Staying on Track During the Holidays
So Halloween is over and the weather is starting to turn colder. Personally, it’s one of my favorite times of year as I know I’ll get to see family and friends over the holiday season. Typically all this celebration happens around the table sharing some of our favorite foods and stories about the memories we’ve shared. What it SHOULD NOT be is a time to stress when it comes to eating. Even if you’ve recently started on a fitness journey, there are ways to navigate these family meals with sense and minimize any harm done to the work you’ve put in so far.
Let’s get one thing straight, you can absolutely eat at these meals without getting fat, plain and simple. Yes, even the much anticipated pumpkin pie or stuffing with dressing is acceptable. The mindset behind this should be to concentrate on your family and not on your food. The more you worry about “not getting this food again” the more you’ll likely eat overall. Whereas if you have some awareness, eat while you talk with family and stop before you’re gasping for breath you’ll be perfectly fine.
Your body is already used to a certain amount of calories that you eat daily, so the easiest way to approach a larger meal is to sub it in for 1-2 other meals during the day. For example, if you know you’re having Thanksgiving lunch with family around noon, either skip breakfast or have a serving of protein only with your morning coffee. Is it an exact science? Not at all, but just generally eating less of other meals will give you peace of mind to enjoy your company at the bigger meals. Now if you want to really maximize the use of all those extra calories, get some exercise the day of the meal! Any workout is better than none, but higher rep and even full body workouts are more likely to help direct the storage mostly to muscle and less to fat.
At the end of the way, if you eat WAY more than you know to be acceptable, there is no avoiding some excess fat storage. However, using your fullness cues and a few extra reps during your workouts surrounding that meal will set you up for the best possible time with family while still enjoying your favorite family dishes. If you have more questions about holiday meals or your eating habits in general, feel free to reach out to me directly via Instagram or Facebook. Happy Fall y’all!
