I believe it was sometime in late September when I realized I could purchase all of the Christmas lights I would need for some sweet holiday exterior illumination at the local Walmart. The shelves were already stocked with Christmas decorations!
These days it feels like retailers are getting a bigger jump on the holiday season; A concept that we at Integrated Wellness Concepts believe in whole-heartedly. I have been personal training and coaching clients for over 20 years and there is one constant that remains the same each year as the leaves change colors. The holidays throw our lives into chaos.
Shopping, parties, family gatherings and food…lots and lots of food makes it incredibly difficult to maintain healthy lifestyle habits. Many will give up completely but after four or five cocktails on New Year’s Eve, make the same half-hearted commitments to make January the time to change it all. Well, what if we could give you some tips that would help you stay on track and limit the damage that hits Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day? Here are some outside-of- the-box concepts that will help you stay on track with your healthy behaviors and thrive this holiday season.
These days it feels like retailers are getting a bigger jump on the holiday season; A concept that we at Integrated Wellness Concepts believe in whole-heartedly. I have been personal training and coaching clients for over 20 years and there is one constant that remains the same each year as the leaves change colors. The holidays throw our lives into chaos.
Shopping, parties, family gatherings and food…lots and lots of food makes it incredibly difficult to maintain healthy lifestyle habits. Many will give up completely but after four or five cocktails on New Year’s Eve, make the same half-hearted commitments to make January the time to change it all. Well, what if we could give you some tips that would help you stay on track and limit the damage that hits Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day? Here are some outside-of- the-box concepts that will help you stay on track with your healthy behaviors and thrive this holiday season.
Dump the Halloween Candy:
Take it to the office, donate it to a charity…just get it out of the house. Sure it is just a mini-Snickers but mini doesn’t matter when you have eaten eight of them! Get rid of the temptation and get it out of the house.
Make the most of your time:
Most notably, the time between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Instead of slowing down, use these three weeks to ratchet your strategies up so your program is at its tip-top best. This means you are working out, meal prepping, drinking water, getting enough sleep, etc. Like a
champ. Athletes train to be in peak conditioning for their respective event. Have your program peaking and firing on all cylinders by Thanksgiving.
Practice the 85% rule and get really good at it:
This means you eat clean, healthy foods 85% of the time leaving 15% of the time to eat/drink whatever you want. Most of us have it backwards. We eat crappy 85% of the time and want a gold star when we eat a salad or piece of fruit. Try flipping those percentages. Pounds will fall off and when you do eat your favorite guilty pleasure foods, they will taste better than ever before because you will be eating them on your terms.
Fill up:
The simplest, go-to nutrition tip is to stay hydrated. Don’t ask me why it works.
It just does. Drink up. Seriously, I want you to have a water bottle with you at all times.
HIIT Your workouts:
Time is limited over the holidays making trips to the gym for your regular workouts problematic. If it gets too difficult, you will most likely skip the gym and that really shouldn’t be an option. High Intensity Interval Training workouts or HIITs are 25-30 minute routines that will give you the benefits of a full workout in half the time. They are hard but the concept is simple, elegant, and it works. Plus they can be done almost anywhere with limited equipment. If you need help creating a personalized HIIT contact us at iwcfitness@yahoo.com.
Think ahead:
Too often I see clients fail to think ahead and when that happens, they turn to easy things. This usually means grabbing a pizza or take out. Each week I ask them to tell me what their barriers are. What are the obstacles that are getting in their way of sticking to their program. We then brainstorm action items so we can help them work around the things that will prevent them from being successful.
This strategy should be your number one priority during the holiday season because without it, none of the above will matter. Think about the upcoming week and plan ahead.
Shake it up:
One should never live on a liquid diet but using a protein shake as a meal replacement to help offset calories is a
solid technique and will help limit the damage, especially on Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday parties.
Our favorite is Designs For Health Whey Cool Protein.
What are your favorite strategies to stay on track for the holidays?
Comment below and share your ideas!
Take it to the office, donate it to a charity…just get it out of the house. Sure it is just a mini-Snickers but mini doesn’t matter when you have eaten eight of them! Get rid of the temptation and get it out of the house.
Make the most of your time:
Most notably, the time between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Instead of slowing down, use these three weeks to ratchet your strategies up so your program is at its tip-top best. This means you are working out, meal prepping, drinking water, getting enough sleep, etc. Like a
champ. Athletes train to be in peak conditioning for their respective event. Have your program peaking and firing on all cylinders by Thanksgiving.
Practice the 85% rule and get really good at it:
This means you eat clean, healthy foods 85% of the time leaving 15% of the time to eat/drink whatever you want. Most of us have it backwards. We eat crappy 85% of the time and want a gold star when we eat a salad or piece of fruit. Try flipping those percentages. Pounds will fall off and when you do eat your favorite guilty pleasure foods, they will taste better than ever before because you will be eating them on your terms.
Fill up:
The simplest, go-to nutrition tip is to stay hydrated. Don’t ask me why it works.
It just does. Drink up. Seriously, I want you to have a water bottle with you at all times.
HIIT Your workouts:
Time is limited over the holidays making trips to the gym for your regular workouts problematic. If it gets too difficult, you will most likely skip the gym and that really shouldn’t be an option. High Intensity Interval Training workouts or HIITs are 25-30 minute routines that will give you the benefits of a full workout in half the time. They are hard but the concept is simple, elegant, and it works. Plus they can be done almost anywhere with limited equipment. If you need help creating a personalized HIIT contact us at iwcfitness@yahoo.com.
Think ahead:
Too often I see clients fail to think ahead and when that happens, they turn to easy things. This usually means grabbing a pizza or take out. Each week I ask them to tell me what their barriers are. What are the obstacles that are getting in their way of sticking to their program. We then brainstorm action items so we can help them work around the things that will prevent them from being successful.
This strategy should be your number one priority during the holiday season because without it, none of the above will matter. Think about the upcoming week and plan ahead.
Shake it up:
One should never live on a liquid diet but using a protein shake as a meal replacement to help offset calories is a
solid technique and will help limit the damage, especially on Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday parties.
Our favorite is Designs For Health Whey Cool Protein.
What are your favorite strategies to stay on track for the holidays?
Comment below and share your ideas!
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