So how did everyone's holiday season go? Usually, in the Before Times, I'd put on 5-10 lbs. between Thanksgiving and Los Reyes Magos.

I'll be honest with y'all. I ate like crap this year too. Carbs and sugar and fat and hardly any vegetables or fiber. I did make sure I got my protein and water though. And I chose days when I'd be off track instead of having six or seven weeks of "eh, whatever, I'll start again January 2". Thanksgiving; St. Lucia; Christmas Eve and Christmas; New Year's Eve. I also had nice meals for my fiancé's birthday and went to a friend's party.

The restriction did help, though I've discovered more "slider" foods that I need to avoid, ones that I can eat a lot of that don't seem to trigger my restriction.

And yet, when I came to the end of the holiday season for my weigh-in this morning, I had lost 14 pounds over that timeframe. I'm stunned. Pants that I bought right before Christmas are now loose; shirts in XL are now starting to flap in the breeze a bit (but not so much that I'm going to size down QUITE yet).

My body definitely has got used to the way I was feeding it; when I returned to my usual careful tracking each time, I felt so much better. I don't really restrict myself on foods unless I know they're sliders or I won't have any control (hello, Dot's Pretzels...), but it's a matter of just really carefully weighing things out. "The food scale eats first"—so nothing goes in my mouth until I've portioned it out and logged it.

This was my first time going on a foreign vacation and not gaining 5-10 lbs. I was in Mexico and tries rosca and concha because I'd never had them before, and I ate parts of tortillas at most meals (I mean... how can you avoid it!?). I can see that the sweets are definitely a slider food for me - even though I was stuffed after dinner I tried them and ate more than I planned.

I lost about 2 lbs in 5 days!

I still have a LOT of restriction, but I am going to have to be careful when that stops.

Congrats to you both and littler me who has only just started on this journey. Whoop Whoop

Thanks as always for a fun write-up!

Well, last holiday season was more fun on the scale, I was literally losing a pound a day last December. This year, COVID still took its toll, lost 9 lbs in December which really wasn't the plan.

Bonus tip for those that got COVID rash: I went to the tanning salon like it was 1993 and it cleared that motherf'er right up.

This was also my experience this year! My weight loss actually ramped up between Thanksgiving and New Years - I lost 16 lbs in that time, when my previous two months were half that amount. It has been nuts. I tracked as much as I could (and I was averaging more calories than I had been previously, per my nutritionist's advice) but there were the inevitable days where I couldn't track because I wasn't the one preparing food. But, I tried to be somewhat smart about things and not go too off the rails.

I enjoyed the holidays food wise, but I didn't come out of them with the usual guilt and regret. I'm enjoying the feeling.