Everyday Systems

I could have sworn I started a thread on this last year but couldn't find it. Maybe it was in 2017? Well, onwards.

I'm pretty sure it was the author of Mindless Eating who found that it's really early in the fall that people need to get ready for the holidays by eating modestly. This can be further incentive for those who keep having false starts or a lot of failing. If you are already used to enjoying good meals with reasonable amounts, it's a lot less likely you will go crazy when the holiday plates come around. You will know that you will get plenty of pleasure by not overeating [much]. Some wild S days can actually help in giving those experiences that we might have more strength to avoid later.

So, fall officially starts in a few days. Let's use it to get ready to delight in the holiday season and not hit New Year's scrambling to completely revamp our efforts!

Great post!

This happened to me last year, the holiday season was compounded by work stress and change of job, then a house move.

I only now feel back on track. If I can get back to my lowest weight which I hit in November by Christmas that should be incentive enough to stay on track.

Jx

Well, the holiday eating starts earlier, for some people as early as Halloween. But if feeling back on track now feels good enough, it could carry you through. I had been way off from mid spring through to not that long ago, so I wanted to give myself a pep talk, too!

Inspiring post, oolala! I’m doubling down on vanilla No S through the holidays.

How topical - I came back especially for the holiday season!

Last year, I went overboard and had to actually work on losing rather than maintaining once the New Year came... Did NOT like that.

My habits do get a little sloppy over the course of the year, and when in the normal course of things, it's okay. I've internalized moderation enough that an occasional non-S treat doesn't derail me.

But during the holiday season, those treats tend to increase to the point that they will overwhelm my habits if I'm not careful. So... Time to shore up the habits, and "build a fence around the rule"!

So I'm back.

I'm in for this training session/season!

Here is a list of things I've been thinking about as we roll into the holidays:

1. I didn't take Halloween as an S Day! I haven't had any candy! My kids have mostly eaten through theirs, we handed out all of our neighborhood bags, and surprisingly there hasn't been as much in the work office as usual. The stuff that does show up is more like pies, cupcakes, breads, etc. - all "pumpkin" of course.

2. I'm not as concerned about the holiday meals because I limit my grains now. I feel so much better without them, which provides a carrot for avoiding. I get negative feedback on my blood glucose monitor when I eat them, which provides a stick for avoiding. So wish me luck. I've already decided I'll be making more variety of meats for Thanksgiving - turkey, ham, and sausages. I'll also make some nice green salads and lots of veggies and dip. This way, I can fill up on nutritious meats and veggies and forego (hopefully) the stuffing and mashed potatoes.

3. Holidays will be "modified" N Days. How about that? Just regular eating with one larger than normal meal, and maybe one S event if there's a dessert I just have to have.

4. Holiday get-togethers should be treated as N Days unless they actually are on a weekend, in which case no biggie.

This is doable. Haha! We shall see!

Boy, I have to get on my own train! I haven't had many green days since I posted this. Going to be around a lot of food today. Hope I can be reasonable.

Great thoughts, all! My focus for the holidays this year is going to be feeling as good as I can. How can I not want to do that??

I see now how I feel when I eat healthy food in moderation, and how I feel when I eat too much junk. So I think a key for me is going to be eating with intention, slowly, paying attention to how I feel.

On Halloween, I gave myself permission to have an S day and eat as much candy as I wanted. I had two of the small fun size packs of M&Ms, and I could quickly tell that was more than enough. Gorging on more candy really wasn’t going to be a “treat”.

I need to work to focus on that understanding on Thanksgiving, and then at the Christmas parties I’ll be attending.I’ll try to also keep in mind my imaginary svelte French acquaintance who always eats in a traditional manner and never over stuffs. I want to be like her.

I am so glad that I enjoyed the food I had on Txgiving but did not feel stuffed at any point in the day. Am feeling pretty good about the next few weeks, though as I'm not even working anymore, have very few social eating events to look forward to. That's a coin with two sides!