! Really intrigued about the SW Ferrero Rocher and gala pie... I love gala pie!! :)

Scanbran... same as! It's great advice but I'm not sure I'll be able to stick to it over Christmas! :( might take a leaf out of your book and just try to lose enough beforehand to let myself have a "normal" Christmas!

Christmas dinner itself shouldn't be too difficult... turkey, bacon, Joe's sausages and sausage meat, all the veg, potatoes, parsnips are free on EE I believe so it's just oil, sauces and gravy that have to be synned. It's just all the chocolate and snacks... eek!
 
I echo what Losc has said and suggest making the majority of stuff SW friendly. I usually have baked tofu or nut roast on Christmas anyway, so will do a fat free baked tofu recipe with lots of veggies. I'm going to do my potatoes in Fry Light because as much as I love roasties dripping in fat, I really don't think they're worth splurging on. I'm going to save my syns for stuffing balls, bread, some crisps (I'll probably get some low syn versions) and a bit of chocolate.

I really want to go back to class and lose after Christmas and New Year. I figure there are plenty more Christmas's ahead of me to be more naughty on when I'm at target. I'm more likely to get away with it then as my eating habits are improving each day.
 
I did a SW Xmas dinner and gained half a pound last year.....! so very happy girl....i didnt deprive myself - just limited it all.....so it must work - plus!! Xmas is just one day (one day!!!!) out of a week - so be 100% on plan as much as you can be and you will get by fine!!! x
 
I love christmas with all the nice food, chocs & wine. But last year I allowed myself 1 mince pie, I think they're about 14 syns:eek: and just counted the chocs, wine etc in my weekly syn allowance. I can't remember what we had for christmas day pudding but it was SW friendly. I didn't once feel deprived and had a 1lb loss;)
 
With Christmas (and I can't believe I'm typing that word this early in the year!!!) you basically have 3 options.

1. If Christmas will only last one day - Relax, enjoy, accept the gain and know that it will soon come off in the New Year. That this New Year's 'I'll lose weight after Christmas' won't be just an empty resolution but an achievable goal with long term results.

However, if Christmas leads to boxing day, leads to New Years Eve, leads to New Years Day.... and you don't want too much of a mountain to climb in the New Year there is always option 2...

2. Plan, plan, plan. If you do a search of this site, last year someone named Phil (I think!!) ran a competition to plan a SW menu for Christmas day. It could be for any plan, had to include breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, snacks, drinks and only 15 syns. Even if you don't use all the ideas on Christmas day and you allow yourself some little indulgences, then at least you can help limit any gain. You might come up with even better menu ideas, and can use them over the Christmas week.

Or you can go for option 3.

3. Accept that Christmas day/week usually comes with a gain. If you think that you can still lose over the festive period whilst still enjoying yourself, go for it, it can be done. If you want to allow yourself some wriggle room over the week but you think that you would be disappointed to see a gain, this is what I did.....

Towards the end of November, pick a weeks weight that you are happy with and place your line in the sand. Any loss between that week and the start of the Christmas celebrations goes into a 'weight bank'. By the time you start celebrating, any loss in the 'weight bank' is yours to gain. The line in the sand? Helped me with the panic of 'If I have a gain, it'll just be the start of a slippery slope back to my starting weight'. Even if I was to put on over Christmas, I would never be that weight again.

I can see that you have only just started and are in the same mind-set that I was last year (I started on 2nd September 2009). The 'Christmas is coming!!! How will I cope??? It's all going to go horribly wrong and all of my good work will be for nothing!!! Why didn't I wait till after Christmas and just join in the New Year??!! Blues Panic'. Don't worry, most of us have had them at some point!!!

There will always be a reason why we should wait, Christmas, New Year, birthdays, anniversaries, parties etc, but just as many reasons to start Christmas, New Year, birthdays, anniversaries, parties etc we all want to look good, feel good and not feel that our weight is holding us back. Everyone on this site has made the greatest first step, now we just have to realise that this is our way of life, not a diet.

We will be like everyone else, enjoy life, eat a little too much occasionally, and then lose the little gains. I can't think of a single person whose weight stays perfectly level (and if there is, please don't post, I'm trying to make a point!!).

HTH
 
Wow, thanks for the replies everyone!

Lonestitcher... your reply was fantastic, thanks you! So helpful :) really love the line in the sand idea, will definitely be doing that!

Am definitely going to try to make Christmas as SW friendly as possible though! :) Not feeling quite so horrible about it all now.
 
For me I'm thinking that there are three main things to remember:

* It is one day- Christmas Day (therefore providing I'm on plan the rest of the time, it wont matter in the slightest)

* I'll be concentrating on the company and the moment, rather than putting quite so much emphasis on the food

* Being off work means there is more time for body magic (and that can come in all different forms too!!!)

To be totally honest, I really concentrate on it and can be pretty good at the big occasions, sometimes better than I am normally. BUT its when my concentration on the big occasion subsides, thats when I struggle!
 
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