From: dabay@morse.cns.vt.edu (Marian Dabay)
Newsgroups: alt.support.diet
Subject: Re: holiday dieting
Keywords: diet holidays socials
Date: 18 Nov 92 17:53:47 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

In article <grenus.722024304@pasture.ecn.purdue.edu> grenus@pasture.ecn.purdue.edu (Karen M Grenus) writes:
>How are people handling the holidays? So far I have a potluck and two 
>Thanksgiving dinners to go to. I've been on NutriSystem for 4 weeks and
>have lost 10 pounds, but I'm afraid of gaining it back.
>	Should I just eat very little the day of the party and work out like mad that week? I don't want to offend the people that invited me to dinner by not
>eating or by whipping out my own freeze dried entree.
>
>Karen Grenus

Karen,

I found the best way to handle it is to plan, plan, plan!!  Talk to the
hostess before-hand to find out what will be served and then PLAN what
you will eat and in what amounts.  If you don't think you will be able
to have enough to satisfy your hunger, PLAN to eat before going.  Also,
if you are going to be having a large dinner (like Thanksgiving), PLAN
the previous/following week so that you eat at the lower end of your
program during the week.  

I was on WW over the holidays two years ago and was able to actually 
lose weight while having a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at my 
mother-in-laws (who is a fabulous southern cook) and Christmas at my 
family's with all the baked goodies my Mom makes.  About a week before 
Thanksgiving, I sat down and listed everything my MIL was serving that 
I wanted to eat.  I then figured out the exchanges/optional calories.  
Needless to say, I was WAY over, but after thinking about it for a little 
bit, I discovered that by making a few choices I would be able 
to sample everything that I REALLY, REALLY wanted and stay within 
bounds.  That meant giving up the mashed potatoes and rolls (which I'm 
not crazy about, I just eat them 'cause they're there) to have sweet 
potatoes and stuffing (which are my absolute favorites!!)  There were a 
few other trade-offs I planned to make.  Well, I found that it was much 
easier to stick to my program when I had planned ahead of time what I 
was going to have.  I know that if I hadn't, I would have eaten 
EVERYTHING in sight, and probably would have gained weight that week 
(like I did last year :*( )  

Christmas goodies were a lot harder (I LOVE sweets)!!  My Mom doesn't
serve a big dinner, (just turkey, potatoes and a couple of vegetables)
but she has these wonderful cookies, candies and cakes around all day
long and all day long everyone is snacking on them.  It's so easy to
eat a dozen cookies, a couple of pieces of cake and a few handfuls of
candies without even noticing it!!!!  Again, a few days before-hand
I sat down and wrote down everything I wanted and figured out exactly
how much of everything I could have.  When I got to her house I started
counting!!  It was tough, but it was definately worth it when I got
on the scale the following Tuesday night.  

I hope this helps.   

Marian Dabay


From: robertsl@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Laurie Roberts)
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:29:40 GMT
Subject: When Food Is Love
Organization: the HP Corporate notes server