By: Leo Fontana
How to tackle the holidays and stay in shape!
Every year, we look forward to the Holidays, Thanksgiving right into Christmas, from pumpkin spice everything to turkey and pumpkin pie to everything in between then Christmas comes and we are right into some peppermint hot cocoa, Christmas cookies and all of your family’s favorites dishes and traditions. In our culture, being surrounded by family and friends means sharing meals with them, a lot of the time these meals aren’t the best foods for us, so how are you, the weird fitness person in your family, is going to manage making the best decisions without getting weird looks from your grandma or mom for not having second and thirds?! I hope this blog will help you make your family happy while not feeling like you need to do 10,000 burpees when you get back to the gym.
For those staying in town, plan on coming to the gym everyday that you can, take a rest day on the days that it will be way too hard to make it and try to make a class that wont affect your family functions, if you have a cousin in town that is more active than others, invite them to come to a class with you. A different option as well is going on a run, I understand it is cold but it might be nice to challenge your body to run in different conditions, just be careful with icy roads. Find a 30 min window that you can do a quick AMRAP, doing some sit up, push ups and air squats will instantly get you ready for the day and will make you feel better. There is always the option of doing 7 min of burpees don’t forget that. If it is literally impossible for you do do some exercises try to at least go on a walk or stretch, if you have a family that like to play board games maybe get down on a seated straddle while playing, do the couch stretch while watching Christmas with the Kranks (The one movie we watch every single year haha). Moral of the story, keep moving and stay active, don’t let your body sit for too long or stay stagnant, get some blood flowing.
For the nutrition part it can be a little more tricky. You will have to have more willpower and just have a guilt free conscious. We all know it is very, very challenging to eat perfect through the holidays, especially at other people’s houses and to be honest we don’t truly want to be 100% clean at this time of the year, if you want to have a slice of your grandmother’s pie that you can only have once a year, well have it! What I can try to tell you is that we should shoot to be about 80-20. 80% clean 20% not so much, I understand it is not an awesome ratio but I can tell you right now the average person that doesn’t exercise will be about 20-80. Have the thought that you are allowed to have anything you want, you do not need to deprive yourself of anything however, we need to be in control. Having a small slice of pie is okay, having a half of a pie is not and you will feel really sick, know that and be in control of it. When making your plate make sure to feel it with most protein and veggies, have some of the mashed potatoes and some of the stuffing with gravy but make sure to eat your protein (Turkey, steak, chicken) with your veggies first, this will make you feel full faster with the right nutrients. Then move on to the other foods that aren’t so great for you. Do that every meal and keep your snacking throughout the day handled, like choose foods lower in carbs to snack on, so almonds and nuts will be your best bet but before going for that handful think to yourself, am I really hungry right now or am I just bored? It’s fine to have some but when you snack all day that is what it can get dangerous, take control of that and be aware.
Lastly if you end up no following any of my advice and go crazy during a day or two and you feel guilty and not good about yourself, this does not mean you are a bad person nor it means that you can just show up on Monday and do welded RX and Lean and then starve yourself to “make it up” for the weekend. It does not work like that. In the situation of you not being able to control yourself and not able to stay active, come back to your healthy lifestyle the next day, eat your regular amount of meats and veggies, nuts and seeds, little starch and no sugar, o your class, go as hard as you can while being safe and your body will appreciate it, learn from that bad experience and be better next time, guilfree.
If you have any questions or concerns about this subject feel free to send me an email at [email protected] and I will be happy to chat with you and make sure you don’t feel guilty.
Have an awesome Holiday and I hope to see you all soon!!!