Yes to the dress…just maybe not this one…

Around the holidays, I kind of feel like Cookie Monster – I see cookies and I want to stuff them all in my face as fast as possible.

And may times, I give in.

However, the last two holidays, I’ve actually had to keep my diet fairly clean in the weeks before the holidays (when it seems that almost everyone is bringing in junk food!).

Last year, I had to make weight for the powerlifting competition and this year, I had to look good for wedding dress shopping.

Two very different motivations…both equally compelling.

This year, I knew we would be looking at dresses when my Mom and sister came out to visit, which meant that I needed to feel confident and good about how I looked. I didn’t want to be bloated and full of cookies and burritos and other indulgences.

But it wasn’t easy to turn down all of the cookies.

I think that is what motivated me to try the potato diet experiment. I was motivated to stick to it because I wanted to see how it worked. (Interestingly enough that diet actually hindered my weight loss. I finally dropped all of the weight from my vacation binge once I went back to my low-carb, high protein and fat diet.)

However, the clean diet before the holidays was worth it.

I looked great AND I found the perfect dress! YAY!

Actually getting the weight off made dress shopping easy AND fun because I felt like I looked good in almost everything I tried on.

If I’d been up and bloated from a ton of bad food, I wouldn’t have felt as confident which would have probably made me feel more down about how everything looked.

Let’s face it – how you feel you look DOES influence how you feel things look on you!

So I avoided the sweets and felt good.

However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to totally deprive myself!

The holidays are a time to indulge and enjoy. BUT that doesn’t mean you have to binge eat for weeks!

My point is that you can plan ahead, look great for any events by eating super clean BEFORE the holidays and still get to indulge in plenty of cookies during the holidays before returning to your clean eating program!

So if you have a wedding coming up or are doing some major dress shopping this January, don’t let the holidays derail your progress! Plan ahead!