I remember my first Christmas as a post op. It was 5 months out and nothing sweet perturbed me, in any way. It was so easy. I could sit around people, parties and xmas time food, yet utterly lack the desire to eat any food that was off " the plan." So easy I tell you.

Fast forward to this Xmas and it is a much different story. We host parties. That is who my wife is. It is so easy to grab a small piece of home made almond Roca, a home made this or a home made that. My desire for sugar and salt comes alive. Granted I only have eaten about 100 calories extra this weekend of Xmas part food (big party last night too), but I am quite surprised at what difference a year makes. I reached goal at 7 months, about 10 months ago. I have been able to eat my paleo friendly diet without too much effort since then, but, man, this Christmas has been so much harder as a vet.

I am sure come Monday things will be fine again, once back on the eating plan and back to the cross fit workouts (today is my rest day). I am going to need to be careful when tempted around holidays. It is not about weight gain (working out keeps me fit), but more about being disciplined, about being in control of my motivations and my goals. Things I should have responsibility over.

How has your Christmas time been? Do you get these holiday lapses? What are your strategies when you are around parties (either hosting or attending) and your vet mind starts tricking you ?

Edited December 22, 201312 yr by Fiddleman

Yay! It's all over and life can get back to normal.

As normal as life can be with a 2 week old baby in the family. My daughter had a baby girl 12-17 and I am helping out with my grand son a lot. It keeps me from the gym and I don't like it, but he's worth it.It's been hard on him having a new baby in the house.

Okay guys I weighed the first time since my Birthday Oct 14th. I gained 10 pounds over the Holidays. 10!!! I was within 15 pounds of goal. I guess I just got lazy and decided to eat and it has really caught up with me. Besides the Holidays I have also been dating a lot and these guys have been taking me to the nicest restaurants and I have really enjoyed indulging. Well now I realize it was not at all worth it. I can not believe how easily all those slider foods went down at 2.5 years post-op. It is so much harder now.

I am back on track as of yesterday! Doing the Boot camp until I lose back what I gained and then will slowly add small portions of healthy carbs back in.

SERIOUSLY Though....I gained 10 pounds so easily that is scares me to death. One other thing I have learned during this is that I need to weigh at least once a week to keep me in check. Maybe if I would have been doing that I would have got it under control before I hit the +10 mark.

It is really hard to not beat myself up right now but at least I have learned some lessons. The biggest lesson is that I must stay diligent the rest of my life or the pounds creep back on VERY EASILY! Another lesson! I need the support of people here. I had not been on line here in months and months. I need you guys!!!

Sorry for rambling but so much on my mind right now. Thanks for listening!

Holidays are a tough one for me. I originally had my surgery on November 29th, so my first Christmas was a breeze because I could barely eat. Last year I gained 5 lbs over Christmas. This year I was sick for the first part, so I really didn't gain, but it was still tough near the end. My family is all about food, and last year I actually had to have a talk with my mom about not leaving food out. We would visit there for a week and a tray of goodies would sit out on the counter for the entire week. I allow myself to indulge sometimes, I couldn't live my entire life without ever having a treat. But I do not have a lot of will power, especially if it is sitting out in front of me constantly. This year she put it away after Christmas, and it helped somewhat, but there were still boxes of chocolates sitting out and chips in the cupboard, food I have a hard time resisting. Now that we are back at home, it will get easier. I just cleaned out the last of the left over junk (I am a teacher and get lots of boxes of chocolate!). Now time to get back to routine!

Last year I gained so much weight, this year I stayed accountable (scale and MFP) and it was much better. Even with lots of treats... I kept it in the ballpark most of the time because this time I was watching the intake more closely. Welcome back girls! I know you can do it! I am within my 3 pound bounce range goal... hope to take that goal down another 5 slowly .

Edited January 3, 201412 yr by feedyoureye

Yep the holiday season caught up with me in 2012 (when I was just at 2 years post-op) now being 3+ years out, I'm glad I had a holiday season like I did in 2012 because it taught me some hard lessons.

This year I did gain, but only 2lbs. Still I would love another no-gain holiday so that is my goal for the holiday season 2014.

At any rate, this just illustrates why we have a Vet's Forum and why you should be at least a year before posting in here...

Last year I gained so much weight, this year I stayed accountable (scale and MFP) and it was much better. Even with lots of treats... I kept it in the ballpark most of the time because this time I was watching the intake more closely. Welcome back girls! I know you can do it! I am within my 3 pound bounce range goal... hope to take that goal down another 5 slowly .

It gives me lots of hope to hear that you were able to rebound after a decent gain last year. I sometimes worry that I "broke" my sleeve or something with that Holiday binge but you have given me hope that indeed it does still work!!

Yes, as we get further out it is much easier to eat not only larger quantities (but still small) but many different items including all the lovely sliders.

I, also, did much better this year by mostly logging and fasting some days (5:2). I was not 100% faithful but learned hard lessons from the last year about regain and I LIKE where I am now. It's too difficult to relose so maintenance is all about accountability to my group on BP and MFP.

Yay, to all of us! We've got this!

I gained my 15 lbs between my birthday and Christmas. My birthday is at the end of October, but usually friends want to take me out to dinner all week. Soon after, all of the holiday treats started showing up everywhere.

I am so happy that I took that regain off, that now I am afraid to eat . I did end up gaining 2 lbs this holiday season , but it will be a lot easier now that it's only 2.

We definitely had some issues with Frangos this Christmas - bought a big bag of them as gifts for friends and family, lets just say they go down so easy that not all of those boxes of delicious made it to their planned destination lol.

I am not buying these again.

Ha! I had to look that up. Thought you misspelled mangoes. I thought, wow she must of eaten a ton of them to have a problem! My personal christmas problems include Cookies and Sees candy. Prefer to not have them in the house.

Lynda

We definitely had some issues with Frangos this Christmas - bought a big bag of them as gifts for friends and family, lets just say they go down so easy that not all of those boxes of delicious made it to their planned destination lol. I am not buying these again.

Those are the little Frederick & Nelson candies right? I remember those little bites of buttery chocolates, so soft and chewy. Yup, not good to have around. Although, if I recall, they are individually wrapped so it takes extra effort to keep unwrapping them.

Edited January 6, 201412 yr by Fiddleman

I too Fudged it up this holiday. I love to bake so there goes my trigger foods . I baked a little compared to before but enough to gain 2 -3 lbs.

So I gained 2-3 lbs. it's not a lot but the behavior

Started.

I still have 40lbs to loose.

Well unfortunately I have be been sick with

Stomach virus such it feels like the restriction came back with a vengeance.

That's the good side effect. Hoping that though my tummy heals from this Virus! But this has caused me to re group today. Started working on protein today and water. I'm 10 1/2 months out

And had stopped my protein shakes. Didn't like them any more.

But now I want to seriously loose the weight.

Thanks Fiddleman for this thread.