5 Ways
To Get Through
The Holidays Without Gaining
Weight
By Nina Savelle-Rocklin, Psy.D.
One of the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. Despite the best of intentions, most of these resolutions fail. That’s the bad news.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way. It really is possible to get through the holidays without overeating or overindulging.
Imagine getting through this festive season without gaining an ounce. Wouldn’t it feel amazing to start the New Year feeling good? Here are five strategies to do exactly that:
Strategy #1 – Ditch Dieting
Dieting over the holidays (or ever) inevitably backfires. Diets fail because on some level they’re about deprivation, which often leads to overeating or bingeing.
That’s because the anticipation of not being able to eat what you want only makes you want it more.
If you’re thinking about not eating pumpkin pie or Christmas cookies, then you have pie and cookies on your mind, which puts the focus on “what” you’re eating, instead of “why.”
Diets ultimately fail because they only deal with food. Diets don’t address the underlying conflicts that make you turn to food in the first place, such as eating for comfort or distraction.
Most importantly, dieting keeps you in a perpetual battle with yourself. The key to change is to stop dieting and start tuning into what’s eating “at” you. When you deal with the true underlying emotions, conflicts and problems, you won’t use food to cope.