I Went Off-Plan in December...

Happy 2021!

Today, I want to talk about some of the things that I learned as a now 3 year Trim Healthy Mama who decided to take a break and go off-plan for the month of December.

This past Christmas, both myself and my husband decided that we would go off plan for the month of December and own it. By "own it" what I mean is that we wouldn't beat ourselves up for it later, feel food guilt, or burden ourselves with excessive exercise to "balance out" our food choices.

While we did enjoy eating many off-plan foods, we both learned a couple of really big lessons about Trim Healthy Mama in the month of celebration. Here's what they are:

First, the Trim Healthy Mama Plan Works!

Yes. Read that sentence again! One thing that I learned by going off plan (and subsequently gaining 10 glorious celebration pounds) is that following the plan as best as I can absolutely works at keeping extra pounds at bay. Am I stressing over the 10 pounds that I gained? Not at all! We owned our food choices in the month of December and we learned a lot by going off plan for a little while. I love that you can jump back on the THM lifestyle train any time - it's such a grace filled plan! By January 2nd, we were back on track.

Second, What we Deemed as "Treats" don't Treat our Bodies Well.

This was the biggest thing that both my husband and myself learned over the month of December. What society would call a treat (chocolate, cookies, pies, cakes, burgers etc.) really isn't a treat for our bodies! We didn't like the way that eating off-plan made us feel: bloated, experiencing sugar highs and lows, (for me) an increase in anxiety, weight gain, and (for me) insomnia. Eating these "treats" really wasn't a treat at all...it cost us something! By the end of the month, our taste buds were dulled, and we were so tired of eating sugary, and more highly processed foods. I couldn't wait to eat a salad! Our bodies began to crave the true treat of eating nutrient dense foods.

Third, We Appreciate Food Freedom Even More.

Being able to eat nutrient dense food is a blessing. We now appreciate having the choice to eat healthy and be good stewards of our bodies even more after going off plan for a month. It gave us a deeper understanding of the need to fuel our bodies properly and the way that God intends us to. Having made the choice to go off plan helped us to appreciate the ability to choose to eat on plan.

What We Plan on Doing Differently for December This Year:

We chatted quite a bit after about our food experience in December 2020. We both came to the conclusion that going entirely off plan just isn't worth it! Our goal for this year is to eat on plan as the default in December, but to also not miss out on creating some awesome memories surrounding food by eating the occasional off plan treat. What this will look like for us is participating in some Christmas baking with family and friends, not keeping processed foods and chocolate in the house during the holiday season, doing a THM friendly charcuterie board on Christmas Eve, and enjoying an off plan Christmas dinner on Christmas day. The phrase for December 2021 will be: grace-filled balance!

xo, Alyssa