How to Not Eat “Just Because It’s There” Around the Holidays

(Photo cred: Country Living) 

This week I ran a little poll on Instagram. I shared four common scenarios that we experience through the holiday season. You all shared these with me and I simply asked who could relate.

Here are the results:

• 81% — said a challenge you have is snacking while cooking
• 49% — said you struggle with dieting down before the holidays, and then eating so much you feel stuffed once the holiday actually arrives (hopefully this means 51% of you are no longer dieting!)
• 66% — said that you struggle with promising yourself “this will be the year that I don’t overeat!” and then get stuffed anyway
• 94% — (woah!) said that you struggle with eating something “just because it’s there” or “just because it’s the holidays and that’s what you do”

So, let’s talk about that last one because NINETY-FOUR PERCENT of you can relate to eating something “just because it’s there” or “just because it’s the holidays”! I’m going to break this down into four steps for you (I pulled a couple of these from the Thanksgiving handout, which you can grab for free here).

Step #1: eat regularly

Eat a regular breakfast the morning of. If your Thanksgiving meal is not until 4:00, have a regular breakfast, lunch, and snack before you go. You do NOT want to “save room” for a huge meal before you go. Doing that will ONLY set you up to have a HUGE MEAL. We’re going for “normal meal.” In order to have a normal Thanksgiving meal, you need to have regular meals before hand, too! Do not skip this step.

Step #2: dream up your ideal plate

Think about your FAVORITE Thanksgiving foods. If you could have your dream plate, what would be on it? Would there be turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, or something different? If you didn’t have to think about calories, being “healthy,” what would you truly want to eat? This is the food that will TRULY satisfy you.

Thanksgiving means there will be A LOT of food, but we only have room for so much in our stomachs! So let’s use that room for the food that is truly fabulous and satisfying. When you figure out what your dream plate looks like, recreate it at your Thanksgiving dinner! Don’t love turkey? Don’t worry! You only need to eat what you truly love. Your plate may not look like the “perfectly balanced” meal (see: three types of potatoes and a little bit of pie) but that is totally ok! Your body will help you balance it out over the course of a day or a few days. Rather than stuffing yourself with foods that you don’t love, just savor the ones that you do!

Step #3: think “plenty”

Remember that you can have these foods again ANY time of year. The number one thing that puts us in the mindset of eating until we pop is thinking “but this is the ONLY time I get to eat this food.” Yes, but only if you choose that. Really, you can make Thanksgiving food for dinner anytime. Telling yourself this will help you to feel more calm and realize that there’s no point in eating way past your fullness. Rather, you want to eat what you love AND feel good in your body.

I hope this helps! Let me know in the comments below!

A few things:

• Download my Thanksgiving Day audio + worksheet here to get the rest of my tips! 💛
• Come hangout with me on Instagram @paigeschmidt through this holiday season where I’ll be sharing tips on how to feel CALM around food.
• Finally, I’m taking ONE final client for 2017. I’m currently booking Discovery Sessions to fill this space. If you’re interested, book a free Discovery Session now for November.
• Update as of 11/25/17: I am fully booked for 2017. To book a Discovery Session for January 2018, simply click here, enter your name & email, and I will send over a link to book your session in January 2018.