The first holiday season I've ever LOST weight!

[vikingbeast 987]

So how did everyone's holiday season go? Usually, in the Before Times, I'd put on 5-10 lbs. between Thanksgiving and Los Reyes Magos.

I'll be honest with y'all. I ate like crap this year too. Carbs and sugar and fat and hardly any vegetables or Fiber. I did make sure I got my Protein and Water though. And I chose days when I'd be off track instead of having six or seven weeks of "eh, whatever, I'll start again January 2". Thanksgiving; St. Lucia; Christmas Eve and Christmas; New Year's Eve. I also had nice meals for my fiancé's birthday and went to a friend's party.

The restriction did help, though I've discovered more "slider" foods that I need to avoid, ones that I can eat a lot of that don't seem to trigger my restriction.

And yet, when I came to the end of the holiday season for my weigh-in this morning, I had lost 14 pounds over that timeframe. I'm stunned. Pants that I bought right before Christmas are now loose; shirts in XL are now starting to flap in the breeze a bit (but not so much that I'm going to size down QUITE yet).

My body definitely has got used to the way I was feeding it; when I returned to my usual careful tracking each time, I felt so much better. I don't really restrict myself on foods unless I know they're sliders or I won't have any control (hello, Dot's Pretzels...), but it's a matter of just really carefully weighing things out. "The food scale eats first"—so nothing goes in my mouth until I've portioned it out and logged it.

[lizonaplane 1,613]

This was my first time going on a foreign vacation and not gaining 5-10 lbs. I was in Mexico and tries rosca and concha because I'd never had them before, and I ate parts of tortillas at most meals (I mean... how can you avoid it!?). I can see that the sweets are definitely a slider food for me - even though I was stuffed after dinner I tried them and ate more than I planned.

I lost about 2 lbs in 5 days!

I still have a LOT of restriction, but I am going to have to be careful when that stops.

[summerseeker 2,265]

Congrats to you both and littler me who has only just started on this journey. Whoop Whoop

[Guest]

Thanks as always for a fun write-up!

Well, last holiday season was more fun on the scale, I was literally losing a pound a day last December. This year, COVID still took its toll, lost 9 lbs in December which really wasn't the plan.

Bonus tip for those that got COVID rash: I went to the tanning salon like it was 1993 and it cleared that motherf'er right up.

[Queen ApisM 427]

This was also my experience this year! My weight loss actually ramped up between Thanksgiving and New Years - I lost 16 lbs in that time, when my previous two months were half that amount. It has been nuts. I tracked as much as I could (and I was averaging more calories than I had been previously, per my nutritionist's advice) but there were the inevitable days where I couldn't track because I wasn't the one preparing food. But, I tried to be somewhat smart about things and not go too off the rails.

I enjoyed the holidays food wise, but I didn't come out of them with the usual guilt and regret. I'm enjoying the feeling.