What if Christmas Eating is part of the tradition?

I have been thinking alot about Christmas and most of my family traditions revolve around food.  Baking with my Mom and Dad preparing all the special treats we only had at Christmas.  Things like Scotch cookies, gumdrop cake, Cherry pound cake, peanut butter balls, peanut brittle, date filled cookies, fudge, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie and homemade doughnuts.  Nowadays I take my kids to visit my parents for a few days before Christmas and they also bake with my parents.  It's tradition.

I am pre surgery but I have been working towards a healthier lifestyle, including better food choices and moderate exercise.  I don't want to blow it all at Christmas and find my craving insane in January.

I know the baking is not something I need to stop but I really need to restrict the sampling of the treats. While visiting my parents in previous years, I seemed to permanently have something in my hands feeding my mouth.  Everything is so good and I only have it once a year but this year I want to be more aware of what I am eating.  Really savour every bite.  Having less overall and just a taste of each treat so I don't feel I missed out on the season.

What will be different about your Christmas traditions this year?

Well, for starters, I am already starting to look at things as "my last."  Like, this will probably be my last Christmas to have and enjoy a big meal.  My last birthday (in January) where I can go out and have cake and some drinks and get a little bit silly with my friends.  It's hard because of the reasons you stated, food is such a huge part of celebration and I would be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss it.

But will it be worth the sacrifice?  100% for sure.

It will also be different for me this year because I'm writing down everything I eat so I can have it when I go see the nutritionist soon.  I spent the first couple of days tracking just to get used to writing everything down.  When I looked back on the things I had actually eaten it was sad.  I didn't even remember putting some of it in my mouth. So this Christmas will be spent being very conscious and choosing what I eat.  For the first time I'm not getting lost in my food, I'm actually going to be present and making choices with what I put in my body. 

Merry Christmas! :)  You're not alone :)

My Christmas tradition is going to be very different his year. I'm only 3 weeks post-surgery and I don't want to project how I'm going to be eating at that point.

I did have a lot of "funeral" meals where I noted that this would be the last instance of a given meal... I knew I would not be eating this food in this way again. I actually found that very helpful.

I am - and this is true in large sections of my life - trying to reduce the association between celebration and food. I suspect that a lot of people here do not see a celebration as a celebration if there isn't something to eat. Everyone still needs to treat themselves, but some more moderation is obviously going to be needed.

My Christmas tradition will be to get through with some better habits, I guess. 

Wow I think you might be right Dan - rather than thinking moderation only it might be wise if I start some new traditions that include less food and more about the time spent with whomever celebrating and making memories.

How did this go for you? I managed to stay away from a lot of foods, but I didn't feel deprived and was very happy. I hope you felt good about the holidays as well.

I really didn't have any issues.  My mother was concerned because she had so much leftover sweets when we left.  I had a cookie or a small piece of pie but one or the other not both and very few throughout my visit.  I didn't feel deprived and had a great visit.

I have a good feeling and really believe that I will be able to lose the weight and keep it off.  If I can be completely surrounded by my favourite sweets and not overindulge and not feel deprived.....I feel good about my chances of success!!

I am not quite 6 months post op and while it can be hard to resist the all the temptations that surround us on holidays I think you will find that once you really start to see the weight coming off that resisting the temptations just becomes that much easier...at least I find this to be the case for myself.  I will say that perhaps it is easier for me because both of my sisters and I have all had VSG surgery so everyone in the family is very understanding and we all are going through it together.