Biggest Mistakes You Can Make the Day After Eating Too Much on Thanksgiving

Maybe you were planning to stick right to your diet on Thanksgiving as though it wasn’t a dedicated feast day.

You had the best intentions to adhere to your weight loss plan limits, but somehow the plans didn’t keep you on the low-calorie straight and narrow.

Now it’s over and it’s the day after Thanksgiving and you “blew it big time!”

Oh well, you ate a lot! Take a deep breath, Relax, and…

… DON’T STEP ON THE SCALE!??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
These are the biggest mistakes you can make in the days following your Thanksgiving blowout.
1. Staying in your pajamas.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Get dressed. Hanging around in your pajamas promotes more anti-weight loss behavior. When we wear pajamas all day we tend to sit more, watch more TV, and mindlessly eat all day.

2. Pulling on a pair of sweat pants.

Sweat pants are only a little better than staying in your pajamas. They invite you to keep eating because there’s no uncomfortable waist band to gently remind you that your stomach is full. Put on your jeans. If they don’t fit, put on something that does fit. Nothing stretchy and baggy please!

3. Giving yourself a verbal beating.
Negative self-talk and telling yourself how "fat and disgusting you are," isn't the positive motivator you think it should be.

Negative self-talk and telling yourself how “fat and disgusting you are,” isn’t the positive motivator you think it should be.

You had a goal to maintain control and it didn’t happen. Using harsh words on yourself, saying what a fat slob you are, isn’t going to help you to lose weight. Telling yourself you have no self-discipline, no willpower, and you’re a food addict doesn’t help you to get back on track.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Grabbing your belly and saying, “this is so disgusting,” doesn’t make you want to take care of your body. It’s self-defeating and usually leads to more bad behavior.

4. Hurting yourself by over-exercising to “pay” for all the food you ate.??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Increasing your physical activity is a good strategy, but when you increase it to the degree that you hurt yourself it is counter-productive. You can’t “pay” for overeating, but you can learn from it to avoid another totally out of control episode.

5. Giving up until after New Year’s Day

So what, you made a little mistake and ate too much…way too much…

Why compound that mistake by giving up? You really only set back your efforts by a few days. Yes, there will be a few more challenges between Thanksgiving and Christmas and no matter how well or how badly they go, you will still be closer to your weight and health goals on January 2, 2015 if you don’t quit! 

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.