Weighing the Options : If Willpower, Exercise and Skipping Meals Fail, Try the Eat-Now-Pay-Later Holiday Plan

It may be that the only sure way to prevent picking up pounds during the holidays is to check into a gymnasium--this afternoon, if possible--and stay there until the last bit of New Year’s confetti has been swept from the streets.

There, among the mats and barbells, exercise machines and other paraphernalia (not to mention smells), you should be safe.

Or, you could hire some big, club-wielding guy from Detroit to accompany you wherever you go and smack your hand whenever you reach for some of Grandma’s fudge or extra gravy.

Otherwise, you have problems that can be overcome only with prudent planning, much forethought and cast-iron will--a process that might seem about as painless as a root canal during a time of year ruled by buffets, babas and booze.

The experts say that the average American gains about five pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day or about two ounces for each of the 40 days (“Hey, I can live with that,” chimes the chorus).

Some of them also say this weight gain is totally unnecessary. Psychiatrist Barton Binder, for example, suggests--with a straight face--that all we have to do to maintain weight through this period is use a little common sense.

“Reduce your calorie intake and increase your physical activity,” says Binder, a professor of clinical psychiatry and head of UC Irvine’s eating disorder and treatment program.

If he has one major caution to pass on, it is this: “Avoid disorganized eating patterns.” By that, he says, he means people should guard against falling into the common trap of skipping meals to prepare for the “Big One.”

“Fasting often leads to chaotic eating later,” he says.

Maybe because he deals daily with people suffering from serious eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulemia, Binder also tends to think the holiday problem a minor one for the general population.

“Our mothers and grandmothers are a lot wiser today about nutrition than in the past,” he says, “and, consequently, more cautious in preparing meals.

“They are a lot more mindful of calories, cholesterol and other things their grandmothers never thought of.”

Health behavioral educator JoElen Gidish of Health Management Resources in Dana Point pretty much walks the Binder path, too.

“People need to increase their physical activity and decrease the fats in their diet,” she says, “and if you do those two simple things, you can even eat the same volume of food and not gain any weight.

“If all you did was add a 20-minute walk to your daily schedule, for example, you could go on eating exactly as you do and still lose upwards of 22 pounds between now and next Thanksgiving.”

She particularly stresses the exercise part of a planned holiday regimen. “If you are going to a party, take some time beforehand to go for a walk or a bike ride or a swim.”

This, she says, also does wonders for the mental attitude, because “when you exercise, you feel good about yourself, and when you feel good about yourself, it’s easier to do the right thing when you get to that buffet table.”

The “right thing” in this case is to pass up the crackers for the carrots, the babas for the beets.

Because Gidish’s organization is in the business of helping people lose and maintain weight, she has a lot of statistics and other data to dish out to interested parties, including a holiday menu comparing a healthy meal with standard fare.

The standard menu--turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams, pumpkin pie, etc.--has a count of close to 8,000 calories, enough to push a steam engine a few miles up the track. The second menu contains much of the same items--turkey, stuffing, gravy, etc.--but only totals 3,500 calories because of some subtle changes.

In the second menu, for example, the potatoes are baked instead of mashed, the cranberry sauce made with dietetic gelatin, squash substituted for yams and the pumpkin pie served without whipped cream.

The bottom line, insist both Binder and Gidish, is that weight gain does not have to be a holiday tradition.

The choice, they say, amounts to this:

* You can jog and pick your way through the holidays and wind up the same weight (or less) on Jan. 2 than you are now.

Or:

* You can mimic the famous New Yorker cartoon, declaring: “I say it’s spinach and I say the hell with it!”--and jog and pick your way through January, February and March.

HAVE YOU EVER EATEN THIS MUCH ON A HOLIDAY?

Items Calories BREAKFAST 2 pieces toast w/butter 260 1 boiled egg 90 2 cups coffee w/cream and sugar 100 APPETIZERS 2 mixed holiday drinks 500 3 handfuls nuts 800 5 celery stuffed with cream cheese 225 10 crackers w/cheese 700 DINNER 8 ounces white and dark turkey (2 servings) 480 1 cup mashed potatoes w/butter 300 1 cup stuffing (2 servings) 600 3-4 ladles gravy 800 1/2 cup sauteed green beans 50 3/4 cup candied sweet potatoes 300 1/2 cup cranberry sauce 200 1 roll with butter 180 1 piece pumpkin pie w/whipped cream 540 1 cup coffee w/cream and sugar 50 1 glass cider (or wine) 150 SNACK 1 turkey sandwich w/mayonnaise, dressing 450 and cranberry sauce 1 piece pecan pie 700 2 small chocolate chip cookies 150 TOTAL 7,625

Source: Health Management Resources COULD YOU SETTLE FOR THIS MUCH?

Items Calories BREAKFAST 2 pieces of toast with jam 160 1/2 grapefruit 60 2 cups of coffee with cream and Nutrasweet 60 APPETIZERS 2 glasses of white wine 240 15 pieces crudites with cottage cheese, 100 garlic, chives, and pepper 10 chestnuts 150 DINNER 8 ounces white meat roasted turkey 350 1/2 cup baked acorn squash 50 2 cups stuffing baked outside the turkey 250 made with bread, mushrooms, onions, rice, vegetables, seasoning and egg white Baked potato with sour cream 150 3 ladles skimmed gravy 160 2 cups green beans w/mushrooms 75 3 cups salad with diet dressing 100 1 1/2 cups cranberry sauce made with fresh 90 cranberries and Deserta Jello 2 one ounce rolls 140 1 glass cider 150 1 piece apple pie a la mode 525 1 cup of coffee with cream and sugar 50 SNACK Open-face turkey sandwich w/stuffing and 290 gravy 1 piece pumpkin pie 300 2 chocolate mints 60 TOTAL 3,510

Source: Health Management Resources