Every holiday season beyond all the commercials telling us what is the best gift ideas for Christmas, we are bombarded with a big fat lie. What’s that lie you ask? Holiday weight gain!
Before you get all pitchforky, hear me out. Just trying to help you debunk the myths about holidays and calories before you ended up ruining your holiday season worrying about gaining weight. (Where is the fun in that!)
When I was younger, I always dreaded this time of the year. All the delicious food and parties made me super anxious about it all. Always having struggled with my weight, Christmas parties were more like landmines than fun gatherings with friends and family. You know what was ruining it for me? The big fat lie that holiday weight gain is bound to happen.
Here’s the thing. Telling someone that food is evil and should be avoided or you are going to turn into a horribly fat and awful person doesn’t really prevent weight gain from happening. It actually encourages. How you might ask? Because it demonizes food, and once you forbid something it’s human nature to think of nothing else but what you “can’t” have. (Ever heard of forbidden fruit?) Guilt and self hatred aren’t very festive holiday accessories.
Knowing and obsessing about how many calories are in each and every single holiday morsel that hits your lips doesn’t help prevent the bulge either. Have you ever seen a happy person that could recite how many calories are in your favorite holiday treat? That’s totally who I would hang out with at the company Christmas party.
Each and every year, I would fret about gaining weight during the holiday season. I would spend hours pouring over articles on how to not gain weight during the winter months, and try to be meticulous about each and every bite that I would take. No matter how much time I “prepared” a strategy to navigate the holiday party battle field the weight gain would always happen.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
– Albert Einstein
You know what the definition of insanity is? Doing something the same way over and over again and expecting different results. So, a few years ago I decided to change strategies. Rather than keep serving myself a healthy portion of self loathing with a side of guilt, I decided to not worry about the possibility of gaining weight. Yep, the rebel that I am threw caution to the wind and STOPPED obsessing and fearing putting on pounds.
Rather than drooling over the very naughty things I wanted to do to my ever beloved cheeseball, holiday parties were spent enjoying others company and trying dishes that truly looked delicious to me. Instead of freaking out if I left a holiday party bloated and overfull, my mind wandered to just how amazingly tasty everything was. There was also thoughts of how horribly uncomfortable my belly felt and to keep that as a mental note for the next party.
It’s been five years since I’ve adopted this strategy, and you know what? My weight has stayed the same! I’m now able to bake Christmas cookies, a weakness of mine, without sneaking midnight binges of them. One or two cookies and a tall glass of milk and I am good. You know what else has happened? I am happier! That in and of itself has helped my weight stabilize. There’s no more guilt or emotional eating. All because I gave myself permission to love food. (Want tips on giving yourself permission to eat head here!)
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.-Aesop
Now some haters may look at my photos and say, well you are a fast ass, how is that exactly working out for you?! One thing I have learned in my life is that being thin doesn’t make you a better person, not being a jack ass does! It’s time everyone gives themselves permission to love themselves and to be passionate about good food. The beautiful thing about our world is that people come in all different shapes and sizes! It’s about damn time that we treat people like people not like treat them differently based on their shape or size.
To help you get started this holiday season, I’ve put together a few tips to help you make this the best holiday season ever! Give yourself the best gift you can yourself, and that is the gift of self love! You guys are amazing, and it’s about time you believed it too!
8 Ways to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
1. Give yourself permission to not give a damn about gaining weight: Our bodies are beautiful machines. Allow yourself permission to say screw it this holiday season and don’t worry about the holiday bulge. The weight of guilt lifted alone is worth 10 pounds.
2. Seek out food you truly really love: When you are out this holiday season, seek out new and exciting foods. Look for foods you truly think you are really salivating for. Don’t always go to the old favorites or things you think you love. (I’ll explain that part later) Be adventurous!
3. Forget the light crap: Anyone that EVER tells you light foods taste the same is full of BS. You know this and I know this. Give yourself permission to go for the fully loaded, real fat and sugar goodies this holiday season.
4. Savor Every Bite: Rather than gorging and shoving food in your mouth mindlessly, savor every bite. Ask yourself, “Do I really like this?” If the answer is no, STOP eating it! Just because you took it doesn’t mean you have to finish it. Think of your tastebuds as a sanctuary only saved for things that are amazing. You will find this helps eliminate a whole lot of foods you used to obsess over! It also helps you become satisfied with just a few bites rather than mounds of food.
5. If you still want more, GET MORE: Sometimes we aren’t always tummy hungry, but we are still mouth hungry. WTH does that mean? It’s when you think of a food and you can still feel yourself salivating and craving that food. My favorite rule is I give myself 5-10 minutes, and I am still jonesing for whatever it is I get a little bit more. That’s usually enough to get my fill. In days past, I would’ve said no and then later caved and eaten a crap ton. It made me feel guilty and sick from overeating.
6. Drop the all or nothing mindset: One way to set yourself up for weight gain is keeping that all or nothing thinking. Tell yourself it is ok to eat too much. Sometimes we get excited and don’t pay attention just to realize too late we ate way more than our tummy can handle. Don’t let that turning into an “I suck” fest. Learning the process of giving yourself permission to eat is a long process. Just think of all the positives and how amazing the food was, but keep in mind how the upset tummy feels for next time.
7. Ditch the Scale: Despite what a lot of “experts” say, weighing yourself all the time doesn’t prevent weight gain. If you are anything like me, your weight can fluctuate as much as 5-10 pounds in water weight especially during that time of the month. It is very powerful to say after decades of obsessing over my weight that I have NO idea how much I weigh right now. Despite how we are trained to think, not having a scale will not pack on the pounds! Pay attention to how your clothes feel. If they are feeling uncomfortable, don’t beat yourself up. Adjust a few things because you love yourself and want to feel comfortable in your favorite pair of jeans, not because you feel guilty
8. Remember how the food makes you feel: This is my favorite tip of them all. Growing up in the South, I was raised on fried foods. I used to love them! Food journaling really helped me pay attention to how I felt after eating certain goods. It helped me see how emotionally and physically I felt when I would eat which has helped a ton! (Check out my food journaling tips and free food diary here.)
Now that I have paid attention to how I feel after eating certain foods I am not really a fan of a lot of things fried. It makes me feel sluggish and tired. For me, the yummy taste wasn’t worth feeling like crap for the rest of the day. Plus, I found some other favorites that are amazing and don’t give me that same feeling. You should try it!
Wow, now that was a whopper of a post, but you guys needed to hear my versions of the truth. I am by no means an expert, but with experience with my eating disorder throughout the years I’ve worked with some amazing nutritionists and counsellors that do know their stuff. Some of these tips are things I leaarned from them. Weight isn’t the enemy, self hatred and guilt are the enemy. Holiday seasons are supposed to be joyous. You guys deserve to give yourself permission to love yourself and embrace your passion for good food. Keep being awesome!
If you loved this post, make sure to check out these other posts to help you eat more mindfully:
Six Easy Steps to Mindful Eating
Things Will Be Better When I am Skinny
Just Eat the Damn Cookie
How Journaling Can Help Your Health!
Savanah Fahrney-Day says
For those that don’t want to ditch the scale, I have a tip. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning EVERY morning, before you eat or drink anything. You’ll quickly realize your weight fluctuates (even for men) throughout the month. Weighing yourself sporadically can make you think you gained weight, when you are really just up on fluid or have more food in your system at the time.
Ashley Sears says
That’s great advice! Doing it at the same time every day is what helped me realize some months I put on as much as TEN pounds of water weight that time of the month! It’s all about learning what your body truly needs and wants and realizing your self worth is not attached to a scale 😉
Amanda @ The Kolb Corner says
I LOVE these tips, especially #3. There is no “lite” version out there that tastes like the real thing. I really enjoyed this post, thank you for sharing at Merry Monday! Tweeted!
Ashley Sears says
Amanda, So glad you found them useful. Yeah, I’ve never found that lite anything tastes as good as the real thing. Plus, I’ll just end up eating the light plus the regular when I should’ve just eaten less of the real thing first 🙂