Easter is around the corner and along with celebrating Easter itself, it can quickly turn into a brunch and egg-eating extravaganza. Before you get into the full swing of the holiday weekend, it is a good time to assess your goals and your commitment to the actions required to meet those goals. It’s also a good time to remind yourself that it is OK to stand out from the crowd and go against the grain.
Personal goals don’t have to completely disrupt the holiday experience, but also be realistic. If you want to take a diet break or indulge a little (or a lot) your progress will slow. Make the decision on your plan, make peace with how it will impact your goals and enjoy them. Don’t beat yourself up over whatever you decided the following day. Just move on to next knowing you’re still in full control.
If you plan to moderate the week, here are some tips to making it more manageable and setting yourself up for enjoying the moment, and not derailing yourself. But the key to all of this is you have to decide and commit to not going crazy. You have to own it, then these tips will help you claim that decision.
- Decide what day and what meal is your holiday. All other days and times around it aren’t times to over-indulge or over-eat. The work potluck is just lunch. It is not a second Easter. A holiday celebration should not be more than one meal or it can really set your progress back, in fact one really indulgent meal can halt your progress for the, so don’t self-sabotage.
- Exercise. Easter morning (or feast day) make time for you and get in some exercise. Just 30 minutes will make you feel better all day long and it’s worth it. Making the workout high-intensity like a Tabata run or bike ride will give you the most bang for your buck on a busy day.
- Stay away from temptation. Literally turn your back to the food when it’s out and around to avoid a constant battle of wills. Or even better leave the room. Be with your friends and family, but away from the food.
- Eat only what you really love. Survey all of the available options before you put anything on your plate and then only get what you’re really truly excited to eat. And if it doesn’t live up to your standards, stop after the first bite. My personal rule is that it has to be completely homemade. If someone bought it from a store, it really isn’t special.
- Eat your veggies. And I don’t mean the green bean casserole. Plan to incorporate some fiber and health in the day. Take a raw veggie and fruit crudite for munching on prior to the meal and a healthful contribution to the feast, like a spinach salad or roasted brussel sprouts. It will help balance the richer foods and your GI track will thank you.
- Cocktails and Mocktails. Have a good glass of wine and enjoy it, but too much will make all the best plans irrelevant because your give a shitter will quit. Balance the good with the fun. Have another non-alcoholic drink available that’s still fun and festive, whether it’s your favorite sparkling water, Kombucha or mocktails in a festive glass.
- When it’s over. It’s over. Purge your house of the treats and rich food after the dinner is done. This is easiest when you’re still full. Don’t wait until the next day.
- The day after. Hop right back into your routine.
The other option is to treat this like any other meal and plan for and around it like you would any other dinner out. That’s definitely doable and may be the best choice. It’s completely up to you.
