It’s the most wonderful time of the year: filled with family, friends, decked halls, jolly … and what seems like an all-out assault against your workout regime, clean diet, and results.
I know, my friends. As much as I love the holidays, it doesn’t come without it’s challenges to fitness, nutrition, and hard-sought gains.
However, if you implement a few strategic tricks, you don’t need to get too anxious about ruining your progress. In fact, if you stick to these, you’ll likely come out of the other side of this year with very minimal setbacks, if any!
So, remember to have fun this year, and give these tips a try at holiday gatherings this year.
Survival Tip #1: Focus on Protein and Veggies
At Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of dish choices. As a general rule to keep calories reasonable and keep things “cleaner,” it helps to focus on protein and veggies.
Now, this doesn’t mean you need to completely avoid carbs (definitely ain’t missing out on that sweet potato casserole!), but to simply make your carb portion size a bit smaller. This helps limit excess sugars and calories, since these can be heavy in carb-based dishes and desserts. So, go for the turkey, ham, green beans, etc … when you’re going for bigger portions.
Survival Tip #2: Eat Before You Go
If you’ve ever fasted for any length of time, you likely know how hungry you are when you finally sit down to eat. Of course, this is no problem when you’re sitting down to you standard clean meals … but when you’re ravenous in front of no-so-clean holiday goodies, it can spell binge-worthy trouble.
To avoid this, try eating before your holiday gatherings. You may think this would cause you to consume more overall, but it will likely help you avoid overeating during your holiday feast, since you won’t be so ravenous.
Survival Tip #3: Take Walks
If you’re traveling for the holidays and will be in a different area with no gym access, try to embrace walks and/or runs when you get the chance. Simply staying moving can help keep your mind in your “routine” even if that routine is slightly different.
If the weather isn’t too bad, you can also hit up my Primal Fit app for full bodyweight workouts, and get at these at a nearby park, or in the backyard in the early morning. They’ll stream directly on your phone, so they go everywhere with you! You get to try a full 14 days FREE as well, so there’s no better time to try it out.
Survival Tip #4: Use Those Extra Calories
Last year I did a post on maximizing your holiday gains: aka, using those extra calories you may be consuming as “fuel.” While you obviously don’t want to go overboard or throw all inhibition to the wind in the name of “gains,” it does help to reframe those extra calories as muscle fuel!
This can look like up-leveling your lifting sessions, or adding in a couple intense HIIT sessions each week.
Survival Tip #5: Eat Slow and Measure Portions with This Tool
Another reason behind eating before holiday gatherings and parties is so that you avoid wolfing down your food (guilty). When we’re hungry, we can obviously eat faster than normal. The problem with this is that it takes a good 10-20 minutes for our body to realize it’s full and send out “fullness” cues. If we’re eating quickly, we can eat much more than we should before we realize we’re full.
So, focus on tasting your food. Notice the texture. Chew thoroughly. Practice dwelling on these things, which ultimately leads to more mindful eating habits over all.
Along with this, try this nifty guide I put together that helps you choose adequate portions … using only your hand!
As you can see, everything you need to know is basically in the palm of your hand. Memorize these simple sizes and bring them with you to dinner.
Survival Tip #6: Go Easy with Snacking, and “Choose Your Indulgence”
Another trick to avoid overeating and help give your digestion some TLC is to go easy on snacking. I know that’s easier said than done, especially at holiday parties where you’ll be tempted to eat something to keep your hands busy. If you can avoid it ad save eating for meals, great, but if you can’t be sure to again put the focus on protein and veggie snacks.
Along with this, it’s also important to have fun. There will be many treats you’ll only be having once a year, and you should rightfully indulge in them.
However, try this approach: just choose one indulgence. If you’re more into savory dishes, indulge on a large helping of something you absolutely love at dinner. If you’re more of a sweets person, save that heavy indulgence for desserts.
And then, enjoy every last bite. But just make it one, not everything!
The Bottom Line
The biggest takeaway here: avoid stressing. Prepare as much as possible to keep things clean, but don’t be so hard on yourself that you don’t allow yourself an indulgence. Be merry, yet mindful. The two can co-exist!
To recap:
• Prioritize protein and veggies at meals
• Take walks + utilize bodyweight movements while traveling
• Use holiday calories as fuel for gains
• Eat slowly, use my “palm portion control” guide
• Enjoy an indulgence
