Work the Plan: 5 Steps for Crushing your Holidays!
Grab your calendars, sit down and buckle up! The holidays are full of social events, which is part of what makes them so fun. And, we get it, focusing on friends and family is tricky if you’re stressed about sticking to your nutrition plan and are constantly surrounded by tempting treats. Thankfully, we’ve got just the gift for you. Here is a step-by-step way to ensure you crush it this holiday season and for any special event:
Step 1: Define Success.
Head into the holiday season with a clear vision of what success looks like for you.
This will give you a north star when you’re making decisions about where, when and if you’d like to indulge.
Q: How would you like to feel on January 1st when the hustle and bustle of the holiday season ends? Describing your feelings and defining your own success will allow you to clearly assess if your actions are bringing you closer or further from this vision. Then, you can tweak and change behavior accordingly!
Step 2: Prioritize.
Grab a calendar, write down all of your engagements and commitments and prioritize! Depending on the vision you’ve created and the level of flexibility that vision allows, you can decide which holiday events are most important to you.
Q: Here are some questions to ask yourself:
What foods can you get any time of the year? Think store-bought brownies at the office party.
Which foods are truly special and only come around during the holidays? Think grandma’s Thanksgiving pie or your Dad’s special eggnog.
When will it be easiest to stay on track? Think restaurant meals with menu options or potlucks that allow you to pick what goes on your plate.
When would you like to be more lenient? These are probably the occasions when those special foods may be around! Think the biggest.
Once you have the dates laid out, decide where and when you want to indulge and when it makes the most sense to stick to the healthiest options possible.
Step 3: Optimize.
Consistency over time is where the magic happens. To ensure that a few more indulgent meals don’t add up and slow down your journey to your goals, optimize the days when you don’t have much going on and really commit to making healthy choices that fuel your body.
Step 4: Create Accountability.
Partner, friend, me; you name it! Announcing and inviting others to join you will let them hold you accountable when you’re needing a little extra support to stick with it. As an added bonus, telling others about your goals will also make them more real for you. It’s so fun when you can recruit a buddy/roommate/spouse to take accountability as a team- you can make it fun and turn it into your own team challenge. You know what’s really easy? Bailing on a silent commitment to yourself that no one else knows about and for which you have zero accountability. Humans are social creatures. Accountability to other humans is a powerful form of leverage in following through on your commitments. This can be as simple as having classes or training sessions scheduled in advance. It can mean working with a coach who will check in with you. It can even be a public declaration to a supportive community to create some psychological momentum. No matter how you slice it, best not to chart these seasonal waters on your lonesome.
Step 5: Trust (and Be Kind to) Yourself.
No one is perfect and it’s important to remember that balance and flexibility are necessary parts of any lifestyle habit that is going to stick long term. Remember that the hard work you’ve been putting into getting to know your body and what makes it tick isn’t going anywhere this season and it will always be there for you to come back to!
Let's Go a Little Deeper Shall We?
How to Plan (and Enjoy!) Your Indulgences
Holidays mean it’s time to celebrate!! And lest you end up in county jail, it’s ok to use food and drink as a form of enjoyment and connecting with loved ones.
Holidays are powerful because humans need rituals. And for most of us, certain holiday treats are a part of that ritual. Food isn’t JUST calories or fuel. Food has qualitative elements that connect us with our family, community, culture, and tradition.
Thanksgiving GOOP will always remind me of my grandma. And while I won’t eat it every day, you better believe I’m gonna enjoy it when I do. And while it’s not wrong to occasionally have some spontaneous snacks, it’s a lovely thing to enjoy them in a conscious and intentional fashion. Make ‘em count!
SAMPLE 3-5 DAY PLAN LEADING UP TO YOUR EVENT COULD LOOK LIKE...
As we always say at FUELhouse, "Plan the work; work the plan." When leading up to a special meal, party, or trip, I like to approach it like I’m preparing for a race or competition where I need to be at peak performance day of. Preparation is key. In this case I need to make sure I’m making the healthiest lifestyle choices possible so I can walk into “game day” at my best. Here is how I prepare 5-7 days out for any special occasion:
SWEAT: Consistent exercise is always going to be a good choice. Yes, the goal is to burn some extra calories. But you’ll also make your heart healthier, improve your sleep, brighten up your mood, make your bones denser, and do all sorts of other magical things by adding in daily physical activity. Since the issue is often time management, consider scheduling your workouts a week or two in advance so you can bob and weave around holiday plans. Does this time of year wreak bloody havoc on your well-intentioned weekday evening plans? Consider leaning more heavily on morning and/or weekend workouts. To avoid reversing the good habits you've started, I recommend doubling good habits the week before heading into a big event! I map my week out and add 30-45 min of a mixture of HIIT/ steady state cardio/ power walk everyday leading up to the event in addition to my FUELhouse/peloton/rower/treadmill workouts!
2. FUEL: Try for 3 balanced, plant-forward meals/day (making 1-2 of the meals liquid based to give your digestive tract a break from all the extra work it’s under especially during the holidays). I typically have a smoothie for breakfast, a big ass salad for lunc3h and a healthy soup for dinner). Remember to chew your food to applesauce consistency (about 20-30 chews, putting your fork down between each bite. Learn why here.)
DAILY PORTIONS TO CONSIDER:
Fruits- 1 serving a day (small apple/pear or 1 cup of berries)
Vegetables/Greens/Salad: Should fill 50-75% of your plate at 3 meals
Eggs: no more than 2 day and eat the whole egg if eggs agree with you
Meat: Think of meat and animal products as condiments or, as Dr. Mark Hyman likes to call them, “condi-meat” — not a main course. Vegetables should take center stage, and meat should be the side dish. Four to six ounce servings, tops per meal. I often make 3-4 vegetable side dishes. Read more here.
Yogurt/Kefir: 4-6 oz daily if it agrees with you
Read labels.... sugar is in everything.
Alcohol- save for the weekend if you plan to drink and consider less wine. Clearer alcohols with no sugar like Vodka Sodas.
3. HYDRATE: I like to start each day with lemon water and consume half my body weight up to a gallon of water per day (flavor with lemon, cucumber, mint, pineapple, etc for taste). I also drink herbal detox or dandelion tea on most days! (read more here)
4. REST: get to bed early and rise with the sun! Get 7-8 hrs restful sleep/night.
GAMEDAY:
MOVE: 45-60min FUELhouse workout/peloton/walk-jog/jog/power walk.
HYDRATE: drink lemon water when you rise and drink 60-80 oz water before noon. I put chlorophyll in my water almost daily but I double or triple consumption on drinking days and the day after (really helps me recover from the booze)!
FUEL: Eat a healthy breakfast... whole grain overnight oats/gluten free oatmeal, smoothie, or egg scramble with TONS OF VEGGIES. With the holidays comes a lot of stress around staying fit. There will be a lot of food, alcohol, and desserts that can lead to a slippery slope of overeating and overindulging. We’ve all been there. Just keep this in mind: One meal won’t change a thing. Enjoy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the desserts. Enjoy leftovers the next day.
You know what will derail your goals? Using Thanksgiving or any holiday as an excuse to NOT get back to your routine once the festivities are over. Enjoying the holidays is OK, but what are you doing every other day between now and the end of the year to truly stay on track?
Will you get right back on track the Saturday, Sunday, or Monday after Thanksgiving? Or will you just throw your hands up in the air and wait for the new year? That’s ultimately up to you.
Have All The Fun!
Seasonal rituals are one of the most magical parts of being a human. Particularly after the strange two years we’ve all had, you deserve to live a lil’.
Sure, get in your workouts and eat some salads. You won’t be happy with yourself if you go completely off the train tracks. Feeling out-of-control with your fitness has a negative impact on your body, brain, and feelings.
But at the same time, it’s my deepest hope that you find some time to connect with loved ones, enjoy (or create!) some traditions, and for the love of all that’s holy, eat some delicious cookies.
Need additional support? Book a 20 min FREE Health Coaching call with Molly!