As I mentioned last week, the holidays used to be the worst time of year for food for me.
EAT ALL THE DESSERTS CITY, Population: Me.
I would obsess over what I was going to eat or not going to eat. When I wasn’t doing that I was feeling like a lame-ass failure for losing complete control around food. Instead of paying attention to what my friends were talking about, I was paying attention to the 30 pieces of cheese left on the tray and whether I could justify having one or two or 30 more. Merry Christmas? My pants would say no.
If you’ve been listening to my spiel for a while, you know I like to break the rules. There are so many “healthy holiday tips” posts floating around. Well, I like to call those posts “ways to obsess over food during the holidays”. So I’ve decided to put together this list to actually help you avoid holiday sabotage…
10 “Healthy” Holiday Rules To Break
#1 – Deprive yourself and eat super strict going into the holidays.
Whenever you actively deprive yourself with the intention of being able to indulge, you are beckoning for your inner saboteur to surface. Whenever we label foods ‘forbidden’ and restrain ourselves from having them for fear of losing all control, we usually end up rebounding and sabotaging so hard when finally take that first bite. Rather than deprive yourself, eat like you normally do. When you are celebrating, eat what you want when you want it and know you can always have more.
#2 – Plan out everything you are and aren’t going to eat in advance.
As a fellow Type-A control freak personality, I know what it’s like to go into full-blown planning mode with your food. When we obsessively plan what we are going to eat we resist listening to what our body really wants. We deny ourselves the beauty of going with the flow and we spend all of our time thinking and planning food instead of actually living. Unless you have an ‘actual health’ reason to avoid a certain food, just live and eat in the moment and don’t plan in advance.
#3 – Eat really light all day so you can blow it all at Aunt Jill’s Christmas Feast.
Do I even need to explain this? When you deprive yourself, you are bound to overdo it. Satisfy your normal hunger signals and remember that at the dinner party, you can always have more food if you want it.
#4 – Workout like crazy so you deserve to eat all the pie.
Working out like crazy is a sure fire way to want to eat all the pie. Workout like you normally do and eat the pie that you want. Move on. End scene.
#5 – Beat yourself up when things go ‘off plan’ or your pants feel way too tight.
Want to know the best way to sabotage yourself and lose all control? Guilt. Telling yourself you are a failure will only lure your inner saboteur out to play. Move the hell on and it’ll be all good.
#6 – Plan how you’re going to ‘reset’ yourself in January.
If you know a ‘diet’ is coming, your brain goes into “give me everything I’m not going to have now!!!” mode. When we tell ourselves that restriction is near, our natural response is to load up for the famine. Allow yourself to eat what you want and treat January 1st like any other day.
#7 – Eat a snack before you go to the party.
Sometimes I eat a snack before I go to a party…because I’m hungry and usually eat dinner with the early bird special crowd, so sometimes I need a snack before I go out. But, if you think you’re going to eat less at the party because you had a snack, you are wrong. If you need a snack, then eat. Otherwise, just enjoy the food at the party.
#8 – Allow yourself to eat anything you want during the week between Christmas and New Years.
Eating anything you want gets translated into eating everything you’ve committed to denying yourself come January 1st. You basically let your inner saboteur take the reigns and load up on anything and everything. When you allow yourself to eat what you want any day of the year, the allure of those Lindt balls loses its appeal.
#9 – Worry about how much weight you gained or are going to gain over the holidays.
That worry and stress only leads to guilt around food and we know what that can do. The reality is we often gain weight because we are obsessing over not gaining weight. When you are worrying about your weight, you are surely going to obsess over food. Just relax… a couple pounds here or there is not a big deal and if you have a good relationship with food, your body will go back to the weight that healthiest for you.
#10 – Worry about what other people are going to think of you.
So much of our weird eating behaviour comes from this fear of being judged. Are people going to be judging your weight? What you are eating? How much you are eating? This will FOR SURE make you over think your food. Rather, ask yourself “Why The F Do I Care What They Think???” Just own and feed the real you.
If you need some daily support and inspiration during the holidays, then don’t forget to sign up for my FREE Badass Holiday Advent – 10 Days Of Rule Breaking Inspiration.
This is a gift from me to you. To offer you daily support and remind you that you are better than that bullshit. It’s 100% free. No catch. No upsell.
Starting Monday December 15th you’ll get 10 short daily emails with:
:: A intention or prompt to amp up your confidence and ditch any guilt or obsessing over food
:: A link to some of my favourite articles
:: 3+ images with a hilarious meme, badass quote and daily affirmation
:: A chance to win PRIZES!!!!!! Yup, I’ll be giving away some cool gifts (a.k.a. things I drool over on Etsy) along the way.
Sign-up here…
Be Smashing!
