The Dos and Don’ts for Holiday Eating and Weight Control

After years of dieting failure, I lost 140 pounds and I’ve kept it off for over 30 years. Find out how I did it without missing any of those great holiday feasts.

You can control your weight this time of year, even lose weight, and still have festive dinners with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, wine and even pecan pie and ice cream for dessert.

In fact, you can have almost everything you like this holiday season, even chocolate, and still lose weight. I know because I did it. I lost 140 pounds and I’ve kept it off for over 30 years.

Usually, people either gain a lot of weight this time of year, or they deny themselves what they’d really like. Either way, they’re miserable. Instead, the key to permanent weight loss is learning how to eat what you’ll want the rest of your life in a way that will maintain a healthy weight. I learned how, and it’s become so habitual that it’s automatic. You can too. Here are some of the things I learned and practice:

Don’t try to diet, discover that you can’t stick to it, and then decide, “This is impossible! I might as well forget about my weight problem and just enjoy everything until after the first.” Giving yourself permission to binge for a month will create a weight gain that will take all of next year to get rid of. Or it will get worse as the year progresses.

Do pick out six to 10 days that you will go to parties, go out to dinner, have Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and plan on having your favorite indulgences those days. Determine to eat like a health nut all the other days. You will be able to when you have those holidays to indulge in. Don’t deny yourself gratification — delay it a bit. You can’t have Thanksgiving every day without being overweight, but you can enjoy your favorite holiday fare the rest of your life and stay at your ideal weight. You’ll enjoy your favorite dishes even more without the guilt or weight gain, and they will be the best holidays you’ve ever had.

Do plan, every morning, what you’ll have that day and be prepared to fend off all the food ambushes as you run the gauntlet of gluttons…