5 tips to stay on track with your goals during the holidays

I don’t know about you, but I am in disbelief at how fast this year has flown by! It feels like yesterday that 2021 started and I was forming my yearly goals. If you are like me and most of the universe, you formed goals in the beginning of the year that you may have not accomplished yet. As we head into the holidays, I find that people tend to push their goals to the side and say they will do them next year. I am here to tell you that it is time to start working on those goals now and stop putting them on the back burner. 

When it comes to health and wellness, I find that most people put it at the bottom of their priorities. Work tends to sit at the top of the list and we put our health to the side telling ourselves we will get to it later. “I will focus on my health after I get this promotion.” “I will focus on my health when I retire.” “I will focus on my health when I have more free time.” You know what the above thoughts are? They are excuses. They are excuses to keep us safe and in our comfort zones. We think that focusing on our health is going to add more stress to our lives when in reality it could be the one thing that allows us to destress and be a more energized, less foggy brained, and more motivated in our lives. 

The time to start your wellness journey is now. Not after the holidays. Not next year. Not when you have more time. If you want to succeed in your career, at your job, in your business, then you have to put your health first. Your ability to think, have energy, de-stress, sleep, and run your business is not determined by how hard you work but by your ability to have physical, mental, and emotional health. 

If you are ready to start your journey, then here are my 5 tips to stay or get on track with your wellness goals during this holiday season. 

 1. Plan ahead

If you are a busy individual and feel like you don’t have enough time in the day to prioritize your health, I am here to tell you that you need to focus on your time management! When it comes to building health promoting habits into your life, the goal shouldn’t be excessive restriction or cardio, the goal should be to focus on adding 5 minutes of self care into your day. If your goal is to lose weight or improve your health, schedule in all 3 meals into your calendar so you don't forget to eat. Add in strength training 3 times per week. Focus on adding color into your meals and planning your meals for the week so there are no questions on what you are eating. By planning ahead, you can avoid “forgetting” to eat and binging later on in the day. This will also help you to normalize your blood sugar levels which is key to normalizing your insulin levels. 

 2. Get rid of all or nothing mentality 

I see this all the time. You push yourself at work, forget to set boundaries, and feel like you've let yourself go. The first thought that comes to mind is to go on a diet and to do cardio to lose a few pounds which is equated to getting healthy. You go all in, restricting your calories  and forcing yourself to wake up early to run on the treadmill. It feels good the first week but then you start to feel fatigued, tired, and you start to crave certain foods. You want the cookies and all the fun foods that come with the holidays. But in order to stay on track, you ignore those cravings and eat a salad telling yourself you are in control. I am going to go ahead and let you guess what happens next. Yes, you are right. The cravings become out of control, your body can't handle the cardio anymore, and you're so stressed at work that you throw in the towel. This is when the binge begins. You take that first bit of cookie and you end up eating ten. You decide that you're going to start over Monday and spend the whole weekend feeling out of control with your food choices. This leads to shame and guilt and the feeling of needing to be in control again. The cycle will continue over and over again until you decide to get out of it.

The issue with this rigid approach is that your body is already under so much stress at work. If you are stressed at work, adding in excessive cardio and cutting your calories is just going to add to the stress on your body. In order to get out of this cycle you need to shift your mindset. Humans are far from perfect and you need to focus on consistency if you want to make changes that will last. It is okay to have cookies during the holidays. It is okay to have a few drinks at your work party. These things are not going to be detrimental to your goals. One “off” meal or day is not going to make you gain 5 pounds just like eating a salad isn’t going to miraculously make you healthy. 

 3. Give yourself permission to eat

This one can be a little challenging because our society puts so much pressure on us to be “good” with our food. Have you ever heard someone say “oh, you’re being so good today!” when you decide to eat a salad or have you ever said “I am being bad today” when you go for the burger and fries. Food is not good or bad, it is just food.

Let me introduce you to habituation. If you look up the psychological meaning it states “the diminishing of a physiological or emotional response to a frequently repeated stimulus.” Let’s say ice cream is your vice during the holidays but you refuse to let yourself have it in the house or if it is around you, you feel completely out of control and you eat the entire pint. I want you to challenge yourself and allow you to have the ice cream in the house readily available for you to eat. When you want it, I want you to give yourself physical and mental permission to have the ice cream. While you might still feel overwhelmed in the beginning of this process, the longer you give yourself permission to do this, the less exciting the ice cream will be to you. It is just like anything in life. If you say you can’t have something, you want that thing even more. The moment you give yourself permission to that thing, it becomes less exciting.

Along with giving yourself permission I want you to remember that it is all about balance and consistency when it comes to building habits. Deciding to have pie for dessert at Thanksgiving is not going to pull you further away from your goals. In the end, you aren’t going to remember the food that you had but the memories you created with your loved ones. 

 4. Schedule some movement into your calendar

One of my favorite things to do to release energy and endorphins is to move! I added movement here because there are so many benefits. Physical activity can help increase energy, sleep quality, strength, balance, and stamina while decreasing stress, anxiety, and the risk of several chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. What I don’t want you to do here is immediately think about how many calories you need to burn in order to eat a certain food.

Instead, add in movement that you actually enjoy. I think a lot of the time, individuals have a negative relationship with movement because they associate movement with a diet or trying to lose weight. While losing weight isn’t a bad thing, it is important to make sure you're doing it in a healthy way and you aren’t running your body into the ground. Remember that exercise is stress on the body and in order to recover you need to rest too. Try adding in breaks during your work day to go for a walk or do mobility. Then try adding in a strength routine a few days a week to help build muscle, increase your BMR, and aid in fat loss. 

 5. Don't restrict your calories to save them for later

With the holidays quickly approaching so are the parties and it may seem tempting to get into a cycle of restricting your calories in the beginning of the day so you can eat more later but I am here to tell you this is not a good idea. While I do believe that it can be helpful to plan ahead and make sure you are getting adequate protein before a party, eating too few calories will lead to the feeling of being out of control and binging. If you go to the party ravenous, you are more likely to eat way past your comfortable fullness. When we pretend like our hunger doesn't exist, we overeat because our bodies are biologically programmed to resist starvation. In this scenario, you will most likely end up eating more calories that day because of the binge you created at the party. If you fuel your body throughout the day and go to the party not overly hungry, you will feel more in control of your food intake.

For this holiday season, I challenge you to think small even if your goals are big. What small actions can you add into your daily routine in order to make big changes later in life? When we take small actions that feel very doable, we are going to feel more accomplished and those actions can easily be turned into habits. So what are you willing to change or add into your routine today to move the needle in the right direction?

If you are looking for more guidance and accountability, click HERE and fill out an application for my 1:1 coaching program.