How To Navigate The Holidays
By: Zach Colangelo
How should someone stay on track of their health and fitness goals during the holidays? The most common answers we see have to do with either restricting, bingeing, waiting until January 1st start over, treating it like a magical reset button.
Never Skip Meals: restriction can often backfire and lead to bingeing.
If dinner is at 5 pm, eat breakfast and lunch at normal times, but eat protein high foods. Breakfast could consist of 3 eggs, a serving of greek yogurt and a serving of fruit, lunch can include 4+ ounces of a lean meat and sautéed veggies and a snack could be a post workout protein shake! Therefore when dinner roles around we know we can consume most of our calories with friends and family in celebration!
Breakfast: Non-stick spray, 3 eggs, greek yogurt, berries
400 Calories / 34 grams of protein / 21 grams of carbs / 18 grams of fat
Lunch: Non-stick spray, 4 ounces chicken thigh and green beans
206 calories / 24 grams of protein / 13 grams of carbs / 7 grams of fat
“Healthy” Dish: What qualifies as a ‘healthy’ dish anyway? Is it healthy if it’s lower in calories? No carbs? High in protein?
In regards to the holidays, I would bet that ‘healthy’ means lower calories. If you know there will not be any lower calorie options for you to stay on track then offer to bring a dish of your own. Generally, the turkey is lower in calories, high in protein and goes well with Brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes.
Exercise: If you travel a lot for the holidays, your daily routine is already out the window.
10 minute walks throughout the day
If you normally workout for an hour, workout for 30, 20, or even 10 minutes at a time, something is better than nothing.
My go to workout when I am short on time:
As Many Rounds As Possible In 10 minutes
5 Burpees / 10 Push-Ups / 15 Bodyweight Squats
Savor Seasonal Treats: Save your favorite tasty treats and drinks for the holidays. Having these foods once or twice a year will NOT break your weight and you will enjoy them that much more during the holiday season.
Do Not Weigh Yourself: Not only will a couple of days not break your weight, it is impossible for gain body fat after one or two days of overindulging. The weight gain from overindulgence is the food from the day before, water, and sodium. All of these play a role in what scale says and the good news is, when you resume your normal dietary pattern after the holidays the scale will go back down! The body fat and weight gain comes from eating like its the holidays 1 or 2 months after the holidays.
Enjoy Yourself: If you are stressing about staying on track during the holidays, don’t. Holidays are meant for spending time with loved ones, keep it that way.
In health…and tasty treats and drinks,
Protocol10 Team