holiday eating

Do want your pants to fit on January 1?

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Then you’ve got to start now.

Planning, that is.

Ugh! I know. I said the “P” word. Fun just left the house.

But we plan so we can have fun and still feel amazing.

Women tell me that in November, it all starts to go to hell. So, with my clients we develop strategies so they don’t deprive themselves but also don’t demolish their progress.

Because they want to enjoy the holidays. And they want to eat cookies.

I bet you do, too.

Do want your pants to fit on January 1? Then you’ve got to start now. What would make you smile through the next two months and on January 1?
Photo by Jill Wellington from Pexels

Start with a look back at recent holidays. Where did it go off the rails? What are your triggers? Why did you over-eat? Or have a few too many adult beverages? Approach it like a researcher, not a judge and jury. Promise?

By knowing the kinds of situations and scenarios that present challenges to you, decide how to prepare for them. Also consider how you want your holiday season to look and feel. What would make you smile through the next two months and on January 1?

We also need to keep in mind that the holidays will likely look different this year. We’ll be considering things we haven’t needed to before. Some temptations might be greater. Others less. Stress may come from unexpected places.

But whether you’re stressed about spending time with your mother-in-law or stressed about staying at home, the tools to deal with both are the same.

You may also be surprised by unexpected blessings from our current situation. As you encounter them, think about how to savor them. Is there a lesson you want to take into future holidays? Or simply into daily life?

So, think about having your pants fit in January. Think about starting the year already on your game. Feeling healthy. Strong. Amazing.

Sound fanciful? Not at all.

Join me for a No Regrets January during my FREE 3-day challenge. You can enroll for free here: https://www.weightbreakthrough.com/no-regrets-january/

Here’s to pants that fit on January 1!

3 tips on how to stay healthy during the holidays

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People want to stay healthy during the holidays, so I asked the members in my FB group what small intention they could set and honor to carry them through the season.

One comment struck me in particular. A member decided that she could have See’s candy at any time of year, so she wouldn’t eat it during the holidays. Brilliant.

An article on the healthy holidays topic takes this even further, recommending that we de-mystify holiday food. That is, once we recognize that we can truly eat holiday food at any time, we can better control our choices.

But you might say, “I don’t eat pumpkin pie any other time of year.” Or peppermint bark. Or stuffing.

But you could. And that’s the point.

I recall the 1989 Christmas season, working as an accounting intern at a large insurance company. Boxes of Sees candy seemed to appear daily. And somehow, gratefully, I decided that I could eat my one or two favorites and leave the rest.

That was huge for me, because during the better part of the 1980s chocolate was one of my food groups. Really. Not kidding.

People want to stay healthy during the holidays, but what does that mean? Here are 3 tips to define and carry out "healthy" for you this season. Read more here: https://www.weightbreakthrough.com/3-tips-on-how-to-stay-healthy-during-the-holidays/
Photo by Jessica Johnston on Unsplash

Want even more simple strategies to get and stay healthy, especially during the holidays? Get my 10 Hacks here!

Here are my three tips on how to stay healthy during the holidays:

  • Start with the intention. And decide that it’s doable. Otherwise, if you think that it’s hard or, worse, impossible to control your behavior, you won’t make many healthy choices.
  • Define what it means. Eating. Exercise. Enjoyment. Downtime. What does your picture of healthy look like?
  • Plan to carry it out. I love the idea of standards. In his book Essentialism, Greg McKeown talks about the decision that makes a thousand other decisions. Like my member’s decision not to eat See’s candy. Think of the brain power freed up by not having to decide each and every time you’re presented with a situation to choose health. Decide beforehand.

And be careful of the “moderation” argument, as it can keep you in the murky middle. You find yourself saying things like, “at least I didn’t eat three desserts.”

Lastly, if you experience a moment of over-indulgence, be kind to yourself. It happens. The next moment is a new opportunity to hold to honor your intention and carry out your plan. Don’t excuse the behavior (that makes you more likely to do it again), but have self-compassion.

Maybe self-compassion could be part of all our plans. And not just during the holidays. 😊

 

3 tips to avoid overeating and other “regrets” this holiday

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How often do things go according to plan? How about when you add in family, the holidays and, of course, food? I’ll bet not often, and that’s totally normal. The problem is when we don’t prepare for it and then pretend like things just “happen” to us. Like extra dessert falling into our mouth or mean words falling out of it. The thing is, if we want to avoid overeating and other “regrets,” we need to plan well.

I’ve been there. Eaten too much of a good thing and felt stuffed. Said something that the next morning I wished I could take back. What I came to realize is that those “hangovers” can be prevented. I don’t control other people, but I do control me.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Want even more simple strategies to get and stay healthy, especially during the holidays? Get my 10 Hacks here!

Try these three tips to prepare for the unexpected this holiday season so you stay in integrity with who you want to be:

1. What you eat is your own business: I regularly work with clients who have a hard time saying no to food. They don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, or they feel pressured. So, they end up eating more than intended, or something that hurts their health and weight loss efforts.

Ingrain the truth that your food is your business. (And other people’s food is their business.) Come up with a phrase to use when offered something you don’t want so that you can avoid overeating. A simple “no thank you” is often best. Resist the temptation to explain yourself as it opens you up to the other person trying to talk you out of it.

2. Other people can do/say what they want: This was a huge revelation for a client of mine. She told me what a relief it was to understand and accept this. If you’re going to an event where experience tells you that a difficult person will be there (family member, co-worker, boss, etc.), choose to go knowing they get to be exactly who they are. They can say and do anything. And you don’t have to react, get hurt or be angry. You also don’t have to hang around them.

3. Set your standards: Decide how much you will do. How many nights a week will you accept invitations this season? How late will you stay out (or conversely, what time do you want to be in bed)? And know that the decisions you’ll make on which invitations to accept or not will generally be between a bunch of things you want to do. Now, if you can do them all without your healthy intentions suffering, awesome. But be honest with yourself. You will sometimes find that saying no to something you want to do is better than doing it.

If we’re honest, these circumstances are rarely unexpected. But we can act like they are, or use a particular situation to justify poor decisions. We can avoid overeating, over-drinking or saying things we later regret …these are all optional. No thing or other person can cause these things. We are solely responsible.

Isn’t that the best news ever?! (By the way, it’s not too late to finish the year strong – read my post here.)

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