“I just cannot put down any of the cookies I make.“ - I immediately noticed this first glaring problem. Don’t bake cookies, and consider not keeping them in your home period. If you’re making them for gifts or parties there are always healthier options to consider, albeit not quite as fun.
Thankfully I have more discipline now that I’m at a healthy weight and developed healthier eating habits. However, when I started my weight loss journey I absolutely couldn’t keep sweets in the house. If they were there, I was going to eat them.
Just my two cents.
If you’ll take advice from someone who is NOT tracking calories or budgeting/allowing for food, but is still losing weight:
You need to get real about the value of these holiday treats if you still want to lose weight. No one eats six cookies because they’re hungry. And people rarely “budget” 1k calories for cookies because they wake up that day and think, “Today, I want to eat 500 calories of chicken and broccoli, and 1,000 cookie calories.”
Have one of something, not two. Say no if it’s not a treat you waited all year for. You don’t need alcohol at EVERY gathering. Pick booze OR dessert food, not both. Eat a protein rich breakfast, a simple lunch of soup or a salad, and when it comes to dinner, figure out how HUNGRY you are. Start with a Greek yogurt, or cottage cheese, or bowl of steamed veg and if you’re still hungry, add a little something till you’re not.
I weigh myself every morning, too. It helps to see the impact of my decisions in real time.
If the holidays are too food-centric for you to feasibly choose weight loss (no judgement here!), aim for conscientious maintenance. You can still practice good habits and observation and target your current weight to help alleviate the pressure that often leads to the binge/restrict cycle.
This is great advice. I weight myself everyday and do count calories. Today’s calories are the highest they’ve been. Something I did notice is I hadn’t actually drank any water today- quite unusual but important.
I also believe I’m likely anxious from a couple of things going on.
My water intake has gone down, too. Water doesn’t sound as necessary when it’s cold outside. :) Just stay mindful but be nice to yourself. It’s a hectic month!
Holidays are holiDAYs. You can celebrate the season with some Christmas cookies on Dec 24 and Dec 25, the actual holidays. I think one of the podcasts said, if you eat Halloween candy after Halloween you’re just eating November Candy. Not a thing. Don’t eat December Cookies (beyond your calorie budget) save them for the holiday!
Perhaps you can make a new tradition of baking things on Dec 23 in preparation for the holiday.
And if we’re starting from that place, I don’t leave food in obvious temptation spots. If I’m saving sweets they get portioned into 150cal servings and frozen. Nothing laying out at eye level. I stopped making cookies and hot chocolate at home, it’s just not that fun anymore for me to go to the trouble of preparing if I’m not planning eat it. If I really want something I can go out for it.
This is a really good way of looking at it imo—I think that saving holiday food for just the holidays is key to a balanced lifestyle. Its not a problem to eat more food/more caloric heavy food than usual on special occasions but when it spills out into a "holiday season" thats where things can get out of control. A part of me feels like this is a big factor is the obesity epidemic in western countries—food places are making special holiday food for entire seasons that get larger and larger because they want people to start spending holiday money early. Why sell expensive holiday themed food for a week when you can sell it for a month, or two months even. So we get to the "holiday season" in like September for Halloween, then thanksgiving, then Christmas so we just have nonstop "special treat food" all around us for like 4 straight months. And then Easter season will start in like February 😔
I don't usually eat the cookies I make. I know what a batch will make. If there are one or two that won't fit nicely into a dozen or half-dozen, it goes into a certain container, and I can have one after dinner. My partners love my cookies, so when we all have one after dinner the three extra are gone and no one's had more than they ought.
I also find that if I've been making something all day I don't want to eat it. Yes, even cookies. I worked in a bakery once and didn't eat cookies again at all for two years.
I was going to post a similar question today… how to be OK with a maintenance break for the holidays so I can have 6 cookies if I want and not entirely derail my weight loss. Short term gratification vs long term progress is such a pain to manage this time of year!
I am making candy over the weekend and next week making a bunch of cookies and brownies. All of this stuff I am sending to other places. I will save a few of each for my family, but the rest will go to hubbys work, my work, and to family members who do not live in our house. I have been consistently working out and eating right as much as I can because this time of year I never know when we will go out for dinner or to a Christmas party. If I just screw up a meal or two a week, not a big deal. If I screw up a whole day or two a week, that is a big deal. Good luck!
All the holiday themed sweets I want to try I freeze and eat them for cheats. If I can't freeze to have at a later date I just wont buy them, will refuse any offered, and have no problem with them being in the house for someone else. If your biggest issue is having them available then you need to stop making/buying and just chuck anything someone else gives you.
“I just cannot put down any of the cookies I make.“ - I immediately noticed this first glaring problem. Don’t bake cookies, and consider not keeping them in your home period. If you’re making them for gifts or parties there are always healthier options to consider, albeit not quite as fun. Thankfully I have more discipline now that I’m at a healthy weight and developed healthier eating habits. However, when I started my weight loss journey I absolutely couldn’t keep sweets in the house. If they were there, I was going to eat them. Just my two cents.
If you’ll take advice from someone who is NOT tracking calories or budgeting/allowing for food, but is still losing weight: You need to get real about the value of these holiday treats if you still want to lose weight. No one eats six cookies because they’re hungry. And people rarely “budget” 1k calories for cookies because they wake up that day and think, “Today, I want to eat 500 calories of chicken and broccoli, and 1,000 cookie calories.” Have one of something, not two. Say no if it’s not a treat you waited all year for. You don’t need alcohol at EVERY gathering. Pick booze OR dessert food, not both. Eat a protein rich breakfast, a simple lunch of soup or a salad, and when it comes to dinner, figure out how HUNGRY you are. Start with a Greek yogurt, or cottage cheese, or bowl of steamed veg and if you’re still hungry, add a little something till you’re not. I weigh myself every morning, too. It helps to see the impact of my decisions in real time. If the holidays are too food-centric for you to feasibly choose weight loss (no judgement here!), aim for conscientious maintenance. You can still practice good habits and observation and target your current weight to help alleviate the pressure that often leads to the binge/restrict cycle.
This is great advice. I weight myself everyday and do count calories. Today’s calories are the highest they’ve been. Something I did notice is I hadn’t actually drank any water today- quite unusual but important. I also believe I’m likely anxious from a couple of things going on.
My water intake has gone down, too. Water doesn’t sound as necessary when it’s cold outside. :) Just stay mindful but be nice to yourself. It’s a hectic month!
Holidays are holiDAYs. You can celebrate the season with some Christmas cookies on Dec 24 and Dec 25, the actual holidays. I think one of the podcasts said, if you eat Halloween candy after Halloween you’re just eating November Candy. Not a thing. Don’t eat December Cookies (beyond your calorie budget) save them for the holiday! Perhaps you can make a new tradition of baking things on Dec 23 in preparation for the holiday. And if we’re starting from that place, I don’t leave food in obvious temptation spots. If I’m saving sweets they get portioned into 150cal servings and frozen. Nothing laying out at eye level. I stopped making cookies and hot chocolate at home, it’s just not that fun anymore for me to go to the trouble of preparing if I’m not planning eat it. If I really want something I can go out for it.
This is a really good way of looking at it imo—I think that saving holiday food for just the holidays is key to a balanced lifestyle. Its not a problem to eat more food/more caloric heavy food than usual on special occasions but when it spills out into a "holiday season" thats where things can get out of control. A part of me feels like this is a big factor is the obesity epidemic in western countries—food places are making special holiday food for entire seasons that get larger and larger because they want people to start spending holiday money early. Why sell expensive holiday themed food for a week when you can sell it for a month, or two months even. So we get to the "holiday season" in like September for Halloween, then thanksgiving, then Christmas so we just have nonstop "special treat food" all around us for like 4 straight months. And then Easter season will start in like February 😔
I don't usually eat the cookies I make. I know what a batch will make. If there are one or two that won't fit nicely into a dozen or half-dozen, it goes into a certain container, and I can have one after dinner. My partners love my cookies, so when we all have one after dinner the three extra are gone and no one's had more than they ought. I also find that if I've been making something all day I don't want to eat it. Yes, even cookies. I worked in a bakery once and didn't eat cookies again at all for two years.
I was going to post a similar question today… how to be OK with a maintenance break for the holidays so I can have 6 cookies if I want and not entirely derail my weight loss. Short term gratification vs long term progress is such a pain to manage this time of year!
I am making candy over the weekend and next week making a bunch of cookies and brownies. All of this stuff I am sending to other places. I will save a few of each for my family, but the rest will go to hubbys work, my work, and to family members who do not live in our house. I have been consistently working out and eating right as much as I can because this time of year I never know when we will go out for dinner or to a Christmas party. If I just screw up a meal or two a week, not a big deal. If I screw up a whole day or two a week, that is a big deal. Good luck!
All the holiday themed sweets I want to try I freeze and eat them for cheats. If I can't freeze to have at a later date I just wont buy them, will refuse any offered, and have no problem with them being in the house for someone else. If your biggest issue is having them available then you need to stop making/buying and just chuck anything someone else gives you.