It’s the holiday season and if you’re health conscious, it can be a stressful time of year with all the opportunities to overindulge. Late nights, drinking, baked goodies, and the big turkey dinner are all part of what makes this time special. But if you’re like me, it can make you feel like you’re losing progress or even going backwards. Here are four tips to help you stay on track and feeling good this holiday season so you can start 2023 off right!
Plan Around Big Meals
If you know you have a big dinner coming up, plan your day of eating a head of time. For instance, the day of a big dinner if you know you are going to indulge in some extra calories and drinks, plan to have a lighter breakfast and lunch. Ensuring your meals leading up to a carbohydrate heavy dinner are colorful and light, will not only provide you with the peace of mind to enjoy, but you will have covered your bases earlier in the day.
Schedule Your Exercise
Much like planning around big meals, you are going to want to set aside some time to exercise. People get caught up with this one and think that every workout needs to be perfect, it needs to be an hour and that couldn’t be further from the truth. If getting a 20-minute walk in, is all the time you have for a busy day, then do it. If you can’t make it to the gym, doing a simple bodyweight circuit in the garage is better than not doing anything. Adjust your expectations and get what you can done, remember that something is better than nothing.
Set Rules for Yourself
If you have multiple late nights with lots of good food and drinking, then setting some rules for yourself can help you stay on track. If you are attending these parties with a family or friend, electing to be the designated driver for one of the nights or every other night can help ensure you are minimizing the empty calories in alcohol. These minor compromises will keep you on track and mentally keep you in a positive mindset towards your health.
Don’t be Hard on Yourself
The most important tip I can give you, be nice to yourself. The holidays are meant to be enjoyed, if you choose to take the week off of training and let your diet slip a little bit, just know it is not the end of the world. In the grand scheme of things, taking one week off is not going to derail your progress to any noticeable amount.
Enjoy the Holidays!
