Holiday Hell? Very Well.

It feels like it's been a million years since I've written anything on my blog. A million things have happened! My life has completely changed- but isn't that how life goes? Things are always changing and life always throws you curve balls- but that doesn't meant we can't figure out how to maneuver around those obstacles anyway so we can still be successful, right? At least that's where I'm at right now...

This weekend was the big move. My roommate and I moved across town to a cute 2 bedroom apartment that's out of the "loop" (the social scene). It was also the end of the month- which for those of you who work sales, you know what that means (super busy). It was also Halloween. I didn't think I wanted to go out and then the next thing you know, I was frantically trying to put together a costume with random items from Wal-Mart at 9:30 at night. My sister also had her baby- a beautiful little guy who was 7.something pounds. He's so precious. So yeah- My life has been busy. ;)

But it didn't stop me from keeping my eye on the prize! I've been thinking a lot about the dreaded holiday season that is coming up. (I say dreaded only because it finally feels like maybe I'm in the groove as far as my weight loss is concerned). It's just another obstacle right? When do the obstacles ever stop for us? NEVER! As the holiday season approaches, I'm trying to learn to isolate these days so that I can still be successful with my weight loss during this very tough time of year. At WW this week we talked about what we can do to overcome the obstacles. Here's a few things we touched on, (and also my thoughts about each):

1)Make goals.

My goal for this holiday season is not to gain any weight. If I maintain- that's fine. If I lose- that's fantastic. But hopefully I can isolate the events enough that I don't GAIN. I know it may sound lofty- but seriously- for someone that wants the weight off- I can't make excuses. I have to stay focused. Many times we slack during this time of year because we think- it's the holidays and I want to ENJOY myself. But...we haven't been enjoying ourselves up to this point...BECAUSE we weren't enjoying ourselves last year or whenever it was we were putting the weight on. I mean seriously, think about it. It was fun while you were at the party- yes. But when you got home that night, you felt sick, didn't you. And then the next day, still kinda sick and the guilt set in too. And when you couldn't button your pants? SUPER SICK! I know the feeling; it's been my life for the last year. This year I remind myself- it's not worth it- that few hours at the party. I will pop a piece of gum, eat beforehand, and avoid the food like it's got salmonella.

I have to make the goal in order to be successful this year- and the goal is not to gain. How will I achieve this goal?

1)Working out. This is a great time of year for me to start slacking on my workouts. It's a super busy time, there are a ton of other fun things to do instead, but I cannot make exceptions.

2)Try to stay on point as far as eating. I'm trying this year to remind myself to isolate Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and New Year's Day (not to mention my Bday is in there too). Those are 4 days out of 58 days (counting from today til the 1st, including the 1st). I have to remember that they are only 4 days. I can be good up until those days, and the following days. 4 days, spread out over 58 should not cause a gain, even if I were to let loose on those days. Fortunately for me, I've had experience with these days in the past. I know my triggers. I know what foods set me into a frenzy. I can't say that I'll avoid those foods, cause let's be honest, I probably won't, but if I can develop a solid plan on how to handle scenario's A,B, and C (plan good scenarios, prepare in case those don't happen), then I can avoid a gain. I also know that I need to workout extra hard on these days, and stay focused on days leading up to these particular days. I also know that eating til I'm stuffed to the point of sickness does NOT sound appealing and is not healthy. I know it's not good for my body to stuff it sick. I will NOT eat like that this year. I WILL NOT DO IT. (That's goal #2 right there I believe.)

So yeah- goal #1- No Gain.

goal #2- Will not over eat/stuff myself

goal #3- isolate the actual days so that I don't spend 5+ days in food coma/hell.

2) Continue to go to weekly meetings.

Everyone in my WW meeting kept talking about the reasons they skip meetings. I found this very interesting. I want to skip meetings sometimes too but I never do because I know I have to take accountability for my actions. Why skip? You're going to have to face the scale eventually. It will never go away- and you can't avoid it forever. Think about that for a second (that was profound to me anyway). THE SCALE WILL NEVER GO AWAY. If you choose to avoid it forever, you will just end up in the place you already were. Fat Hell. We're trying to get out of there. As much as we say we hate the scale, it's actually our friend. When we see it dropping numbers, we don't hate it as much. Cause it doesn't lie to us (unless you have a crappy one- which my roommate does and I can't count on it). It will always tell you the truth, no matter how much you hate to hear it. You only avoid it when you know you've been bad and it's going to tell you something you don't want to hear. You already know this, as do I. Of course, I say this, and then I've had those weeks that have caused me to avoid it too, they happen to me like...every other week. One week I'm so good, the next week I'm drowning in a vat of butter and loving every second of it. I'm giggling and gorging until the damn scale starts calling my name from afar. I can hear it in the background...muffled at first (what was that? Did you hear that?)...and then it gets louder and louder until the dreaded day of weigh in where the stupid scale is screaming my name and I am frantically out of the vat looking for somewhere to hide. Anything is better than facing that scale, I think to myself as I wipe the last of the buttery cream off my face.

This year however, I'm not going to hide under the bed. I will face every meeting, and every weigh in. If I have a bad week, I need to face it so I can put it behind me and do better the following week. Avoidance just causes a delay in weight loss anyway. We all know what happens when we avoid the scale for too long.

I know there were other things mentioned in the meeting, but these were the things I thought of first that applied to me. Maybe I'll address a few more as the season matures. We have 58 days! I can't believe it- it's going to fly by. Remember to stay strong! Make goals for the holidays! You'll be successful if you have a plan! Follow it. We can do this. WE WILL CONQUER!

Happy eating-

D