How to Stay on Track With Your Fitness During the Holiday Season

How to Stay on Track With Your Fitness During the Holiday Season

Dec 6, 2021 mindpump

For us fitness folks, the holidays are the most enjoyable yet confusing times in our healthy minds. Our pre-healthy selves just want to fully GORGE on food and eat till we pass out because that’s what we always used to do, and everyone else does it so why can’t I?!

But our health oriented minds realize and appreciate the hard work we’ve put into our bodies the last 365 days and don’t want to ruin it just because it’s the holidays and we find it hard to shake old habits. No worries! I want to help you stay on track with your fitness this holiday season. It may take a LITTLE pre-planning or mindset shifting, but I promise you it’ll make the whole experience more enjoyable.

Stop Stressing

First off, stop. Take a breath. If you’ve been busting your ass the last 365 days since the last holiday season, and gotten some great results, then you deserve a break! We get way too caught up just grinding and grinding to the point we think if we stop for even one second, we’re going to undo all our hard work. You won’t.

Let me ease your mind with this fact. They actually did research looking into what makes people gain weight. It’s not the binging on Thanksgiving or Christmas day. In fact, you’d be surprised at how hard it is to overeat on one day to the point where it would ACTUALLY affect your body weight. Will the scale go up tomorrow if you overate? Sure, but it’s mostly water. Try actually eating 5,000-6,000 calories in one day. It’s harder than it sounds.

What the research found was that the weight gain came from the leftovers. That is, people kept overeating for the next week post Thanksgiving or whatever holiday, and it was the continuous surplus that added weight over time. If you’ve been listening to Mind Pump, then you know this is an easy fix. If it’s a matter of managing intake, then I’m sure you’ve already built that skill to help you get to where you’re at right now! So all you have to do is…..just keep doing what you’ve been doing! Don’t eat in excess, but enjoy your holiday meal stress free, and just get back to your normal routine the next day.

Prioritize Your Food…and Water

If you are trying to mitigate the damage this holiday season, an easy option that doesn’t require much thinking is to create an order of operations. Carbs are going to be the easiest to overeat, and thus, rack up the calories. Protein and veggies are going to be the most satiating (not to mention the protein will keep your muscles stocked with nutrients). So start by loading your plate with protein and veggies which will help take up a lot of volume in your stomach. By the time you get to the super tasty stuff, you’ll most likely be pretty full, or at the very least, not very likely to eat as much as if you had started with the tasty stuff. Double down on the water too, as this will add to the volume in your stomach. Also, it’ll remind you to take a break from stuffing your face and remembering to hydrate properly.

This is a win-win, because you supply the gains, but still get to enjoy your favorite foods!

Bring a Healthy Dish

One thing I have found strange about being the “health conscious” person in my group – prioritizing eating healthy in front of your friends and family is the only POSITIVE habit that people weirdly still shame you for.

“I don’t get how you can eat like that.”

“You got to learn to live a little! Eat this!” 

Everyone has their own projection they cast upon you. Maybe it’s too much of a harsh reminder of a once failed attempt they couldn’t complete way back when. What I’ve also noticed is when I go to your average holiday party, because of this, there aren’t a whole lot of healthy options. I see the CANDIED yams, the pumpkin pie, the canned cranberry, but when is the last time you saw a regular salad or bowl of veggies (not drenched in a calorie dense sauce)?

Offer to bring a healthier dish so that if nothing else, you have a default bowl to go to that you know you can safely load up on to fill your stomach.

Be Mindful About Your Food 

While you do enjoy your food, and use the tips above, make sure to pause and think about the food you are eating. I know how hard this is, I fail at it most times myself. But if you can just take even a 2 second pause to acknowledge the fact you are with great friends and family, and are fortunate to share plates of delicious food, that may help slow down your feast. Maybe this year, instead of grabbing everything, you choose the handful of foods that have been particularly on your mind all year, and really savor that meal. Eat a little more of that pecan pie you only have once a year, and less of the seven different types of dip they put out.

Go For a Walk After Your Meal

Our food digests better, and gets distributed more effectively if we have movement. Ideally, see if you can get a group going after dinner. Going for a 10-15 minute walk will help you partition all that food to your body and get rid of that nasty bloated feeling we feel when we just plop on the couch. It’ll also give you all a chance to spend more time together talking and enjoying a nice walk and appreciate each other’s company. 

Create Family Workouts

This doesn’t even have to be a gym workout, or aerobic class, just find an activity you all can enjoy doing and do it together! Maybe you can create a new tradition of an annual kickball game, or just tossing around a football. Have a giant game of tag! Do something that gets everyone moving and having a good time. It doesn’t HAVE to feel like working out (although a regular workout is totally fine too).