It is possible to enjoy the holidays and maintain your fitness …

The festivities and feasts of the holiday season will soon begin, but contrary to popular opinion, that does NOT mean you have to fall off the fitness wagon.

Let’s face it, many of us enjoy, want, and look forward to making the consumption of delectable delights a part of our holiday celebrations. There’s nothing wrong with that … as long as you’re rational about how you engage in your holiday celebrations.

So many people have all-or-none thinking about the holidays in one of two ways – some are so afraid of gaining weight by partaking in holiday food delights that they deny themselves what could be an enjoyment. Others rationalize they will indulge over the holiday season and then work overtime to lose the newly gained “holiday weight” in the new year (but usually don’t lose it all). Neither approach is necessary because it IS possible to enjoy the food festivities of the holiday season AND maintain your fitness. Whether or not you do is entirely up to you!

Let’s look at some things you can do to keep from falling off the fitness wagon while enjoying the holidays:

Get rid of the all-or-none mindset. Face the fact that being gluttonous is NOT necessary in order to enjoy the holidays, and just because you may come face-to-face with more than one massive spread of food doesn’t mean you have to suddenly surrender all measures of self-discipline. Make the choice to allow yourself to enjoy the holiday feasts with moderation and self-discipline. Doing so will allow you to enjoy some holiday pleasures without doing harm to your fitness, and that can be more enjoyable than splurging and feeling awful afterward.

Prioritize your fitness. People blame the extra busyness of the holiday season for a reduction in their fitness routines. Defeat that excuse by making maintaining your fitness a greater priority. One way of doing that is to move your fitness routines to being the first thing you do each day (second to your daily time in the Word and prayer). That way, you won’t have things that “come up” in your day that cause you to bump getting exercise or skipping the gym.

Plan ahead. Just like you grab your calendar and add the different holiday parties and outings you want to be part of, schedule your exercise or workout regimens so you’re sure to make time for them. If you will be traveling over the holidays, plan ways to exercise while away – that might include searching for gyms in the area you’ll be visiting where you can do drop-in workouts, or research walking/running trails, pack exercise bands to take with you for workouts, plan for activities such as sports, bike rides, and other active outings with family or friends. Be creative about making room for exercise and/or activity whether you will be traveling or staying home over the holidays.

Maybe you do need to crank up the exercise. If you’re intent on allowing yourself to indulge to the degree you will likely gain some weight, then crank up the exercise now, and maintain a high level of exercise and activity throughout most of the holiday season to help buffer against some anticipated indulgence. If you lose a few pounds now because you’re dead-set on gaining a few, that will be easier to handle than slacking off your exercise regimen, indulging, then actually having to get back into shape again.

Make wise choices. You won’t have to work so hard on the exercise end if you commit to making wise choices. That might mean convincing yourself enjoying the holiday feasts doesn’t mean spending an inordinate time at the dessert table. It definitely means that you can enjoy delectable delights every bit as much WITH portion control as without it (even more because you won’t have the miserable feeling indulgence will bring). Choose more of the healthy proteins and vegetables among the food spreads. Eat to satiety rather than continuing to stuff yourself.

Keep moving. The holidays can be extra busy, but we also tend to overly indulge in times of being downright sedentary as well. You’ll have a better chance of maintaining your fitness if you keep moving. Planning to watch a lot of football? Get up, move and stretch during commercials. Take a walk after dinner. Play some active games with family or friends if you’re indoors. The idea is not to become a “vegetable” but to move more throughout the holiday season.

Get as much buy-in from family and friends as possible. When making plans with family or friends for holiday feasts and festivities, suggest everyone support the idea of enjoying the food and festivities with moderation – cook a reasonable amount of food rather than an over abundance that tempts everyone to overeat. Make enough dessert to enjoy rather than a table of every imaginable pie, cake, and pastry known to mankind. If you all work together, you won’t be tempting each other with too much.

Be prepared to pay the piper. If you refuse to prioritize your fitness and insist on a gluttonous indulgence, expect negative consequences to your fitness. You can have a slice of cake and your fitness too, but you can’t eat the entire cake and expect no consequences from doing so.

Scotty