Sensible holiday eating when you're on a diet

The holiday season is my favorite time of the year.

I love everything that the holidays bring, food, decorations, cookies, shiny things, food, presents, cookies, Christmas music, sweets, etc.. Did I say food and sweets? How did you think I got this fat? Christmas time, is the time of year that you should toss your diet out the window and just gorge yourself silly. I mean, after all, you are going to make the same new year's resolutions in about a week that you always do, right? I'm going to lose weight and eat healthy. However, should we really celebrate the holidays this way? You worked so hard (see I said 'you' not me) to lose weight and eat better during the year and now you are just going to destroy all that hard work at the end of the year? Since I didn't work that hard to lose weight this year (did I say that out loud?) I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But what if you did work hard to lose weight? How can you eat sensibly this holiday season and still enjoy yourself without gaining all those pounds back?

Here are my (WeightLossCat's) tips for sensible holiday eating:

1.     Limit your holiday parties.Nobody wants to be a party-pooper but if you are anything like me, and find it difficult to pass up the cookie tray, then maybe you should not put yourself in that kind of position. Let's face it, what are you going to find at these parties? Food, beverages, pastries, basically, the items that made you fat to begin with. It is unlikely that you are going to find too many vegetable trays.

2.     Control how much you eat. Just because you are on a diet, does not mean that you can't have a cookie or two, or three or.... Control how much you eat. Don't just eat until you are so stuffed that you can't breathe. You can neglect your diet a little without completely falling off the wagon. The trick is that you should never deprive yourself of the things you love during the year like cookies and sweets. Even if you are on a diet, you should still reward yourself with something, once in a while, that is not healthy. This way, come the holidays, you are not making up for everything you missed during the year such as cookies and pastries.

3.     Eat slowly and smaller portions.If you nibble on that cookie, not only will you enjoy it more but while your friends on working on the second dozen and regretting it, you are smiling because you are actually enjoying yourself. When it comes time for that “all you can eat buffet” (my personal favourite), don't pile high all that food. Instead, just take a tiny size portion to taste. If you decide that you like it, you can always get up more and look, you are getting exercise too.

4.     Mix up the variety you eat.Don't just eat cookies and unhealthy food from sun-up to sun-down and beyond. Plan on having a healthy wholesome breakfast and a sensible lunch such as a salad so that you don't starve your body of good nutrients.

5.     Don't be a Grinch. So you have to go to a few more parties than you wanted to, or your aunt insists that you try her cheesecake.What is the worst that can happen? So you gain a couple of pounds during the holidays, it is not the end of the world. As long as you are mostly in control of your eating, you should not have too much to worry about. And remember, new year's eve is just around the corner. You can make plans to lose that extra weight next year, like you always do anyways.

My name is Indigo aka Indy and I'm the WeightLossCat. You can read my musings about weight and everything in between on my blog www.weightlosscat.com. Also be sure to follow me on Twitter and like me on Facebook.