I want you to eat the Christmas cookies. Go to the parties, drink the festive drinks, have seconds of your favorite Thanksgiving stuffing recipe, and enjoy whatever glorious pastry concoction somebody's grandmother has been making since 1953.
I also want you to get to January feeling pretty damn good about how you've taken care of yourself. If you've got body fat you'd like to lose, I'd love for you to keep making progress there, too.
After helping thousands of women with their health and body composition (that feels WILD to type out), I've learned that a little advance planning can make a ginormous difference during the holidays. So here's the somewhat eclectic collection of things I'd have you do before late-November and December get their grubby little hands all over your calendar...
1. Make a holiday food bucket list.
Pull up your calendar and identify the foods you're most excited about at each gathering. Your aunt's pumpkin pie, Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, a peppermint espresso martini while you go shopping for gifts, or that ridiculous baked brie thing your neighbor makes every year.
Give those foods your full attention. Sit down, enjoy them, go back for a lil more if you want. I'd much rather see you savoring something you LOVE than eating six kinda gross grocery-store cookies while cleaning the kitchen b/c somebody left them out.
I do this kind of planning with clients all the time. Being intentional about your indulgences leaves plenty of room for enjoyment while making it easier to stay aligned with your goals.
2. Evict the Halloween candy.
It's November 10th. Why is there still a plastic pumpkin full of mini Snickers and Starbursts sitting on your kitchen counter?
Keep your favorites, let the kids keep theirs, and find a new home for the unopened extras. Same goes for the leftover party desserts, the chocolates on your desk, and the cookies you keep eating.
One of the simplest changes I recommend to clients who struggle with mindless snacking is to make their environment a little less snack-suggestive. Your body doesn't need to serve as the disposal facility for every leftover holiday dessert. If it's out or at eye-level when you open the fridge or cabinet, it's way more likely to be eaten against your will.
3. Do a little restaurant reconnaissance.
You've got dinner reservations at 7:30, haven't eaten since noon, and the bread basket arrives before you've even opened the menu. We've all been there. We know how this ends.
Look up the menu ahead of time and find something you'll enjoy that also supports your goals. I usually start with protein and vegetables, then build out the meal with carbohydrates and fats more as afterthoughts. Salmon with potatoes and garlic-y lemon broccoli, tofu with rice and roasted carrots, a loaded salad with grilled chicken and a side of fries. Plenty of possibilities.
If dinner's gonna be especially late, eat a protein-rich snack beforehand. Even a hardboiled egg or 2 or a cheese stick can help. Hunger has a funny way of making every appetizer on the menu seem like a must.
4. Pack a workout, not just workout clothes.
If you're traveling, decide exactly when and how you'll exercise BEFORE you leave. Check the hotel gym in the gallery online, bring resistance bands, download a workout, or arrange morning walks with your sister.
I often have clients scale back their training during busy weeks. Three 20-minute sessions might make much more sense than trying to recreate five 45-minute workouts in your in-laws' guest bedroom.
Your holiday workout plan should account for the fact that there may be 14 people sharing one bathroom and your mother-in-law has scheduled breakfast for 7 AM and family pictures for 8 AM.
5. Pick your actual holiday goal now.
If you typically gain five pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's, just maintaining body comp. this year would be a pretty big win. If you're already consistent with your habits and hoping to lose more body fat over the next 8 weeks b/c you love a steep challenge? We can plan for that, too.
Inside The Metabolic Edge, we spend a lot of time making sure goals actually fit people's circumstances. Your holiday calendar deserves a seat at that discussion!
Also, expect some scale weirdness after salty meals, extra carbohydrates, travel, and poor sleep. Glycogen-associated water, sodium-related fluid retention, and additional food in your digestive tract can temporarily add several pounds. Give things a few days before making any dramatic declarations about your body fat. Or just ditch the scale entirely and go for tape measurements, how your clothes fit, and energy levels instead.
6. Put Christmas lights (or whatever your FAV holiday tradition is) on your calendar before the obligatory nonsense.
After accounting for your workouts, grocery shopping, meal prep, sleep, work, and the admin burden of being a adult, that is. Schedule the things you LOVE next. Driving around looking at Christmas lights, baking with your kids, watching Home Alone, wrapping presents with a glass of wine and Teddy Swims' holiday album on, whatever makes this season feel special to you.
Now look at the remaining invitations and obligations. If you're sleeping five hours, eating takeout every night, and skipping workouts because you volunteered to bake 3 things from scratch for a party you are hoping gets cancelled, you're gonna need to reconsider a few commitments.
I've worked with so many women who want to prioritize their health, who TELL me they prioritize their health, but have unnecessary things in their calendars that leave almost no room for it. Sometimes our coaching conversations end up being about boundaries + time management as much as nutrition and fitness.
Somebody else can bring the cheese platter. Or you can buy it.
7. Make a 7:30 PM emergency dinner menu.
You know those nights when you've been wrapping gifts, somebody needs help with homework, there's a package to return, and "HOW DID DINNER TIME COME AND GO but we haven't eaten yet?"
I'd like you to have 3-5 meals you can assemble in ten minutes with minimal thought. Egg + veggie scramble and toast, a veggie burger with raw or steamed vegetables, rice and beans, a protein-packed pasta, whatever works in your household.
Keep the ingredients stocked. While you're at it, put a protein-rich snack in your bag for the 2-hour shopping trip that will become six.
I'm a big fan of making regular days do the heavy lifting. Protein, fiber, walking, strength training, hydration, and sleep on the regular days will have far more influence on your overall progress than obsessing over how much you ate at Thanksgiving dinner.
8. Investigate your overeating like a scientist.
Overeating often has a much more interesting explanation than a supposed lack of discipline.
Our brains respond strongly to highly palatable, calorie-dense foods. Add a holiday buffet, alcohol, sleep deprivation, stress, and a room full of people encouraging you to have another serving, and you've assembled the perfect environment for over-eating.
When it happens, get curious about what preceded it. Had you gone eight hours without eating? Were you standing next to the appetizers for 2 hours? Did you sleep 4 hours the night before?
Those details give us something to work with. You might eat before the next party, sit down with a plate instead of grazing, or prioritize sleep the night before a big event.
I want you learning from your behavior and adjusting your approach, the same way we do when troubleshooting patterns in coaching.
9. Become a solution woman.
This is probably the most important one, and I'm gonna give you a little tough love here.
I hear "I can't because..." constantly. The kids are home, work is crazy, we're traveling, my spouse isn't supportive, I'm exhausted.
Sometimes those obstacles are enormous. And they are VALID.
Here's the question I want you practicing: "Given these circumstances, what CAN I do?" I can just about promise if you start asking that instead of ever saying "I can't because ...", a lot of doors will start to open up and a lot of progress will be available for the taking!
For one woman, that's 15 minutes with dumbbells in the living room while her kids are home sick. For another, it's grocery delivery and the same five dinners on rotation. Someone recovering from an injury may need to focus on nutrition, sunshine, and sleep while following medical restrictions on activity.
I've watched women make incredible progress under complicated circumstances, and one thing many of them develop is a knack for finding workable options. Sometimes that means asking for help, lowering the bar, changing the timeline, or deciding that maintenance is the appropriate goal for now.
I want you to get really, really good at that!
So here's your homework... Spend ten minutes looking at your holiday calendar. Choose the foods and traditions you're most excited about, identify a few commitments you could happily skip, and figure out how you'll protect the habits that matter most to your health.
I hope you eat the pie, make the memories, take the pictures, stay up late when it's worth it, go to bed early when it's not, and enjoy the heck out of the next couple of months.
I'd love for you to get to January with a whole collection of good memories, your health + body composition goals still very much alive, and a few new skills for navigating whatever life throws your way.
Stay wild and well,
Tara