Smart, Amazing Women Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
By Dr. Nancy D. O’Reilly, Psy.D.Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to gain five-to-seven pounds of ugly fat this holiday season. Really, you don’t have to do it!
1. Check Your Expectations. Remember, it’s just another day. Don’t let your cherished memories create unrealistic expectations for tomorrow. The past probably wasn’t as great – or as awful – as you remember. Live in the present. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect. Expect that your family and friends will still know how to push your buttons. Prepare yourself for a less than perfect time with annoying family members. It’s all OK.
2. Stay grown up. Don’t let your cousin who tormented you as a child turn you back into an eight year-old. You’re a grown woman. Release old fears and grudges and stay in the present. If your family is truly toxic, keep your car keys in your pocket as a reminder that you can leave anytime. You don’t have to eat for protection from old family scars.
3. Arm yourself. If you can’t avoid people who make your self-esteem shrink, arm yourself with a top-ten list of what makes you the greatest YOU! Slip the list in your pocket and use it to bolster your spirits if Aunt Minnie starts picking at you again. Are you brilliant? Hysterically funny? Wryly clever? Incredibly loving and supportive? Intensely loyal? Don’t be modest. Be yourself … everyone else is taken!
4. Grin and bear it. Take little kids, add sugar and holiday excitement, and one is bound to crash and burn. Please be patient, bring plenty of entertainments, get them outside to run at every opportunity, and remember … they’re the kids these holidays are supposed to be for!
5. Meet Your Family Like an Anthropologist. Don’t let them get under your skin. Step back and observe this unusual new culture you have found. Note the strange initiation rites, the peculiar traditions that bind the tribe, and the bizarre customs they have developed.
6. Wear Your Favorite Clothes, Makeup and Hairstyle. Knowing that you look your best will help you emerge from behind the buffet table. Take up a position across the room and nibble on grapes, not aunt Minnie’s pecan pie, while conversing with others.
7. Learn Something New About Everyone There. Set yourself the assignment of drawing other people out of their shells. You’ll find the evening flies by when you have a focus, and forgetting to obsess about yourself can free you from the nervousness that leads to overeating.
8. Say “No, Thank You.” Accept the love people offer, but pass on the rich foods. Practice saying, “It looks fabulous, but no, thank you.” “What a wonderful dish, but no, thank you.” “Oh, you’ll have to give me the recipe, but no thank you.” “Oh, I so admire your cooking, I wish I could but No, thank you.” Repeat as needed.
9. Say “No, Thank You” Again. Use this all-purpose response to escape the things you’d rather not to do. Wouldn’t you like to visit Aunt Sarah (who has never said one nice thing to you in 40 years)? No, thank you. Wouldn’t you like to take care of the kids while the rest of us go shopping? No, thank you. Take the kids shopping with you? Go to dinner with your old boyfriend’s family? No!!! Oops– “No, thank you.”
10. Have a Plan and Picture Your Success. Before you head out to the next holiday event, sit quietly. Write your goals and plan in your journal. Visualize how wonderful you’ll feel as you leave the event, comfortably fed but not overfull, remembering the fun new things you’ve learned about the people there, grateful for your blessings, and delighted with all the material you’ve collected for your new book on bizarre family traditions. Carry this plan with you as a magic shield against overeating.
