Isn’t it so easy to give up healthy eating habits before the holidays even start? You begin to imagine all of the sweet treats and other indulgences that you will be presented with over the course of the next several weeks, and it is enough to make even the strongest of us decide to wait until January to begin eating healthy.

Has that ever happened to you? If you’re at all like me, maybe your thinking has gone something like this…On January 1st….well, actually, make that January 2nd (because I can’t start on New Year’s Day!)….I’ll start eating healthy.

Unfortunately, on January 2nd, we start with a disadvantage due to the extra few pounds we’ve gained over the past several weeks.

So how can we avoid what many people believe to be the inevitable holiday weight gain? And most importantly, how can we avoid that while still enjoying ourselves during the holidays?

The first place to start is to refocus on what the holidays really mean to you and to take care of yourself during this potentially stressful season. The next step is to make a plan for handling holiday eating ahead of time.

Make a Plan to Eat Healthy During the Holiday Season

Since you know that you will be surrounded by unhealthy options for the next several weeks, you can set yourself up for success by planning to eat healthy (by eating real food) as often as possible.

To accomplish this, each week create a weekly meal plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner so that you are prepared to eat healthy for the majority of your meals.

Keep in mind that now is probably not the best time to get extra creative with your meals. I recommend sticking to simple recipes that will be quick and easy to make.

By following this strategy, you are setting yourself up to eat healthy at least 80% of the time.

Be Prepared For Holiday Gatherings

If you know that you will be attending a holiday gathering of some sort, you can safely assume that there will be a plethora of food options available to you. Some options may be healthy, but many will not be so healthy.

Here are some simple suggestions to follow to increase the chances that you won’t completely derail all of your healthy eating habits during this event:

• Stay well hydrated by drinking lots of water. This will prevent you from thinking you are hungry instead of simply being thirsty.
• Eat a healthy meal or snack consisting of protein and some fat before attending the party. Some people like to not eat at all leading up to the event so that they can feel better about eating more later on, but this strategy often backfires because your glucose levels get so low that your body starts craving sugar. Eating some protein and fat will let your body know that it does not need a bunch of sugar in order to have energy, which will prevent you from overdoing it on sweets.
• Bring a healthy appetizer or side dish to the party so that you know you have at least one healthy option. We all know that plenty of treats and deserts will be available, so let’s not add to it!
• Limit the amount of alcohol you drink during the party because it will lower your inhibitions and make that desert table look so much more appealing!
• If you are going to drink alcohol, stick to low sugar options such as red wine. Also, continue to drink water while drinking alcohol by alternating a glass of water after a glass of alcohol.
• When filling a plate with food, choose the smallest plate available to use. Challenge yourself to fill up your plate with the healthiest options first and to then find the one treat that is really calling your name to add to your plate.
• Don’t take any leftovers home with you. It’s so much easier to overdo it when the food is staring you in the face at home!

Don’t Try to Deprive Yourself

For the majority of people, it is completely unrealistic to think that you will not indulge in any unhealthy food options during the holidays, and I don’t think we should make that an expectation. Instead, consciously plan for any treat you want to eat and then be very aware as you eat it so that you truly enjoy it.

24 Hour Policy

A great way to enjoy holiday foods without overdoing it is to create a 24 hour policy for yourself that sets boundaries around holiday eating. What you do is only splurge on a holiday treat if you decided to do so 24 hours in advance. Thus, when a co-worker unexpectedly brings in sugar cookies at work, you pass them up because you didn’t plan ahead for it.

This cuts back drastically on a lot of holiday overeating; however, it still allows you to enjoy holiday treats when you plan in advance.

So when I make my meal plan for the week, I look at the calendar to see what events will be coming up, and I decide whether or not I will indulge on treats at any of these events. If it’s a busy week with several holiday activities, this forces me to prioritize how I spend my “indulgences” for the week.

Concsiously Choose Your Treat

Just because you decided 24 hours in advance to stray from your healthy eating plan, you are not giving yourself free reign to enjoy anything and everything in sight. If there are a variety of options available, search for the one that you will most enjoy. If it’s not everything you were hoping it would be once you start eating it, put it down!

Mindfully Eat Your Treat

After you have selected your treat, take time to eat it slowly, really pay attention to how it tastes as you chew it, and savor it. After all, the whole purpose of this is to be able to enjoy food!

So often we quickly chew something without paying attention to it. And then what happens? We grab something else to eat (often without even thinking about it) because that first thing didn’t satisfy us since we didn’t pay attention to it.

If you start to think that you want another treat after eating the first one, tell yourself you are going to wait a set amount of time (perhaps 30 minutes) before deciding whether or not you are actually going to eat something else. In the meanwhile, find someone to talk to…and back away from the food table!

Monitor Yourself

Another strategy that can be very effective during the holidays is to keep a food journal. But the purpose isn’t to track every calorie you eat and meticulously track exact amounts of what you are eating.

The purpose of the journal is to simply increase your awareness of what you are choosing to eat. Simply keeping a small notebook in your purse where you jot down everything you eat forces you to stop and think before unconsciously grabbing for food, which is what so many of us are prone to doing.

If you choose to keep a food journal, I would strongly encourage you not to put yourself down or judge yourself based on what you are eating. This food journal should not be a tool used to punish ourselves, but instead a tool to simply raise awareness.

Find a Support System

A great strategy for some people is to enlist a friend who is also trying to make wise decisions during the holidays. Then when you are confronted with some delicious looking fudge at work (that you hadn’t planned 24 hours in advance for), you can text your friend and let them know you are faced with temptation. Simply being accountable to someone can be an extremely effective deterrent for some people.

Enjoy the Holidays

My hope for you this holiday season is that you will truly be able to enjoy the holidays without feeling guilt and stress over what to eat or what not to eat and without holiday weight gain being an inevitable fact. I truly believe it is possible to find ways to avoid depriving yourself once you increase your awareness and plan ahead. In fact, I have found that once I increase my awareness of what I am eating, I actually enjoy it even more without feelings of guilt. And who doesn’t want that?!?

I would love to hear in the comments what your favorite strategies are to enjoy the holidays without gaining weight!