And Now the Bad News

The holidays for me, did not end pretty.  I really should have taken some advice from the other two in this challenge with me.  They rocked it out!

In the end, at the final weigh-in, I had gained a total of seven pounds! I have been mulling over this for a few weeks now, thinking about how I wanted to handle this post and I think I'm going to frame this the same way it went through my head.

Shoulda been eating more salad.....

First The Good News...

Well hello again everyone!

You might remember a while back I put out a challenge to maintain your weight for the holidays. I had two people respond and join me in this effort. Some people might spend their holidays scarfing their weight in food *coughcough*whome?*coughcough*.  Not these two.  They took the holidays and made them their _______  well you know how the saying goes.  They not only maintained their weight but even lost some over the holidays!  A pretty fantastic feat, if you ask me!

CONGRATS GUYS! YOU ROCK!!!

 

Some of "my weight in food" that I scarfed on Thanksgiving

I was curious on what tips and tricks they used to get through and what advice they might give others.  Luckily they were nice enough to share it with me and allow me to share it with you!

Manage YOUR Weight during the Holidays [Challenge Tips #2]

The biggest most helpful thing you can do during the holidays to help you survive is to make a plan.
  A plan needs to be:
~ Realistic - in other words don't make it something that you know you are not going to be able to accomplish.  If you do, it will just lead to frustration and disappointment; which could in turn lead to you giving up completely! No good!!
~ Measurable - at the end of this you want to be able to look back and see how you met your goals.

 Here's my plan to survive the holidays without weight gain (hopefully!)

Thanksgiving!! Tips to Survive [Challenge Tips #1]

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

In my last post, I issued a challenge to maintain your weight during the holidays. I also said I'd provide some tips to help you survive.  These might be a little late, but these can also work for any holiday get together and since we have a lot of them coming up, you'll have more opportunities to use them.

Beautiful Thanksgiving Day in Michigan!

Manage YOUR Weight during the Holidays [Challenge]

Hi everyone! I have a challenge for you.  We are doing this at work, so I thought I'd see if anyone outside of work would like to do this as well.  This challenge was not created by me, however I am tweaking it a bit to fit the online format.

The challenge is to maintain your weight during the holidays.  We all know how hard it is to do that over the holidays.  I mean let's examine the facts:

• many holiday parties based around food and drinks
• overeating
• sweets/desserts galore
• sitting to socialize
• jam packed schedule with little to no room for workouts
• jam packed schedule with no time to cook = eating out and mall food court food 

Photo by WishUponACupcake from Flickr

There's a lot working against us here!

A Day Away

Mike and I took a trip to Chicago this week, just to get away for a day.  We had a ton of fun doing different things in the city.  We went to the Chicago Public Library, walked around Chinatown,

Thanksgiving Woes

Well my friends, Thanksgiving has passed.  Lots of yummy food consumed and left on my waist and thighs, I'm sure. I had two Thanksgiving dinners, with dessert at both. I will say I only took one scoop of each dish and only went back for seconds of fruit, veggies and my grandma's homemade stuffing, because it's amazing.

Then as a holiday tradition I spend Thanksgiving - Saturday at my grandmas, who had fun size candy bars everywhere!  I'm addicted to chocolate. I have come to that conclusion, because I kept eating them!! Or maybe I have compulsive chocolate disorder, because I would grab the candy bar, unwrap it and pop it into my mouth without thinking!

Photo from CookingLight.com 

More Ho-Ho-Holiday Tips!

The hot topic right now is staying healthy during the holidays.  I posted on this last week asked you guys for your tips.  Some ideas were: to walk places instead of driving, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, eating before you go to holiday parties, drinking a huge glass of water to help fill you up so you don't fill up on a whole pumpkin pie.

All of these were great ideas! Thanks for sharing!  I've been looking at a few sites on the web and found a few more helpful things for you.

Ho, ho, holy cow

Well now that Halloween is done, it is full fledged Christmas season....actually it was full fledged Christmas season right along with Halloween. And where is Thanksgiving? Lost in the midst of it all.  Whether you celebrate one of these, all three or something complete different, it all adds up to two things: being super busy and lots of food.

This can mean detrimental things for your healthy lifestyle.  Too busy for a work out, too busy to cook, lots of friend and family parties with lots of food and second helpings of pumpkin pie!!  This holiday season, I challenge you to stick with your healthy lifestyle!!  Does this mean skip out on the Christmas cookies and cancel all party invites?!  No, but amidst your holiday shopping and cooking, plan how you can fit in a quick work out or bringing a healthy dish to pass.