Hart’s Declassified Holiday Survival Guide
The holidays are a time of travel, fun, food, family, friends, more travel, drinks, more food, television, more travel, and most likely some more food! These are all great things and we should do our best to not stress about getting off track or losing progress. However, it can still be beneficial to keep some good habits in your back pocket. Especially if you have been making progress lately. The purpose of these tips and tricks is to keep those habits we’ve built, not to take away the fun holiday vibes.
Starting with the easier of the two topics… fitness.
We are going to simplify this best we can and talk about it more as movement. Get daily movement in. It could be a full blown workout yes, but when time or motivation is low try to spend a small amount of time each day moving. This might be a 20-30 minute walk or a bike ride around town with family. Maybe you are going to go on a run until Uncle Greg stops talking about politics… Whatever it is, make it simple and short. Motivation thrives on momentum so if we can keep a little bit of momentum through the holidays, we will come back to our normal Denver lives with more motivation than ever going into the New Year.
10-15 minute walk after each meal
Shrink your workouts from 60 minutes to about 20-30
Choose 2-3 body weight movements you enjoy for a 10-15 minute AMRAP
Explore different fitness classes in your hometown
Now for the hard part… food.
Holidays usually come with so many different foods. Being from the Midwest, I’m really only familiar with multiple different casseroles, but I have heard that people eat other food too. Whatever you and your family are making, there is no reason to cut it out or restrict it like crazy. However, with a few minor tweaks to our habits, we can hopefully stay on track if that is your goal.
Don’t show up to a holiday party starving.
Pick 2 instead of all 3: Alcohol, Dessert, and Seconds
A glass of water between every “non-water” beverage
Remember, fitness is supposed to make your life better, not turn you into the person weighing their mashed potatoes in front of grandma.
Eat the foods you love.
Hang out with people you care about.
Move your body.
And don’t stress!!
Hart