Everyday Systems

I thought I was soooo smart tackling the Holiday Season with a wonderful new diet plan! And I have! But, I just feel so bitter while my friends and coworkers are munching and crunching on fabulous goodies! This feeling of " isolation" is getting to me. At the same time, I am losing inches but it is hard to remeber that when I feel I am losing out on EVERYTHING else! I know this diet isn't for wimps... it is HARD work.. but I am having some wimp time right now. I would still rather stick to the diet than eat the stuff that made me fat... but ... just the smells and the looks on their faces while they "try" the treats is enough to make me want to run as fast as I can to a Grannys' Buffet Line! Feeling like THE GRINCH WITH NO GOODIES!! By the way, CHRISTMAS has 2 S's... so it must be a double dippin day, right?? hehehehe

I understand how you feel. But consider this: how bitter will you feel after New Year's Day when your friends are all moaning and groaning about the ten pounds or so they put on over the holidays and how they will now have to diet and (gasp!) do some exercise just to get back to their pre-holiday overweight status...while you will just continue on your merry way, eating reasonably on weekdays, enjoying your treats on the weekends, and knowing that you actually lost inches instead of gaining.

You should be feeling sorry for your friends instead of for yourself.

Stick with the program; it's worth it! There's nothing that beats No-S!

Hi Josie,

The holiday season is really tough. I'm even finding it tough and I work from home mostly, without any EVIL work collegues munching things in my face. Just remember, misery loves company. THEY all want you to join them in stuffing their faces before we even get to the feast days, so that you'll be fat and unhappy and feel stuffed and ill the whole time just like they do.

There's today and 2 more days to get through, then you can eat your heart out on Christmas weekend. How many of the treats they're eating are really things that you'd cross a raging river to get to...? None? One or two? All of them? If it's the latter, then it's gonna be really tough, but somehow I doubt it. I don't think it'll be none either, so do you think your inner brat would be appeased if you took one or two of the really fantastic treats and stored it until the weekend and left the other stuff completely alone?

Just make sure that you get everything you could wish for to eat on Christmas eve and Christmas day themselves. Hang in there! I know you can do this! Besides, as Jan says, the New Year "smug factor" will definately be worth it.

...And the rule at our office christmas party (before I moved) was always "NO DOUBLE DIPPING!" We had a hygeine freak who used to flip out completely at the mere thought! Funnily enough, despite living in a virtually sterile environment she was almost always sick.

C.

I find it helpful to divide up holiday temptations into two categories:

1) mere temptations of the appetite. Anonymous. Food is lying around. Most of the time it isn't even that good.

2) social pressure. Someone is sticking something in your face and might be dissappointed/offended if you refuse.

#1 is both easier to resist and much more common. I find that just by categorizing temptations like this I nip self deception in the bud and give my willpower a boost. Resisting here is easier, more important because more common, and doesn't make me feel bad at all -- on the contrary, I get a moral superiority rush.

#2 is genuinely hard. If you're going to fail, save your failures for this. I've found that "oh, that looks great. But I'm stuffed right now. Maybe later." gets me off the hook most of the time.

Reinhard

#2 is genuinely hard. If you're going to fail, save your failures for this. I've found that "oh, that looks great. But I'm stuffed right now. Maybe later." gets me off the hook most of the time.

That or (depending on what it is) saving it and taking it home.

But still it's tough.. I'm battling a tin of cookies plus one piece of fudge that is IN MY OFFICE right now. A co-worker gave it to me after she had a surplus of cookies from a cookie swap. So far I have resisted it completely, and I've let skinny co-workers partake all they want. So now it's just 2 more days I have to resist before the weekend... maybe they'll be mostly gone by then anyway.

So yeah, Josie and others, I'm going through the same challenges here. But you can do it.. and regardless, it'll be all over in a few short weeks.

I have beaten back the Black Beast intent on inhaling my self-resolve to break this diet! It wasn't so hard to do as I "felt" I was losing and sure enough, I can now button the uniform pants that are 6 inches smaller at the waist! Mind you, I DID NOT say I could zip or wear them! However, I didn't lay down to get into them either. A month ago, starting this diet, I would not believe it could be true. Actually, it has only been 3 weeks.. early in the fourth! I still have a resolve to get the weight off enough to wear those smaller pants by 1-1-06! And, since I don't have a scale yet I have to rely on some type of measurements..and this is it. ALSO, I wore a shirt open with the layer look as I could not button it at Thanksgiving. Now that shirt fits great! I DO have a starting weight from my Doctors' Ofice and I promise I will weigh in in about 3 months! Till then, I am not giving up on my goals for a sweet or treat I can have later!
Thanks for your replies... you guys really are great and the feeback in very important to me. Your comment that I accept the goodie for a late time was fabulous! The encouragement to stick with it was needed.
Looking forward to not only more milestones but also to getting to know you better as better along the way!

Way to go Josie!!

Fantastic news about those trousers. I know myself how good it feels to be able to reclaim items from your own wardrobe.

Here's to another good day today. Not long to go now.

C.

This is a very difficult time of year for disciplined eaters. I will say, however, that it's *much* less difficult after six months of No-S than I thought it would be. I was dreading December, and it really hasn't been awful. So, next year should be a breeze for you.

There is probably something biological about days that are short of sunlight and plenty cold that bring out the hoarder/eater in all of us.

On the positive side, yesterday was the shortest day of the year. It's downhill sledding until June from here!