Monday After Thanksgiving!

11/26/12

I had a GREAT Thanksgiving weekend and I hope that you all did too!!! Rick and I had a big change of our Thanksgiving plans, but we made the most of the change.

I have to admit though, I am really glad that it is Monday. I am already feeling better getting back into my routine. While I did a ‘decent’ job of enjoying yummy food and not going too overboard. I realize in hindsight that in past years, I would have eaten 4 times as much as I did this Thanksgiving. It really amazed me. Really, truly, I didn’t feel any less happy or involved eating normal portions this year. I didn’t feel deprived. I felt even happier actually!

I also had some great activity this weekend too! This felt really good (not just a ‘necessary’ or guilt thing). Rick and I walked, Cota and I walked, Cota and I ran, did yoga…lots of easy going things and at the same time, cardio too!

 

I started of the holiday weekend really strong in terms of attitude and empowerment, but I did have some negative feelings by Sunday. It seemed my attitude about my health and choices dwindled a little as the weekend went on and I went a little into panic mode. BUT, fortunately, I was able to reflect on my past experience with those feelings and remembered how they got me nowhere except in bad places.

I learned a lot over the weekend about how to even better manage my food and holiday food emotions to still enjoy and stay healthy at the same time.

Some people say “It’s the holidays, I am not going to worry about what I eat or how much”. I totally understand this and sometimes this may be me and I am okay with that. However, this year, I didn’t ‘worry’ about it, I was proactive in my planning. I also understood that my plan may not be 100%, but I felt good having a general plan.

 

I learned a lot this holiday weekend…

 

What I learned about me:

 

• Planning was / is very helpful. I planned out the food that I was going to eat/ anticipated I would encounter. I calculated ahead of time how many WW points they would be.

• Sticking to a typical serving size of everything was really quite satisfying and the thought of more didn’t actually feel good.

• I made healthier and totally fresh versions of my foods. I made green bean casserole with fresh greens and fat free mushroom soup. I added extra green beans too! I made homemade cranberry sauce!!! It was AMAZING! Fresh cranberries, apricots, a little brown sugar and a bit of spices…It was fresh, vitamin packed and less sugar.

• I wasn’t going to guilt or punish myself in the coming days to compensate for eating a bit out of my points range. I am just going back to what my new normal has been since August when I started Weight Watchers.

 

What I didn’t plan well for:

• Having non-holiday food items / options around during the holiday weekend. I only bought groceries that were pretty much related to the holiday and not so much normal food.

 

• Deciding what foods are really holiday foods vs. foods that I can have and do have all year. For example: I ate mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner. But really truly, I have them during the year and could have saved my points for the foods that are ‘once or twice’ a year holiday foods.

• Feeling like leftovers HAD to be eaten. I don’t like wasting food. Not because of any childhood pressure to ‘clean my plate’ or anything like that. Mostly, because I know how many people in this world are without food and it bothers me to throw away perfectly good food. I decided to make slightly less of my big recipes to still have some leftovers, but not too much leftovers. Rick agreed that this is a good idea too!

 

This morning, I took Cota for a good walk and then did 15 more minutes of squats, lunges, abs. A great way to start the day. I am definitely a MORNING workout person! (Rick is NOT and that makes it harder for us to workout together…but at least he is going to the gym every night after work!)