How to survive the holiday season with your health and fitness intact

Surviving the holiday season with your health and fitness intact is a skill. A skill that need practise.

The holidays are a time for family and friends, but they can also be a stressful time as well. If you’ve been trying to lose weight and gain on fitness, it’s important that you don’t let social pressure or stress derail your efforts. The key is to plan ahead so that you’re prepared when temptation strikes. Here are some tips on how to survive the holiday season with your health intact:

Change your goal from progress to maintenance.

Let’s be honest here. You are not going to make progress if your holiday season looks different than your everyday life and that is ok. Maintaining your fitness and body composition is just as good of a goal as any. And it is also easily achievable if you just don’t overdo eating, drinking and sitting around.

Start your day with a protein-packed breakfast.

The first step in surviving the holidays is to make a plan, and the first thing on that plan should be breakfast. For most people breakfast is the time you are not likely to have unhealthy temptations. It is easy to choose better options. Concentrate on the protein intake. Make sure that your breakfast includes eggs, egg whites, curd, yoghurt, cottage cheese, fish or meat. You can also use protein powder if you like. The meaning of the healthy breakfast is also psychological. Having started the day right will boost your motivation to stay on track later as well.

Avoid going to the party on an empty stomach.

This is a great time to avoid going to the party on an empty stomach. Filling up before you leave will keep your energy levels up and make it easier to resist temptation. It’s especially important if you’re going to be around food all night long, since being hungry can make you more likely to overeat when the sweet smell of holiday treats hits your nostrils.

Don’t drink alcohol on an empty stomach.

Drinking on an empty stomach can lead to alcohol poisoning, and it also makes you more likely to get sick. Alcohol is most easily absorbed into your bloodstream when you’re drinking it on an empty stomach, so if you drink before eating anything at all—even just a few bites of bread or a fruit—you might become more intoxicated than expected.

Not only is drinking to an empty stomach potentially dangerous, it can also lead to a hunger attack later. Everyone who’s been around parties enough knows the famous late-night binge. The saltier and fattier the food, the better.

The next day the story goes on. The hangover and the possible remorse of the late-night binge hardly ever lead to a healthy breakfast and a nice morning walk. Before you know, a vicious cycle of drinking and binging is created.

Choose one indulgence at the party.

When faced with a buffet table full of delicious treats, we can’t help but imagine how it would feel to stuff our faces with all the goodies before us. But if we did that, we’d be miserable by the end of the party. So instead, try thinking about what you really like and enjoy and stick to that. It is way harder to overeat like this and whatever you choose you should be enjoying it to the fullest. Otherwise eating it does not make sense in the first place.

Focus on socializing and having fun with friends.

Focus on socializing and having fun with friends rather than eating or drinking; often food is just a prop we use when we want something to do with our hands or want to avoid awkward silences in conversation or a habit that we do not even think about.

Ask for help.

Friends, family members, and professional support groups can help you stick to your goals during the holiday season and provide comfort when you need it most. Sharing your plans can also help you stay accountable for them.

Getting through the holiday season is a great example of how we can ask for help from others without feeling weak. If you have friends, family members, and professional support groups that can support your goals, they can help you stick to them while providing comfort when needed.

Stay active.

This one should be obvious. The more active you stay, the more motivated you are to pay attention to other healthy habits as well. Also, when you move you will feel healthy hunger instead of cravings. It is also very unlikely that you will be eating and drinking while moving and very likely to be eating and drinking while sitting around.

No. You don’t need to hit the gym if your holiday is not longer than 10 days. Take the time to do other activities you enjoy. It’s not about training and exercising but about enjoying your fitness.

Conclusion

These tips are all about making sure that you don’t gain back all the weight you worked so hard to lose in the first place. We know how stressful it can be to try and eat healthy while everyone else is stuffing their faces with cookies, but we also know how rewarding it is when you succeed! So if this article helped even just a little bit, then we are happy.

Want help? Just reach out to us!