So what I’m going to go through are some situations that women in  the weightless with the Holy Spirit community experience or things that I personally have experienced. Where you find yourself putting extra food in your mouth. Mindlessly that you’re really not even enjoying that typically you regret and lead to Holiday weight gain.

So I hope this starts to get your juices flowing. So maybe you can start to identify some areas that you’re mindlessly eating. Alright, so number one We’re going to start with baking  First , one of the hidden ways that you gain weight over the holidays is thinking that you don’t have a choice with baking, thinking that you have to do it, and I just want to give you permission to go buy whatever you want instead of actually baking it yourself. 

The second way is forgetting your real purpose on why you’re baking. Is it for gifts? Is it to just spend some time with your kids? If you’re spending time with your kids that you would be spending maybe in doing a craft, you can start to think of the baking and the sprinkles and all of the frosting as art supplies and this is one of the hacks that I started to do and I thought well, I wouldn’t be eating paint  And so I just started to think of baking as a craft and that really helped me to stop mindlessly eating  The third one is baking at vulnerable times and you guys know when these times are when you’re vulnerable in the kitchen It’s usually when you’re fatigued When you’re tired, when you’re stressed out.

So let’s not bake during those times. When we bake during those times, we tend to mindlessly eat while we’re baking. So just bake at a time where you feel stronger, where you have more resilience. Number four is baking too much. You see, even the people that love to bake, there’s a point where it starts to become not fun and not enjoyable, where they feel pressure and it feels stressful. So just be honest with how much fun and enjoyable it is. This also goes back to number two is remembering your purpose. So if you tend to be one of those people that loves to give homemade baked goods.  Remember that that’s what you’re doing.

And then if you weren’t making homemade gifts, you’d have to be shopping or finding gifts in a different way, either online or in the stores. So maybe you can just remember, this is way better than fighting the crowds in the store. And I’d rather be cozy in my kitchen. That’s a little mind hack for you.

Just play around with different ideas that help it feel fun and light.  Number five with baking is to not realize that you actually need a baking plan or that you will be popping food mindlessly into your mouth. and you’ll be feeling regret.

So just knowing that you do want to keep your mouth busy, that seems to be the thing that you’re trying to solve for. So you can do that with having a favorite beverage to sip on, chewing gum, singing, just make a plan. Maybe you just need to take breaks during your baking so it just doesn’t feel overwhelming. 

Okay, now we’re going to move on to the sixth hidden way That holiday weight gain happens, and that is parties.  So the first one is not remembering that you and your spouse really need to come together and decide on a leaving time. Now, listen, you don’t have to decide that we’re going to leave at 10. 05, but just decide maybe, hey, let’s check in at eight o’clock, see how we’re feeling, and then we’ll check in every 45 minutes, maybe an hour later.

Just being on the same page as your spouse. So many women go back to the dessert table because they really just want to go home.  Decide with your spouse, number one,  when are we going to leave? And you can also decide what I am going to do if my spouse wants to stay and I really want to go home.

So just come up with a plan. Are you going to find somebody else to go talk to? Are you going to go sit in your car? What do you want to do? Because chances are, going back to the dessert table is what’s going to cause you regret and that hidden holiday weight gain.  Alright, number seven,  not having a plan. 

And we talk in Weight Loss with the Holy Spirit community all the time about having plans, but I don’t want you to get freaked out by that. I don’t mean you have to decide everything that’s going to go on your plate, but just have some sort of loose plan. I usually recommend that people decide ahead of time.

What do they want to do about hors d’oeuvres? What do they want to do about the main dinner? What do they want to do about desserts? So am I going to have two plates of hors d’oeuvres? Am I going to have one plate of dinner? Am I going to have two? Just decide ahead of time.  If you would like some more ideas, listen to my Thanksgiving episode where I talked even more in more detail about planning.

 You can even plan your desserts. It literally doesn’t matter how much you plan. I just want you to love your choices because what I find is that women have hidden weight gain when they eat food impulsively and they don’t feel good about it. But if you plan it ahead, you’re not eating it impulsively. 

All right. Number eight is  eating food out of pressure.  And usually we feel pressure because someone just offers us food. I just want you to practice a few things ahead of time but here’s a couple holiday hacks that I have for you.  Number one, no thank you. And you can say that multiple times, totally fine. Number two, oh, I’d love to have some. And maybe you decide that you’re going to take it home, and you’ll have it the next day. Or you can say, Oh my gosh, I haven’t had that yet. If somebody’s like, Oh, have you had my brownies? You can say, no, I haven’t had it. Excuse me. And then you just excuse yourself, maybe to go to the restroom or the hallway and just decide, is this something that I want to have? 

Just calm yourself down. Is this something that I want? And then that way it removes the pressure. It’s a decision that you’ve made and it won’t be a hidden way that you gain weight over the holidays because you are intentionally. Eating whatever the food is. I find the two things that women regret is if we eat food that feels impulsive or feels pressure.  Alright, number nine, I like to call, uh, flirting with food, which essentially means that you’re staring at the food, you’re sitting by the food, you’re talking around the food. You guys just stop.  You have your plan and then go find a different place to hang out during parties.  You can look at the food once and maybe if you said, I’m going to have two desserts, look at it, decide what your favorites are. And move on.  We just don’t need to stare at the food.  It just makes us think more about what?  About food! And the Lord did not take you to that party to just eat.

So go find what he took you to the party for.  Okay, number ten, is conversations. Now it doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or an extrovert. If you like group conversations or feel more comfortable with one on one conversations, you know what brings anxiety or makes you feel a little itchy that makes you want to say, hey, I’m going to go back to the food table. 

I  want you to think about the conversations that you’ll have. and be prepared. There’s two ways that I suggest you be prepared. The first one is to have a couple conversation starters. The ones that I like are pretty simple questions that everyone can ask. Things like, hey, what are your family’s favorite holidays traditions? 

If you had an hour of free time, what would you do?  Hey, have you guys done any traveling this year? Tell me about your vacation. So  number one is having the conversation starters. And number two is allowing yourself to know, after 10 minutes, if you want to go. Have some time by yourself. Go walk outside, go find somebody else to talk to. Just give yourself permission to do that.  You don’t need to go back to the dessert table. Just go find something else to do.   Number 11  having a life where you really pretty much just get pleasure from only food.

And as a stress eater or an emotional eater, food tends to be a major source of fun and pleasure in our lives. And so this creates the brain craving more of that dopamine hit and its pleasure and reward center. So you develop this habit of, Hey, I want to have fun and turn to food. 

Hey, I’m kind of bored and turned to food. Hey, we’re celebrating and turning to food. So I just encourage you to start creating pleasure in your body  in some different ways by activating some of your other senses. So intentionally add pleasure to your life to light up your brain and add dopamine hits to your brain in that pleasure center.

One of the ways is that you can activate. All of your senses. So with touch, maybe you have fuzzy blankets or fuzzy socks or comfortable fabrics, maybe you have scented lotions. Lotions feel great on our hands and then the scent is fantastic too to light up that sense of smell.

Maybe you’ve got some candles, which are just so awesome for our eyes to see and they smell so good. Or you can have some essential oils when you take a shower. Maybe you can massage your head  while you’re washing your hair or get some really fantastic body wash.  Maybe you can soak your feet or after your shower wear a warm fuzzy robe, which is way different than putting clothes on.

I even love my weighted blanket. Start thinking of you being  an entire body that has many senses that you can light up more than just your taste.  So challenge yourself to write down a list of five non food rewarding and fun activities.

So number 12 Of the hidden ways that holiday waking happens is missing out on free support. You guys, there’s a lot of ways that you can get support in this world that do not cost you a penny. So many plans can become more solid and you can ensure your follow through if you bookend them. With accountability, with a friend, with a community, , post it in our Slack group, post it with our community, that hey, I’m going to this potluck, I’m going to this party, here’s my plan, and then you just check in with us afterward.

You can do the same thing by texting a friend.  Okay, so don’t leave yet, those are the 12 hidden ways that holiday weight gain happens.  But I want to give you a few PhD level bonuses. And the truth is, I just wanted to share a little bit more of a holiday survival guide with you. Okay.

So listen, even if you don’t practice one through 12.  Practicing these next two things will immensely help you. Number one, bookend your social occasions,  with fill up time,  pre fill up time, and post refill time before and after the event. You’re going to do it before to raise your or fatigued or vulnerable  and then after so that you have something to look forward to to refill your reserves and that’s different for everyone  for me that usually looks like some quiet time maybe I nap maybe that quiet time is when I make my plan and then afterwards I put my jammies on and I love to just sit and quiet with the Lord and journal maybe you like to go for a walk the next day to be like, Wow, look what we did. That was amazing. I just want you to start rewarding yourself  by bookending  these times.   And I just want you to give that attention to yourself before and after.  All right, now I told you I want you to seek pleasure. So number two. is lighting up your brain and giving yourself those dopamine hits  by seeing everything that you’re doing that’s going well.  I want you to start talking to yourself like the Lord would. Like he says,  look at that, you got that laundry done so well.  You know, it was really hard to stay up and help your son with his homework, but you did it. 

Oh my gosh, you went to bed so early, I’m so proud of you.  You felt like you should have stayed up, but no, you went to bed. Oh my gosh, you took your makeup off? Look at that. That is so amazing. You brushed your teeth before you went to bed. Guys, I know it sounds silly, but you want to give those little ping, ping, ping, ping to your, your brain. 

And your brain will start to light  up.  So I want you to start being kind and nice to yourself and realizing all the wonderful things that you’re doing.  Even by listening to this podcast while you listen to the end. You got so many great ideas. So I just want to do a quick recap on the 12 hidden ways that holiday waking happens.

The first one  with baking, thinking you don’t have a choice. You know you do have a choice. Forgetting the real purpose of your baking is number two. Number three, baking at vulnerable times. Number four, baking too much or to where it doesn’t feel like fun.  Number five, not realizing that you need to put a plan in place so that you aren’t putting food in your mouth.

You need to keep your mouth busy while you are baking.  Number six,  parties. Not remembering that you and your spouse need to be on the same page with regard to leaving a party. And having a plan for what you’re going to do if your spouse wants to stay and you really want to go.  And it’s not going to the dessert table. 

Number seven, have a plan of what kind of food you will eat at the party.  Number eight, don’t eat food. That feels  pressure. It only leads to regret.  And number nine, the hidden way, is flirting with food. Sitting near, standing, looking at, I like to say ogling at, all over the food. Spend time somewhere else in the party. 

Number ten,  having anxiety around conversations.  Number eleven, getting pleasure only from food.  We’ve got to add more fun to our lives than just food. And number 12 is missing out on free support.  So I hope this has been helpful for you so that you can now avoid these 12 hidden ways that holiday weight gain happens.

Have a blessed day.