It’s November, and with that being said, the holidays are soon upon us all. Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, which means so is Christmas and don’t forget about New Years. This time of the year normally brings friends and family together for a lot of feasting, drinking, and often both at the same time. This is also the busiest time of year when it comes to traveling, which means on top of the holiday feasting, many of us are driving and flying all over God’s green earth to to be with friends and family. Traveling means less time at the gym or even less time to really workout. ..period. Holidays, as much fun and relaxing as they can be, are also inherently stressful because of all that traveling and meal prepping going on with friends and family. With all the hustle and bustle that occurs during this time of year, I wanted to break down the top 3 things you need to do to stay fit and healthy through the holiday season.
Step 1. Eat Smart.
80% of how you look and how well you feel is based off of how well you eat. If there is one thing that I see happen time after time, year after year, when it comes to eating healthy during the holidays, it’s the complete disregard for eating healthy at this time of the year. Forgive me for sounding redundant, but it really is the truth! I have been guilty of this myself in years past. Focusing too much on the decadent desserts, the holiday booze, and not enough of the solid wholesome good stuff can lead to quite the dramatic shift in your body composition, and that can happen rather quickly if you are not careful. Focus your holiday meals with quality sources of protein, healthy fats, and enough veggies to fill you up so you can keep yourself full and energized with out the post meal blood sugar crash. A normal meal for me at thanksgiving, for example, is about 4-6 ounces of turkey topped with cranberry relish, side of my mothers green been salad, and a baked yam topped with cinnamon and grassfed butter. NOMZ! If you need some help with healthy holiday meals, please visit this link.
Step 2. Train Hard.
I get it. I really do. Working out during the holiday’s can be a royal pain in the butt when we are traveling around the world to be with the ones we love so much. Thing is, you actually don’t need a gym or even a kettelbell with you in order to work up a sweat and keep yourself in condition during this busy time of year. My best advice is to keep things simple, and keep things on the body weight side so you don’t have to worry about gym drop ins or carrying around weights with you as you travel. Here’s one of my favorite little 15 minute body weight blaster routines you can do ANYWHERE! You will get your heart rate up fast and have all the time in the world to spend with your friends and family during your time together.
Set your timer for 15 minutes and perform the following body weight exercises as a circuit
5 push ups
10 body weight squats
15 Burpees
Do as many rounds as you can in 15 minutes and rest only as long as you need to in that time. Here’s a video of what this actually looks like when you put all the steps together below!
Step 3. Enjoy your life!
This kind of gets back to step one, but it’s really important to take this seriously in terms of not just food, but quality time spent with friends and family. Remember, 80% of how you look is based on how well you eat. This means that you can allow yourself that 20% area to have the occasional treat to yourself for all your hard work. While I am not an advocate for gorging yourself silly with sweets over the holiday, I am a lover of cheesecake and will not apologize for such love of said cheesecake. You are allowed to enjoy your life, kick back, and have some foodie fun every once in a while, and you shouldn’t feel an overarching sense of guilt for that. In the large scheme of things when it comes to health and fitness, that 1 little treat (as long as you keep it to that one little treat) really isn’t a big whoop. Also, with all the hustle and bustle the holidays can have with meal prepping and traveling, be sure to kick your feet up and RELAX with the time you have with your friends and family. Holidays are best spent with the people we love so much, so really folks. Enjoy your life! The lives we have are so precious. Cherish each moment you have here on earth with the ones that mean the most to you!
Don’t fret the holidays! Enjoy them! You CAN stay fit and healthy while enjoying good cheer! And I hope that you all do just that! Enjoy your healthy life with those that mean so much to you! 😀
Until next time. . .
Master your instincts!
