My Christmas Epiphany

Christmas of 1987.  I’ll never forget it.  It was the Holiday that changed my life!  I had been through the gauntlet of bad diets since I was a teenager, but it wasn’t until the Christmas of 1987 that I finally found the key to losing the last fifteen pounds that had clung so tenaciously to my hips, thighs, and DNA.

I had always been the kind of girl who approached every holiday season with gusto, determination – and trepidation.  It was not unusual for me to stupidly starve myself in order to squeeze into my little black party dress to make my red carpet entrance, and then snowplow my way through the holiday buffet platter.  Once the festivities began, I completely put aside all diet restrictions and any form of exercise the rest of the week (unless you count chewing), only to regain the twelve pounds I had lost by New Year’s Day. 

This nasty little pattern began way back in the Fourth Grade, when I got my first one-size-fits-all granny gown for Christmas.  This was my version of Grandpa’s all-you-can-eat pants – you know, the kind Fred Mertz wore in I Love Lucy that covered everything but his bowtie.  Fred’s pants and my granny gown were made for the holidays.  That loose fit taught me to indulge with no boundaries until my mid-teens when I needed to look sexier than Ethel!  Unfortunately, this holiday yo-yo syndrome was already a part of me, so I dumped the granny gown but learned how to drop enough poundage before the holidays in order to make room for the deluge of carbs and lipids during the holidays.  And every year, the seams of my little black party dress were tested like the levees of New Orleans.   
But in 1987, all that changed.  That was the year I finally realized that dramatically losing and then gaining weight took a toll on me emotionally and on my body’s natural feast or famine regulatory system.  Yo-yo dieting was actually keeping me 10 to 20 pounds above my healthiest and most flattering weight.  That Christmas I decided I would no longer use the holidays as an excuse to unleash my inner Umpah Lumpahs, but practice a little restraint, which has taught to enjoy the holidays happier and healthier than ever, the way I did long before my first granny gown. 

The real problem with yo-yo dieting is that it sets up a negative psychological pattern that is very difficult to shake.  Feeling like a winner every December and a loser every January perpetuates a yo-yo cycle mentality throughout the rest of the year.  You feel cocky sometimes, yet hopeless at other times. And you ultimately spend the whole year testing your weight gain boundaries, which keeps you eternally 5 to 20 pounds over your ideal weight.  Aside from the psychological pain and stress that come from yo-yo dieting, it does a real number on your digestive system and could be very harmful to your health in the long term.
 
So what is the best prescription for changing this pattern?  Well, to begin with, the time to start is when we face our greatest challenge – the holidays, especially during Christmas because it’s not just a one-day event. It lasts all week, sometimes two.  Telling yourself that you’ll start your diet right after the Christmas holidays is exactly what keeps us stuck in this pattern…sometimes for life.  But we can’t simply promise not to pack on the pounds this week; we need a strategy. 

Since 1987, I have simplified my holiday battle plan into a three pronged approach aimed at having a lightest, happiest, and healthiest holiday ever.  And it’s easy to remember, too – Eat light, Eat right, and Muscles tight.  

Eat Light – Let’s fact it. You’re not going to skip the things you love most on Christmas, so don’t even try. But it is important to exercise some discipline.  Before you take even one bite of your Christmas dinner, decide exactly how much you’re going to eat.  Make it a reasonable amount, and place only that specific amount on your plate.  When you’re done, stop!   That’s all there is to it.   Most of us get into trouble because once we start, we have a hard time stopping, especially on Christmas, when the food is so luscious.  Our brain is always twenty minutes behind our stomachs, so we end up eating twenty minutes of food we really don’t need.  And it’s that twenty extra minutes can add between 300 to 900 extra calories per day at this time of the year. 

Eat Right – Let’s talk about leftovers.  They can get us into big trouble because it’s common to combine too many conflicting food types with all the naughty extras like gravy, butter, and mayonnaise that are often added to bring the original juicy flavor back.  Well, I suggest you enjoy leftovers as usual, but make a few adjustments. First, go easy on the extras – the mayo, the margarine, and especially the gravy.  Pick only one extra per meal, and limit it to one tablespoon.  The more you add those heavy fats, the more you’ll crave them. And you really don’t need them.  Your taste buds will adjust, and you’ll better appreciate the real turkey and stuffing flavors you started with.

Muscles Tight – I’m always saying, “Try and break a sweat every day.”  Well, aerobic exercise should be a part of your regimen all year round, but during the Christmas holiday, try focusing a little more than usual on resistance training with good posture and tightly engaged abdominal muscles.  Your exercise program should incorporate both aerobic and resistance training, but it’s easier to work weight training and light calisthenics into your winter holiday schedule because you can incorporate short mini-workouts throughout your day without sweating too much, showering, and having to change your clothes.  You can easily do things like squats, pushups, curls, sit-ups, leg lifts, and calf-raises anytime, anywhere.  Now, I don’ know what kind of physical shape you’re in, and resistance training can be serious business for anyone who doesn’t do it on regularly without warming up properly before doing even light, intermittent calisthenics.  When it comes to exercise, nothing is more important than safety, so please do it right by warming up and stretching slowly beforehand.  If all this is new to you, consider taking a basic class in resistance training so that you will be adept at doing it consistently.  If you already have some experience, try renting a body sculpting video to add a little spice to your holiday routine. 

Perhaps the greatest benefit that comes from changing years of the typical no-holds-barred holiday gluttony syndrome is that you don’t find yourself defeated, depressed, and derailed when you return to work or school in January.  There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re back at square one after a successful period of progress.  Learn to make success a habit!

It’s funny how just three simple adjustments for Christmas changed my life forever.  I really don’t have to think about it anymore.  It has truly become a part of me.  I could not imagine enjoying the holidays any other way now. 

(Now if only I could do something about doing my Christmas shopping early!)

Healthy Times to all,

Marilu

See more of Marilu Henner at www.marilu.com