Christmas Is Coming

It's December and that means Christmas is coming!  I love the holidays because they are a wonderful time to catch up with family and friends.  They're also filled with wonderful food, particularly treats that we only get at this time of year.  Since I am wanting to get myself down to a healthier weight, this is a difficult time of year to navigate.

This year though, I decided to try to plan out the month a bit.  I actually have most of my work schedule (over the last year I've been lucky to have two weeks of my schedule!) for December, and I already know when most of the parties are supposed to be happening. 

I printed out a blank calendar and plugged in what I knew was happening.  Then I started trying to plan in both activity and fasting days around everything.  The first few weeks are looking relatively planned out.  The latter half of the month still needs some work (and I don't have my full schedule yet - I'm hoping to get it later today), but at least I have a start on things.

Once I have activity planned, I'm going to have to start strategizing how I'm going to be making it through the dinners.  My first plan is to keep a food journal on most days (it'll be harder to keep track of what I'm eating during the potlucks and parties).  I'm also going to make sure I have healthier snacks in my house and on hand at work (I suspect the coffee room is going to be even more of a problem than usual through the entire month).  I'm also thinking I should avoid the coffee room at work as much as possible - I know I'm really bad for eating things when they're right in front of me.

Looking at my calendar, I seem to have one party/potluck a week up until the last week (Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing Day usually all have their own big meals in my family).  So if I can eat healthily through the rest of the week and that ends up a cheat day, I think I should be okay.  I'm also going to try to make healthy dishes for the potlucks I'm going to (because healthy food is still good! Everything doesn't have to be gross and gooey!) 

So that's the plan so far.  Wish me luck!  I'll provide updates as I go along. :)