How to Avoid Falling Off the Weight Loss Wagon during the Holidays
December 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under Weight Loss Tips
Two of the biggest holidays of the year are facing dieters. Wherever you go there will be food. You know how you have sabotaged your diet in the past when you went out to a party or a restaurant and it wasn’t pretty. You beat yourself up over it for days afterwards and had a hard time getting back onto your diet or healthy eating plan. How will you cope this time?
The number one tip is to plan ahead and visualize where you are going and what you are going to do when you get there. Repeat to yourself as you get ready to go out that you are going out to socialize and see your friends and family, not just to eat.
Prepare a plan in your mind. Visualize yourself choosing healthy food as you see the food or read the menu. See yourself choosing the veggies, or the fruit. Visualize choosing a green salad with low cal dressing or oil and vinegar on the side. Watch as you are catching up with your friends and ignoring the bread basket and you pass it on down the table. When you order you ask the waitress to broil that fish, not fry it. Picture serving yourself at the buffet table with healthy choices and walking right by the high fat, high calorie foods. You’re at the table passing food around family style and you help yourself to lots of veggies and a small portion of potatoes or none at all. Watch yourself not even flinching as your friends all go up and get desserts and you just could care less about it. Envision that you just keep on socializing and that you are having such a great time you don’t even think about the desserts.
Number two tip is eat something filling and healthy just prior to leaving for your event. As you eat, repeat number one tip, you’re not going out just to eat, you’re off to socialize and visualize again how you want to behave.
The third tip is bring your own food to the gathering. Here are some quick recipes to make a veggie or a fruit platter with a low fat dip. If you bring your own food, you’ll know that there is one thing that you can nibble on when you need to.
Here are some more great tips for avoiding the holiday bulge, but please remember … you are human, you do give in, it’s hard not to eat what your friends and family are eating. Don’t beat yourself up if you do fall off the diet wagon. Jump back on immediately or the next day, your diet isn’t derailed, just temporarily detoured.
It’s time for you to start thinking about this weight loss journey as a lifelong healthy eating plan, not a diet. If you keep thinking of it as healthy eating, not dieting, you’ll know that you can continue to eat healthy and have the occasional treat without guilt. The more that you practice at healthy eating, the easier it will become. When your body is fueled by healthy foods, your blood sugar will become stable and you will have much less cravings for sweets and snack foods. Enjoy healthy eating at your holiday feast! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
Related posts:
