Even the most prepared individuals seem to struggle during the holidays. The odds are, you will gain weight over the holidays (average is 8-10 pounds), so wouldn’t it be a good idea to head into the holiday season armed with some tips that could keep you from gaining the extra pounds in the first place?

Here are 10 Holiday Eating Tips to help you fight off that holiday weight gain:

1. Exercise! If you’re already committed to exercising, keep going! Just 1-2 workouts/week will help you maintain your weight. Don’t let the busy season break you from a routine that’s hard to get back to. If you’re not exercising, simply start by walking 20-30 minutes each day.

2. Rest up! Did you know that on average, adults who didn’t get a good night’s sleep will consume an extra 300 calories and choose higher fat foods the next day? So, if you plan to attend a party or event, be sure to get at least 7 hours of sleep the night before.

3. Bring a healthy dish or two to with you. This way if you’re faced with poor options you at least have something healthy to eat.

4. Eat a small, healthy meal before going out. If you are used to prepping your meals....Keep doing this. You don't really have complete control when you go to family parties or going out with friends. You do have control over what happens before you leave

5. Survey the buffet table first. Know what healthy options are there. Don’t feel compelled to take a “little of everything.”

6. Start with the healthiest items first. Studies show that you consume the most food on your “first pass” through the buffet line, so load your plate with healthy items like salad, lean protein and vegetables.

7. Choose a salad or dessert plate instead of a dinner plate. The average calories consumed at a holiday dinner or buffet is 3,000! If you use a smaller plate, you’ll take smaller portions and eat about 40% less.

8. Take small bites and eat slowly. You’ll trick your brain into thinking you’ve eaten more than you have and you’ll feel full faster.

9. Go easy on the alcohol – it’s loaded with carbs, sugar and calories. Plus, the more you drink, the more likely you are to take on an “Oh, the heck with it!” attitude when it comes to eating. Drink a lot of water instead!

10. Remember why you’re there. Did you go to a party to share the holidays with friends and family, or to eat? You can eat at home, so socialize! Station yourself as far away from the food table/kitchen as possible. Engage people in conversation, mingle, laugh and enjoy!

If you want some extra guidance and support during this holiday season, contact us and we can set up a FREE consultation. Click HERE to set up a time.

The holidays are always a main focus/dread for people when they think of weight gain. People are always wondering how to stop the holiday weight gain and are stressed out over what are they going to eat, is it too much etc. It is very stressful and chaotic time to begin with and then you add the stress of losing all the results of your hard work.

I don’t believe people just magically lose their motivation during the holidays, you lose your momentum.

You have worked hard over the course of the year. Became better at your major lifts, lost some inches, began to eat better and form better habits.......ALL HARD WORK AND COMMITMENT!!!

So what happens during the holiday season?

Our motivation is always there....Our momentum seems to slow down due to all the other things going on.

Your time will be at a premium, your stress levels may be a little bit higher than normal, and those things can legitimately effect your momentum.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SLOW DOWN EVERYTHING AND KEEP YOUR MOMENTUM?

Here are 4 steps you can take to maintain your momentum:

1. Plan your workout schedule NOW.

Seriously, if at all possible don’t play it by ear during the holidays. I’m going to maintain my schedule to a T, and make sure I get every training session in during that time. I may have to do it earlier or later than normal because of family commitments, but I’m going to make it happen.

2. Pick a mini goal between now and the end of the year.

This might go back to the motivation side of things, but pick a mini goal. Is there a Santa Shuffle, or Turkey Trot you want to run, walk, or ruck? Is there a little getaway where you want to look and feel your best with your friends and family? Is there a huge weightlifting meet the week after Thanksgiving? That mini goal can help hold you accountable internally, while your gym family at Strive can hold you accountable externally.

3. Join us for our HOLIDAY ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP

Starting after Thanksgiving and running through the New Year can be the tough time. Family parties, staff parties and get together's with friends can get overwhelming. Here at Strive, we put on a HOLIDAY ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP during the season of chaos. This group is a lifeline for many people during this time to get a hold on the holidays and is a resource for healthy recipes and new habits. LEARN MORE HERE

4. Commit to a de-stressed holiday season

This is a big ask I always tell myself before the holidays that this year I won’t get stressed about family member X, or if there are enough desserts.

Repeat it with me…there are always enough desserts, there are always enough desserts- it can be our holiday mantra. Enjoy the time with your family, or the relaxation of no work that day, and let the stress roll off your back.

Try out the 4 part Momentum maintainers. Your motivation is still there, just keep rolling!

Committed to your success,

Derek

Fad diets do work, at first. And then the results slowly taper off until they rebound and you gain the weight back.

Does this sound all too familiar?

So what really is the deal with this crap??

Simple. Fad diets do the same thing, in many different ways.

This thing is tricking you into eating less and usually, not enough to sustain results.

People generally cut carbs, but what really happens is they cut overall calories. Because they are cutting carbs they end up eating less, plain and simple. More of a deficit in calories equals more weight loss.

This is all well and good for the short term.....That is until your metabolism adapts to the decrease in food..

This is when it becomes harder and harder to sustain the results....Congrats......You have hit a plateau.

So what is the general response??

I am going to eat less (because clearly I am eating more than I was when I started to lose weight)....And I am going to increase my cardio...

Repeat after me....This is a mistake....

So what is the answer?

BALANCE.

You shouldn’t have a diet dominant in any specific nutrient and by that I do not mean that something shouldn’t have a larger percentage of your calories, because I do believe protein should have the biggest percentage.

My usually recommendation for starting is a 40/30/30 or 40/25/35 split (protein/carbs/fat). This gives you a good balance.

But back to the fad diet subject…

These low-calorie diets aren’t healthy for many reasons. But the main ones are that our body needs calories to function. Calories are the human body’s fuel source, for every single activity and function we make.

So yeah, these fad diets do work… at first. They give you a caloric deficit which allows you to lose weight, but this usually only lasts 4-6 weeks.....Insert a typical lose 20 lbs in 6 weeks challenge

Look at the diet titles that have timelines… Its usually a 30 day slim down, 28 day rapid fat loss, 2 months to shredded, and so on. They all stop, at most, by the 6 week marker.

Don't get me wrong, here at STRIVE FITNESS AND PERFORMANCE, we have our fair share of 6 week, 8 week and 30 day challenges....but we tell you right from the start, this is the beginning.

Will you make a HUGE change?! Absolutely! But it only carries you into the lifestyle habits and changes you must keep making to incorporate a fit lifestyle.

You see, fad diets have one main goal… MONEY. They know they can sell a one time package of their diet plan and you’ll probably BUY IT AGAIN a couple of months later when you gain some weight back because… well… it worked, didn’t it??!

So my point in this article, more like this rant, is to show you that the fads are a waste of time, money, energy and your emotions.

Don’t fall into the trap,

CREATE HABITS

EMBRACE the healthy lifestyle you actually want to achieve.

The goal of a diet, a healthy one, is to lose body fat or weight while maintaining as many calories as possible. So yeah, it’s not going to happen quick and you may not get absolutely rapid fat loss in less than a month.

But what’s more important to you?

Lose 25lbs in a month and then gain half or more back in the next month?

Lose 25lbs in 4 months and never, ever, see those 25lbs of fat again?

We all know it is the second answer, as it should be.

So here’s my advice before closing off…

Eat enough calories to FUEL your body, this means enough food to truly CRUSH workouts. This is a perfect indicator we tell our clients here at Strive. If you are dying during your workouts....You probably need to eat a little bit more.

Eat ALL types of nutrients. Proteins, carbs, and fats that are coming from natural whole sources like animal products and fresh produce.

Don’t rely on supplements, cleanses, TV ads, or any “Get Fit Quick” schemes you find for a bargain. Instead, invest some actual money in yourself and in your health, find a trustworthy gym and coach, and create excellent habits that lead to a “Lifestyle” rather than a “Result”.

Find your LIFESTYLE by thinking long term investment.

Committed to your success,

Derek

How Under-Eating Can Hurt Your Results

Most of clients I see at Strive Fitness and Performance come in looking to lose weight, become leaner, drop a few clothing sizes, have more energy, and feel better. Nutrition plays a huge role in these goals, obviously.

Now, the majority of my clients are over-eaters. Meaning, they consume more calories than they expend on a daily basis. For folks in this category, a caloric deficit is needed to create weight loss.

However, in my 5 years as a fitness coach, I have come across a handful of clients who want to lose weight but were under-eating their calories. By under-eating, I mean consuming below 1200 calories per day. This has become very common among younger women trying to lose weight. They try to lose weight by eating less and going crazy with the cardio....Sound familiar?

It’s easy to assume that a very low-calorie diet would provide enough of a deficit to achieve weight loss, but the opposite is actually true. Under-eating can prevent you from losing weight. Large reductions to your overall calorie count (like dropping from 2,000 calories to 1,000) changes your body’s metabolism. But this isn’t a good change.

But that doesn’t mean you can never lose weight. The simple fix is increasing your caloric intake to an appropriate level.

One of the easiest formulas I use to determine this is your bodyweight multiplied by 13-14. This will provide a maintenance level of calories for most individuals. Maintenance meaning, it’s enough calories to neither gain nor lose weight.

Since an extreme caloric deficit can wreck havoc on your body’s hormones and metabolism, the goal with increasing your calories to a maintenance level is to create hormonal and metabolic balance. Once you have done this, then you can begin to experiment with small reductions in calories (100-300 calories i.e.) to create long-term weight loss.

*On a side note, once have established maintenance, that may be enough calories to start seeing reductions in body weight. You may not even need to worry about creating another deficit. Something to be aware of as you do this.

So, let’s say you weigh 130 pounds and are only consuming 800 calories per day. If we use the formula from above, we’d get this equation: 130 x 13= 1690.

You’d essentially be doubling your total calories. Now, this may seem hard at first but there’s one easy trick I like to have my clients start with when attempting this caloric increase. And that’s increase the protein intake.

If you look at the amount of calories per gram in protein, carbohydrates, and fat it would look like this:

1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories

Protein is very hard to store as fat and as an added bonus it is a major factor in healthy nutrition. It helps build muscle, which helps our metabolism go into high gear. Most people do not eat enough protein (main reason, this is usually our first step in our habit based nutritional guidance). Adding more protein will not only increase calories, but it will also get our protein numbers up.

When attempting this caloric overhaul, slow and steady is the key. Using our example from above, it may be hard to take in 800 extra calories right off the bat. Instead, try increasing by a few hundred (200-300 i.e.) to start.

Remember, no matter if your goal is to lose weight, gain weight, or anything in between calories are very important. They provide your body with vital nutrients to function properly and keep you healthy. And your body must function correctly to create weight loss.

So, if it seems like you can’t lose weight no matter how hard you try, track your calories for a few days. You can do this with an app like Myfitnesspal. You might be surprised to learn that you aren’t taking in enough. This simple change could be all it takes to get you back on track to your weight loss goal.

Committed to your success,

Derek

References:

1. Tomiyana, AJ. et al. Low calorie dieting increases cortisol. Psychosom Med. 2010 May; 72(4): 357–364.