2020 Holiday Guide - How to Prevent the Holiday Fat Gain While Staying Stress Free
Today is December 2nd you know what that means??
It’s only 23 days until Christmas and 29 days until 2020 is officially over!!!!!
As 2021 approaches, this is when everyone starts their “New Year, New Me” revolutions and start scrambling to get their physiques “summer-ready”
Ironically, this is also the time that a lot of people say fuck it and give into that “inevitable holiday weight gain.” Especially within COVID disrupting everything we knew and thought, this presents unique circumstances and situations.
Normally, the holidays are a busy, yet wonderful time. However, as with most things in 2020, this year will be very different compared to previous years. Usually, the holidays are a wonderful, yet busy time as we spend it with family and friends, and traveling. However, just like everything else this year,COVID has detailed that too.
However, if you are someone who decided to “wait for COVID to end” to take control of your health and fitness, then you’re already probably aware of the flaw in “waiting for______” to happen.
The honest truth is there will always be another reason to procrastinate from taking the necessary action. This is just something that everyone has to deal with throughout their life (besides dealing with a never-ending pandemics). I call this hitting the Pause Button and this is one of the fastest, surest, most reliable ways to sabotage your plans for improving your nutrition, health, and fitness.
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Today’s blog will give you the exact strategies to fully enjoy the holiday, while also continuing to improve your health and fitness. I’ve created this Holiday Guide to help you enjoy the season without wasting all the hard work you’ve already put in.
With a little bit of structure and some planning, you can continue to prioritize your health while enjoying everything a COVID holiday season provides.
Holiday Tips #1 - Realize that “The Holidays” are really just 3 Days
Without question, the Holiday season is one of the best times of the year. However, over the next few weeks, we’re celebrating just three days
Thanksgiving (Second Best Holiday)
Christmas (The Best Holiday without question)
New Years’ (Break out the Champagne! 2020 is over!)
Starting from Thanksgiving Day to New Year Eve, we’ll be celebrating 3 days out of 36 days.
It’s impossible to gain that much body fat within 3 days. We know through science that one pound of body fat is 3500 calories. So, even if you completely stuffed your face with all the food you can see AND then stuff yourself again, you’’ probably maybe gain 2-3 pounds of body fat (7,000-10,500 calories).
The average person maintains betweens 1800-2,800 calories per day. So to gain a single pound of body fat, you’ll need to eat 5,300-6,300 calories. This would be very hard to do, even if all you are eating are holiday cookies, brownies, and fudge.
The point is even if you’re eating like a savage on these three days, you’re still doing very little “damage” on the actual days we’re celebrating. The two things that cause people to gain a lot of body fat over the holidays are:
1) Adopting the “Fuck It” Mentality:
I’ve seen this time and time again when you say “Fuck it” and completely going off track because you saw the scale jump 3-5 pounds. The truth is, this is primarily just water weight from the extra sodium and water, plus having more food in your body. The scale will return to normal in the next few days.
2) Holiday eating for the next few weeks:
Remember, it’s just 3 out of 36 days that you’ll be celebrating. You don’t need to stuff yourself every single day. :)
Holiday Survival Tip #2: Redesign your Environment
Let’s start addressing what to do outside of those 3 days of celebration. Managing the other 36 days of 2020 starts by removing temptations.
To quote John Berardi:
“ If there is food inside your house either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate, will eventfully eat it.”
Simply put, by putting yourself into situations that force you to depend on your willpower, you’ll lose more often than you’ll want to admit. This doesn’t make you “weak” or a “failure” or a “bad person”. This just means that you need to focus more on redesigning your environment to better support your goals.
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, said it best, “make it easy” by keeping the holiday treats, candies, fudge, and Grandma’s cookies out of your house. This way they won’t be a daily temptation. My most successful clients aren’t the ones with the strongest willpower, rather they learn to put themselves into situations that don’t require a lot of willpower and support their goals.
Now if you want to eat Grandma’s cookies, then you better eat those cookies! Just make sure you are occasionally enjoying your holiday treat. Just make sure you aren’t mindlessly snacking on those cookies.
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Holiday Survival Tip #3: Celebrate with YOUR Plan
Going into the holidays, you’ll need to know what’s most important to you.
Remember, the holidays are for spending time with loved ones, friends, and family. There’s absolutely no reason to spend it stressing and obsessing over every little thing you’re eating.
This is why it’s important to know what you’ll specifically need and want to go into the holidays to feel fulfilled and guilt-free.
--------> For some people, this means not stressing about strategies and just eating as they please and enjoying their family time. This is completely fine. Just make sure to simply get back on track the following day.
--------> Some people want some nutritional structure so they can still enjoy the Holidays without too much stress.
--------> Some people want to stay the course and continue to crush their fat loss goals through the holidays
The truth is that all these approaches work! There is no right or wrong answer as long as you are being honest with yourself. It’s always best to think about what you want most out of each day beforehand.
For those who want to approach the day with some strategy, here’s my go-to plan:
1) Go for a 30-minute walk or train in the morning
There’s a very good chance that you’ll be overeating and indulging in the holiday treats. On days like this, you’ll want to get some additional movement within your day since you’ll be spending so much time with family. If possible, go to the gym, yet don’t sweat it if you want to spend extra time with your family.
2) Have a light breakfast and/or lunch:
If you are totally fine with skipping breakfast, then practice some intermediate fasting to save some calories for the main meal. The main goal here is to keep you full of high satiety foods (protein and veggies). You’re most likely going to overeat at the dinner so this will tide you over until the main meal.
Protein is the most satisfying food with fibrous carbs coming in second. My go-to protein sources are leaner options like chicken breast, lean ground turkey/beef, or non-fat Greek yogurt with a scoop of protein.
As for veggies, you really cannot go wrong here. Just choose something you enjoy or have one Big Ass Salad.
By focusing on protein and fiber before the main meal, it’ll be much easier to eat a reasonable amount of food at the main holiday meal without feeling tempted to overdo it.
3) Eat all the Holiday Protein:
With Holiday dinners, the main food item is usually some kind of protein. Turkey, Ham, Roast Beef…. You get the idea. Therefore there’s typically a lot of protein available.
Aim to eat 2-3 palm-sized servings of protein with 1-2 servings of veggies. Fill your plate with whatever your heart desires, just make sure to eat your protein and veggies first. Make sure to stay with just one plate to limit how many calories you eat.
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4) Go for a Quick Post Dinner Walk
Instead of going into a Turkey Coma or napping on the couch, go for a quick 15-minute walk. Even a quick 15-minute walk can really help with digestion and combatting that post sleepy feasting feeling.
Holiday Survival Tip #4: Prioritizing “Me” Time
As wonderful as the Holidays can be, it’s still a stressful time. When you’re trying to balance planning multiple family dinners, coordinating who’s hosting, dealing with holiday shopping and, oh yea, COVID.
The truth is this year will be extra stressful when dealing with if you should be with family and friends, dealing with testing lines, navigating holiday shopping, and food shopping.
Offset the stress of a COVID induced Holiday season by making sure you set aside a few moments each day for self-care. This can be a real quick 5-15 minute meditation via the Headspace app or reciting a specific mantra to you to working out or going for long walk.
You’ll be surprised how much your stress and anxiety will drop by mentally taking care of yourself and keeping a mindset positive throughout the holiday hustle and bustle.
Holiday Survival Tip #5: Resist Hitting the “Pause” Button On Your Training
One of the common things I see is people hitting the Pause Button on their health and fitness. Not just for the celebration, but throughout the whole holiday season. They are constantly putting their diet and exercise on hold with the expectation that they’ll make up for it in 2021.
The holidays are definitely the time when training stops. Without your physical outlet, this often leads to fewer calories being burned and decreasing your performance - both of these aspects will inhibit your progress once New Years’ begins.
There’s never going to be a moment when things are magically easier. You cannot escape work, personal life, and family demons, nor the need for your own health and fitness. Within this game of life, we know we’re not always going to be on our A-game. Sometimes we are superstars. Sometimes we’re doing just enough, and other days we are just surviving the day.
However, you need to keep going. Continue to prioritize training 3-4 times a week and yourself. Your body and mind will be thanking you once 2021 rolls around.
Yet, if you’ve struggled with your training over the holidays in the past, I strongly recommend you invest in a coach. The next few weeks don’t have to be a time where you watch your hard-earned habits and progress dramatically regress like every other year. You’re fully capable of using 2021 as a launchpad for your transformation.