Holiday eating- How I lose weight and eat cookies!

The holidays are notorious for weight gain. You indulge at Thanksgiving, and from then until Christmas you are bombarded with yummy holiday food. When you go into shock stepping on the scale after Christmas, you vow as a New Year's Resolution to lose the extra weight gain and the extra twenty pounds you have been carrying around for years! WELL, I have news for you people. There is a lot easier way to handle this overwhelming time, and it doesn't involve starving yourself or binge eating. It involves eating that damn cookie!

For the last two years I have had the same holiday game plan, and have continued to lose weight throughout the season. I don't fall into the false dilemma of choices like many others do. This false dilemma includes a 2 choice way of thought:

            1) I am not going to eat any sweets this holiday season.
            2) Screw this, let's pig out! I'll worry about it later. WE'VE ALL BEEN THERE.  LADIES. 

Why both of these methods don't work: If you deprive yourself, you will just end up craving the food so badly you will binge eat. If you allow yourself to go wild, you will definitely overeat- that's a no brainer. 75% of American weight gain takes place during the holidays. This is because of the unhealthy, negative mindsets as described here.

How do I lose weight while eating cookies you ask? It's called: PORTION CONTROL. I let myself indulge- a little bit. I mark into my calendar what days I will be having holiday parties (AKA when I will have to face my long time chocolate seduction). Then on these day I have a specific game plan on what to eat, exercise,drink etc. The rules are as followed:

-Eat very light meals: oatmeal, progresso soup, chicken salad
       (this allows for some extra caloric space in your day for those sweets you'll be consuming)

-Exercise for AT LEAST 30 MINUTES: this could be as simple as walking the dog

-When you get to the party, get one plate. Put on that plate all the deserts you want. For example I would put a cookie, piece of fudge, peanut butter ball, rice krispy treat............etc. Then allow yourself to eat a little bit of each desert. Savor the taste. Indulge. A little.

The key to this is portion control. Stay light! I love cookies. I could eat cookies all day, everyday, forever and ever. Sometimes I dream of my sister's amazingly good no-bake cookies. And I am not ashamed.

But why do we as a society feel the need to eat 8 cookies to feel satisfied?

Is that eighth cookie really all that much better than the first one? No. They still taste the same. I don't need to eat eight to enjoy the taste of my favorite desert. And if you allow yourself to eat THAT MANY SWEETS, they don't seem as special. I like to think of eating that one cookie as a reward to myself for all my hard work. I can be satisfied savoring one, and still being able to zip up my pants.