Staying focused on your goals during the holiday season

The Holidays are my favorite time of the year. I want to enjoy my food, so I actually am not very strict with my diet. Of course, I work out often to help with the eating. And I plan on getting back on the diet when the New Year rolls around.

I've been working hard at watching my diet closely for the past four months and it's paying off. 35 pounds lost to date, and I'm in a doable routine that I can keep up because I'm paying attention to my way of eating rather than just "going on a diet." But I have to admit, it's very, very hard this time of year. I work for a non-profit that has donated food here every day, and it's the rich stuff! Add that to time spent with relatives who insist that all the food that's served must be eaten (or else you are considered extremely rude to your hostess) and it makes navigating the holidays about as simple as an Olympic ski run!
My plan: set my menu each day for the following day, use a scale to measure weight, not "guess," and go into our receptionist's office no more than once per day!

Totally agree. Putting health first is really difficult... esp. during the holidays.

Having ideas like these help me set strong goals (and keep my family from driving me crazy!).

good luck to everyone this holiday season!

My plan for the holidays is to eat small portions of everything to not offend the host. I will only have dessert once for Thanksgiving and once for Christmas – again very small portion. Company and department holiday parties will be tempting but I will not eat dessert and will stick with chicken and vegetable dishes. Since I have 4 day weekends during both Thanksgiving and Christmas, I will still go to the gym those 4 days and increase my level of difficulty during cardio work outs to ensure that I don't gain any weight. I will bypass the cookies, muffins, candy etc. that will come into the office (they're there almost year round anyway so this isn't any different just because it's the holidays to feel it's ok to "splurge"). I keep in mind if what I'm eating has any nutritional value and if it doesn't – how long would I have to exercise to burn it off and would it be worth it.

It's all about the lifestyle– NEVER a 'diet'. Eat 'clean', learn what a 'real' portion is, adjust to feeling 'satisfied' and not 'full',find the type of exercise you can stick to ( this may take some trial and error) and vow to never starve yourself or attempt crazy 'quick fix' plans again!! Change slowly ( cut out half your sugar consumption this week, another 1/4th next week; add 10 minutes of cardio in the month of December, etc. ) and those changes will stick. I'm 51, 5'6", 120 fit pounds, I take no medications or supplements and have never felt better. I still enjoy my weekend cocktails, occasional dinners out.etc.
If you live the lifestyle, then it can be done!!

It's all about portion control and getting some exercise. Walking is the best exercise and overall toner for me. My stomach is tighter, my legs and butt are more toned and I simply feel better. I read another post on Prevention about exercise insoles that fit into sneakers and shoes that help increase circulation and burn calories. I wear them everywhere I go. They're really comfortable, and I felt the difference in my legs and butt almost immediately.

I'm always looking for ways to enhance weight loss and who doesn't want to burn more calories while just walking? They're called Smartsole exercise insoles. I saw a discount code MB10 for 10% off on a coupon board.

All of those are important – desire, picking a goal and staying focused. But staying focused on a goal – anytime, but especially at holiday time – is hard. Finding a diet or exercise buddy can help to maintain focus or there are online services that can help, like motivationtogo.net, to help people choose a healthier living goal and get reminded of it. It can make a big difference to get some kind of support – family, friends or technology – to help stick with goals when the going gets tough.

Holiday is a resting period, a period when one needs to balance the equations of one's life.

Great blog, Jillian! You are right about people knowing what they need to do...it's just a matter of doing it. This is true of every area in our lives.

Yes I must say it is soo easy to fall back into old habits. I used to weight 230lb. I have lost more than 80lb and have keep it off for over 2 years. I bought a pecan pie knowing I would be the only one eating it. Last night I said to my husband I was just going to throw it away. I have worked too hard to blow it. So in the trash it went. Stop saying "I'll start tomorrow". Make small changes. A lot of small changes start to add up. Exercise to the extent you can. You have to start somewhere, 5 minutes of something is way better than 5 minutes of nothing. Doctors need to start encouaging patients to start small and build on that. I think far to many throw out the 30 min. of exercise a day talk and many leave defeated before they have a chance to start because the feel they can't do 30 min. I started doing Tae Bo. I could only do 15 minutes of it and the first 10 minutes was stretching. I just kept building on that. I started running. Now I am 2 weeks away from running my first 1/2 marathon. I know if I can do it anyone can. I know that some of you reading this are in the same shoes I was in. I hope this help you. I will say a little prayer for you today. God has given me so much strenght and I know he can to the same for you.

Great blog Jillian! Im sixteen, 5' 6" and weigh 200 Ibs. Hard to admit it but its the truth. About 2 years ago i started weight watchers and loved it. It was really working. My mom and sister did it too. I was on it for about 3 months and i lost 25 pounds. I could do so many things better, run, play softball (which i love), and i was able to fit in some really cute clothes. I was happy. Now im starting to realize that i need to do that same change. I gained it all back and a little more. Im not happy now in my life. I always kept sayin "oh tomorrow i will do it!" but it never came. I was always in denial too. So thats why I wanna go on weight watcher again, and fit into that perfect prom dress. I dont wanna live such and unhappy life anymore. So thats why tomorrow has come today!
*Leave comments* I need motivation too.
Peace and Blessings
Kelly

And our children will be thankful for all we can do to make family fitness around the holidays extra exciting. Since my number one reason to continue staying fit is my son, it's a whole lot easier skiing, ice skating or walking over the holidays with that kind of an incentive. We need to be get that extra spark of energy by eating and playing over the holidays with the entire family if it's possible. And anything is possible once you give it a try. Happy Holidays

@ Kelly the motivation to work out consistently and eat healthy must come from you. I've had co-workers ask me to help keep them stay motivated with going to the gym since they see that I go every day and they wanted to lose weight. After a month of them going consistently, they completely lost any motivation and I eventually became an annoyance with my encouragement. There was always an excuse as to why they didn't want to go that day. I finally quit saying anything altogther. The excuses were never ending – I don't work out on Mondays – I'm too tired – I'm too sore – it's too dark outside (because of time change). They changed back to their old eating habits with buying fast food for lunch because of the convenience. If you're committed to becoming healthy and exercising along with eating properly, the weight loss will follow. I personally don't believe in diet programs because once you get off of it, the weight comes back. Your motivation should be your health and not to just fit into cute clothes.

Reading your post Kelly made me very sad. You're way too young to be a prisoner of your body weighing as much as you do. I agree with GF the motivation must come from you to create a lifestyle to be healthy – that's truly what is important. The weight loss and maintenance of that loss is the result of healthy living.

Big congrats to Melissa for the weight loss and keeping it off for 2 years. I personally don't believe in the all or nothing mindset. I love potato chips and will sometimes indulge in a bag of baked chips over a course of a month. If I avoided chips altogether I'd become an obsessed wreck. It's all about balance and eating more good then bad. I really wish you would've indulged in a small slice of the pie before throwing it away

I did have a piece of the pecan pie. Im not an all or nothing person either. I just didnt need it sitting around to tempt me so I threw the rest away. I dont think anyone need to deprive themselves of something. Just need to keep it in check

Someone just needs to write the magic words "Common Sense" and be done with it. Live in moderation in everything you do, including food especially when it comes to the holidays, and everything else will fall into place. Happy Holidays!