Dare I Say It.....43 Days Until Christmas!

I hate thinking about Christmas too early! There used to be a definite gap between Halloween and Christmas and some time in between where you didn't think about either. Now it seems like the second the Halloween decorations come down its officially the Christmas. I love halloween and usually make a big deal about it (as you can see from my costume this year!), but I find the older I am getting the faster time is going by. Its nearly halfway through November already so it really is time to start thinking about Christmas time and making a plan of attack on how to survive without piling on the pounds!!

I would love to be able to say that I will count my points every single day over the christmas period, but I wouldn't be being honest with myself. What I need to do is manage my expectations and know that if there are days I don't count the step is to recognise when I need to track again. Last year my leader gave me a great little calendar where you could plans the day you would track and the days you wouldn't. So this year I have created my own. I have included the days in green where I will be sticking to 26pp and the days in yellow where I plan to use my weeklies, for weeks that have 2 yellow days I will have to plan a way to split my weeklies and make it work. The days in red are the days where I plan on having a tracking free day. For the most part I am keeping this to Christmas Eve, Stephen's Day and Christmas Day, but I am also reserving one more day for a pre Christmas night in London. 

While I don't plan on tracking or pointing these days my intentions will be to stay mindful and enjoy what I do eat. The red days are not an excuse to eat whatever I like and feel no guilt, but to enjoy the season without having to worry about every single thing I put into my mouth. 

Some things I will be doing to ensure I stay on track on those planned days:

• Keeping my fridge full of fresh vegetables and my fruit bowl full of fresh fruit for snacks
• Ensuring I have a few premade dinners frozen and a couple of M&S Simply Fuller Longer meals on hand for days when the hectic christmas schedule takes over and I don't have time to cook.
• Ignoring all the special offers on junk food that will be plagueing the supermarkets. I do not need 3 tins of roses for when 'guests' come over and we do not need a family sized tin of biscuits in the house. 
• Planning meals for my green and yellow days and sticking to a shopping list in the weeks before and after christmas. 
• Since I have now gotten over my jogging in winter block I will be staying active throughout the festive season. Getting my family out walking while I am back with them, any excuse to get the dogs out.

I have a few weeks to fine tune my plan but I have a starting point. I would love to hear how everyone plans on coping with the silly season. What steps will you be taking to limit the damage! 

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