This is going to be a long post about how I am thinking about healthy habits & special events that normally call for overeating. I hope it helps you, as we’re all grappling with how to eat during the holidays. Sorry in advance for the length.
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For some context, I started my weightloss journey in the first week of May 2020, and have lost 65 lbs (steadily 2lbs a week). I did this by slowly reducing my calories to approx 1200/1300 (or more depending on exercise) & slowly adding more exercise to my daily routine. For the most part, all I do is find ways to eat the things I love, but making healthier substitutions and being serious about portion control. I try to think of my meals of fruits or veggies with a side of proteins, grains, and starches. Making the high volume, low-calorie fruit/veggie the star of the meal really helped shift my healthy eating mindset. I eat this healthier lifestyle very consistently. Because no food feels “off-limits”, I don’t feel the need to regularly have cheat days. I genuinely and truly eat what I enjoy every day. My “cheat days” are very special occasions; boyfriend’s birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, anniversaries.
As weird as it sounds, covid has made eating healthier easier - I don’t deal with regular social gatherings to “tempt” me to eat poorly. However, as the holidays approach and pandemic fatigue sets in, I have (safely) visited family & friends and been put in tempting situations. Thanks to my nearly 8 months of eating healthily, I am able and happy to make healthier decisions when eating out with friends/family.
My boyfriend and I are buying a new house; we had our parents come to check out the house, and after that, we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant. Normally, when going out to eat, I would just eat whatever (giant order of chicken fettuccine alfredo, side bread, soda, and maybe a dessert- anyone relate?). Now, I was happy to order some water, say no to the side bread, and eat a delicious salad with salmon, fruits, pecans, and raspberry vinaigrette. The salad was delicious, filling, and still probably more than I would have eaten at home, but it was fine. What did I do to make up for the meal? Nothing. It was a little bigger than I’d normally eat, but I’m still in a weekly caloric deficit and very close to my weight loss/body composition goal, so I just shrugged it off as a slightly larger meal than I would normally eat.
Earlier this month, my grandparents had a 50th-anniversary dinner at a Brazilian all you can eat steakhouse. Buffet side & salad bar included. Before my healthy lifestyle change, I would have piled the sides high and eaten everything offered to me. Instead, I got modest portion sides (scalloped potatoes, black beans, rice, lobster bisque, mushrooms) and I asked for the meats they brought around that looked absolutely delicious. I also had a slice of bananas fosters pie. Oh my god, it was so good. This was a special occasion where I knew I’d end up eating way more than my caloric deficit asked for. You know what I did to prepare for it / make up for it? Nothing. The week leading up to it, I ate what I would normally eat, and after I ate what I normally eat. Do you know what the scale showed? I still lost like .5 a pound for that week. I was a little bloated though. Understandable. The day after the anniversary dinner, my aunt got pizza. I said, “no thanks, I’m fine, I’ll eat the salad I prepared for myself”. Of course, I could’ve had pizza, but it wasn’t a special occasion and I truly liked the salad I prepared for myself, so I had my salad.
Today is my birthday. I already had it in my mind that this would be a true cheat day. A cheat cheat day where the rules are made up and the calories don’t matter. I woke up, expecting that my boyfriend and I would just go to dinner - because that’s all he told me about. So I had my planned breakfast for the morning: granola, a mandarin orange, dried cranberries, and homemade iced coffee with some sweet cream. 300 calories or so of breakfast. I went on my walk and came back to a surprise. My boyfriend had a whole day of fun planned for us. He took me to my favorite breakfast place - we haven’t been at all since covid happened. Before my health initiative, I would have gotten a delicious potato skillet meal with greasy meats galore. I wasn’t terribly hungry, but I had just gone on a walk, so I had an egg-white omelette with spinach, cranberries, and goat cheese. It also came with a side of grits & an English muffin. I ate the whole omelette happily and split the sides with my boyfriend. It was yummy. Then we got my free Starbucks drink. Then we went to walk around an outside mall so I could hit my step goal. My boyfriend was craving a burger, and I was like “why the heck not?” Before my health initiative, we both would have gotten a burger, a side a-piece, and each gotten a milkshake. Instead, we shared a burger, shared a side of onion rings, and shared a shake. Definitely over my calorie limit for the day. But guess what? It’s my birthday; only comes once a year, baby. We went home, I took my dog on a short 30-minute walk like normal, and now I am sitting here writing this. Tonight, we plan to go to a Mediterranean place. I think I’ll have a greek salad. It’s gonna be delicious - again, more than I’d normally eat on my diet and I'm already way above a caloric deficit (that oreo milkshake tho). To ice the cake (literally), my boyfriend took me to a Korean bakery and we got 3 individual pieces of cake to share amongst the two of us. We plan to share them tonight. A slice of chocolate ganache cake, a slice of strawberries and cream cake, and a blueberry cream cake. I don’t know if we’ll eat all three of them tonight, but if we do, I won’t worry about it.
And you know what I’m going to do to make up for it? Nothing. It is my birthday, goddammit. I knew what I was getting into. I know that this is not going to change my general healthy eating habits, and I know this will not be detrimental to my ultimate weight loss/body composition goals. Today, tomorrow, and the following days, I will go back to eating how I normally eat now. I may be bloated, the scale might not show the 1-1.5 lb/week weight loss I have been seeing since November. *shrug*
When worrying about doing something “against your diet”, ask yourself:
- Have you learned healthier habits? What are they?
- How have your healthier habits changed the way you eat even when you pig out? If you’re like me, even your “pigging out” looks healthier. That is an improvement.
- Be honest, how often are you “cheating” and “pigging out?” If it’s less than you normally would, that’s an improvement.
In developing a healthier lifestyle, your goal should not be perfect adherence to a strict diet. No one, even the healthiest people in the world, has a 100% perfect 24/7 diet. What matters is that your eating & other habits are generally trending toward the healthier side of things. There will be times where your eating is impeccably healthy; there will be times when you eat less healthily. But - looking at the trend of your eating & other habits - are they, overall, healthy? If so, you have been successful.
It’s true, if you regularly eat more calories than your body needs, you will gain weight. If I regularly overate as I described for my grandparent’s anniversary dinner or for my birthday, I would gain weight. But those were special occasions - and I very honestly only eat like that for special occasions. Otherwise, I eat really really well. So I don’t worry about those few times that I truly pig out. And you shouldn’t either, as long as you’re honest with yourself about your eating habits and are eating healthily - you will be fine. Don’t sweat it; don’t feel guilty; don’t over constrict; don’t grind hours away on the elliptical to make up for it.
Celebrate the special moments. Enjoy the food you eat. But generally trend toward healthiness nonetheless. That’s my advice & experience. I hope it helps you, as we’re all grappling with how to eat during the holidays.
