The holidays are a joyous time filled with fun, festivities, and lots and lots of food. As jolly as this time of year can be, it can also be stressful for individuals trying to stick to the healthy eating habits and maintain their results from a year of hard work.
While a few indulgent outings aren’t enough to sabotage all the weeks and months of work you’ve put in, we also understand that consistency is critical to living a fit and healthy life.
Here is your 7-step strategy to make the most of the season and maintain your weight during the holidays.
Step 1: Keep Calm
The holidays are challenging for everyone, for one reason or another (family, relationships, finances, gift-giving, etc.). If you’re currently in the middle of a transformation challenge or simply trying to maintain your hard-earned results, the holidays can be a real bear.
One of the biggest things you can do to make the most of the holidays, and still maintain your weight loss is to keep calm.
Chronic stress (aka being stressed from Turkey Day through New Year’s) can mess with your hormone levels, including stress, satiety, hunger, and sleep hormones. The resulting metabolic disruption can leave you feeling tired, irritable, and hungry all of which culminates in you being miserable and very likely overeating, thus gaining unwanted weight (which will in all likelihood create even more frustration).
That being said, try to keep a level head about you, even during particularly stressful situations. If you’re feeling really overwhelmed, then take some time for yourself (if need be, physically remove yourself from the room and have some quiet alone time to catch your breath and gather your wits about you). The calmer you are, the easier it will be to avoid stress-eating.
Step 2: Pick Your Battles
Let’s be real -- while it might be possible to stay 100% on track with your exercise and nutrition plan during the holidays, it likely won’t happen without some major accommodations (and stress) on your part.
In other words, be realistic about what you can and can’t control over the holidays.
For instance, you may not be able to control what food grandma has for holiday dinner, but you can choose to only have one (small) helping dessert instead of three.
The best advice we can give is to look at what events you have this holiday season and decide which ones are “worth” splurging on. Keep in mind that “worth” is highly subjective and will vary from one person to the other.
Depending on how many engagements you have this holiday season will determine how many splurges you have, but one a week is pretty doable for many people. Once you’ve selected which gatherings you’ll indulge at, relax. Focus on enjoying the time spent with loved ones and not as much on the food.
Step 3: Stay Active
Being mindful of what you’re eating and having a plan for which gatherings you’ll “loosen the reins” is a powerful step to maintaining your weight loss results during the holidays, but there’s another very important thing you can do -- stay active.
We realize that holiday traveling can put a severe cramp into your normal training regimen, but that’s ok. Any physical activity is better than lounging around all day.
Morning walks before family breakfast, bodyweight workouts during the day, or even doing some squats and push ups between family movie time all count as physical activity and can go a long way to helping you maintain a higher energy expenditure, which will limit the “damage” done from any higher calorie meals you may have during the holiday break.
If you want suggestions for on-the-go, zero equipment, bodyweight workouts, then download the 1UP Fitness App, which contains a library filled with hundreds of exercises along with workouts to keep you fit and trim this holiday season!
Step 4: Expect the Unexpected
Even though you’ve marked your calendar and decided which outings will be your indulgences, there will still be those unexpected get-togethers or late night outings that come with hanging out over the holidays.
For instance, you may get together with your sister and brother-in-law for dinner, which then turns into going for a nightcap with their friends. This then turns into heading out (again) for some late night dessert (or cheese fries).
You only planned on a fancy dinner, and (as usually happens) the good times keep rolling on and on…and on.
This is 100% OK!
Remember that there’s more to life than rigorously sticking to your calorie counter.
As such, be aware that even though you have certain events already marked on your calendar, there’s always the possibility that those events may be “extended” or that something else may pop up.
In these instances, refer to the previous tips outlined above -- namely, staying active each day and keeping calm.
Step 5: Hit Your Protein Target Every Day
Protein is your secret weapon to keeping hunger at bay and maintaining your results this holiday season. The reasons for this are many.
First, protein is the most thermogenic macronutrient, which means that your body expends more energy (calories) digesting protein than any other macronutrient.
Second, protein is the most satiating macronutrient, which means that you feel fuller after eating a meal that’s higher in protein, compared to a meal that is more carbohydrate or fat-focused. As a result, you’ll be less likely to overeat at meals or feel the need to snack in-between meals.
Third, protein is needed to build and repair muscle. The more muscle you have, the higher your energy expenditure is -- even when you’re at rest.
In other words, if there’s only one nutrition factor to focus on each day during the holidays, then it should be on prioritizing protein intake. Once you have protein taken care of at each meal, then you can ease up as adequate protein intake helps your body to “autoregulate”, in a manner of speaking.
At the same time, we understand that, outside of the main dish (turkey, ham, prime rib, etc.) few of the side dishes are protein-forward (sweet potato casserole, stuffing, green bean casserole, etc.). As such, it’s helpful to have a protein shake (or two) each day so that you can hit your protein requirements.
Bonus tip: Mixing up a scoop of 1UP Protein before heading out for an evening on the town is a great way to keep hunger (and calorie intake) in check this time of year.
Step 6: Restrict Your Eating Window
Intermittent fasting exploded in popularity several years back. While the fervor surrounding it has fallen off, it still remains an effective way to limit daily calorie intake and help individuals both lose weight or maintain it.
The reason for this, in part, is that by restricting the time of day that you eat, you effectively limit how much actual food you can consume during the day. There comes a point where, physically, you simply don’t want to eat or drink anything else.
In other words, intermittent fasting helps to control how much you eat during the day, which helps you to maintain your weight/limit weight gain during the holidays.
Even if you’re used to eating three meals with small snacks in between during the day the rest of the year, experimenting with intermittent fasting may be particularly helpful if you’re serious about limiting any and all fat gain this holiday season.
For more information on all things intermittent fasting, see our extensive article here as well as some hidden benefits of intermittent fasting.
Step 7: Learn & Adjust
Each of us will have a unique challenge this holiday season. It’s important to be aware of what our individual triggers are that lead us to overeat (or have an unexpected craving).
As situations arise this holiday season, keep track of what leads you to overindulge (in food or drink). This could be mental notes, recording a voice memo on your smartphone, or using good ole pen and paper.
The more information you have, the better you can assess, analyze, and prepare yourself for future situations.
Takeaway
The holidays are meant to be a time of celebration and thanksgiving. At the same time, many of us will experience a variety of struggles, not the least of which is food and drink.
Use the strategies outlined above to stay the course, and hit your goals this holiday season.
Remember, we’re always here to help you (even during the holidays). The 1UP Fitness App provides customized training and nutrition to help you adapt and overcome, and when you join our transformation challenge, you’ll also gain access to our exclusive Facebook group where you can interact with like-minded individuals and experienced coaches to get the support and encouragement you need to get the results you want!
