Holiday season is well and truly upon us and many who have been trying very hard to lose weight are still very worried that all their hard work is about to get undone, only to have to start over in January.
For a lot of my clients who have just began on their health and fat loss journey recently, the worst part is, they are still not even at their goal weight or body shape they want to be, but they are afraid that Christmas time will send them backwards even further. I understand the frustration.
So, I compiled a list of simple steps I will be helping my clients take and these are the steps I have been following for years as a fitness instructor to keep my weight under control and not get too overwhelmed by the whole weight gain thing. After all we want to enjoy ourselves like normal people even if we have goals.
Please note this is not a nutrition advise or a diet recommendation, this is just my tips as a health and fitness coach that I have tried and tested and worked for me and many of my clients. So, pick the tips and strategies that work for you and feel free to dismiss those that don’t suit.
1. Level up your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and exercise.
If you have some time off work, take advantage of the free time you will have to exercise and move more.
I understand that it is also school holidays and for many of my mum readers this presents a whole new challenge, but if you stay disciplined and prioritise what’s important you can still make it happen.
My biggest tip when it comes to exercise is, get up early and get your workouts out of the way before everyone else is up. The chances are the kids will be sleeping in anyway during holidays so this is a perfect opportunity to get your workouts done, even if you are still working. Summer time for most people is a little easier to get out of bed earlier as it’s warmer so try to get into a habit of doing it. Yes, it means you are going to have to be more disciplined with bed time and put that phone down earlier or turn off the telly and set an earlier bed time so you feel rested enough to get up.
I know you feel tired and in need of rest too, but there is no better gift to your body you can give than movement, so make a little bit of time to work out. And stay active with the kids, get them outside more and move with them, get off the phone and move with them.
Trust me if you get on a roll and start doing this you will feel so satisfied and proud of yourself, your whole day will go better if you get that workout in the morning.
This is not the time to slow down on exercise, if anything this is the time of the year you need to ramp it up. You will most likely be consuming more calories, so you need to burn more if weight gain is a concern for you.
2. Remove unwanted boxes of gifted snacks, hampers and chocolates.
There is a good chance that at this time of the year you will end up being given unnecessary hampers and chocolates, cheese, cracker and wine baskets. It’s easy to open them up and give in to them, but do we really need to?
Keep in mind that you will very likely to have inevitable and countless parties to go to so save your calories for those occasions, so you can enjoy with your family and friends or even colleagues without restricting yourself. While at home you can keep things cleaner and more under control to balance it out through the next few weeks.
If you want to hold on to those hampers for regifting, put them away, (shh, I won’t tell anyone), put them on the top shelf of the wardrobe behind kids’ old toys or clothes you never wear until you actually need to grab one to take with you to a party. Don’t keep them in the kitchen where it will be very tempting to open up that box of chocolates that aren’t even your favourite.
Of course, I am not suggesting you should completely deprive yourself from eating your favourite treats, I am just suggesting to remove the ones that you don’t really love anyway and purely would dig into them because they are there. The calories in those hampers are days’ worth in one handful, seriously, even the nut mixes. It’s so not worth it, if you are trying to shed a few kilos or at least not gain weight.
3. Don’t give up on your nutrition and nourishment during holidays.
Another big thing I focus on during this time aside from getting more exercise in, is eating as much nutrient dense and high protein foods as I can to make up for all those “junk food” occasions. I want to nourish my body with a tonne of salads, vegetables, fresh fruits and good quality protein as I can so my body can process all the “processed” stuff better. Also, I know this will help me to binge less, because nourished body is a body that don’t crave junk food as much as it’s not lacking anything.
So, keep up the routine of stocking up your fridge with good easy to prepare proteins like seafood, lean meat, cottage cheese, eggs, turkey slices from the deli and of course loads of fresh veggies and fruits. Continue the routine of having them all washed, cut up and ready for easy access.
If you want to read an article on how I organise my fridge and pantry for the week to keep me on track you can read this blog article I wrote a couple of weeks ago.
Five habits to a healthy kitchen.
Don’t slip of your meal prep or healthy food grocery shopping routine just because you are out a lot and it is a festive season. Your body needs vitamins and nutrients more than ever to keep a healthy strong liver to process all the Prosecco or G&T (wink). Keep making your gut and body bullet proof with good nutrient dense foods daily in between the events. Detox potions and teas won’t help you clean your gut, but balanced diet will keep your gut healthy and strong to fight the toxins on its own.
4. Get read of the “screw it, Ill start over in the new year” mentality.
This is a biggie, please, please I beg you, avoid this mindset. In your head you might decide you just can’t be bothered till the new year and will just start fresh. But your body will hate you for it, if you are over 35 like me then one month of eating mostly processed snack food 70% of the time will take a toll on our health and body. We can end up feeling awful, bloated and pudgy comes January, and we really don’t need to. It doesn’t have to be that way; it is within your control.
Don’t wait till the new year, this is the best time to get a head start so when you do enter the new year, you will actually feel 2 steps ahead and hit the ground running in 2023 rather than taking entire January to just reset your gut health and get the momentum going.
The chances are that you may also travel with family and go away on holidays before school returns, so realistically it won’t be until February until you get it together. I’ve seen it too many times. So, if in December you are at home and not travelling till Jan, then definitely keep the nutrition and exercise going until you do go away on a break. Plus imagine if you go on holidays feeling great and healthy rather than bloated and 5 kilos heavier from December, feeling annoyed with yourself.
Bottom line is, December is the best time of the year to start your healthy journey, not January. I would say the only exception to this is if you are actually travelling and away most of December. If not, then start now. Be ahead for 2023. It’s a very rewarding feeling!
5. Set realistic plans for the parties and gatherings.
If you follow step 1, 2 and 3 then this is the time that you can loosen your belt, literally, and allow yourself to enjoy without restrictions. Family and Christmas time is time to eat, drink, laugh, enjoy and forget counting calories. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not most of us love to get together for food, laugher and family time during this season, so let it be enjoyable.
I hear so many of my clients say to me; “Liv, I have 3 Christmas parties to go to over the next 2 weeks, but I promise I will only eat salads and protein, and I will stop at 2 drinks”. You know what I tell them? Don’t do it!
You want to know why?
2 reasons;
1) It’s unrealistic and 90% of the time they will fail and dig into bread rolls and cheese platters and then go home feeling disappointed with their what they call “failure” to control themselves. Why torture yourself mentally like this?
2) Parties and gatherings with friends and family are meant to be enjoyed, so do exactly that. And if there are foods you love and want to have that are loaded with fat and sugar, just go for it and for that moment forget calories.
Remember tomorrow at home you will go back to step 3 because you have all the low cal, high protein and fibre rich nourishing foods at home to balance things out. So, it’s ok, just enjoy the party. I know I will be! Pear Ciders or Pale Ale with lamb cutlets on well buttered bread rolls is my must have’s during family holidays, followed by a fresh and fluffy Pavlova.
The only exception to this rule is if you have 3 parties per each weekend of December and it literally turns into one big 3 day per week binge on fatty, high processed carb foods. Then you might want to pick which parties you will have a little more control and eat lighter and which ones you want to go all out. Not all events will have foods you love anyway, but some will, so I suggest you plan to relax at those where you know there may be your favorite cake or wine and may be stick to salads and protein at those events that are a little less delicious to you.
I am not telling you how to ‘do’ holiday season, I am just sharing my own hacks and tips with you and suggestions on how to tackle all the temptations if you want to feel in control of your eating habits and not let yourself “blow out”, so if you are reading this all the way to the end, I imagine that this is the right article for you and resonates with you.
Feel free to drop me a comment below this blog or ask me a question, or better yet if you are on IG get in touch with me there via DM. I’d love to help out where I can.
