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Don't let the holidays become something that stress you out around health and fitness goals. In this episode, I go over 8 tips to make the holidays more enjoyable! Let's cover some different healthy mindsets, and bring some perspective to the holiday season!
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Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!
Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a longtime fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. In combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. 1s Hello and welcome back to another episode of the fit for hiking podcast. Today we are going to be talking about the holidays, so if you're pressing play on this, it's most likely because you might be feeling a little stressed, a little bit overwhelmed heading into the holiday season, trying to figure out how to balance, you know, enjoying really savoring the season, treating yourself, but also still keeping your health goals at the forefront and really honoring your intentions for your health or your body for maybe some physique goals going into the holidays, how do we balance both? Well, and that's what we're going to be talking about today. Because let's be honest, it can feel very daunting, especially if you've been on a health journey for a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months now, and you're looking at all of your social events and all of the opportunities to indulge that you're going to inevitably have throughout the holidays. And it can feel like there's no way that you can get through this without totally derailing your health goals. But that is simply not the case. And that is what we're going to dig in today, so that you can just have some tools in your back pocket to feel prepared to show up for some of these social things with a healthy mindset and some ideas of how you can approach this in a very balanced manner. Okay, so without further ado, let's talk about eight healthy holiday tips that will allow you to go through the holidays. Feeling good? Really still enjoying things the way that you would like to without feeling like you have to start from scratch again January 1st because nobody wants to feel that way. It's the worst. We want to just kind of keep our healthy momentum going and not skip a beat during the holidays. All right. So let's talk about our eight tips for doing that. Number one is to avoid turning the next two months essentially into this all or nothing screw it mindset because it's the holidays right? It's so easy to just think like. Oh, well, I can't possibly, you know, maintain my healthy routines because I can't control every single variable. So I'm just going to not worry about it. I'm going to completely, quote unquote, fall off the wagon during the holidays, and then I'll jump back on for the January 1st New Year's resolution wave. Trust me, that is not the route you want to go, because this mindset is just going to kind of perpetuate, and it's going to be really hard to break that all or nothing mindset. So I want to look at the numbers here, because sometimes this can be really reassuring when we actually look at the facts of what we're up against throughout the holidays. So say you have a maximum of like three Thanksgiving meals, maybe like some Friendsgiving as a family thing that you're attending throughout the month of November, and then maybe like 4 to 5 celebratory Christmas meals and parties, give or take, right? It might look different for you. You might have more, you might have less. But let's say that you have an average of like 6 to 10 meals out of 183 meals in the months of November and December. Now, that's if you're eating three meals a day in November and December. That's how many meals there are 183. When you look at it that way, there's only 8 to 10 of these meals that are going to be extra indulgent and celebratory, and maybe you're eating a bit more than you normally are, or you can't control the variables. It kind of loses its power, doesn't it? Because you realize that's such a small percentage of the meals that you're actually eating during the holiday months. Now, if we just give them all this power and say, well, because I have eight functions, I simply can't eat healthy during the holidays, then yes, that's going to bleed into your other 173 meals, give or take, throughout the month, because you're probably going to have that kind of like all or nothing. Screw it. I've already ruined everything mindset, and that's going to really take a toll on the other meals that you're eating. If you simply look at it for what it is and say, yeah, if I'm only having like eight celebratory meals across these two months, it's probably not going to derail my progress that much. Like, I can roll with this and just eat healthy the rest of the time, then that is going to really save you from this all or nothing mindset and giving these few meals so much power, which is what we tend to do. We build them up in our minds of like, oh gosh, like I'm not going to be able to get through the holidays without gaining tons of weight or whatever it is that you're worried about with your health. And truly like this all or nothing way of thinking is going to keep you very, very stuck beyond just the holidays. Like if we're constantly on or off based on vacations or based on celebratory things, then yeah, we're going to constantly feel like we're starting over again, which sucks and is just not the right mindset that we want to have if we want sustainable, lifelong health. So what should we do instead? Eat like a normal human most of the time and enjoy those 7 to 8 special occasion meals. Don't let them turn into feeling guilty and saying effort. What you do most of the time is going to affect the outcome so much. More than eight out of 183 meals. So really keep that in perspective. When you start to get freaked out by the fact that you overate at a holiday meal, okay? And then just focus on dialing it in with those other meals. Spend more time cooking at home, meal prepping, building balanced plates of, you know, normal sized portions of protein, carbs, veggies, and fats. Mind your portion sizes when you can help it, knowing that you're probably going to have more than normal of a special occasion type of meal during these months. So when you can control the variables, eat as healthy as you can at home, and maybe don't go out to eat as much because you're already going to be going to extra parties and functions and things like that. That is probably my number one tip, you guys. That's why I listed it first, is so important to have this mindset and not give those meals so much power. Okay. So tip number two is to say no to at least half. Of the alcoholic beverages that you're offered, or say no to drinking. Maybe like half of the opportunities that you get. Okay, chances are, during the holidays, alcohol is going to be more available than normal. There's going to be more like celebrations, parties, drinking. It's just going to be easier to say yes to the extra drinks that are offered when you're in these settings. And this is not only not great for just overall health in general, but it can also affect the food choices that you're making. Your sleep quality, even just one drink, can drastically reduce the amount of REM cycles that you're having that night, and your ability to start your morning strong. Like we're probably just not thriving if we're low key hungover, right? So say no to half of the drinks that are offered to you in this holiday season. That is a really big pro tip, because otherwise it's easy to just say yes to all the things. And a lot of these alcoholic beverages around the holidays are very calorie lated. They're very sweet, very indulgent. And if we're just saying yes to all the things like that's going to rack up our calories really quickly, as well as just like, not leave us feeling the best the next day. You can also avoid drinking at home, like if you or someone who just likes to have a glass of wine in the evenings, maybe you kind of avoid that during the holidays because you know that you're going to be attending more social outings and things like that than normal, and you're going to want to enjoy beverages at that. It's all about the give and take. It's all about the balance. So if you want to say yes, maybe that weekend, maybe you say no during the week, but we just can't say yes to all the things all the time and expect to feel our best. So the 5050 rule is really helpful not only during the holidays with alcohol, but honestly, just all the time. I've been working on this with myself of just like yes, just because alcohol is offered doesn't mean I have to say yes, and practicing saying no and going with a mocktail instead half of the time. Number three is have what you love. Leave what you like. Let me say that again. Have what you love. Leave what you like. I've lived by this holiday mantra for like a decade now and I find it so helpful. So let me explain kind of what this means. So there's going to be no shortage of holiday desserts, treats everywhere you look at events, maybe even the office and family functions. So it's easy to simply grab things out of convenience like they're just there. So you grab them. And here's how I approach this. I like to think about the holiday treats that are nostalgic and meaningful to me, like things that are special, right? Things that make me think of the holidays that I make with my family every year. So like eggnog we make every year, we have this like special egg casserole and Christmas cinnamon bread on Christmas morning. We love to make mulled wine and have like a Christmas cookie bake off thing where we watch White Christmas. All of these foods are like very traditional to me. They're very special. So these are things that I will say yes to every single year. Like, I'm not saying no to these special traditional items for myself. On the flip side, think about random store bought cookies or desserts that you're going to see out at events that aren't necessarily your favorite and they don't really hold any special meaning for you. Like think like store bought cookies that are just like in a tin and they're set out chocolate boxes, you know, random store bought eggnog, things like that. If they don't have very much significance for you and they're not your favorites, you just kind of like them. Like you could have them and it'd be fine. Say no to those things and then leave your yeses for the things that you love, for the things that feel really special, that make memories that are really ingrained in your holiday experience. This really helps me because otherwise, like, I have a sweet tooth, I'm going to say yes to all the things and like I mentioned with the last point around alcohol, like we likely can't say yes to every single thing, every single time. If we want optimal health, it's just not going to serve us well. Especially if you tend to overindulge in these things. It's not going to leave you feeling your best, and it's also going to make those special items feel more special. If we're saying yes to every single random Christmas cookie that we're offered, then when we go to make like special Christmas cookies with our family, then it's not going to feel quite as special. It's not going to feel as significant. So that has really helped me like prioritize the things that mean a lot to me and not worry about the random stuff that like, I could find anywhere and it doesn't hold any significance to me. So have what you love. Leave what you like. All right. Number four is to think moderation. The skill of moderating really is everything when it comes to having a healthy relationship with food in general. And you see this especially come into play during the holidays. Oftentimes people are like freaking out about the surplus of treats available because we don't believe in our own ability to have self control and to moderate. That's ultimately what it comes down to when we say, like, I can't have that in the house. I can't be around that stuff. It's because we don't trust that we can moderate it well or have self control. So that's when we, like, maybe keep our sweet treats out of the house and just say like, oh, I can't even be around that stuff. So I really want to encourage you, leading into the holidays, to start having these off limits foods around you and start having them frequently, like maybe even every day in small amounts. Because when you do this, they start to lose their power over you. You start to realize, like this is available to me 24 over seven. I don't need to overdo it because I could have the same amount again tomorrow. Like it's not that big of a deal, and it might take some time to kind of find that intuitive approach and to not overeat, because it's going to be a mental thing for a while. Right? It's not going to happen overnight. Um, but truly, this tactic of having these small amounts of treats and learning how to moderate is going to bleed into your social interactions, going to parties, going to holiday things, and realizing that you can have small amounts without stressing or feeling restricted. And you can absolutely still reach your physical fitness goals while having a cookie or a piece of chocolate or two every single day. Like I am a walking proof of this I have. I love like those Lindor truffles. I'm like on a big chocolate cake right now, and I have those every single night, 1 or 2, and I still maintain my weight pretty easily. I don't have, you know, like a walking eight pack, but I am fairly lean for my build and I'm really happy with my body right now. And I also am really happy with my relationship with food, and that matters so much more to me than almost anything else, because I know what it's like to feel really out of control around certain foods, feel very stressed about walking into social things because I don't trust my ability to moderate and to practice self control. So this is a skill that takes time and it has to start with your mindset. But this is definitely something that's going to serve you well for holiday after holiday after holiday. So don't put off working on this. It matters so, so much. All right. Number five is to focus on maintenance during the holidays. So depending on how disciplined you really want to be during the holidays, this may be a season of maintaining your progress and your habits and your physique. Instead of a season of like reaching major goals, making all these new changes, establishing new habits, and losing weight depending on what your health goals are. Right? And that's okay. Maintaining during the holidays is honestly a massive win that we need to celebrate because it keeps you in motion heading into the new year and you're not starting from square one all over again. You're not giving into the all or nothing mindset that's so prevalent around like your health, food and exercise all around us and so oftentimes awfully often times just simply setting this intention of I just want to kind of maintain, do what I can to stay right where I am through the holidays, and then I can hit a little harder afterwards, if that's what aligns with my goals, is going to really alleviate some of that unnecessary pressure that we put on ourselves. And it's going to alleviate that mental stress that kind of sets you up to fail instead of succeed. So if we can just say like, that's my intention, I want to maintain, I want to be able to still do you know, x, y, z amount of workouts throughout the week. I want to maintain my weight. I want to maintain these habits. I'm not going to start shooting for the stars over the next month and trying to establish all these crazy new habits. I'm not going to try to lose weight during this time, but I'm simply going to try to maintain. Then you're setting yourself up to succeed, to still enjoy the holidays, to not feel like a failure, for eating extra calories at your family. You know, cookie Bake Off. I think that this can really be helpful from a mindset standpoint during the holidays. And then keep those promises to yourself, right? Set the intention, set realistic intentions, and then keep those promises. When we repeatedly break our intentions or our promises to ourselves, we start to lose faith in our ability to follow through with what we aim to do. That's why setting realistic intentions is so crucial. This is why I don't really advise people to like immediately out of the gate, shoot for, you know, five, six workouts a week, right? When they're starting a workout regimen. Like, why don't we start with two? And you nail that consistently? Because if you start out and then you fall off because you can't maintain it, then you're just going to keep breaking promises to yourself. And that really starts to break trust. You start losing confidence in yourself, ultimately. 1s So we got to set these appropriate intentions. So crucial. All right. Number six is to remember that something is always better than nothing. I would say that this is like one of my life mantras. I tell myself this on a daily basis. I tell my clients this a lot because I feel like perfectionism really is the enemy of our health journeys. When we try to be perfect with something, when we try to be extremely rigid, we are setting ourselves up to fail ourselves, which sucks. Going back to what I was just talking about. Like we lose confidence. We lose faith in ourselves. During the holidays, you may be under, you know, more stress than normal. You're traveling more than normal, enjoying lots of social events, and that can potentially mess with your workout routine. So instead of just assuming that these months are going to be an automatic failure because you can't do everything perfectly, what we want to do is remember that something is always better than nothing, even if that something is something that feels insignificant and small, like going for a five minute walk. Write things like that. So here's how I apply this to my everyday life. I like to take frequent walks on the days when I can't get a workout in, so if it's a non workout day, I just can't do it. I'm going to go for more walks than normal. Focus on my steps, focus on like sometimes I'll literally set the microwave to like reheat my coffee and I'll do like jumping jacks until the the alarm goes off, like work in some extra movement in areas where you can, even if you feel a little bit silly, like it's your life, it's your health, do what you got to do. You can even recruit family members or friends for this after big meals, like going for walks after your, you know, Thanksgiving celebrations, things like that. 1s On. The next tip is to cut your workout in half. Even if you only get 15 to 20 minutes of a formal workout done, you're still stimulating the muscles, you're still keeping the habit going, and you're going to feel so much better afterward mentally, too, because you showed up, even if it wasn't exactly what you set out to do. I think this picture perfect view of like, what is actually good or worthy enough workout really holds so many of us back because we think, if I can't go to a physical gym and do an hour long workout, then it's not worth it to do anything. And this is such a like mindset thing that holds us back. It's a massive roadblock for so many of my clients as they get started, and it used to be for myself as well. And really adopting to something is better than nothing. Mindset around your workouts is going to change your life seriously. The next is to plan at least one physical activity during your trip or time with family, where you can't really hold on to your normal routine. So think about like a turkey trot or trying to work out class with a sibling. Do body weight workout with your significant other or somebody else in your family on the morning of a holiday, or like random afternoon of a holiday. Once things kind of simmer down and you're not doing your normal stuff going for a hike, going snowshoeing, going skiing. Depending on where you're spending your holidays, meeting a friend for a walk somewhere pretty excetera like there's so many different options for working in some movement, and it doesn't have to look like a formal workout to be valid or to get you moving. Um, and then working out 1 to 2 times a week is far better than skipping the entire week entirely, because you can't hit your typical five times per week workout. You can still do 1 to 2, and that's still going to reap a lot of benefits. Mindset is everything here, so really trying to move away from like, things have to look perfect in order for me to be good enough to show up at all. All right. Number seven build healthy, year round habits. If you have a healthy foundation of non-negotiable habits around health that simply become a part of who you are and what you do on a daily basis, a few holiday functions are not going to erase a full year of a healthy lifestyle. So you can really breathe easy, easy knowing that you showed up throughout the year to set yourself up for success. And that yeah, you might have more calories than normal. You might indulge more than normal, but you're really not going to stress about it because you know that your habits after the fact will regulate things again, and you're not going to have to take any extremes. You're not going to have to do a whole 30 starting on New Year's Day. You're not going to have to cut carbs for a month or whatever. Like you have the healthy foundation going into this. You have the healthy foundation through the holidays as well as after, and you're not going to be super affected by it. 1s Extra tip here is to avoid weighing yourself a ton during the holidays, because you're probably going to have more carbs, more salts, things like that than normal. So you're really going to hold on to a little bit extra water, and that can mess with the scale and that can mess with your head. So I would avoid weighing yourself during the holidays, because you're probably going to gain a few pounds of water weight, and it's not going to be a big deal, but it's going to feel not great right when you see that number. So if you are someone who weighs yourself frequently, I would maybe give it a little bit of a rest around your big holiday events. Okay. Number eight, our final tip here today is to get some accountability. Someone to strategize with during these times is so helpful, especially if you really are struggling with this for yourself and the mindset around it. Having someone to kind of talk through these situations that can be a bit triggering for you is going to go a long way. Yes, having family support, like friends or family as accountability partners is helpful, but sometimes these people are going to also be the same ones who try to convince you to kind of do whatever they want to do in a certain moment because they want to feel validated. They want someone to join in the fun with them or whatever it may be. And sometimes this might align with what you want to do in that moment. Like, you know, having some extra cookies with a loved one. But sometimes this might kind of go against what you want and need based on the goals and intentions that you set. So you kind of have to be able to separate yourself from what other people trying to drag you down a bit in these moments, if it doesn't align with what you actually are wanting in that moment. So this is where having an unbiased third party person, like a coach, like a mountain metabolic coach, to check in and come up with a game plan for you. That's going to be realistic while keeping you in check with your goals may be exactly what you need during this time. 1s To allow you to stay true to yourself and not backslide because it can be really tough. We all need accountability. Needing accountability doesn't make you weak. It actually makes you so much more honest than the average person. Most people are not honest with themselves about the fact that we all need accountability. Even coaches do like I need accountability because I can hold others accountable really well. But do I always hold myself accountable? Do I always show up and like follow through on my intentions? No. Like I'm a human. Everybody struggles in their own ways, so having accountability is so helpful. Don't wait until after the holidays either if you need that support. Like getting a coach beating up to the holidays is such a power move because if you can get healthy habits going during the holidays, healthy mindset stuff going during the holidays, think how much you're going to thrive in normal everyday life, not during the holidays. So that is my final tip for you guys. Get some accountability and invest in it. It's a such a worthy investment to take your health seriously and have someone who shows up for you unbiased, and can really challenge you in those ways. That's going to be huge. All right, you guys, I hope that these tips have been helpful. Truly, these have helped me so much over the years, really refine my approach and my mental state heading into the holidays so that I can enjoy things and not feel constantly stressed about gaining weight or feeling like I can't have fun and enjoy the holidays because of my health and like, really going to like one or the other extreme of just going all out or holding back and restricting and not really engaging like I want to. So hopefully this can help you find that middle road. And if you are looking for support going into the holidays, we are still running our Black Friday sale for Mountain Metabolic Coaching. So if you sign up for three months, you get one month on the back end for free. That's a $450 value. It's such an awesome promotion. So if you are interested in grabbing one of the final spots for that, they are going pretty quickly. So definitely head to the link in our show notes for the application. That's the best way to get the ball rolling and I will chat with you after you fill out that application form. All right, you guys have an amazing holiday season and I will see you on the next episode. 1s Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this. Be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at ponytail on a trail. Happy and healthy trails.