How to Stop Overeating at Christmas and the Holiday Season and Not Pick Up a Pound!

The good news is that you don't need to pick up any weight or feel deprived over the Christmas holiday season to keep from picking up all the weight you have lost! In fact, it is possible for just the opposite to occur and to lose weight over the Christmas holiday season...

The bad news is that Christmas does not give you permission to over-indulge and undo all the good you have done so far! Remember, it's only food, and the pleasure is temporary.

Go into the season with a different way of thinking this year - the Christmas season is probably the ultimate test you will ever endure in terms of food and losing weight, so think about food differently, and you will walk out of the Christmas holiday season with a looser belt and a grin on your face because you would not have picked up any weight...

The most helpful tip I can give you is that you actually make the commitment to yourself before all the feasts begin to choose to only eat when hungry. Make the conscious decision this holiday season, that no matter what, you will not stuff yourself on food, but food remains food no matter the season, and you choose to eat only when hungry. If it helps, take a doggy bag to eat over a longer period of time over a couple of days rather than stuffing yourself in one go. That will make you feel that you are not depriving yourself, but you will still be exercising self-control.

Here are some other practical and helpful tips to get through the holiday season in victory:

Monitor liquid calorie intake. Obviously water doesn't count - you can drink as much of it as you want. What you really should be cautious of are things like fizzy drinks and alcoholic beverages including beer, wine and champagne which are empty calories. Limit yourself to just one or two during holiday dinner activities. Sip water in between your drinks to space them out a bit.Snack before dinner. If you eat an apple or drink a full glass of water about 20 to 30 minutes before you eat, you'll eat less because your appetite won't be horrendous. With that said, never go to a meal feeling starved, or you'll end up with a food hangover for sure. Those tend to be filled with feelings of regret and major bloating - it's just not worth it for those few minutes of temporary pleasure...Eat a side plate of salad before your main meals. This helps prepare the body for the abuse to come, and you will find that this serves two benefits - the raw food helps to digest your meal faster, which means faster elimination and it serves to fill you up a little before the "bad" foods come tumbling down.It's perfectly okay to indulge - a little. You can still have a taste of everything you enjoy, just watch your portions. Split your huge slice of pie with a family member and take small samples of everything else you want to try.Move after eating. Try to walk around a bit after you eat instead of plopping your stuffed butt on the nearest couch. It'll help you burn a few extra calories.Work out extra hard (and during the holidays, you will have extra time so you can't use lack of time as an excuse...sorry!) On weeks you know you'll be having holiday get-togethers, put some extra effort (and minutes) into your workouts. If you eat more than you planned, work it off by putting in the extra time to burn the extra calories you ate. It's okay to say "No." Don't be afraid to tell people "no, thank you." It's YOUR body, and it's YOU who has to get rid of the excess through hard work.Be aware. Before you start eating, look at the food on your plate and tell yourself that this is a lot of food and it will fill you. Of course, don't initially pile your plate up high so that you have an excuse to overeat! Rather dish up a small portion, pause when done and if you are still hungry, only then go back for more.Copy a thin person. If you have not yet learnt how to identify true hunger, copy someone who is thin. Watch how much they eat and simply copy them!Eat slowly. If you eat slowly, you'll give yourself a chance to feel full, rather than jamming food down your throat fast and then feeling like you're going to throw up afterwards because you're so full.

Most importantly, if you are tempted to overeat, remember that it's just food and the pleasure is only temporary.

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Or check out lots of interesting stuff and resources on our blog at http://www.get-thin-for-good.com/wordpress.

Essential Truths About Your Diet

Shedding Pounds This Holiday Season With the New Candy Cane Diet

The holidays are a time of joy, spending time with family, friends, and avoiding fruitcake at all costs. Throughout December, we're bombarded by platters of brownies, pies, cookies, cheese plates, gin fizzes and those tins of stale flavored popcorn. When I'm offered sweets or appetizers at work, cocktail parties and my parent's house, it's easy to put on a few pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years.

In order to combat the added calories, I developed a very simple "Candy Cane Diet" that works which I first jokingly blogged about on MySpace back in 2005. Sounds weird, right? But believe it or not, people actually used MySpace at one time. And for the handful of friends that may have read it six years ago, I've been on this seasonal diet (Nov-Jan) since then and revised the plan with even more research to back up my findings.

The Facts:

1. Peppermint works as a natural appetite suppressant. I noticed years ago that eating a peppermint candy cane after a meal kept me full and not reaching for more goodies.

2. This diet is less expensive than weight loss supplements, drinks, or paid programs.

3. Whether you have a sweet tooth or not, this diet works and canes can be substituted with Peppermint tea.

Here is how the Diet works:

Diet Plan*

1. Eat a well balanced breakfast around 400 calories. It's okay to drink coffee too.

2. After a reasonably portioned lunch, skip the cupcakes or cookies and grab a candy cane.

3. Snack around 3pm-Like oranges, nuts, pretzel crisps, string cheese, Greek yogurt with honey & berries.

4. After dinner, as soon as you feel full instead of indulging in desserts, grab a candy cane.

5. Doing steps 1-4 most days will allow you to eat more at a holiday dinners or events during Dec.

*Actual weight loss results may vary and may increase tooth decay, (but trust me it works). The candy cane must be the standard size & peppermint flavor (watermelon, blueberry or fruity candy canes won't work. (Box of 12= 40 calories each. Try to stick to 2-3 canes a day)

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This diet is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. And exercise (even if it's just walking) and drinking H20 helps, as with any diet.

Added Benefits:

1. A candy cane is a festive edible accessory during the holidays. Cuter than a lollipop, and much healthier than cigarettes. Plus, they easily fit in your purse, pocket or clutch.

2. No hostess will feel the need to force goodies or egg nog down your throat if they see you with candy.

3. Minty fresh breath in case you meet Mr. or Mrs. right under the mistletoe.

4. You can lose weight & still eat your favorite holiday foods in reasonable portions a couple times a week.

In closing, I also just read last week I just read yesterday in Better Homes & Garden magazine, (Dec. 2011, pg. 181) that "Next time you need a nudge to exercise, try a peppermint stick. Studies suggest the fresh scent can rev mental energy and boost athletic performance."

Dale Janeé Steliga is an image consultant and fashion stylist in San Francisco with a popular blog called SavvySpice.net. While helping people look and feel more like they desire, she also writes and produces her own radio segment called the "Fashion Savvy Trend Report" on 94.5 KWINE airing multiple times daily north of San Francisco. She is a featured guest on "Motivational Happy Hour" hosted by Jennifer Westby in Washington discussing fashion advice and makeup tips. Dale Janeé also writes a weekly fashion column for the Ukiah Daily Journal in Ukiah, CA. Additionally, she creates flawless finishes as a makeup artist for bridal parties, gals going to prom, Vegas nights out and high school reunion mini-makeovers. She holds a BA in Journalism with a focus in Public Relations and a minor in psychology from California State University, Chico.

Essential Truths About Your Diet

The Truth Behind Holiday Weight Gain and What You Can Do About It

For many of us, the period from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day is often a continuous parade of holiday parties, family dinners, and social hours.

Even if you can keep your weight on target for the rest of the year, by the time we get through the holidays, we're left talking about the "Christmas 5" or the "Holiday 7" and again wondering what weight loss program to start with in January.

The year-end holiday season is definitely where most of us struggle with weight management. But even worse news is that weight gained during this time tends to stick with us, so that even slight gains of the season add up.

The most-quoted research in this area was completed by the doctors at the National Institutes of Health. In that study, 195 people were tracked in detail before and after the holiday period, with further weight tracking at intervals up to one year later.

That study shows that the "average" weight gain of all study participants over the 6-week holiday period was just less than 1 pound.

That sounds good, but digging a bit deeper, the study shows that those who were already overweight posted bigger weight gains. In fact, almost 10% of the study participants recorded a whopping 5 pounds or more gained over the 6-week holiday season!

Comparing these seasonal weight gains with weight measurements made one year later highlighted a good news / bad news story.

The bad news was that any weight gained over the 6-week holiday period tended to stick around for the whole year and form the basis for new weight gains in the next year. Despite the average weight gain of just 0.8 lbs during the holidays, that average gain increased to 1.4 lbs by the time the holidays rolled around again the next year.

As bad as it sounds, there is good news in this data - it shows that most of our weight gain for the entire year is packed on in the 6 weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's. This means that if we can avoid the problem of holiday weight gain, then we have eliminated most of the weight gain problem - all in one fell swoop!

But eliminating the holiday weight gain - even if it is just over a 6-week period - is no small feat.

The most typical advice given is just that - advice: someone else telling you what to do and what not to do. The big tips that come around as advice pretty much every year include:
Watch your serving sizesAvoid sugary or fatty snacksAlcohol calories count tooDon't forget to exerciseEtc., etc.

All of it is just advice - do this, don't do that.

However, another group of scientists have found that relaxation therapy with embedded messaging for the reinforcement of healthy eating has been highly effective.

Randy Clusiau agrees. He recently lost 170 lbs just by using this type of relaxation therapy.

We agree too, and recommend that you check it out for yourself. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how well it works.

The doctors at WeightWorks have helped many people overcome their prior weight loss failures to get back to their naturally-thin selves. For a limited time, they are offering free access to their Holiday Season Success Therapy to help you as well. Sign up for free access by clicking here. Read additional detail about the WeightWorks weight loss program here.

Essential Truths About Your Diet