Have a plan for each holiday meal, enjoy it, and get back to your normal the next morning. That is the whole strategy. The holidays feel like two months of damage, but they are a handful of meals. The rest of your year decides your health.
The holidays are about 10 meals
Three meals a day is 1,095 meals a year. Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and five or so parties add up to about 10 of them. That is less than 1%.
One big meal won’t erase your progress. One good meal won’t build it either. What you do from January 1 to October 30 shapes your body composition, your energy and your health.
That cuts both ways. A study from the National Institutes of Health weighed adults before and after the holidays. The average gain was under a pound. The problem: a year later it was still there. Small gains that never come back off are how most adults put on weight over a decade.
The goal for the holidays is simple. Enjoy the 10 meals, and do not let them turn into 10 weeks.
Five rules for any party or holiday dinner
1. Never show up hungry
Eat protein and vegetables before you go. A party with nothing but chips and cookies is hard to handle on an empty stomach and easy on a full one. If you know the food will be thin on good options, bring a dish yourself.
2. Protein and veggies first
At Thanksgiving, fill the first plate with turkey and green beans. Eat that, drink a glass of water, then go back for the stuffing, the casserole and the rolls. You will still enjoy all of it, and you will eat less of it.
3. Water first
One glass of water when you walk in, before you eat anything. One before each plate. One between every alcoholic drink. It slows the night down and you feel better the next morning.
4. Pick your one treat ahead of time
Decide before you walk in: one appetizer, one side, one dessert, one drink. Then ask one question about everything else on the table: is this special? Grandma’s pie once a year is special. Store-bought cookies you can buy any Tuesday are not. Have the special thing and skip the rest.
Deciding ahead of time takes the stress out of the night. You are not negotiating with yourself at the dessert table.
5. Move first on the big days
Train the morning of Thanksgiving. Take a family walk after dinner. Neither one burns off a holiday meal, and that is not the point. Moving first sets the tone for the day, and a walk after dinner beats a nap on the couch.
How you want to feel tomorrow
Every one of those rules comes back to one question: how do I want to feel tomorrow morning? Make the choice that answers it.
You are in control here. You can bring your own food. You can say “no thanks” to a second plate, and “no” is a complete sentence. Nobody at the party is keeping score.
Do not wait until January to start
If you are thinking about getting in shape, the holidays are a reason to start now.
Researchers at University College London found that a new habit takes about 66 days on average to feel automatic. Start the first week of November and your habit is built by early January, before the New Year’s crowd shows up. Strava calls the second Friday in January “Quitter’s Day,” the day most fitness resolutions fall off. You will already be past it.
A routine you build around Thanksgiving, school parties and travel holds up the rest of the year. If you want a January plan too, read Choose Your Discomfort: One Hard Thing for January.
Questions we hear every holiday season
Should I skip workouts during the holidays? No. Keep your normal training days wherever you can. A short workout on a busy day beats a skipped one, and one missed day does not break a habit. Missing twice starts a new one.
Is it OK to eat dessert at Thanksgiving? Yes. Pick the one you want most, eat it slowly and enjoy it. Skip the ones you would not miss.
What if I overeat at a party? Eat your normal breakfast the next morning and get back to your routine. One meal does not undo a year.
Should I wait until January to start working out? No. Your first week at CrossFit Spring Hill is one-on-one with a coach whenever you start, and a habit you build in November is already in place on January 1.
Book a free No Sweat Intro. Twenty minutes, sitting down, no workout. Tell us what you want to change and we will help you build a plan that holds up through the holidays and the rest of the year.