The Holidays are a time in which most people take some time off from their hectic work schedules to spend more time with their family and friends. Unfortunately the Holidays are also a time in which most people take time off from their diet and training in the gym as well.

As a Trainer, I’ve never quiet understood the reason as to why so many people back off from their workouts and clean eating over the Holiday Season. I mean one would think that with all the additional time off from work, that would leave even more time to exercise and meal prep accordingly. Alas, this is rarely if ever the case, as most people use the Holidays as an excuse to let both their diet and training, well…ummm….go to shit. 

The reality is that over the next few weeks, most people are going to eat crap, drink crap, and then feel like crap until the New Year, at which point they will make their resolutions to start fresh and get back on track with their health and fitness goals.

But my question is why allow yourself to get off track in the first place?

Tis The Season To Be Jolly

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most festive person when it comes to celebrating the Holidays. I mean up until about 3 years ago, I would work every Christmas Day until roughly 3pm. Now that I’m older, more tired, and have clients who are actually sane, I no longer work on Christmas Day. I do however work every other day though during the Holiday Season, including Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

With that said, I do understand that everyone deserves some time off from their jobs, however I still don’t understand as to why we need that same time off from our health. The body craves activity, and exercise is one of the best ways to ensure that it’s getting it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to spend every single day in the gym over your Holidays (although it wouldn’t hurt), it just means that you need to get outside and get moving. And by moving, I don’t mean walking around the malls all day shopping for gifts and looking for Boxing Day deals. I mean MOVING. As in getting your heart rate up, getting a sweat, and making your body MOVE.

Healthy Holiday Tips

Now I’m not going to sit here and lecture you about as to why you should be exercising and eating clean over the Holiday Season (I’ll save these lectures for my clients who are training with me on the floor over the next few weeks). I am however going to recommend that you follow a few basic tips to ensure that your waistline remains intact and that the scale doesn’t climb up into double digits within a few short weeks.

Healthy Holiday Tip #1 – More Calories = More Exercise

Calories are suppose to give us energy. Therefore if you plan on consuming additional calories over the next few weeks, then you should also plan on doing more exercise. Even though those calories from the box of chocolates you received from your Co-Worker are empty calories, use them to your advantage. Do 10 minutes more on the treadmill. Join a few more group fitness classes throughout the week. Lift heavier weights and rest less in between sets. Do anything and everything possible to ensure that you are burning all those additional calories that you consume so that you’re not left feeling guilty, bloated and flabby to start 2020.

Healthy Holiday Tip #2 – Eat Smart

I always preach to my clients of the importance of training smart, however rarely do I speak about the importance of eating smart. We all know that we should eat healthy, however we also all know that most of us won’t be doing very much healthy eating over the next few weeks. Therefore, if you’re not going to eat healthy, the least you can do is eat smart.

Have your sweets and enjoy your booze, but do it in moderation. Plan out your cheat meals accordingly. For every bad meal that you have, make sure that you have a good one to match it. This will ensure that you don’t overindulge on the bad foods as you will be filling up on the good foods as well.

As a rule of thumb, I always recommend to my clients to have their cheat meals towards the end of the day, so that they are less likely to binge throughout the entire day. During the Holidays, what I will do, is keep my diet clean for the first 90% of the day, and then allow myself something that I’ve been craving as one of my last meals. By the time I’ve consumed 4-5 clean meals, I rarely have enough room to even allow myself to overindulge on the bad food. This strategy has worked well for me over the past two decades, as I’ve never struggled with my weight during the Holiday Season.

Healthy Holiday Tip #3 – Don’t Stop!

It’s seems as if this is the time of year where people in general, just stop doing stuff. Whether it be eating shit everyday or being inconsistent with their training, things just start to slow down towards the end of the year.

I think this is largely due because most people have it in their minds that they will start back up on their diet and their training in January. However I strongly believe that you should not think like this, as there really is no need to stop what you’re currently doing in the gym and with your diet, regardless of what time of year it is.

Yes, you can enjoy Christmas for a few days where you let go a little – but this does not mean you should write the entire month of December off. In my opinion, if you do this, you are throwing away a lot of the hard work that you have done within the past 12 months, and you really are just making things more difficult for yourself in the New Year.

I suggest that you continue along with your training as normal, as this will help you avoid too much weight gain from the food that you consume over the holidays.

So Be Good For Goodness Sake!

Remember, when it comes to your diet and your training, there really is no reason as to why you can’t stay on track until the festive period really begins. Don’t use Christmas as an excuse to start pigging out now!

I wanted to write this week’s blog because I currently have over 5,000 people on my mailing list that these blogs are sent out to each week. And if I can influence just 10% of these people to stay on track with their diets and training this holiday season, then I would consider this week’s blog to be a success.

Yours in Good Health and Happy Holidays!
Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance