Fat Friday: How To Deal With Dieters Guilt After Thanksgiving

You've heard of Black Friday, the celebrated shopping day after Thanksgiving? Well, there's another less celebrated event that secretly happens to dieters all over America - Fat Friday.

On Fat Friday, dieters sit around wringing their hands and worrying about all those extra calories they indulged in during the holiday. Maybe you're one of them. You've eaten from the list of "naughty" foods that your diet plan forbids you to even touch, right?

Let's see, you probably indulged in:

Turkey with gravy (dark and white meat)
Bread stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Candied yams
Cheesy noodles or potatoes
Salty nuts of all kinds
More than one piece of delicious pie
Cake (with or without ice cream)
Cookies galore
Chocolate candy
And lots more stuff . . .

So, are you now hanging your head in shame and declaring that you can't lose weight during the holidays? Okay, so let's say that you're right. Maybe you're just not able to resist all the goodies swirling around you during this time of year.

Does that mean you throw in the towel?

Of course not!

If you're on a well-structured diet plan, all you have to do is get back on the plan as soon as you feel you're no longer overwhelmed by temptation. Dieting isn't a game, it's a safe way to train yourself how to maintain your weight loss over the long term.

However, if you're on one of those fad diets, you're just going to feel like a big ole failure. Know why? Because these diets always over promise on results. You're supposed to eat like a bird for a couple of weeks and drop insane amounts of weight quickly. Of course, when you go off the fad diet wagon on Thanksgiving day, you've just did in any progress you may have achieved on it.

And, that makes you feel bad, right?

Your natural inclination would be to jump back on that fad diet, or, find another fad diet that sounds like it will get rid of all the goodies you just ate, fast. Well, this isn't a good idea at all. Starvation type fad diets always give you temporary results, and, you'll most likely end up gaining more weight than you started with.

So, what I suggest you do instead of feeling guilty, or, panicking, is to look for effective ways to lose weight by either: a) getting back on a structured diet plan you've started, or, b) choosing a structured diet plan that's going to fit into your life style.

Please believe me when I say that you're not alone in feeling guilty about eating lots of comfort food on Thanksgiving. Lots of people are feeling guilty on Fat Friday (even skinny folks). But, I think that guilt really takes away from your pure enjoyment of being around family and friends, while sharing a great meal. I mean, eating well is a part of life. It's just not realistic to think that you'll never, ever have another slice of pumpkin pie or helping of savory stuffing.

You ate it. You enjoyed it - great!

In your heart, you know that you've already chosen to make a commitment to your long term health by learning how to eat healthier in general. Don't punish yourself for doing what comes completely natural - enjoying good food. Instead, pick a date that you're going to get back on a serious diet plan and then do it!

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