Receta 5 Tips for Surviving the Holidays
5 Tips for Surviving the Holidays
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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving which means the ‘holidays’ are officially here. But for those of us with health, fitness, and/or weight loss goals, the holidays can feel a bit tricky.
So I wanted to share some of the strategies I plan to use to help get me to the new year (without gaining 15 pounds!).
Do not try to be perfect. Remember the goal is not to get through the next few weeks, never having a glass of wine or a Christmas cookie. Holidays are to be celebrated and food and drink (in my opinion) are a part of that celebration. And if your goal is to keep your diet 100% clean throughout the holidays, it’s very unlikely that you are going to achieve that goal which then creates those awful feelings of failure and guilt and shame, leaving us in a negative emotional space. And remember, we can never take positive action from negative emotions, so don’t even attempt to begin this season trying to be perfect.
Want what you want. Pretty much everywhere you turn during the next 8 weeks there will be some sort of treat or sweet staring back at you. Now for me, I have this little switch that goes off in my brain telling me I have to eat it all because it’s the only time I can. And I have to catch myself because that’s just not true! We really can eat cookies and eggnog all year round –I promise – they are always available to us if we want them. So before you eat something, notice if you REALLY want it or if you are eating it because you are telling yourself this is the only time you can have it. Make sure that you want what you want.
Pick your parties or pick your poison at your party. There are a lot of festivities coming up, so rather than going all in for the next six weeks, I either pick my parties and set boundaries, or pick my poison at the party. For example, I would much rather indulge at a holiday dinner that I have planned with my girlfriends (have a couple of cocktails and try a new restaurant) then I would at a holiday party for something that is work related. So I pick and choose where I’m going to cut loose, rather than throwing the towel in and doing it all.
Keep it extra clean at home. The holidays are the holidays. There are going to be a lot of things that are out of our control but the one thing you can control is what happens in your house. Keep your non-celebratory moments extra clean. Lots of kale salad and veggie soups will be happening in my house during the holidays
Be kind- and learn. You’re going to have slip ups. All of the awareness and planning in the world can not protect you from being human. Instead of trying to sweep the slip-ups under the rug, look at them as an opportunity to learn more about yourself. What strategy did you set up for yourself that didn’t work? Instead of looking at it as a failure, ask yourself how could this have worked better for me? Don’t think about what you think you should be doing, really ask yourself what you want to do and then find a way to make it work for you.
These are some of the strategies that I’ll be using throughout the next few weeks but I would LOVE to hear from you. What types of tips and ideas to you have for enjoying your holidays while keeping your health goals in check?