No, not the weird guy who runs around and around our loop, though I do find that a little creepy. I am talking about the  holiday weight creep. I heard on the radio the average person gains seven pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years. What!? I thought it was four to five.

The week after Thanksgiving I stepped on the scale. I was still in my five pound window but perilously close to the top end. My first inclination was to ignore it. I am not going to stress over every cookie and eating out for the next four weeks.  But I wasn’t sleeping well either and feeling rather crabby.  I had stopped curtailing my wheat and grain intake and I was feeling it.

I looked at the calendar.  It really isn’t that close to Christmas yet. Really I have two more weeks where I should, could and will eat in my normal non-holiday fashion.  This week I have resumed using romaine leaves instead of bread, spaghetti squash instead of pasta and making simple meals like grilled salmon and salad for dinner.  I will remember to be moderate in my tasting while baking treats for the neighbors.  The oranges on our tree are ripe so when I need a snack I have been going outside and picking one to eat right then.  What a luxury!

I do not know how successful I will be in not gaining weight the next two weeks, but I already feel better just for trying.