Everyday Systems

This is especially for those who have never lived through a No S holiday season. My count may be off by a day or two, but we have about 85 days (53 N days) to solidify the meal structure habit before the holiday season takes off on Thanksgiving. .

It is so worth it to go through the holiday season enjoying savory holiday foods in moderate amounts at meal times on weekdays and delighting in the best of the snacks and desserts on S days and two NWS days per month. The more established our habits, the easier it is to celebrate with amounts that don't bring on regret, no matter what the day is. Wouldn't it be great to reach a New Year's feeling we're well on our way to a lifetime of pleasurable moderate eating? The time to start is TODAY! If you haven't already.

Thanks! Thanksgiving will be the more challenging time for me--my SIL hosts and makes amazing food and we're there for several days. We'll see if I can apply more moderation (last spring when I was at her house I still had red days most days, but usually it was 3 meals and a snack--not hugely overeating.) I'm hoping that remembering that overeating just feels lousy will help me keep things relatively in check!

I actually decided enough was enough after last year's Thanksgiving & that I HAD to make changes. My first full month on No-S was last December, and it had no red days. I took two NWS days for celebrations, but that was it. I did save some treats for weekends etc... but didn't feel I missed out on anything. I enjoyed the season, my family, friends, singing at church...So, I take heart that it's definitely possible to enjoy holidays while eating sanely too!

All the non-sweet holiday food tastes just as good when you enjoy it at a meal (on N days)!

I am hoping to be better prepared to face this holiday season than last year. I have more time of being on habit behind me, and more knowledge about how much I dislike eating too much now and what treats are worth having. I think it will help that I am not traveling far for either Thanksgiving or Christmas this year, so I can be at home and stay in my routine for much of the season.

The two times I moved No S to the shelf was just after the holidays. The over consumption of food, the leftovers, the weight gain, and the disappointment in myself for my lack of control neutralized me.

It would be good to think of this now, and even plan as much as possible my behavior on these special days (my sp. days are basically the same). I think I'll stick with the 2-3 meals a day as usual even on the NWS days, but of course enjoy the main celebration meal. Perhaps writing my hopes down and reading them often will make my resolve more sure. Thanks, oolala!

And concentrating on what how you feel now as you implement the rules so you have that as a touchstone. Also consciously remembering how it felt after a season of overeating and how much you want to be prepared to avoid that.

oolala53 wrote:And concentrating on what how you feel now as you implement the rules so you have that as a touchstone.

this helped me a lot as preparation for 6 weeks of holidays/travelling this summer...

Thanks for the reminder, this is helpful

I like this idea of being "in training for the holidays". Then after that the habit should carry into the new year of 2017!