Christmas Tactics/Weekly Meeting Topic : The Powerhouse of Fruits and Vegetables

Ready or not, Christmas is coming actually its almost here!  Besides getting my tree up yesterday, and a marathon of shopping (oh and a trip to the gym too) today I am as ready for Christmas as I'm ever going to be.  How about you?

I've been off of work the last week and I've spent a lot of it taking care of #1 (me), getting myself back on track... and in all honesty I just want to "break even" at the scale during this holiday season.  It started out with a trip to the gym last Friday (for the first time in weeks) to today's trip to the gym.  I have been running on my treadmill at home, and going to the last Taekwon-Do classes of the year.  I've racked up over 50 Activity Points this week!  Is it going to help me at tomorrow's weigh in?  I have my doubts.

"Girl, you're a machine, you're nuts..." I'm sure these things are going through your head right now thinking that I don't expect a loss at the scale this week.  The last 3 days I have eaten one meal out that's why!  Tuesday was lunch out with the girls from the office sadly we went to Kelsey's which has nasty food stats no matter how "healthy" it sounds.  Most dishes had 30-50+ grams of fat!  The safest choice for me on the menu was fajitas, and I didn't even eat the whole serving.  Todd, had a nice dinner when he got home from work Tuesday night.  Now I did hit the gym before Tuesday's lunch date to try and keep the damage to a minimum.  Last night was an Indian meal out with my best friend and my parents.  I was not bad there either, normally I order Butter Chicken (can you say high in points?  But super yummy!), naan bread and rice.  We decided to share 3 different dishes last night, yes Butter Chicken was one of those but I added a healthy Chicken Tikka Masala into the mix, and pretty much at that with a little taste of the other two, cream based dishes.  Oh and bread and rice!  I usually don't allow myself to have two carbs with a meal, this is one of my exceptions to the rule.  Then today while my best friend and I were out on our marathon gym/food/Christmas shopping trip we stopped at a pub very well known for their fish and chips.  Their fish is actually not that bad in terms of points, but I figured to heck with it and instead of ordering a salad with my fish, I had the 1/2 salad 1/2 chips.  Oh boy did I enjoy those chips!  Then while at the Scottish and British store I had to buy one of the delectable British chocolate bars, I did share a little of it, again worth every point.  Soooo.... like I said no high hopes for tomorrow morning.

Okay so I made it to my WW meeting on Tuesday evening and the meeting was a combination of tactics to survive the Christmas meal(s) and more on fruit and vegetables.

In terms of fruits & veggies, they're good for you and they are yummy!  Enjoy them, don't abuse them.  One interesting tidbit she did share with us was the idea of 0 point fruit is to replace your high fat/high carb snacks (aka granola bars, 100 calorie treats) with fruit not to have the fruit in addition to your high fat/high carb snacks. 

Now lets move onto the more important and scary thing at hand.... CHRISTMAS IS COMING!  CHRISTMAS IS COMING!  Here are some ideas/tips/strategies that hopefully you put into play when you go to "strap on the feed bag" on Saturday!

• The week before & after Christmas (any special holiday actually) adjust your mindset... focus on maintaining your weight instead of loosing.  This way you don't feel awful when you don't get the loss you were expecting.  Also this keeps you from getting into a "guilt cycle" over what you ate, and any weak moments you may (will) have when food is available.
• Think about your food choices!  If you are going to eat that treat, make sure its the one thing you really want, that you can't easily get any other time of the year.  In other words you can't live without it!
• During the day of the big meal/event/party have lots of fruits and veg available in the house. 
• Don't skip out on meals during the day but fill up on light and these zero point foods to save on points.
• Before going to a meal I'll have a salad or a piece of fruit 60-30 minutes ahead of time so that I don't go to the table hungry. 
• Also use fruits and vegetables to "bulk up" the meal!  If they're there, trust me you will eat them!
• When loading up that massive dinner plate put fruit/veg on 1/2 of the plate and feel free to pile it high!  Divide the other 1/2 of the plate into 1/4 carbohydrate (that means a roll or potatoes or pasta or rice or stuffing not all of the above and not piled high), 1/4 lean protein (turkey is points friendly, enjoy!)
• To practice portion control without weighing and measuring your food, leave space between your food, like an ocean between the continents!
• Have fruit on hand for dessert!
• Don't forget to exercise, even a short walk will burn some calories, and will leave you feeling better and refreshed, not sleepy and lazy as a big meal is likely to do!

So there you have it my survival tips for Christmas Dinner!  I hope you take something here and put it into practice!!

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!