7 Important Reminders if You Have Food Guilt Over the Holidays
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I have seven important reminders to share with those of you who are facing food guilt right now. I’m releasing this episode right after thanksgiving because I know SO MANY of you are experiencing this right now. You’re having thoughts like, “WHY did I eat so much?” “I’m so mad at myself for over-indulging”, “I need to go on fad diet ASAP”…you know what I’m talking about here.
Well, having food guilt is NOT going to help you develop a healthier relationship with food OR your body, so that’s why I want to share these seven reminders with you today. Even though I may reference Thanksgiving a lot in this episode, these reminders are applicable throughout the entire holiday season.
So save this episode to come back to again and again if you struggle with food guilt over the holidays.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, they beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I dish you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real, let's get it. Let's go.
Hello. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Embrace Your Real Podcast. For those of you guys who tune in, in the US, I hope you guys had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I'm recording this right after Thanksgiving. So, I hope you guys had a great time celebrating with those who you love and just reflecting on all the things that you have to be grateful for. I wanted to record this episode because I know that so many of you guys might be experiencing food guilt. You might have thoughts like why did I eat so much? Or I'm mad at myself or overindulging, or I need to do X, Y, and Z to get this weight off or whatever the thoughts, the intrusive thoughts that you're having. I wanted to record this episode because having food guilt is not going to help you develop a healthy relationship with food or your body.
So, that's why in this episode, I wanted to share seven reminders with you, and I might reference Thanksgiving, but please put in whatever holiday or whatever event it is that you might be experiencing food guilt for, so you can have this episode to come back to, to remind yourself of these things. But before I go any further, I wanted to just ask if you are not already subscribed to the Embrace Your Real Podcast, be sure to hit that subscribe button. It's a plus sign in the top right corner now on Apple Podcasts. So, all you got to do is type in Embrace Your Real, hit that plus sign. You will be subscribed, which means that every single Monday and Thursday, when new episodes go live, you will automatically have them downloaded to your phone, so that you can enjoy them whenever you want, wherever you are.
Okay. So, let's dive into these seven reminders. Reminder number one, enjoying yourself to the fullest with your friends and family is not something that you should regret ever. Sometimes the memories that we create are so much more important than the macros that we count. The food that we eat is a part of the memories that we're creating. It can contribute to the experience and without it, we might have not experienced the moment to the fullest. For example, if your family is putting time and effort into a really yummy, delicious meal, or maybe your grandma or your mom, or your brother, or your sister, or who, someone in your family or your friend group that you love, spent time creating this dish, one of their famous dishes or a dish that they spent time on, just remember that it is okay to enjoy the food and not regret it.
Just remember that you can always get back to honoring and nourishing your body, but you can never get those memories back. Those memories are so precious with time spent with those who you love. Reminder number two, if you feel like you overindulged too much, it already happened. It's done. You cannot go back and change it. You can't change the fact that you ate that pie. You can't change the fact that you drank that wine. You can't take it back. So, you know what? There is no point in you continuing to beat yourself up about it. If there's nothing that you can do about it, then why are you wasting energy trying to beat yourself up? That energy can be spent putting your foot in front of the other today and moving on. It's so important that you move on and use that energy to honor and nourish your body today.
It will not only make you feel so much better, but it's also a much better use of your energy. Reminder number three, if you think that you gained "a bunch of weight", I can promise you that you are the only one noticing. Sister, I'm so serious here. No one is noticing the weight that you gained. You're not going to walk into work and have everyone think to themselves, "Oh my gosh, look at her. She gained so much weight over the weekend," and no one really cares. It's not like you are the only person in who overate over the holidays. 99% of the country's population overeats during the holiday season. You are not alone. But to piggyback off of this, reminder number four, to gain five pounds in one weekend, you would literally have to eat 17,500 calories. That's close to eating 6,000 calorie calories three days in a row.
That's hardly feasible, but you might be like, Julie. I hopped on the scale, which PS, not a great thing to do. I would just encourage you to just get rid of the scale. I know for me, when I got rid of the scale a few years ago, it has been so freeing to just not feel that stress or anxiety, and there's so many other ways to monitor your progress. But that aside, that's a different conversation for a different day. But I have to remind you that the scale might say, yeah, you're up five pounds, but I can assure you that is likely not fat gain. You probably have a lot of undigested food, especially if you've not been nourishing your body or hydrating your body or moving your body, you like you normally do. It's not fat. It's likely food that needs to be digested. It's likely that you're carrying some extra water weight.
This can be triggered also when we eat foods with lots of sodium or we drink alcohol, or we're just eating more than we normally do. So, please, number one, if the scale is triggering for you, get rid of it. But number two, that number that you're seeing on the scale, that is likely not a great depiction of what is actually happening. So, I would encourage you to just get off the scale, drink your water, move your body, and in a few days you will feel so much better. Reminder number five, you don't to eat less or work out more to undo the "damage" that you did. You don't need to "earn your food" until you've lost the "weight that you've gained". I know this cycle all too well, because this was me for a decade plus of my life. I would go to Thanksgiving at my dad's house and then I would feel so guilty.
Then I would hop on the elliptical and I would literally do two-a-days cardio, and I would eat as little as possible. Please don't do that. That is not something that is sustainable. It's not something that it's enjoyable, and it's only going to bring you in this toxic cycle of overindulging and then feeling guilty and then completely restricting yourself and going on crazy amounts of cardio or whatever it is that you're doing, and that's just not fun. That's not sustainable, and that's not something that your body needs. You have to remember that when we overeat, it's not a race to get back to normal. You can't win that race. No one is counting how many days it takes you. No one cares. So, please don't rush the process and just get back to moving your body, even if that's walks. I know a lot of people, they change their routine around the holiday season because their schedules are different.
They're traveling. They don't have access to normal things that they do on a daily basis during the rest of the year, and so if that's you, I want to encourage you to reestablish a new routine. So, if you're going, let's say to your parents in-law's house, or you're traveling for a week, try to establish a new routine. Maybe that's getting up early before people wake up and going on a 20-minute walk or something that's going to help you be able to help you establish a routine for that temporary period of time, because that's going to help you just feel so much better. I mean, movement truly is medicine, so if you can incorporate just small amounts of movement, not movement to undo anything that you did, movement simply to feel better. Reminder number six, what you do 80% of the time is truly what matters.
Please remember that one day of overeating on Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever holiday it is, that isn't going to damage your progress long term, just how one day of nourishing your body isn't going to help you get anywhere closer to your goals. It's what you do about 80% of the time that's going to dictate your results. So, give yourself some space to enjoy yourself. Life is truly meant to be lived and use that extra 20% to live your life with zero guilt, and reminder number seven, please learn from experience. If you feel guilty about your choices over the holidays, don't beat yourself up about it. Use that as an opportunity to learn from it. If you know that eating three pieces of pie is going to give you a stomach ache or drinking four glasses of wine is going to make you feel dizzy or give you a headache the next day, learn from it.
Remember it, so that you don't repeat it. That is what life is all about. It's all about learning from our experiences, instead of just saying, "Ugh, I'm not going to do this as my much next time." That's not truly learning from your experience. That's just putting fluffy words out there. Think about why you feel the way that you did, what made you feel that way and figure out how you can avoid that in the future. There's a difference from enjoying the foods you want and stuffing your face with foods you want. Stuffing your face isn't necessary, nor does it help you enjoy the day more. It typically just makes you feel sick. If you need some tips on how to avoid stuffing your face over the holidays, be sure to check out episode 78, 11 Ways to Avoid Overeating this Holiday Season. In that episode, I really just give you again, some tips to help you enjoy your favorite treats in moderation, so that you can enjoy the holiday season without feeling this need to constantly stuff your face at every single event, and then feel sick and not your best.
Okay. So, let me recap. Number one, enjoying yourself to the fullest, with your friends and family, isn't something you should regret ever. Sometimes the memories we create are way more important than the macros that we count. Reminder number two, if you feel like you overindulged too much, it already happened. It's done. You cannot undo the past, so there's no point in continuing to beat yourself up about it. Simply put, it's just wasted energy. Reminder number three, if you think you gained a bunch of weight, I promise you're the only one who is noticing. No one is noticing the weight that you gained and you are not the only person who overeats on holidays. And to piggyback off of that, number four, to gain five pounds, literally five pounds of fat in one weekend, you would have to eat an extra 17,500 calories.
So, if you are stepping on the scale, which please just get off the scale. If it's a trigger, get off. It's not worth your time and energy. That's likely undigested food. That's water weight. That's your body trying to digest maybe more food than you normally eat. So, just get off the scale. Reminder number five, you do not need to eat less or work out more or go on a fad diet to "undo the damage" that you did. Just get back to a normal routine of honoring your body, moving your body and nourishing your body. Remember, this could be a different routine than the rest of the year looks like, for this next month, for the month of December. Come up with a realistic routine that you can stick with so that you can feel your best during the holiday season. Reminder number six, what you do 80% of the time matters. One day of overeating on Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever holiday it is isn't going to do damage to your progress.
Reminder number seven learn from your experience. If you feel guilty about your choices over the holidays, do not be yourself up from it. Instead, use that as an opportunity to learn from it so that you don't repeat it. I hope that these seven reminders encouraged you, they gave you something to think about, food for thought, no pun intended, but if you have someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your story. I love see your guys' responses to the episodes, your aha moments, or you just sharing it out with your circle of influence on social media. Be sure to tag me, Julie A Ledbetter. Thank you again for tuning in, and I'll talk to you guys in the next episode.
All right, Sister. That's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie A Ledbetter. Yes, it's with an A in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts, to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface, so go out there and embrace your real, because you're worth it.