Weighing in…or not

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woman-w-donutSomething that appears along with the turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce is a few extra pounds hanging on your hips looking like an inner tube.

People have different techniques to deal with this holiday phenomenon which occurs periodically until January 2 (subject to celebrations) when your New Year’s resolution to lose weight kicks in (should you be foolish enough to make one).

Personally I am of the ostrich technique myself. I don’t weigh myself for a few days after the food orgy and cut back consumption at least a little. By the time I weigh myself I am in that comfort zone. No need to bash myself.

There are those who weigh themselves the day after. (Arghhhh! What are they thinking?)

About a year or two ago the beloved husband lost 20 pounds. He cut back on portions and dropped the weight effortlessly. (Why do guys do that? Even the old ones?)

He exercises regularly. He can get righteous about it. Exercising is addictive. You hate yourself when you miss a day.

Fortunately I don’t have that gene. I have a “gotta get a Starbucks” gene and a “let’s adopt that cat” gene. No neurotic gene about exercising. Of course we are not talking about my shoe fondling perversion here. Perhaps that’s a mutated shopping gene.

Bike riding in good weather and the treadmill in bad are his preferences although he throws in heavy outdoor work from time to time.

He intends to outlive our old cranky cat. They are having a competition. It’s neck and neck although Jake refuses to use the treadmill. According to the vet’s cat age chart, Jake is slightly older.

The beloved husband weighed himself on Friday and the pesky scale showed a gain of two pounds. (Seriously?) He hit the treadmill mercilessly.

scaleBy Sunday the scale said I was in my zone and he dropped two pounds. All is well here.

So how do you handle the holiday weight spike? Ostrich style? With aggression? Or procrastinate until the New Year?

Or perhaps you just ignore the whole thing.

Art credits: First clip art found floating on the internet without a source. Second courtesy of Amazon

 

38 thoughts on “Weighing in…or not”

  1. I just bought my very first scale this year. I believe in moderation and that if you are going to eat sweets make sure they are lethal. Go for the gooiest, richest, calorie laden thing you can find, pig out and enjoy and then forget about it. But stop at one.
    I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted until menopause reared it’s ugly head. Now I am struggling, I hate exercise although a good soccer practice does make me feel wonderful afterwards, and I love food too much to take dieting seriously, *sigh*

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  2. I do yoga at the end of the day and it keeps my eating in check. I hate doing twists and forward bends with a bloated stomach. However, I am also guilty of skipping yoga on those days when I dive into the pumpkin pie.

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  3. I drag the bipeds out for a long hike, so that I don’t have to worry how many treats I eat! They often moan about what the scales tell them at this time of the year – I’m not sure why they listen!

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  4. I refuse to talk about it….

    Just kidding. I don’t need to weigh myself. My husband can take one look at me and tell me whether I’ve gained or lost 2 pounds.

    And, during the holidays, I eat what I want to eat at feasts and parties, which don’t happen every day. The rest of the time, I cut back some. Still, I always put on a couple of pounds, and hope they’ll come off in January without too much effort. Which works well, until my thyroid goes wacky, which it occasionally does.

    And then I try to be kind to myself. Because suddenly I’ll gain weight even while eating less, until I play with my synthroid dose until the TSH hits the right level again. I’m finding it easier not to care so much about the fluctuations. Life is always fluctuating….

    (And I do tend to be a bit like your husband, I’m somewhat addicted to my exercise).

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  5. I don’t weigh myself every day nor do I wait too long. When I find I’ve gained three or four pounds, I make a few changes. These days I have so many food sensitivities–dairy, eggs, wheat–so I have multiple opportunities to “go off my diet” even without gaining weight. My big splurge over the weekend was a super delicious piece of flour-less espresso/chocolate cake.

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  6. The bathroom scales and I meet every morning and the day after Thanksgiving was no exception. It works for me to monitor my weight and cut back if I need to and exercise more. Otherwise I am afraid the pounds would creep up. I love to enjoy the holidays but I try to do it in moderation (except for the eggnog!) so I won’t be so miserable Jan. 1. Men can cut back on salt and lose weight!

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  7. I’m staying on the wagon this holiday. I lost 15 pounds so far and have 15 more to go, and undoing my hard work and discipline will make me depressed. Y’all enjoy your sweets and eat an extra one for me.

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  8. My husband is naturally thin… and exercises regularly (for “fun,” can you believe it?). He pretty much eats whatever he wants.

    I, on the other hand have to watch it. I’m in a good weight range and have been here for about a year-and-a-half thanks to a way of eating I’ve followed for awhile (I feel a blog post coming on).

    I really need to start exercising again, though. Diets can maintain weight but not muscle.

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  9. Sweet husband is dedicated to staying within the boundaries he has set…eating and exercising. On the other hand, I exercise on the computer and try to keep my weight stable…after all, those fingers do lots of walking. With his Amy (as we call his Amyloidosis) he has difficulty eating certain things so that sort of controls my weight…that’s okay.
    I don’t care much for sweets and that helps…but I am a ‘gravy-holic’…yikes!

    Your hubby is totally dedicated…woohoo!

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  10. That is my scale you are picturing there… bought it on Amazon. I weigh almost every day but if the scale is up a couple of pounds and my clothes fit okay I put it down to muscle weight (right)…. my weakness is Häagen-Dazs ice cream which is full of muscle building ingredients…. (!)

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  11. I weigh myself most days but my weight doesn’t fluctuate much. I don’t like feeling too full so that keeps me from packing on the pounds. If I have a big lunch, I’m less hungry at dinner. If I have a big dinner, I’m less hungry the next day. If I don’t exercise one day, I want to move more the next.

    And like you, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Once or twice a week, a small slice of dessert suffices.

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  12. You’re right, exercise is very addicting. I feel guilty if I miss a day of running. I don’t weigh myself, I let my clothes tell me if I need to pass on the extra slice of pizza. Of course, I don’t always listen to them. 🙂

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    • For many years I didn’t have a scale and used my clothes and how I felt as my guide. In the early 2000s I was put on a medication for 5 years that caused weight gain. As soon as I went off I bought a scale and was religious about dropping the weight and I did. It was only 12 pounds but it took 9 months to lose it. Once I lost it I was back to my old metabolism and my weight doesn’t fluctuate much. Pizza? Pizza is bad? I don’t think so. I have it in my list of red vegetables to have at least once a week, maybe twice.

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  16. I am so jealous of you! (Both you and the beloved husband) I have reached the stage of “what difference does it make!” My brain is telling me one thing and my stomach seems to say something different! It is a real conflict. So, I guess you could put me in the ostrich catagory!

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