Keeping weight level during holidays

By LESLIE A. YOUNG

Scripps Howard News Service

The holiday season was a bit too bountiful for Kelley Babcock.

"I started with Thanksgiving, and I just ate my way to New Year's Day," she says.

Last season, the 38-year-old wife and mother stepped onto the scale in January and learned she'd gained 11 pounds --- unacceptable for a Weight Watchers lifetime member and leader.

"I said: 'What are you doing? Have you been walking around in a food coma for the last six weeks?' But I was not alone," she says.

The average American will gain seven to 10 pounds over the holidays, Babcock says, for a number of reasons.

"We have access to foods that we don't eat a lot of during the year. Not only is the food available to us, but the emotional attachment to the food becomes more prevalent," she says.

Babcock's advice for decking the halls without adding pounds echoes that of other weight-control experts: "It is a learning process, and the first lesson you have to learn is to lighten up on yourself."

Registered dietitian Mary Lee Chin of Denver says her friends assume she's the holiday food police, but she promises that's not true.

"People have certain associations with the holidays," she says. "You can't just serve beaten egg whites.

"I treasure tradition, and there's a lot to be said for good nutrition, but when it comes to the holidays, those emotions are all wrapped up in family traditions that involve not only activities but also food."

Babcock says traditions often involve more than just sitting down to eat: "Sometimes it's not even the food itself; it's the aroma, the way your home begins to smell as you're cooking for the day. All those things act as triggers."

To remain staunch year after year as the Christmas cheer rolls out of the oven, Babcock says, "We have to begin to transcend the behaviors and environment and begin to work on those inner strategies."

Those little voices inside our heads all too often work against us, she says. We may think we're big eaters, but are we really? We may try to justify our weight by saying we come from an overweight family, but should that make a difference?

"We need to question our belief system, what we believe to be true about our capabilities," she says. "I may feel capable about losing the weight, but I may not feel very capable about keeping it off."

Self-doubts can work against us as the holidays set in.

Chin says the problem with extra holiday weight is that people lose only three to four pounds of it, so it tends to accumulate over the years.

Although Chin has never had a weight problem, she acknowledges the challenges of those who do and she compromises where she can. She doesn't dare modify the family apple-pie recipe, for example. "On the other hand, I don't make huge quantities of apple pie. I make enough where everyone can have a serving of it," she says.

Other tactics Chin calls "innate dietitian stuff" involve making sure holiday meals include salads and vegetables. She selects fresh turkeys and substitutes tenderloin for prime rib to cut calories, fat and sodium.

She and a friend have a 20-year tradition of spending an entire day baking Christmas cookies. Oodles of butter, powdered sugar and jam are transformed into Russian tea cakes, toffee, thumb-print cookies and more.

"We take this great photograph at the dining-room table filled with cookies, then I give them away as fast as I can," she says.

One of the richest holiday offerings is spending time with friends and family, Chin says, which doesn't have to revolve around eating. She and her neighbors build gingerbread houses and make dough ornaments for the tree --- not for eating.

Mary Henderson of Denver plans to spend her holidays socializing, not indulging in holiday sweets.

"Christmas caroling is wonderful fun, going to concerts, asking a friend to a movie --- things that are fun and cheerful and put you in the mood of the holidays and yet don't really involve eating," she says.

Henderson is the Denver coordinator for Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS). She lost 20 pounds this year but wants to lose 50 more.

At 60 years of age, her battle with weight has been lifelong, so she uses many strategies to curb the damage over the holidays.

She usually eats before she goes to a party, so she can better resist temptation.

"But it's hard to say 'no' to your best friend's favorite coconut cake or whatever it might be," she says. "A very small portion will satisfy your appetite for the good things and also satisfy their need to show you hospitality."

Holiday beverages are calorie-rich, she says.

"Sparkling water with a lemon twist or a lime twist makes a festive drink, and it doesn't have any calories," she says. "I think those of us who are trying to get through the holidays need to avoid alcohol at all costs. It not only has calories, it fuzzes up your mind so you forget your resolve."

Henderson and Babcock believe in the power of visualization. People too often rehearse their failures, however, not their conquests.

Babcock says she visualizes exact portion sizes, the drinks she's going to have and the people she's going to talk to.

"It works for professional athletes. It can work for us with something as simple as food," she says. "Just rehearse it numerous times a day."

Henderson imagines "how I'm going to look after the holidays and also how I'm going to feel," she says.

"If you know you've overindulged, you feel discouraged and really down. If you can pass even one or two milestones, say 'no' to one or two things, then you feel good about yourself."

The expertise people show as managers, parents and spouses can be applied to their weight-control efforts, Babcock says: "That same perseverance and determination can help you in those challenging moments during the holidays."

Armed with added perspective, Babcock welcomes this year's holiday season.

"It doesn't have to be a mindless, blind sort of eating frenzy for six weeks," she says, "Instead of dreading the holidays, we can begin to celebrate them again."

Copyright 1999
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