Don't Let the Holidays Ruin Your Weight Loss Goals

By Lucy Cosgrove


The holidays present many hurdles for those of us trying out best to lose weight. There are so many temptations everywhere! As the temperatures drop outside, many people take to baking, and the closer to the holidays it gets, the more cookies and other treats appear all over. It's also hard to prevent yourself from overindulging at holiday dinners, with so many rich and fattening foods to choose from! This doesn't mean, however, that you should just give up on your weight loss goals for the whole holiday season.

There are many types of support groups that you can join, and weight loss is one of them. You've undoubtedly heard that joining forces with a friend is a good idea. An even better way to get help with losing weight is to join a support group like Weight Watchers. The meetings will give you structure to look forward to and provide you with great sounding boards for the anxiety that you are feeling about the increased temptation and stress of the holidays. When you feel like cheating, it is nice to know there are others who feel the same way, and they are there to help you get through it.

Unless you write down all of the foods you eat, you probably won't know for sure what you're eating every day. This will inform you of how much work you need to do when you exercise. You will also have a much better idea of exactly what you have eaten. No one is perfect when it comes to their diets, and when you write everything down you'll be aware of how "bad" -or trivial- your transgressions really are. A minor case of cheating on your diet might be turned into a major one by your guilt-ridden mind; this, then, can make it seem like it's pointless to even try to stick to your diet. Keeping a written record, however, prevents your mind from playing such deceptive tricks on you.

When you feel yourself starting to give in to temptation and reach for things that you know are going to be bad for you, turn toward a person instead. Conversations are effective diversions that can stop you from eating too much. Make it a point to circulate around the room or house, and be more of a social butterfly than someone who's constantly eating. That's really what the holiday season is all about, anyway -spending time with the people you care about. It surely isn't meant to be merely an excuse to stuff our faces!

Keeping true to your diet and exercise program during the holidays may not be easy, but it can be done. We tend to believe that the holidays are a time for gaining weight, but they do not have to be. The holidays provide us with lots of temptations, and it's okay to give in some of these as long as we keep our goals in mind and stay true to our diet as much as possible.




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