It is almost impossible trying to stay on a clean diet this time of year

[bigslick7878]

It all starts with Thanksgiving, and all the food and deserts there, and is just a month long gorgefest through Christmas and the New Year. I know in my case my bad calories over the past month have been skyrocketing, and with all the "leftover" desert I was forced to bring home from one place or another that won't slow down anytime soon.

Then we have the ridiculously delicious homemade cookies Mom made for me, all 60 of them just sitting there in the cabinet waiting to be eaten....and it is IMPOSSIBLE!! Only about 20 left BTW after a week.

I am averaging about 4-6 cookies a day and now I have even more desert in the fridge that will inevitably add to the total of the junk I have eaten over the past month. Then of course it is football time of the year too so every Sunday I am downing about 8-10 (lite) beers.

I can't wait until all this junk is gone and I can get back to business!

[gbrice75]

Agreed bro, most of us are suffering along with you, i'm definitely one of them.

Looking to a bright future after New Year's!

[musclestack]

I hear ya, too. It's not so much the time of the year for me, but I will be returning to the states in about a week for one month (I'm taking leave from my job abroad). I know I'm going to be eating some junk, but my plan is, and I will recommend this to all of you, is to do at least an hour of cardio everyday to burn off the cals. I figure I'm not going to progress in my cutting phase during this month, but at least I can just try to maintain the best I can. Say, for example, everything I eat in one day totals to about 3,000 cals, I can go do about an hour of cardio everyday and be roughly back at maintenance. I would just suggest not doing this kind of thing everyday. Eat healthy as many days as you can go without giving in to the temptations, then, if you do slip up, try not to eat more than you plan on burning with cardio that day.

Then, when I leave at the end of January, I'll be back to business!
BTW, GBrice, did you get a chance to read my PM? Still waiting to hear from you. Take care, man. Happy holidays!

[JohnnyVegas]

I was better this year than last. It helped that business is suffering (including mine) here, so my vendors aren't dropping off the immense amount of M&Ms and cookie bouquets that they have in previous years. And my mom didn't have time to send the two pounds of brownies and cookies like she normally does.

I hit the gym tonight for my new "increase the cardio and lose some of this damn fat" phase of the holiday season.

[SergeantCarbs]

This weeks been a b!tch. Wifes bday on the 23rd (dinner @ our favorite italian restaurant), xmas eve at families, lasgna for xmas, daugthers bday on the 30th, new years eve, dinner with in-laws on NY's day... That and the wife keeps making these damn cookies for me (the kind no one else in the house eats) despite me telling her I dont want them and then of course getting pissed at me for not eating them after she made them.

On a positive note, I've sort of been hiding my weight loss progress from the wife the last few months w baggy clothes / lights out @ night etc. She went to give me a hug the other day and patted the stomach, when she felt a wall instead of a pillow; she started pulling my shirt right out of my pants. Never thought Id be the one holding my own shirt down...