Lumpy Girl Claire
Holiday Pudge

It used to be that "experts" said you gain anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds over the holiday season. Newer studies suggest it's closer to one pound.

That's a real comfort except for one thing. I've already gained 3…and it's just Thanksgiving! Who knows what I could gain by New Year's?

Clearly I need to do something before this gets any worse - but I don't want to.

I don't want low fat. I don't want sugar free. I don't want salad, or skim milk, or high fiber.

I want mashed potatoes and gravy, and Christmas cookies, and pumpkin pie. I want to come home from work, put my jammies on and curl up on the couch with a trashy romance novel and a cup of hot cocoa and buttery toast.

I want to shop for gifts and eat mall food. I want to drink Baileys in my coffee while visiting friends. I want hot lunches, delivery pizza, and anything in a casserole. I want chocolate - and lots of it. Oh yeah, and cake.

But then again…

I don't want back fat. I don't want jeans that won't button. I don't want high cholesterol, or high blood pressure, or diabetes.

I want upper arms I can bare, and thighs that don't rub, and a waistline. I want to fit comfortably in the seat at the movies - even with my winter coat on. I want clothes without an "x" on the size label.

I want to look around a room and see that I'm not bigger than everyone else. I want jeans that fit right out of the dryer. I want single digit sizes, bras with less than three hooks, and a weight I'm not too embarrassed to put on my driver's license.

So what can I do?

I can eat a baked potato with fat free sour cream instead of mashed and gravy. I can have one cookie instead of three. I can have sugar free hot cocoa and spread jam instead of butter on my whole-grain toast.

I can shop at the mall without eating an Auntie Anne's pretzel (at least I think I can - it hasn't been proven yet). I can have Bailey's on a special occasion, but just drink black coffee on others.

I can pack a healthy hot lunch, eat pizza every once in a while, and find some diet worthy casseroles recipes to prepare (anybody know any?). And a little bit of chocolate now and then won't hurt me.

That's a plan I can live with. Grudgingly, I admit.

Looking back over the first week of my renewed eating plan, I've done pretty well. I stuck with the diet for two days before I broke it at a baby shower luncheon.

Even then, I made smarter choices. I drank coffee instead of punch. I had the mushroom pizza, instead of sausage. I couldn't pass up the cake, but I avoided also scarfing down the brownies and cookies.

Then I ate light the rest of the evening. I had the added motivation of having my official Friday weigh-in, writing about it afterwards, and then having it on the website for the whole world to see.

I count the week as a success:

1. I got back into diet mode.
2. I made smart choices.
3. I planned most of my meals in advance.
4. I bought diet appropriate groceries. (OK, so I did buy the Christmas Crunch, but who can resist the Cap'n with all those red and green holiday shapes? I'm also a sucker for the holiday Rice Krispies. )
5. I exercised for an hour one day.

1. Diet saboteurs: "I know you just started your diet, but I made you cookies!"
2. Lunch envy: "You're having a meatloaf sandwich? Oh…I'm having salad."
3. The effects of high fiber.

Favorite new diet food: Weight Watchers Giant Cookies & Cream ice cream bars.

New exercise: Belly dancing! (Wait 'til I tell you about this!)

Happy Thought: We'll have a month up on everyone else who starts her diet in January.

Claire