Masters of Health Magazine December 2019 | Page 49

Strategy #2 – Take it a day at a time

The holiday season stretches from Halloween through New Year’s Day. What seems like several weeks of celebration can actually be condensed to only a few days.

October: Halloween

November: Thanksgiving

December: Christmas Eve, Christmas, Chanukah. Kwanza, New Year’s Eve

Chances are, you only participate in some of these holiday events. Take them a day at a time instead of thinking of the “holidays” as weeks of celebration.

Strategy #3 – Don’t Skip Meals

If you skip breakfast and/or lunch, knowing that you’re going to a holiday party later, you’re setting yourself up to overeat or binge. When you’re ravenous, you’re more likely to lose control over food.

Make sure you eat enough before you go to a party or occasion. If you’re really hungry or starving, it is difficult to stop yourself from making poor choices or eating too much.

When you’re mildly hungry it’s a lot easier to make healthy choices and to stop when you’re comfortably satiated.

Strategy #4 – Silence Your Inner Critic

Ever say anything like this to yourself?

You’ve got no willpower

You're not good enough

You’re never going to lose weight

If so, you’re talking to yourself from a critical voice. That inner critic can be so horrible that you might eat to escape your own mean voice.

A quick way of identifying your inner critic is referring to yourself in second person, such when you say to yourself, "You're a loser" rather than, "I'm a loser".

Changing the way that you talk to yourself is very powerful. Instead of being critical, practice being kind. Silence the critic by encouraging and reassuring yourself as you would a friend.

A good rule is this: if you wouldn’t say it to a friend, child or loved one, don’t say it to yourself.

Strategy #5 – Prepare snappy comebacks

The food police is out in force during the holidays. They make comments such as:

Do you really need to eat that?

You’ve put on a few pounds since last year.

Here are some ways to deal with the dreaded food police:

Set limits:

•I’m not discussing what I’m eating or how much I weigh. Period.

•I don’t like speaking about my weight, so I prefer you don’t bring it up.

Use Humor:

•My weight is a number and it’s unlisted.

•Thank you for noticing. And here I thought nobody paid attention to me.

•Absolutely right. Curvy is the new black, didn’t you hear?

•Wow, I actually HAVE gained weight. Thank you for letting me know because otherwise it would have completely escaped my attention

These strategies will help you avoid holiday weight gain. By avoiding the trap of deprivation, cultivating a kinder relationship to yourself, and preparing clever responses, you’ll make it to the New Year feeling your absolute best. Happy Holidays!