There are three kinds of people who come up against the holiday season during a weight loss journey.

First, you have the people who are SO determined to stay on track and get the freaking weight off, nothing and no one’s gonna stop them. They won’t allow it.

They plan, they prep, they’re committed. Even if they face prickly family and friends who think they should cheat, they don’t.

Next, you have the people who want to be the first type of person, but they’re so worried and anxious over whether they’ll stay on track, they create a self-fulfilling prophecy, and end up cheating.

Sometimes it’s by a lot, and other times it’s only by a little. But they do cheat, and usually feel awful about themselves, because unlike person one, these people have given just enough of their power away to food and other people that they don’t quite keep it together.

Finally, you have the people who already know they’re going to cheat. Some feel a little bad about it, but some don’t.

Maybe they want to take a break from caring, because actually caring about what you eat is “too hard.” (Never mind that being fat and sick is also hard, eh?)

Maybe they’re believing the bald-faced lie echoing in their own head that’s telling them, “I’ll just start fresh for the new year.” (How many times have you fallen for THAT whopper? It’s almost as bad as “I’ll start tomorrow.”)

Or maybe they’re even grudge eating, to “prove” to whoever that NO ONE tells them what they “can and can’t eat,” and they’re gonna binge on whatever they feel like in order to “stick it to” whoever they think is controlling them.

(As an aside, no one ever tells you what you can or can’t eat. Not even me. YOU decide what goes in your pie hole, including when you decide to eat in a way that keeps you on track. YOU are always who has the final say. So grudge eating is complete bullcrap that’s based on the lie that someone else is somehow controlling what you eat. Worst of all, the person you hurt most by grudge eating is YOU.)

If you’re determined to cheat over the holidays, I cannot stop you.

I can’t (and won’t) come to your house and force you to eat in a way that keeps your weight loss on track.

If you don’t want it badly enough to CHOOSE to stay on track, then it’s your call.

Just understand what you’re doing if you go that route.

You’re choosing obesity and disease and suffering.

And this time, you can’t claim “you didn’t know better.” That may have been partly true pre-Code Red, but it’s not now.

“But Cristy, it’s hard to be the only one on track. It’s hard to say no when I really want to say yes. It’s hard to miss out on the holiday foods I love.”

Yep, I get it.

And, isn’t it also hard to waddle when you walk? To feel bloated, tired, and disgusting all the time? To hate what you see in the mirror so much you refuse to look – or if you do, it’s only from the neck up?

Isn’t it also hard to feel exhausted just climbing ONE flight of stairs, or walking ONE block to your car?

Isn’t it also hard to walk into a room and wonder if the chair you need to sit on will support your weight? Or how about having to ask the flight attendant for a seatbelt extender? Or not be able to get on the floor and play with your grand kids, because you won’t be able to get back up?

You’re a Code Red Rebel, and that means you pick your hard.

Before you go off the deep end just because “it’s the holidays, lol,” consider what you’re doing to yourself (and in a way, to the people who love you) by deciding to go off the rails for the holidays.

Like I said, it’s your call.

But if you choosing to do it, you’re choosing your consequences, too.

And that is 100% on you.

Have you created your free Code Red Lifestyle™ network account yet?

If not, here’s how to get your account!

1) On your computer, create your account at www.CodeRedLifestyle.com/App.

2) If you want the network on a mobile device, go to the App Store or Google Play Store and search for Code Red Lifestyle.