Holiday Weight Loss
By Kathleen Daelemans

It's a catchier title than Holiday Weight Gain, don't you think? A lot of people worry about gaining weight during the holidays and with good reason. The average American packs on one new pound every year at this time and for most people, that pound hangs around. Without a doubt, holiday weight gain is contributing to adulthood obesity. Unless you're willing to wear last years stuffing and gravy and this year's Yule Log, what goes on must come off.

Because I'm lazy by nature and prefer reading, channel surfing and afternoon naps to vigorous torture on the treadmill, I work hard at denying access to unwanted holiday pound pals. This requires a lot of thinking and planning and some follow through.

Surviving the holidays doesn't have to mean going without. If I couldn't help myself to seconds on Thanksgiving and have two slices of pie on Christmas, I'd never be able to convince myself to eat right and exercise most of the time.

Talk Therapy
The single best thing you can do to keep off unwanted pounds is to maintain a constant conscious dialogue with yourself every waking moment. Most of the time I can barely stand to hear myself think but I've learned blank minds and improper dialogue encourage denial, complacency, rebellious eating and ultimately, waistline disaster.

Unless you've been ordered to gain weight by mass consumption, you can't have it all. A perfectly iced Holiday cookie that will never taste as good as it looks or seconds on homemade stuffing later? 5 bite size pieces of stale chocolate from the candy bowl or two of Mom's holiday candies she makes only once a year? Eggnog at the office party or a glass of icy cold champagne with a loved one later? Fancy looking passed hors d'ouvres that will never live up to your expectations or the crudite now so you can enjoy perfectly cooked roast beef later? This, my friends, is how I live my life. If you popped "the tape" out of my head at any given moment you'd hear endless hours of culinary negotiations.

Mindless eating equals weight gain. You weren't cast as a food guzzling zombie this season. Question every single food choice before you pop anything into your mouth. Is this a good choice? Is this the best choice? What's the healthiest choice I can realistically make right now? Do this every time, all the time, all day long, day in and day out and you will find yourself making better and better choices.

Excuse Excuses
If I add another deadline, task or social obligation to my calendar from now through January 1st, I'll surely flat line. On top of normally hectic schedules we're all trying to squeeze in more. Out of control schedules are public health enemy number one. We perceive that we have "no time to cook and exercise". We "have" to eat out or we'll never make it to where ever it is we're rushing off to. I "have" to skip the gym today, I really need the rest, just this once. Just this once becomes just-this-week. Just-this-week blossoms into just-this-month. Just-this-month grows to be just-till-January 1st.

Give self sabotage free reign over your right mind and there you'll be stuffed into your jeans on January 2nd, crying the blues, making over the top ridiculous New Year's resolutions you'll keep for a week. Research shows most of us abandon New Year's resolutions before Target rolls out Valentine's cards and candy hearts.

Eat at Home For the Holidays
As in Thanksgiving and Christmas and most days in between. Research shows that on days we eat out, we eat more. Children consume 50% more calories in a restaurant than they do at home. "A Center for Science in the Public Interest study found that the typical appetizer, entrée and dessert at a restaurant has 1,000 calories – that's each, not a total for the entire meal."

You can run around feeling super guilty because you're eating junk all day long and "poisoning" yourself and your family with restaurant food or you can sleep at night knowing you did everything in your power to make the best choices for yourself and your family all day every day.

Simple Simon Was a Pie Man
You're not. But you don't have to be a chef to get super speedy suppers on the table. The very next time you have ten minutes, say as soon as you're done reading this, grab a pen and paper. Along the top of the paper, write out the days of the week. In the far left column of the paper, make a list: protein, vegetable, whole grain, salad. Go through each day of the week and fill in the blanks. The simpler you keep things, the more likely you are to stick with the program. When you get the hang of cooking and master the first week, branch out. Cook from recipes, whip up soups and sauces, make a casserole, try new stuff. But if you're in need of a hassle free game plan, try something like this:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Protein:	Grilled chicken	Broiled Steak	Oven baked salmon	Grilled or pan fried thin cut pork chops	Pizza night! Keep pre-made dough and grated skim milk mozzarella in your freezer and you can get pizzas on the table faster than the delivery guy can ring the bell.
Veggie:	Microwave Broccoli	Broiled Asparagus	Microwave frozen green beans	Microwave or roasted sweet potatoes
Whole Grain:	Brown Rice with parmesan cheese	Ten Minute Barley with tiny pat of butter, salt and pepper	Quinoa (as easy to cook as brown rice and instant barley)	Leftover brown rice, barley or Quinoa
Salad:	Bagged lettuces, grated carrots, cherry tomatoes, lo cal dressing	Bagged baby spinach, sliced strawberries, mandarin oranges, bottled balsamic vinaigrette	Tomatoes drizzled with oil and vinegar and fresh basil or dried oregano and thyme, salt and pepper	Spinach with low cal balsamic vinaigrette	Caesar (hold the croutons). Bagged romaine lettuce with baby spinach thrown in for good measure, tossed with lo cal Caesar dressing and a tiny sprinkle of parmesan cheese if you must.

Whatever, Kathleen!
My meal plan is meant to inspire you and more importantly to show you just how easy it can be to plan, shop for and cook a week's worth of meals. If after reading it, you're of the opinion that it's still "too much work", modify it to suit your tastes and time constraints. If you're a fan of cooking frozen veggies in the microwave then there's no reason for you to deviate until the spirit moves you. If you all you can "deal" with is chicken and steak, then so be it. Have the same salad every night for a week if that's all you have time for. You're in charge.

Special Orders Don't Upset Us
Stick with the formula or change it. No one says you can't skip the whole grains one night and have two veggies instead. Double up on Monday's chicken and have chicken soup or chicken salad on Tuesday. The true purpose of the exercise is for you to come up with a super easy game plan you feel confident about.

Once you fill in the blanks, you've got a detailed shopping list. Getting in and out of the market will be a breeze especially if you can avoid grocery store rush hour. I find that when I shop with a game plan and a list, I'm less likely to throw junk in the cart and I'm less likely to buy food I'll never end up cooking.

Presents!
I'm not saying you have to eat three made from scratch meals a day but no matter how overwhelmed and frazzled you get, you have total control over what you put into your body and whether or not you make time for exercise. Own it. Cooking is just not that hard. Eating in is cheaper, quicker and more gratifying than eating out. Especially if you weigh the peace and satisfaction you will gain from doing the best by yourself and your family that you possibly can. Sharing a meal with those you love, nurturing yourself, your family and your friends with the comfort of each other's company and wholesome foods you have the means and freedom to buy are gifts to be cherished, celebrated and preserved. Happy Healthy Holidays, Everyone!