Holidays are always a hard time to follow a diet… there are lots of parties and events and they’re all centered around food and drinks. But now that the holidays are over and regular life has resumed – I took some time to assess how things went (with the help of my coach, Emily, of course).

What I found the most interesting was how the food we prepared for Christmas really stirred up a lot of emotions in me. My Mom passed away a few years ago from cancer… but she really created a strong tradition around the food we eat at Christmas. Every Christmas morning we would wake up, open our presents, and then eat Cinnabons and meatball and sausage sandwiches. I know – it sounds really weird, but my Mom would make meatballs and sausage in her homemade spaghetti sauce for our Christmas lunch/dinner of stuffed shells… but we could never wait that long to dig in!

This year – as I prepared my Mom’s sauce – I was deep in my feelings. I really, really missed her – and how special she always made Christmas. The food seemed like it had extra meaning… it was tradition, and also a really wonderful memory of my Mom. But I was worried that this one meal would derail my diet completely because it had all this extra emotion attached to it. Cut to Christmas day…

Before heading to my brother’s house to celebrate – I told myself that it was my family that made Christmas special – not the food. I still ate a sausage roll for breakfast, but I had one instead of five. Dinner and drinks were enjoyed but kept to a minimum. I enjoyed the food, but my focus was on my family and having a great day. I didn’t eat on plan, but I felt successful nonetheless!

I had parties and events to attend from Christmas to New Years – and before every outing, I said to myself “it’s about the people, not the food”. And that helped me not throw my diet to the wind and eat all the food and drink all the drinks! Yes – I ate off plan, but I made pretty good decisions for the most part.

Normally I would easily gain 10-15 pounds over the holidays. This year – I maintained my weight… and that’s a big win! And after all the celebrating was over – I got right back to my diet!

I’m really proud of how I dealt with all my feelings around food this holiday season. Ever since I started Med-Fit it’s sort of been trial by fire, but I’m learning that I have control over my emotions and over food. This has really been an enlightening journey so far… and I’m excited to see how I grow – while I shrink.

Here’s to a great 2019!
~C