Well, it's the last day of September and the holidays are fast approaching. Particularly halloween (candy candy candy) and Thanksgiving. (mmmmm turkey, and pie, and potatoes, etc.)

So I'm curious, what are your tips and tricks to get through these day-long food fests without losing ground?

I've honestly never understood the gorge til you puke mindset that some people have during the holidays.. gravy creeps me out, turkey carcasses are absolutely gross to me, stuffing, as long a i've made it is good... otherwise -i'll pass

eat what you like -it's one day.. enjoy yourself - and just get some exercise in if you can.. and pay attention to your waistband...

One day won't kill you.

If you're faced with a buffet -just because it's available doesn't mean you have to eat it - use it as an opportunity to have things you wouldn't normally have... or try something new - chocolate chip cookies you can get any time any where... noneed to have 20 of them.. have something special..

and eggnog is just gross -just say no however peppermint schnapps in dark hot cocoa is ok in moderation

* shakes fist at Mal* Eggnog is a wondrous thing, particularly when you have a whole carton to yourself. Not that I intend to be having a heck of a lot of it in the coming months. One carton to last me between christmas and new years.

I think the problem at thanksgiving is that more often than not you're not the person who cooked. In families like mine the person who did spend the last 12+ hours making turkey and stuffing and pie and every other dish ( becuase they refuse to let the rest of the family make anything) looks at you very wounded if you don't have some of everything and usually more than once. You can say no but you get more hurt looks.

Still nothing to stop a family wrestling match beforehand to help balance out the food we're eating.

My family - is all about the drinkin' and the arguing til the death...

and eggnog just makes for a nasty hangover -dump the egg - go for the bourbon straight instead

Our family's turkey and stuffing fest happens at Thanksgiving. Christmas is generally something odd...like Italian or Mexican food.

Anyway, my weakness is dessert. It's easy to say no to extra stuffing or potatoes, but SO hard to turn down pumpkin, lemon, cherry and chocolate pies. So this year, I'm making my OWN pie to take. Something made with sugar free ingredients and low-fat stuff. Maybe even with some fruit. So that way I KNOW I'll be eating something that's ok for me.

Not going to worry about it. I don't care much for sweets so Halloween isn't a big deal. Thanksgiving is only one day, and so is Christmas. I don't go to parties much so there's no temptations there.

Football season in general is a bigger worry for me. Between following the Longhorns and the Cowboys, the temptation to veg on the couch and eat nachos or pretzels while watching football is pretty extreme.

Fortunately we don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, so there's no temptation. And I'll just refuse the usual Christmas crap this year as well....that's the best, and easiest way not to be tempted. Just ignore it, and go on like every other day.

My strategy this year will be to strike first...I'll make them feel bad for tryna get me to relapse. You know...call'em fatty and muffin top a few times ;0) ...what, that doesn't work for your family? heee hee

Seriously, I'm learning to just say no and not allow their feelings to become displaced onto me. The other weekend my aunt made me a corn bread and asked why I wasn't taking the leftovers home...I said cause I know I'll eat them...have a great night, love ya! That was very empowering for me..and I did not feel guilty because it's all about making better choices for myself.

I dunno about that, we had trick or treaters the last couple of Halloweens I lived in England. It was getting to be almost as bad as Guy Fawkes Day for vandalism and noise from fireworks.

Christmas in the UK was always murderous; lots of time off work + usually horrible cold weather + lots of good stuff on TV = munch munch munch for me.

I actually let myself splurge a bit on Thanksgiving and Christmas - the trick is, i let myself splurge for 1 meal. Like, Thanksgiving Dinner and Christmas Dinner - not every single related food event (office parties, etc).

And, on the actual meals I pick larger portions of the better-for-me-food: extra veggies, fewer carbs. I'll take a spoonful of everything, but really stock up on the good stuff.

Nah, I meant we don't celebrate it in my family. I know they do the trick or treating over here, and I have no problem giving some sweets to kids...I just buy the kind that I don't like myself, so there's no chance of me being tempted to eat it myself. *lol*

As for Christmas, as said, I don't celebrate it, and I simply don't buy any of the christmas stuff like chocolate or cakes or anything like that, and the food will just be what we normally eat. I can't attend any family festivities anyway because of our son, one of us always has to stay at home with him, so I have a good excuse not to go, and thus, not be tempted by Christmas dinners.

But what about those chocolate bars the size of a coffee table that they have at Christmas in England? Or the Toblerone bars you could club someone to death with?

Don't buy them? If they're not in the house, I don't eat them. And I grew up with toblerone, and hurt myself every time I try to eat those buggers, so they're out of the question anyway....*lol*

Seriously though, I just won't buy any of the sweets, or other tempting stuff....it's not harder to resist Christmas sweets than to resist any other sweets throughout the year. And I told my mom not to send ANY kind of German sweets up in the Christmas packet either, and she promised not to...so I hope there won't be any temptation from there, either! *gulp*

Here's my take on it:

My kids are grown up. We give out candy on Halloween, and in my neighborhood, we're likely to run out before the end of the night. Typically between 180 - 200 trick or treaters... no lie! Not an issue, I can resist candy bars.

Thanksgiving: I like it all, the turkey, the stuffing, pies, you name it. It's one day, I'll deal with it. I'll have a bigger issue with the family tradition of stepping out onto the porch with a cigar and glass of cognac. No nicotine will enter this boy's system ever again!!!!!!

Christmas will be a non issue for the meal itself, again one day, deal with it.

It's the days of christmas cookie baking my wife usually does ahead of time that will test my willpower. She makes the best cookies EVER Period.

Must resist... evil peanut butter cookies of doom...

*lol*....poor you, that must be difficult....fingers crossed that you manage to resist temptation! Even though...one or two cookies won't do any harm. But if it was me, I couldn't just have one or two, I'd have to have them all!! *lol*

In that aspect I make it easy on myself and my family....I'm a lousy cook, and I couldn't bake if my life depended on it. And I'm not keen to learn it either, too much hassle...yeah....I'm lazy. *lol*