There’s no reason you have to live with the “I give up” response when the holidays arrive! I believe it’s about realigning your expectations. I recently shared some ideas on how to survive the holidays with some friends and wanted to share those with you too (although some of you are those friends so here’s a few reminders :)).
Holiday Exhaustion and Stress
If you’re responsible for the party planning and preparations around the holidays, learn to delegate. Sure, it may feel nice to hear compliments from everyone about the work you did, but is the stress and exhaustion worth it? Why not let everyone contribute and celebrate together!
You also have to remember that sleep is essential to good health and wellness. Study after study shows that when you don’t get enough sleep (or even sleep too much), you risk gaining weight and weakening your immune system (and thus making you susceptible to illness). Be cognizant of how much pressure and workload you’re putting on yourself. If it’s going to cause you to miss the sleep you need, get it off your list.
Stress (a topic we’ll explore deeper in a future blog posting) also causes unnecessary problems for you. When you become overwhelmed, your blood pressure may rise and your blood sugar levels may drop. It can take the pleasure out of the holiday activities you have planned with family and friends. Every time you feel overwhelmed, take a step back and come up with an alternative plan.
Here a few tips to try and avoid exhaustion and stress.
1. Pre-plan. Make a list of activities that always inevitably end up on your list around the holidays and plan now who is going to take care of those tasks.
2. Schedule time off. You may not be able to take a day off of work before the holidays but you can try to schedule “nothing” time for an evening or weekend. Do something you truly enjoy for yourself (read a book, get a massage, watch a favorite TV show or movie).
3. Exercise. Exercise helps alleviate stress, keep your immune system functioning properly, and burn off any potential excess calories.
4. Don’t over commit. This one can be very challenging. You want to help where you can and be involved in all the holiday activities. There are only so many hours in a day though so prioritize.
5. Relax and enjoy. The holidays are supposed to be fun! Utilize tactics you use throughout the year to stay calm - take a deep breath, stretch, grab a favorite drink (hot chocolate anyone!), or listen to music.
Holiday Health and Fitness
Instead of promising yourself to skip ALL of the tasty treats (which means you’ll end up over indulging in all of it), set realistic expectations with yourself. This can be a really challenging time of the year to try and lose weight. So ask yourself honestly if now is the right time to focus on weight loss or would you be better served by focusing on weight maintenance and making the best choices? Now, if you decide you can and will achieve weight loss, go for it!! And then share your secrets with us so we can learn too! :)
If you believe that because of the change in weather, the craziness (and busyness) of the holidays, and the probability of being around a lot of food, you don’t think you can focus on weight loss, let alone how to squeeze in exercise and saying “no” to treats, then set other goals. Set up a plan now so that come the new year, your resolutions revolve around something like saving money and not “figure out how to be healthy again.”
Here are some tips and ideas to healthiness during the holidays.
1. Since you’ll be busy, pre-plan. (Hey wait, it’s a double whammy! Pre-planning may help you avoid stress and maintain good health habits!) Pencil in workouts just like other appointments. Just like you wouldn’t blow off a hair cut or doctor's appointment, don’t miss a planned workout.
2. Be flexible. So you penciled in the workout and you missed it (because you know it’ll happen :)), look for any opportunity to squeeze in movement. While out running errands, spend 10 extra minutes walking around the mall or around the parking lot. Even if you can’t get in a heart-pumping, grueling cardio workout, ALL movement will be better than NONE during the holidays. Squat while you cook or shower, ab work while you watch TV or wrap presents - make it a game with yourself to see just how much movement you can work into the day.
3. Acknowledge that you will eat many special things during the holidays. For most people, trying to skip ALL treats leads to over indulging later. Instead, let yourself enjoy a few treats. Set expectations before you dig in. During Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, you’ll take a bite of everything (if you want everything). And you’ll start with one small scoop. If round one doesn’t fill you up (after slow, thoughtful eating), then you’ll do one more small scoop of the one or two things you want most. Still listen to your body - it will queue you when it’s done.
4. Prepare meals ahead of time. Just because you have Thanksgiving dinner planned or a holiday party with friends, doesn’t mean you have to “give up” the rest of the week. Plan out your meals carefully. Pre-cut and pre-cook foods so that when you are busy running last minute errands, you can easily make a meal or grab a healthy snack.
5. If you over indulge, don’t beat yourself up. So what. You don’t have to over indulge every day. That’s where planning can come in handy. If you have a nutritious meal lined up, then you simply get yourself back into your healthy routine and move on from it. It can be a very fun time of the year so enjoy it!!!
What other tips do you follow during the holidays? How do you handle holiday stress, exhaustion and maintaining a healthy lifestyle? Let me know over the next several weeks if you start falling off the bandwagon and need a helping hand back on. I’m happy to share more tips or advice on how to enjoy the holidays and not lose sight of your goals of living of a healthy lifestyle!
Miss FitGab
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