Ah, the holidays. Our favorite time of year, right? The holidays make you think of family, food, fun, celebrations, and gifts. They also make you think of overeating, no time to work out, stress, money, and exhaustion. It can be difficult to maintain your healthy lifestyle during the six weeks or so from Thanksgiving through the end of the year. Here are a few tips that will help.
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10 Tips to Maintain Your Healthy Lifestyle During the Holidays
Studies have shown that it is possible to gain anywhere from one to seven pounds over the holidays. And it’s easy to see why. There seems to be food everywhere! From co-workers bringing treats to the office, to holiday parties and the simple busy-ness of the time, many people can find it difficult to stick with their healthy lifestyle of fitness and nutrition.
It can be challenging to maintain your healthy lifestyle over the holidays. So many temptations and everyone is so busy! Here are some tips that will help you maintain your fitness and healthy diet.Click To Tweet
Here are some of the tips that I use to help me maintain my healthy lifestyle. I think they will help you too.
Exercise Early
Getting in your workout early, before all the errands add up, is a great way to maintain your healthy lifestyle through the holidays. There are so many things to get done that your workout could easily be postponed or canceled as the day goes on.
Allow Yourself to Cut Back
If you usually exercise for an hour, don’t give it all up if you only have 30 minutes. It’s easy to say, “I’m too busy,” or “I don’t have enough time.” Getting a shorter workout is better than not exercising at all.
Fit it In
If finding time to work out is difficult because you’re so busy, try breaking your workout into shorter chunks. Try 10 minutes of calisthenics in the morning before you get going, take another 10 minutes for some squats, pushups, and planking a little later, and spend some time stretching before bed. It all adds up.
Take a Moment for Yourself
When the stress of the holidays starts to add up, when you have so much to do you can’t think, and when everyone seems to want a piece of your time, try stepping back, slipping away, and taking a few minutes to breathe, meditate, or just enjoy a little quiet time by yourself.
Make Activity a Group Effort
Surrounded by family and can’t get away for your workout? Taking a walk after a meal is great for everyone! Encourage your family and friends to join you in your post-prandial excursion.
Allow Yourself a Treat
Food is one of the joys of the holidays! Enjoy a treat every now and then. And don’t feel like you need to go out and burn off all those calories right away. Have that cookie or piece of pie and enjoy every bite.
Drink Water
Staying hydrated is important year round, but maybe even more so during the holidays. You’re on the go, possibly drinking more alcohol than usual and eating food that you’re not accustomed to.
Eat a Small Meal Before the Party and Have a Plan
This may be the oldest tip in the book, but it has a lot of merits. Having a small healthy snack or meal before you head off to that holiday dinner party will take the edge off of your hunger and make it easier to turn down second helpings. At the party, first choose from the lighter, healthier food choices before opting for the richer, more sugar and calorie-laden options. Take small portions and stop when you’re full.
Alternate Your Beverages
One of the best ways to keep from drinking too much at holiday parties is to alternate drinking a glass of water or non-alcoholic beverage with anything that contains alcohol.
Forgive Yourself
It is possible, maybe likely, that even with the intention to maintain your healthy lifestyle over the holidays there will come a moment when you overeat, over-drink, skip a couple workouts, or just stress out. If that happens just let it go. Don’t get mad at yourself, don’t say, “what the heck” and give up all your good intentions. Just move on.
The main thing to remember is that yes, there will be temptations. Yes, you will be busy. Yes, you may overdo the treats or underdo the fitness. And that’s okay. Pick up, move on, don’t beat yourself up. You can do this.
Happy Holidays! How do you maintain your healthy lifestyle during the holidays?
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Breaking up your exercise into smaller chunks of time definitely helps. I’ve learned to cut myself some grace during the holidays and it does wonders. Loving my fleece sets too
Giving yourself grace is so important. The holidays can be crazy so staying active but relaxing some expectations helps.
1-7 pounds! Yes, it’s important to keep moving during the holidays!
I especially like your tip with alternating beverages… it’s so easy to drink too much, and these alcoholic drinks are full of empty calories, too. So drinking plenty of water in between is definitely a great idea.
Yes! Plus drinking water (or even soda water) between drinks can also help clear your system of alcohol (so you’ll feel better in the morning 🙂 ).
I am all about getting my workout done first thing in the morning. Otherwise, it probably won’t happen!
It can definitely be a challenging time of year. I am all about getting it knocked out early, or finding time to squeeze in small nuggets of workouts. It will all get done.