Holiday Nutrition

During the holidays many people consign themselves to the fate that they’re going to ‘get fat’ and completely destroy the hard work they’ve put into their fat loss results over the last year (or the last few months, depending on when they chose to start their ‘Summer Shred’). This does not have to be the case - and before you click off this article for a more uplifting read (maybe a Top 10 Cutest Holiday Pets compilation?) just know that…

I’M NOT SUGGESTING THAT YOU TRY AND FORCE YOURSELF TO DIET OVER THE HOLIDAYS AND GET WEIRD ABOUT YOUR FOOD!

Thanks for sticking with me. As a reward for your great work, enjoy this delightful image of a Christmas pup.

Firstly, let’s acknowledge some basic truths:

• The holidays are often a time that we catch up with friends and family and create some happy memories together and given the last few years we’ve had, we could all use a few more of those.

• One of the main ways that people share this time together is over a hearty meal – Christmas Day lunches in particular have been a big one for my family, and is a tradition I intend on keeping.

• The food choices (and portion sizes) that help us achieve and maintain our fat loss results typically aren’t featured too prominently in holiday meals

• Willpower is a limited resource – the more stress we are under, such as working more during November/December so we can take some time off, the less willpower we have to force ourselves to eat healthy (which is one of the reasons why I don’t typically recommend trying to rely on willpower and discipline alone to achieve your fat results)

Given these, it’s tempting for many people to say ‘stuff it’, throw out their typical eating routines and just feast on whatever they want for the majority of the holiday period, with the view that they’ll just ‘deal with it’ in January. Whilst I definitely understand what this is like, I’ve found over the years that there are a few key habits we can use to hold onto to our fat loss results whilst also enjoying the holidays – let’s dive in!

1.       Exercise Regularly

This seems like a no-brainer, but if you’ve been exercising 3-4+ times a week prior to the holidays then keep it up! How you do this is up to you – if you’re tired of going into the gym and want to get outdoors for some walks/runs (or you’ve been doing classes which have now stopped for the holidays) then by all means change it up in whatever way works for you. The main thing here is simply staying active – it’ll help keep your metabolism burning at a higher rate, as well as maintaining your fitness levels so that when you do return to your regular routine you’re not having to feel like you’re ‘starting all over again’ (even though you’re not really, it just feels like that).

How do you think Santa delivers all those present in one night? Huge arms, that’s how.

2.       Prioritise Protein

As well as helping us build and maintain muscle, the other big draw for maintaining protein consumption over the holidays is it helps us feel fuller for longer, taking up space in the stomach and digesting slower than carbs or fat. This is obviously beneficial each day for helping us control our calorie intake, but especially so when having a holiday meal like Christmas lunch. You don’t have to go all ‘gym-bro’ and eat nothing but chicken breast for your entire holiday period, simply aim to build each main meal around a lean protein source first, then veggies, then all the other stuff.

When in doubt, go for meat/chicken/fish.

3.       Eat veggies every day

In line with the previous point, aim to get in 1-2 palms of veggies each day. That’s about as specific as we need to get here, as when most people try to have some veggies each day they typically pair them with some sort of lean protein in a meal that is relatively calorie-controlled – and just like that, they’ve ensured that at least 1/3 of their meals over the holidays will help them maintain their fat loss results (assuming they eat 3 main meals a day).

Note: don’t make your daily serving of veggies based around potatoes, as they have a much higher carbohydrate and calorie load than your typical dark green leafy veggies.

 4.       Plan what days you want to relax your food choices

Rather than trying to be ‘perfect’ with your food, it’s much easier (and sustainable) to acknowledge that there will be days where you’re probably going to go over your recommended calorie intake for the day, and that’s ok! The trick here is slightly planning in advance what days you intend to relax your food choices, as this will both help you stay on track with your regular food habits around these days as well as allow you to actually enjoy the meal on the day without worrying about it or stressing yourself out as much about ‘staying on track’.

This doesn’t have to be how your Christmas day ends.

For myself, if I’m in a dieting phase around the holidays I’ll aim to have a big day of food on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as well as New Years Eve. That’s 3 big days of eating in a 7-day period, which I typically find enough to make me want to get back to my typical eating habits. On the days in between I aim for the previously mentioned guidelines of prioritising protein and getting in veggies every day, which helps stop me from turning 3 big days of eating into 7.

Whilst 3 days wouldn’t really have that big of an impact on your results (typically 8-9 days of being back on track would help bring you back to baseline here) an entire week of your eating being ‘off the rails’ could set you back 2 weeks or more, which is where the problems begin to stack up as we perceive the body change and loss of results to be much greater than it actually is, which leads to more big days of eating and less exercise, which leads to a bigger delay in getting back into your typical eating and exercise routine, which leads to… you get the idea.

These are the top 4 strategies I recommend to people (and use myself) to ensure that they can go into the end of the year with realistic expectations about how to approach their food, thus having a more relaxing holiday period with less stress and being better able to enjoy the company of their friends and family – and isn’t that what this time of year is all about?

Happy Holidays!

Alex