Hi Everyone,
I am not new to low-carb, but I am thinking I need to relax for the Holidays and re-induct Jan 1, 2002 I dont do anything specail for New Years and I really do Not want to stress over the holiday considering I will be away from home for that day. and I Know I can get back on without a problem.
So I was just wondering If anyone else is taking off Christmas from Low-Carbing, Also would love to hear from those who are sticking too plan and how? Thanks
OneHappyGoddess

Hi, Goddess. I think it might be difficult, if not nearly impossible, to START low carbing right before Christmas, but if you're already on it, I think it's a good idea to stay there. The thought of undoing what good has already been done, of starting over, of going through that first week of headaches and lethargy -- nope.

I have it easy, though, because I don't really do Christmas. I've turned down invitations -- I'm not ready to socialize yet -- and am eating at home. So I'll be able to control what I eat, and I have no temptation foods in the house. But this was a choice. I could have accepted a dinner invitatin and several parties -- I didn't trust myself.

I am SO looking forward to a January 1st that does NOT start with "Oh, I guess I have to start another diet."

Hi Alto,
I admire your strength with not going off plan for the Holiday's.
I myself have been on and off plan so much this year I am fustrated and just having a really really bad time, And the stress from day to day is just way too much so my only solution is too just eat as best I can to make it thru the holidays. Now I dont mean I am going to go be a mad woman and eat a whole pie like I once would have done but Im not going to kick myself in the behind for having a slice of Pie or a roll, My family are great people and always wish I would lose weight but have a real hard time changing what they call tradition! Im working on it with them but its hard.
Thanks giving was a great example I had worried for 3 weeks about cheating going stray from my WOL and there I went and boy did I go nuts. I know this should be more important to me than a slice of pie, I dont eat candy and such and I dont even when I go off plan touch things like soda and such. But I sure would like to be able to sit down to one meal and not fret over what choices I have to make. Luckily I do not go thru the week after slump and seem to be able to handle the first few weeks them boom I go falling off the wagon and get drug under with the tires running over me UGH..and did I mention I am on day 11 of re-starting now. I just feel that this is my last real hurdle and I will go back day after Christmas and move forward. And Hope that Next Christmas I will have more will to not go off plan and make the right choice!
Okay I have babbled enough ,
OneHappyGoddess

Hi,
Well with me, I love all the treats at Christmas time. I stared my woe last March. My age got me thinking........ kinda of a wake up call for me.

I've been doing this woe since then. I have been in a stall for quite some time now and even got myself a bit upset not seeing a weight loss.

Now, I'm at a stage, where ok, the holdiays are here......and oh god, look at those treats etc....but not allowing myself to go nuts.

In other words, I'm still eating low carb, but if I wish to have something not low carb, I do, but don't over due it.

I have a friend that baked this week and she low carbs too. Her house smelled so darn good . I said to her, oh my thats....and she said, oh yes, and I replied, hmmm, that must be left overs? She said, Oh yes, I have already freezed what I baked so I don't eat it....LOL......I said thank god, cause I must have a bit of that and I did, and I didn't feel guilty about it. She did her baking and freezed it, but chose to have a bit on the side.

Talk about strong willed. I haven't baked, and plan not to. Yet at the same time, while this is going on and being done under my nose. I keep in mind, this is not what I want as this is what has gotten me in trouble (I' m a sweet fan) yet at the same time, I don't restrict myself if my body is saying, just one bite. With this woe since last march, my body seems to be happy with just one bite. Now I have to say, I didn't feel this way when I was 183 lbs. I'm feeling more comfortable at the weight I am now. This is something I am questioning myself on at this time. Why do I feel its ok to have a bite now and then?

Maybe this is why I"m not loosing but maintaining. Which I have come to realize, and once this season is over I can start behaving strictly like I have been doing prior to this season.

Between the 2 of you, you've identified the key differences between a "diet" and a WOL.

You don't "fall off" a way of life and you don't fret over it.

Hi Girls!
I stuck to my WOE for Thanksgiving and I will stick to it for Christmas and New years. I just don't want to start over. I do 20-25 carbs a day and feel that gives me plenty to choose from. The sweets are just not the big attraction they once were. I thought the most I would do different for eating is bake a small batch of Locarb cookies but at this point not even sure I'll want them.
Believe me, I have no SUPER willpower-- but the longer I stick to this WOE, the less I desire the foods that are not on it!!
Whatever route you should decide to take-----
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!
Ellie

My thoughts on low carbing in general is that it must mesh with your life - it can't cut in to your lifestyle so much that you start to resent it and feel deprived. For the most part, I am able to avoid carbs with no problem at all. However, tonight I am going to a Solstice celebration. It is a once a year gathering that the hosts take very seriously. They grind their own wheat to make the bread that is cooked in a fire powered brick oven in the yard. They cook a vegetarian soup in a huge pot over an open fire. They churn their own butter for the bread. Everyone else brings desserts.
Well, I haven't had a bite of bread since August, but I am definately having some tonight. I will avoid the desserts - but I will be having the bread and butter and soup. This is a once a year gathering of an extended family of friends, in my mind it takes precedence over low carbing.

Hello!
I think you have to think of what you just can't live without. I have decided NOT to do the traditional baking I usually do during the Christmas season. I avoid the candy and goodies. But I do plan to have some pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner. I feel like I'm not being the wonderful HOST for my Mom this Christmas...but she's on Weight Watchers and I'm doing this. I'm sure she wants me to lose the weight more than she wants me to offer breads and cookies to her. I did make them a Mock Danish the other day and they both loved it. I just don't want to change my way of life for a time. This is working. This isn't a "diet" and I choose to do the best I can. Yesterday I went out to lunch with my Mom to a Thai restaurant. Boy, was that fun! I made the best choices I could and then enjoyed the meal.

Hope you enjoy the holidays! Do the best you can. Victoria

I'm going to stay with my WOE during the holiday season. I had a break in early November, and that memory is vivid...of being carb fogged, unhappy, craving wildly, and yet not really liking the taste of those carb binges. Two weeks off for me means a good five or six weeks of scale recovery time...so no, not worth it!

This is not to say I will never again have christmas sweets or mashed taters...but I can afford to wait until I'm at goal. Then ONE day of treat, followed by two weeks of induction.

You know, if I added up every chocolate chip cookie I've ever had in my life, the total must be in the ten's of thousands. I figure I've already had my share.

I thought that being in induction over the holidays might be difficult but it's turning out not to be so. I feel rather fortunate in that I'm not hungry and I don't have any desire for carbs these days.

Last night I visited my mother to celebrate Yule early (since on the actual day certain family members who are mean, nasty people will be there and I don't want to deal with the tension), and she offered me gingerbread cookies, which she has traditionally baked since I was a child. I was thirsty, but didn't have any desire for the cookies, so I politely passed. She offered sugared ice tea, but I just had a glass of water and was fine. Came home and made scallops, spinach in a buttery cream sauce and had sparkling water, and woke up this morning 1/2 pound lighter and still in ketosis. I see it as my reward and positive reinforcement for continuing.

My sister invited me to her place for Christmas eve. I will go, but she knows I'm low carbing and staying away from sugar/flour so she'll be fine with whatever I eat or don't.

So, getting to the 25th...my daughter will be visiting, and I'll be cooking brunch, so I'll have control. She eats anything without gaining weight, so what we eat won't be an issue with her. Then, we'll go the the nearby show and see one of the new releases, come home, exchange gifts and that will be it.

On New Year's, I'm going to visit friends out of state, but they know I'm on a lc plan, and they respect it.

A bit about my past: I drank a lot of alcohol when I was younger, and over the years became alcoholic. It ruined my life and I worked hard in my thirties to get off it, and then remained alcohol free for 17 years....no excuse could get me to drink a single drop, no holiday, no crisis, no nothing. However, with no support, I started drinking again in Europe, and it was one of the reasons I had a difficult time low-carbing initially, I couldn't let go of the alcohol.

Overeating and incorrect eating have ruined my life, with or without the alcohol. However, in the last two weeks I have stopped the alcohol altogether as part of my new WOE, and have stuck to lc. Already I see and feel many of my patterns changing, and I feel good about it. I've changed my life before, and I can do it again...and this is the route I want to take. Just like with alcohol, I know that binging, over-indulging, cheating, do nothing positive for me...I see them as a lapse into old behaviors, and I'm afraid this could set me off on a spiral of weight gain and low self-esteem again.

I have come to believe that if I am to effect change towards a positive goal, then I need to stay focused on it, and not do those things which were destructive to me in the distant or recent past. To me, it isn't worth the risk...I want to make these positive changes a permanent way of life...I don't want to play games with what works, because there is always the chance it might stop working due to something I did. Accidents are one thing, but right now I'm in a place where I choose NOT to make a concsious decision to do what might work to my detriment. (I know that rather than food, my greatest temptation will be the eggnogs, ciders, punches and New Year's eve will be tough where alcohol is concerned...but I've done it before, and I can do it again...and knowing they will screw up the lc for me will help give me strength to stay away.)

In short, I plan to stick to the plan throughout the holidays and after. I know that one binge, one indulgence, one cheat could all too easily knock me out of this fragile ketosis and weight loss I'm in, and I'm far too motivated right now to risk that. I'm determined to change my patterns, come hell or high water.

I have to acknowledge that I could not be doing this without the support of these forums, and the effort you all help me make each day. I'm so grateful to all of you. Please understand too, that this is only my opinion, my personal experience, and my own choices, and not meant as a criticism of or judgement of anyone else.

The thing for remembering over the holidays is to avoid the sweets and high carbs. Try just sticking to turkey or what ever meat you are having and the veggies. You will be surprised how filled up you can get with this. If there is dessert and if you can handle just having a sliver, with fresh whipped cream that you make, I wouldn't fret to much. Along with just having water there is soda water with lemon and lime flavouring in the supermarkets that might be good for the holidays. If you do have a little treat, don't fret just go back to eating low carb. I wouldn't just throw low carb out the window for the holidays. You are not teaching yourself to eat this way for life.

Well I'm cooking for Christmas and am having a small turkey along with a pork crown roast. My stuffing will be wild rice and sausage with bits of apple and spices. We will have lots of vegetables. I am making on request a minced meat and pumpkin pie also. I will eat meat and veggies and probably will have a sliver of pie. I did bake a lot, a lot of cookies to send back home to Ontario and kept some here for company. Mind you I have had a major sinus cold this week and drank alot of herb tea, with honey sometimes, along with having to go on antibiotics, because of my asthma. Had no interest in food, but didn't gain any weight in fact lost three lbs. more. One week into the cold and it is just settling down, thank God.
Wishing everybody a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.

LIZ

I'm having an LC Christmas Eve open house - well I might have a few crackers around for the non-believers - and an LC Christmas dinner with a smaller group.

I look upon my house as being "LC kosher". I don't feel pressured by tradition or dogma to cook anything other than LC, ever.

For Christmas Eve:

• Festive meat loaf - tastes like tourtiere
• Poached prawns with cocktail sauce
• Smoked Salmon
• Vegetable antipasto - artichokes, asparagus, roasted red peppers
• Pickled cherry peppers - some stuffed with tuna mousse, some stuffed with mortadella
• Assorted cheese with spinach crackers, cucumber and daikon
• Stained Glass Dessert
• Cookies

For Christmas dinner:

• Turkey, TVP stuffing with Spicy Sausage and Mushrooms, Cranberry sauce with orange and cinnamon, gravy
• Brussels Sprouts with Cream Cheese, Nutmeg and Toasted Almonds
• Cauliflower and spinach puree
• Cabbage "Carbonara" - Cooked cabbage tossed with cooked prosciutto, Parmesan cheese and egg
• LC Buche de Noel and Cookies
• Eggnog

It's not worth the horror of potentially being triggered by one bite. And to tell the truth, nothing ever tastes good enough to be worth it. I would rather have a grand LC feast and enjoy every minute of it.

Karen