Holiday season has arrived and with all the festive decor, exciting parties, and added shopping, this can also be the time of year to gain weight.
Far be it for this personal trainer to put a damper on your Holiday traditions. In fact, I’m inviting you to let your hair down on special occasions and be physically, mentally, and emotionally connected to those beautiful moments. Don’t agonize over your calorie count on Halloween night, Thanksgiving, the cookie decorating party before Christmas, nor the decadent Christmas meal(s). LIVE. LAUGH. LOVE.
Make those memories and know it is not those special splurges that cause you to become overweight. Your pants stop fitting mid-December because of all the other occasions when you are physically, mentally, and emotionally disconnected from your activity and food.
The extra temptation and stress is definitely felt during this time of year. There are fun recipes to try, cold whether to keep us from outside activities, houses to clean for upcoming parties and house guests, and shopping seems to become a part time job. Eating can often be a way to seek mental peace from the madness. We sit down with a plate of food in hopes that life will momentarily come to a halt and allow us a few minutes of selfish pleasure.
However, life never stops. You likely engulf this food, hardly having tasted it, and leave feeling dissatisfied. There is still cleaning to do, shopping to be done, children to help with homework, and laundry to fold.
It’s THOSE moments, the ones you hardly remember that cause the weight gain. The Iron Bowl, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and New Years are completely innocent yet often blamed for holiday weight gain. Splurges are allowed and when tied to family gathering and traditions, I say, they are downright necessary!
So how do you reconnect with your food and activity when stress is high so you can genuinely enjoy the holidays and keep from going up a pant size? Set REALISTIC boundaries! It would be wonderful to be able to follow the “perfect” meal plan suggested by the latest fitness magazine you picked up at the grocery store. However, it’s not the time to overhaul your kitchen and figure out how you make a Thanksgiving extravaganza full of super foods.
- Look at each week on an individual basis. If you don’t have a lot of parties happening this week but a ton coming in 2 weeks, your goals for this week, shouldn’t look the same. It’s wonderful to be consistent with your diet, but it’s the holiday season, we are in survival mode!
- Most parties will happen Friday and Saturday so plan on an alcohol free Sunday through Thursday and meals heavy on protein and vegetables.
- Under no circumstances put a bowl of holiday candy on your desk or on the kitchen counter. Fill those bowls with apples, oranges, and bananas. If you are really hungry, those fruits won’t seem like a stupid idea.
- Do not go to the 7 o’clock party and expect to get your dinner eating finger food. Worst idea ever! I get it, you are on a holiday budget and you are tired and don’t want to cook, but party food isn’t dinner. Stop by Zoe’s or Taziki’s, pick up dinner, eat, change for the party, and you won’t gorge on the cupcakes, cookies, and nachos. You will eat them but you will be IN CONTROL!
- MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! Yes, I’m going to plug in Sweat and tell you that we have certified personal trainers putting together all of our classes. Our classes are strength based, challenging cardiovascularly, and plain fun. Just because bathing suit season is gone and your shorts have been stored away, doesn’t mean your interest in looking good should join them.
In short, THINK. TRAIN. LIVE. DIFFERENLY on a daily basis so you can LIVE. LAUGH. AND LOVE FULLY on special occasions!
