For many this pandemic has already pushed the waistline and stress levels to new heights. Now we have the holidays upon us with more opportunity to expand the waistline even more- but it doesn’t have to…

We want to share a few ideas on how to approach the holiday season without backsliding too much and managing to have some fun at the same time!

Start by setting a HEALTHY holiday MINDSET! This might be the most important idea I’m going to share and help navigate the challenges of the holidays.

Let’s be honest, we want our clients to always have a healthy mindset but heading into the holidays is a great time to have a clear mental blueprint.

Be mindful of:

  1. Chewing each bite thoroughly.
  2. Not consuming too much sugar or processed foods. This is where the calories add up and your gut can become inflamed.
  3. Stopping at 80% full. This is a big one over the holidays. If we are not mindful of how much food we are actually taking in, we can over consume and end up putting on 10 pounds over the holidays instead of just a couple pounds that can easily be shed.

 

When keeping this holiday weight gain game simple, it’s the same as any other time of the year. If we consume more energy than we use, our weight goes up and if we consume less, it goes down. I’m of course over-simplifying it but, really, that’s what it comes down to.

 

Keys to success:

 

  • Get out for a brisk walk on the days of big meals. Really, any day is a good day for a healthy walk!

 

  • Get your workout in! There is no better day to get your training done than on days where you plan on having a larger meal. You prep your cells by depleting them of glycogen to make space for the cheat meal that’s about to happen.

 

  • Plan your cheat meal. I say cheat meal, but it’s healthy for us to love every minute and not beat ourselves up for enjoying our holiday indulgences. Instead of feeling like we are not being “perfect” we can plan and have a healthy mindset around our cheat meals. I repeat, if we eat it, we might as well have a healthy thought around the consumption.

 

  • Many calories are consumed in liquid form so count them in your overall volume for the day.

 

  • Have some fun and be present. The mistake people make over the holidays is that they keep going after that initial holiday meal. One meal doesn’t do much harm and can actually help if you have been low calorically leading up to the big meal. This is why having the mindset of I’m going to be present and mindful of your approach to eating and volume can pay major dividends! If you have the, I’m going to check out mindset, when you check back in, you might not like the numbers on the scale. Ask yourself what mindset is going to healthiest for me. When I say healthiest, I’m not just talking about nutrition but doing something that brings you happiness, relaxation and connect with others.

 

To be honest, this year, my mindset is simple. That’s to enjoy the relaxation and appreciate all the yummy food my wife and I will be cooking. Some wine will be had, and I will be prepped to handle a high caloric day because of my lower caloric days leading up to Thanksgiving. I will also have my four workouts under my belt before chilling on Thursday! I’m sharing my approach because you too have the opportunity to create a strategy that will save you pounds while counting down to 2021 and setting your mindset now will help immensely.

And of course, if you need a coach or trainer, our Nimble team is here for you; in-studio and virtually.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daniel