There´s another of these four-day-holiday-marathons approaching, and I am somewhat nervous.
Four days in a row eating with extended family mean, usually, several meals that contain foodstuffs I would, under different conditions, not even get close to any more.
I´m talking baguettes, potato dumplings, deep-fried breaded fish, pork roast with a crispy brown crust, and I´m not even beginning to mention chocolate eggs and their ilk.
So, I have basically two choices (avoiding those family meals isn´t one of them).
I can either stick to my diet like whatnot. That would mean watching the others eat that stuff, and also acting as a spoilsport to all of them who do not have weight issues. Or upset the senior members of the family who seem to believe that even if someone is still as heavy as I am, leaving out a meal leads to instant starvation and sickness.
The other is trying to deal with what is served responsibly. That means eating an extra slice of pork and leaving half the potato dumpling well alone. Or taking just a small portion of the deep-fried carp that will be served on Good Friday, and leave the potato salad served along with it.
I have found that for most of the food-pushers, when they see someone is eating at all, that´s enough. So, with every meal I expect to have during those days, I will try to find the ingredients I may eat freely and be very visibly eating these. Perhaps I will manage to maintain, at the very least.
And, since I will not completely forbid myself any of the delicacies offered, I hope I won´t wind up frustrated or, worse, bingeing.
While I know I´ll probably not lose any weight over the holidays that way, I stand, in my experience, a far better chance of succeeding for the long run that way than if I forbade myself all of the tasty stuff only to have my willpower fail over some particularly calorious treat and then binge.
I know that every day I spend in morbid obesity is one too many, but staying in place beats backsliding any time.
Julia
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