I get it. Very few people want to think about fitness and weight loss around the holidays.
From Halloween to Christmas my blog’s traffic drops. Clients get lax with their check-ins. And scale cursing commences.
We just want to eat and do what we want and worry about weight loss when the New Year’s resolutions come around.
www.coachcalorie.com holiday blog traffic
This same pattern has gone on for 7 years, and it’s not going to change anytime soon. Traffic drops in half and then in the weeks after Christmas it quadruples. The same thing can be seen with foot traffic in gyms during that time.
So how do you navigate this fitness lull so you don’t keep back-tracking on your goals? And how do you do it without constantly feeling like you’re being harassed about your body?
Focus On Relative Progress
Progress isn’t always measured in pounds lost. If you typically gain weight during the holidays, then maintaining your weight is progress.
Go into the holidays with realistic expectations on what progress is. If every year during the holidays you gain 5-10lbs, then don’t beat yourself up if you don’t lose any weight this year.
In this case, simply maintaining your weight is progress. It’s an improvement over your past behaviors. Weight loss isn’t the only measure of progress.
Motivation comes in waves. There’s a good chance you’ll get swept up in the New Year’s resolution bug, so if you can just make it through the holidays you will get that added burst of motivation to take you to new weight loss lows.
Gain Some Perspective
We get ourselves so worked up around the holidays and obsessed over what to eat that we eventually say “screw it, it’s not worth it. I’m going to enjoy myself and start over tomorrow (or Monday, or New Years)”.
But those three holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) over the course of two months aren’t going to make or break your progress. It’s what you do the other 58 days that will influence your outcome.
You’ll eat 10x more food in the last two months of the year on the days between the holidays. That’s where the difference is made.
The holidays don’t need to be a source of stress. They’re supposed to be a way for you to relax and enjoy life a little.
So you need to strategically enjoy yourself, do your best, and then move on and get back to doing more of the healthy behaviors you want in your life.
Plan For Fun Foods
You’re going to eat things that don’t mesh with your goals. There’s a lot of social pressure. Our environment changes. And there’s a lot of desire to “let go” on your part too.
The key is to plan for fun foods and eat them in moderate portions. Try to eat what you want, be mindful, and stop eating at 80% full.
This takes mental preparation at a time when you’re thinking rationally. If you wait until the moment comes the emotions will drive impulse behaviors, and I’m willing to bet you won’t like the outcome.
You Can’t Always Control What You Eat
What you eat isn’t always in your control, and that’s OK. Unless you personally prepare and eat every single meal at home, there are going to be times when what’s being served doesn’t really align with what you’re trying to accomplish.
Here’s the thing though – while you can’t always control what you eat, you can always control how you eat. And how you eat has a much bigger influence on your outcome.
What that means is you always have the final say over how much you eat. And you have control over your mindset surrounding food and whether you’re living with an abundance mindset or one that creates scarcity.
Stressing over eating a piece of pie and then guilt eating has a much bigger negative impact on your goals than having an abundance mindset, giving yourself permission to eat a reasonable portion of dessert, eating it mindfully, and then stopping before you’re stuffed.
Same situation. Different perspective. Different outcome over time.
Stay Active Doing Something You Enjoy
Holiday schedules make it tough to get in consistent workouts. So it’s important that you don’t have an all-or-nothing attitude around physical activity during this time.
Just because you can’t strength train 3 days/week doesn’t mean that once/week is bad. Do your best. Try to stay active.
Daily walking through this time period can do wonders. Any extra workouts are an added plus.
Daily activity, however small, coupled with planning and mindful eating will keep you on track until things get back to “normal”. Then once the holiday season is over you won’t be trying to work off all that accumulated weight, and instead can focus on taking your body and mind to the next level.
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I’ll definitely keep these in mind for this Thanksgiving. So excited for turkey.
Aren’t we all? 😉
I think “getting back on track” may be the most important point on this list. After a cheat day (or couple of days) people might be inclined to feel defeated or see a day of bad eating as an excuse to continue since the “damage has already been done.” I think it’s important to compartmentalize a special occasion and then get back to work, kind of like a professional athlete who has to forget about the bad play he/she just made and move on to the next!
Definitely. And seeing the higher number on the scale the next morning can really cause a spiraling out of control even though the majority of weight gain is just water retention.
If you mess up just get right back on track with your next healthy decision.
I’m guilty of the on/off eating thinking. Going to start thinking of this lifestyle as a continuum where there are going to be good days and bad days. Just have to keep working at it and I’ll get better.
You have the right idea. There is no on or off – just days that are going to be better than others. So long as you keep working on being consistent day to day or in different situations, the highs and lows of your lifestyle will start to smooth out.
I haven’t ever thought of eating until I’m 80% full. How do I know what 80% full feels like?
Hi Mandy, it’s definitely a subjective number and you’ll have to experiment with it.
The main takeaway is to stop before you feel full. The better you get at that the less you’ll eat.
Some people do better to think of it as stopping when you’re no longer hungry.
Great article which makes sense. I do try to eat that way and it’s a way of life for me. I do have friends that like to drink wine. I stopped because it caused me to overeat because I didn’t care. What’s the best way to incorporate wine into a way of life and lose weight at the same time?
Hi Sue, I think you just have to know yourself well. Most people can have a glass of wine without it leading to other unwanted behaviors. So perhaps know your cut-off.
The biggest issue is remaining mindful when you drink. Practice mindful “drinking” so you get the most satisfaction from what you’re doing while also keeping your goals in mind.
Hi Tony –
This article is indeed so true. I have been struggling with orthorexia for long. My penchant for perfect clean eating has stressed me a lot, leading to depression and amenorrhea. I used to be eating 1200 kcal a day, and constantly be freaking out whenever I loses grip of the calories I put in my mouth. I couldn’t dine out. Even when I was in vacation, I brought my own breakfast and cooked my meals. I went to supermarket to search for whole foods so that I could count my calories. This mentality is too extreme, leading to the vicious cycle of worsened depression and stress. And even now, I can’t help thinking about all the macros and calories. What should I do? How not to think about food as enemy but as important aspect of life that sustains us?
Hi Carlie, your situation is not unique. Most of the people I work with are obsessed with an aspect of their fitness, whether that’s their body, their food, or their exercise.
The numbers are obviously stressing you out, which is the exact opposite of what we want. I would recommend you put away the calorie tracking and start learning to self-validate what and how much you eat.
Practice 80/20 (at least 80% whole foods and less than 20% of the rest), and eating to 80% full. The more you practice those two things the better you’ll get at them and the closer you’ll get to freeing yourself from the grips of weight loss.
I’m horrible around the hoilidays usually wiping out months of progress in a few short weeks. Makes me so angry to think about.
I had a good Thanksgiving basically using the ideas in your article. Maintaining my weight is definitely my goal.
The holidays are tough. I’ve been coaching people long enough to see the common trends around this time. There’s a lot of guilt eating and goal hiding going on. It’s understandable.
That’s why I really push weight maintenance and mindful eating/exercise as primary goals during this time. It’s reasonable and doable and is progress in my eyes.
Good luck!
So far weight has been maintained. Prograss showing up in clothing though. So even if I went of the wagon for a bit, still good. Thanks for the reminders!
Great! Just get right back on track with your next healthy choice and you’ll continue making progress.
This year I am making half batches instead of whole ones for holiday baking. I also plan to put out only a plate of goodies instead of platter full. Have a bad habit of nibbling till it’s empty, I am hoping this will allow me to enjoy without overdoing it. Eating mindfully will let me savour a holiday meal without going back for seconds. My goal for this tear is to enjoy in moderation without beating myself up over it.
Sounds like a good plan to me, Suzanne. Good luck!
I needed this article as a reminder and as an action plan to follow during the holidays. Thanks Tony. You are always right on time and I’m always loving your articles! You are my fitness angel!! Happy Holidays you all!
I appreciate the kind words, Rose. 🙂
I’ve struggled to lose anything all summer. I swear I did everything right but the scale keeps creeping up. I panicked and was going to drop down to 1000 calories but my trainer and your forgotten rules reminded me, start off slow so I have room to go down more if I need it. So, I’m down to 1500 calories, which is right about where I can stay without feeling famished and trying to NOT over-obsess on good food versus bad food. I’m also bumping up my cardio routine by 10 minutes each session, shooting for a goal of 3 hours a week of solid cardio. I know I won’t lose weight this winter but I’d like to at least stop gaining.
Hey Mitzi, you have the right idea. Get engaged with the process and don’t worry so much about the weight loss. Eat at an intake you can maintain. Move your body at a frequency and intensity that you enjoy. Then be consistent and let the side effects happen. Good luck!
It’s easy to relax times a million when the deserving holidays roll around. I’d like to extend your idea to other occasions as well, including to times when work picks up or other celebration events pile up.
Being weary of these times gives us the chance to adjust our own expectations and frame of mind to be more critical when it matters most. For myself, when I begin to notice higher levels of stress, it’s a big red flag that my eating will go off the charts or exercise routine has too much leeway for being passed up. Good practice in my books is to take pictures of all food I eat and to track my exercise by crossing off dates on my calendar. Great visual to pick up patterns.
It was just yesterday when I realized I packed on a few bad pounds. One of the biggest life changing event that happened to me was just a few weeks ago when I joined a start up. Add on the existing client business that I do plus my own selfish goals to start an online business and you get a massive headache (and tons of double-double coffee). You can guess what fell off the wagon when the going gets tough.
Thanks for the post!
Good points, Brian. You can definitely extend the concepts to any life-altering events. It’s about managing expectations and looking for progress in different ways. That way goals are still met and motivation remains intact.
Loved this article. It is lining up with what I have been trying to do overall. In the middle of trying this plan, I found out that I am a type 2 diabetic. This made why I wasn’t losing weight make sense. Once I got a handle on my blood sugar, the weight started coming off. With that being said, I have become even more careful about what I eat (mainly carbs). I realize, however, that I still have social events where they aren’t going to be service sugar free and “healthy” foods. So, I just plan for it. If I am going to have a small piece of cake, I make sure that I don’t load up on other foods. I save room for a reasonable portion of desert. I don’t freak out over it, or shun it (unless I just don’t want it). I also don’t feel “guilty” if I enjoy it.
Sounds like you’ve got the right idea, Jeff. Glad you’ve found a reasonable lifestyle that’s working for you.
Good luck going forward!
Halloween doesn’t bother me, I’m not a candy eater and I don’t get trick or treaters so that didn’t harm me at all but Thanksgiving and Christmas are a total different story. I am mindful of my eating, but I did fall off the bandwagon as far as walking every lunch time
Sometimes life throws things your way that you weren’t totally expecting and it derails you.
I didn’t go hog wild on my eating, and I know once I get back to walking I will feel much better. Mind over matter. 🙂
Hi Charlie! You’re right. Life has a lot of variables. It’s navigating those variables effectively that makes you successful.
Do your best. Every day is a new day to start over. Just get back on track ASAP with your next healthy decision, whether that’s eating or moving your body.
This article is indeed very useful and yet true. I have been facing weight gaining problem since last 4 to 5 months. Sometimes I sleep with a motivation that from tomorrow I will start my workout with only jogging and walking for 2 hours in a day. But ,then when I drop a day in between I loose my motivation. Sometimes I feel lazy too and that is the biggest flaw. I request you to please guide me how to loose laziness and how to keep myself motivated. I want to start workout for 3 hours in a day including jogging ,walking , resistance training and Pilates (which helps in keeping my back at relief.)
Hi Priyam, motivation come from you – not me. If you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to work out, you have to ask yourself “why”.
Why do you want to work out?
Why do you want to eat healthier?
No one is making you change, so why do YOU want to change?
You have to start asking yourself questions and finding your own answers that will drive you to take the action you want in your life.
dear tony, in my case,even one meal eaten causes more weight gain. say 1 lb. should i ignore such weight gain and concentrate on my exercise? love and sairam,das
Yes, get right back to doing the behaviors you want more of in your life. That’s how you create habits.
That 1lb likely wasn’t all fat unless you ate 3500 calories over maintenance. So it’s mostly water and with good consistency back “on plan” it will come off in a few days.