Current weight: 279.4 lbs,
Total weight loss: 26.4 lbs.
My wellness endeavor continues to go well despite being a little off track last week. And I’m back under the 280’s again this morning. Hooray!!
Thanksgiving is around the corner.
It’s hard to believe that next week, Thanksgiving will be here – a day that many consider to be the start of the holiday season.
People talk about gaining weight over the holidays. I have read about this phenomenon, and of course also have a lot of personal experience with it. For so many years, I would be well intentioned at the start of Thanksgiving with the goal of enjoying the holidays in a healthy way. My good intentions always succumbed to old habits, however. I would lose track and gain weight, always with the promise of starting again on January 1st.
After all, a new year is the ultimate tomorrow.
This must be a challenge for many people. In fact, my gym recently started a competition around this topic – Project Zero Challenge. The goal of the competition is to avoid gaining weight over the holidays – that means from Thanksgiving until the beginning of January.
Members who participate in the competition agree to be weighed in four times during the holiday season. At the end, everybody who hasn’t gained any weight gets put into a raffle for a chance to win the big prize.
I think it’s a great idea, and even considered joining since I have been going to the gym occasionally. But so far I don’t think I will, especially since my goal is to continue losing weight. Not just staying the same.
Preparing for the Holiday Season
Seeing that competition at the gym made me think about the upcoming holidays, and how they can be such a challenge for me:
Especially when trying to stick to a specific nutritional approach.
Especially when I love all the traditional foods associated with the holidays.
And especially if it’s hard to stop once you start eating those delicious foods.
I can’t actually change the above factors, and it’s important for me to remember that. But, what I can do is come up with a strategy to help deal with these challenges.
I’ve been doing well on this wellness endeavor so far. Not just in losing some weight, but in improving my health, feeling better overall, and in gaining more control of my life. I don’t want to ruin my efforts so far just because the holidays are here. But given my track record, I fear that is not just possible, but likely.
So, I decided to try addressing these issues as much as possible ahead of time, which I’ve never done before. My plan involves three steps that I will incorporate ahead of the holiday season: Accept. Visualize. Plan.
1. Accept
This may be the hardest. I have to accept the fact that my holidays are going to have to be different than they were in the past and different from how I may want them to be. At this point in my life, I’m not going to be able to eat everything that I may want or crave over the holidays. And I may not able to do things in moderation like other people do. That’s just my current reality. It may be that later in my life, I won’t have to be so restricted. But for now since I’m on this wellness endeavor, I will have some limitations. I can still enjoy the holidays – I will just enjoy them differently.
2. Visualize
Next – I have to visualize the different possibilities – both potential successes and failures. (I know this sounds so hokey, but I do find it helpful!).
Below is how I’m doing it for Thanksgiving – I’m visualizing two extremes. How things would be if I stuck with my wellness endeavor and how they would be if I fall back into old habits.
- Continuing with my current success: Since the start, I’ve been losing an average of 0.4 pounds a day (hooray!!). If I stick with the current process and continue with my success, I could have lost an additional 4 pounds by the Monday after Thanksgiving. I could continue getting healthier, fitting into smaller clothes, and achieving my goals. I visualize how happy I would be if this was the case.
- Falling back into old habits: If I repeat the past, I can “enjoy” the holidays eating whatever I want and trying to diet and be healthy on the days in between. I will gain some weight – maybe 5-10 pounds – over the next 6 weeks, but not worry about it since I can always start January 1st. After all there is always tomorrow, or a new year. And then I visualize standing on the scale January 1st. Wishing that I had made different choices 6 weeks earlier. Wishing that I were healthier and happier.
3. Plan
The final step is to plan. During the holidays, I have an idea of where I’ll be eating meals and what foods I can enjoy. The nice thing about a ketogenic diet is that there are almost always options, regardless of the type of food. And if I’m ever a guest at these meals, I will bring a dish – obviously one that I can enjoy.
What I have to worry about is eating something that will cause me to overeat, or to binge, like I have so often in the past. This is not a problem for everybody, but it is for me. It’s important to identify the potential challenge, and to plan for that specific situation.
So – my plan for Thanksgiving will be something I haven’t done before. I am going to include a “cheat meal” for Thanksgiving dinner – meaning that I will allow myself to eat off my current program. I don’t know if cheat meals are considered good in general or on a ketogenic diet, but I am going to try it this Thanksgiving in order to increase my chance of success. I will also have specific parameters around this cheat meal:
- Thanksgiving cheat meal: It will be unrestricted (except no sweet dessert in order to limit sugar intake). I will also not eat anything after 7pm and keep track of everything I eat. And of course, after this meal I’ll go back to my regular wellness endeavor. And that’s it! (Easy-peasy:)
Hopefully this strategy will help me enjoy the holiday season while keeping me on this wellness endeavor!
Day #74:
Current weight: 279.4 lbs
Total weight loss: 26.4 lbs
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