Holiday Season Looming? Three Keys to Success in Avoiding the Holiday Bulge

I'm back!  To my readers, thank you for your patience during my brief hiatus.  I took some much-needed personal time to refocus, recharge and travel (these are three things I highly recommend you also do every once in a while to promote your mental and physical health and wellness).  During this time, I'll confess I went a bit easy on the workout regimen and diet, although I still prepped my meals, ate consciously, and played flag football at least twice a week. But now I am back and ready to get back down to business.  

The leaves are changing colors, the mornings are getting colder, and the nights are arriving earlier.  So you know what that means... THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS UPON US!  I personally love the holiday season, but this is definitely a love/hate relationship.  While I live for the food, gift-giving and family time, I recognize the challenges this time of year also brings.  For one, I eat a ton more.  I also tend to exercise less because of the holiday time, televised football and basketball games, colder weather and shorter days, and of course all of the eating.  The holidays are a big weight-gaining time for many people, which explains why the most common New Years Resolution is "to work out more and lose weight". 

During the holidays, my goal is not to get lean and lose weight, per say.  Instead, my goal is to maintain my weight and fitness without losing out on holiday festivities (and of course, the meals).  I enjoy the food and the football too much to miss it, and I'm comfortable with that.  Look, I'm a realist, and reality is I am not going to be able to say no to Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas feast, not going to happen!  (Note: If you are looking for someone to suggest you starve yourself through Thanksgiving and the new year in the name of weight loss, then this is not the blog post for you).  But... I can still be sensible and not get too crazy or give up exercising.  I can also use the time in between each holiday to get back on track.

Thus, to set myself up for success, I have adopted a strategy. After all, those who fail to plan plan to fail.  I call them my "Three Keys to Success in Avoiding the Holiday Bulge" and here they are:

1. Go hard until Thanksgiving:  Until Thanksgiving Day, I get very strict on my diet and exercise regimen to lose as much weight as possible.  This means doing all of the things we've talked about -- eating clean, prepping meals for the week, eating 5 - 6 smaller meals per day to boost metabolism, doing intense cardio 2 - 3 times per week and weight training 3 - 4 times per week, drinking a lot of water, and avoiding alcohol.
2. Go ahead and splurge, but not EVERY day:  Thanksgiving Feast is my favorite.  In my family, we have ham AND turkey, our secret recipe meat stuffing, macaroni and cheese, pie, and a ton of other things.  Unless you have a family of health nuts, or you plan on skipping out on your Thanksgiving plate, overeating on Thanksgiving is inevitable.  To me, this is my cheat meal. But the day after, I am back in the gym to get back on track until Christmas.  The same with Christmas -- I use the week before New Years to get back on track.
3. Get active with the family:  Find ways to incorporate physical activity in to your holiday festivities. The weather can make this one tricky, but finding ways to get active with your family is a great idea for the holidays. In my family, for Thanksgiving, we typically go outside and throw the football which is really fun.  For Christmas, since my brother and cousins are home, we'll often go play indoor basketball or workout together which is also a great idea.

Not rocket science, but pretty important.  Why would you spend two months gaining a bunch of weight that will take you a year or longer to lose?  You can still enjoy yourself, but in  moderation, and with a plan.  Just a thought.