How to Stop Overeating At Parties This Holiday Season

Do easily choose figure friendly foods except when you are in social settings?

Are you a frequent guest at the dessert table or the bar when you are at the holiday party?

Do you feel like the sensible, in control woman exits the building?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, I can totally relate and I have a solution.

The thing bothered me long after hitting my weight loss goal was my lack of control over my eating at social events. I couldn’t understand how I would lose the ability to follow the simplest guidelines when I attended parties. It was really frustrating. To be honest, it felt like that struggle alone could easily undo all of the work that I had done to lose weight. I had to find a solution.

Neither complete abstinence nor totally letting loose worked as a long term strategy. I ended up either feeling distracted and deprived or swimming in regrets (and tight pants). Bouncing between those two was no fun. I kept trying and finally found an approach that works for me and many of my clients.

Here’s what I discovered. The thing that made party eating so complicated was the tremendous amount of stress associated with holiday gatherings.

Where there is plenty of stress there is also very little willpower and diminished self-control.

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So, one of the secrets to enjoying the party without the regrets is eating, moving, and preparing in a way that minimizes your stress. Here are three simple things that I do before the party to reduce my stress and position myself to eat sensibly without banning festive food.

Eat normally during the day leading up to the event.

When it comes to how to eat before an event, the experts are definitely divided. Some recommend fasting or eating really light. Others recommend eating a complete meal so that you can ignore the food at the event altogether. I think both strategies have drawbacks when it comes to how you feel during the party and the type of results you will get. Can we really be expected to eat sensibly in the face of plenty of festive food when we have starved all day? Will it really all even out if we eat a ton of food (some figure friendly and some not) at the party since we haven’t eaten all day? In my experience, the answer to both questions is NO!

Eating normally during the day helps most people arrive at the event in the best position to eat sensibly. When you treat the meal at the party as one of your normal meals, it is easier to sprinkle in some festive food without feeling deprived or having regrets.

Want to arrive at the event in the best position to eat sensibly? Eat normally throughout the day.

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Work out before the party.

You know that feeling you get after a workout? That feeling that you are a champ who is ready, willing, and able to take on the world? Yes THAT is the feeling that you want to take with you to the party. It is that feeling that also makes you stand a little taller, feel a little more confident, and more easily enjoy a sensible amount of festive food without going overboard.

I know that as ladies we have the whole hair and makeup issues to deal with so you are not likely to get in a sweat session minutes before walking out the door but even a simple workout quickie done right before you shower for the event can make a difference in how you feel and eat at your event.

Relax before the party.

You know that moment when you are driving to the event while putting on your watch and finishing up your makeup at the traffic stops? That type of stress is a huge contributor to your tendency to walk into the party and make a bee line to the bar and appetizer table. To be completely transparent, this is the step that I struggle with the most. You know how we ladies tend to be right? An extra 20 minutes means we have time for an extra five things right? I know. I know. Not good.

Do all that you can to arrive calm and collected.

Here are three things that I work on (still working on) doing to help me arrive at an event feeling calm rather than frazzled:

Put my entire outfit together a few days beforehand. It is like dress rehearsal and I avoid needing to run to the store at the last minute because I am missing something essential.
Get dressed earlier than I need to so that I have time when life happens. I promise every time I don’t do this, my daughter decides that she needs an extra feeding and I end up rushed and anything but calm.
Give myself 5 minutes to sit and be before leaving home.

The good news is that you don’t have to get the entire strategy perfect for it to work. Nailing one or two of the pre-party strategies increases the chance that you will enjoy your party, including the festive foods, without overdoing it and reversing the weight loss progress you have made this year.

How to Stop Overeating at Holiday Parties: Are you looking for advice to stop overeating at holiday parties that goes beyond “just say no”? Click through to the blog to read the strategies that I use to enjoy festive foods without leaving the party feeling like Stuffed Sharon. Holiday, Social Eating, Clean Eating, Overeating