Get this – I used to love Hershey’s kisses. Oh man. Every December as the office started filling up with various forms of candy and baked goods, I would always go right for the kisses. I’d even build up a little stockpile in my desk drawer, just in case. I know, with all the options out there, there was Mary from accounting who made awesome sugar cookies, and our secretary Linda’s famous fudge brownies, but I’d still always go for the kisses. Weird, huh. Maybe it was my soft feminine side trying to shine through. Maybe, maybe not.
Who really cares anyway, let’s talk about you. Your fitness goals. Your health goals. It’s that time of year again.
We’re getting into the final stretch of 2015. Holiday season is in full effect. Parties, social engagements, baked goods, the list goes on and on.
It’s one of the most challenging environments to stay on track with your health and fitness goals. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up!
With a little strategy and some daily practices, you can have that holiday cake, guilt free.
Today I’ll share 5 practices you can use to help navigate these murky waters with ease and grace. Leave the stress at home. Enjoy your family, friends, and co-workers and eat what you want — Just keep these 5 things in mind.
1) Mindful Eating
The first part of mindful eating is the simple act of paying more attention. All it requires is having a little more awareness when you’re eating. It doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with what you are actually eating. You just notice how the food tastes – everything from the taste, to the smell, the sound of each bite, and the texture. Try to notice it all. And then see how you feel. It’s amazing how crappy processed foods actually taste when you pause to let in all the sensations. And on the flip side, it’s amazing how incredible whole foods actually taste when you allow time to savor each bite.
The second part of mindful eating is slow eating. Even if you eat the most healthy food you can find, if you’re eating over the kitchen sink and shoveling it in your mouth in record time, your brain wont have enough time to send signals to your body that you are indeed full. You’ll most likely overeat. I like to aim for 15 minutes for each meal.
Again, this has NOTHING to do with WHAT you eat. Just focus on paying more attention and eating a little slower. That’s it.
2) Plan Out Your Week
If you know you’re having a big week of holiday parties or a couple big meals out, put them down in your calendar and have a game plan. For example, if you know Tuesday night is a holiday party, and then Friday and Saturday you have dinner plans out, write out those 3 nights in your calendar.
Then it’s time to focus on nailing Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday meals. Use this Meal Prep Guide and prepare a few simple, healthy meals for those 3 days. Nail those 3 days. If you focus on getting those 3 days down right, then on the days of your social engagement, enjoy. Don’t stress about it. Have fun.
3) Be Realistic with Your Goals
Fat loss goal in December? Probably not the best idea. Be smart with you goals. Realize that your environment in December is not going to be very favorable to weight loss. Holiday parties, office candy, large family meals, less activity, etc. will make it more challenging to shed weight.
Instead, why not focus on getting great workouts in the gym and building a little bit of muscle with the excess calories you’ll already be consuming. Or better yet, why not discover your active passion and transform the whole conversation about living a healthy, fit, lifestyle.
4) Prioritize Sleep
A few bad nights of sleep for me and my cravings go up, my appetite gets thrown out of whack and it become very difficult to maintain my normal healthy habits. It’s been shown that even a few hours less of sleep will disrupt our hormones that control appetite, cravings, and satiety. Lack of sleep affects both levels of leptin and ghrelin, the 2 major players in satiety and appetite, as this study showed here. It’s summarized as the following:
“Both studies found a decrease in the satiety hormone leptin and an increase in appetite-stimulating ghrelin with short sleep.”
Or check out this study that shows the lack of sleep compromises participants ability to lose fat.
So the major point with sleep is that no matter how well you eat, if you’re not sleeping well, it will be very difficult to shed fat. Shoot for a minimum of 6 hours, and try to get as much as 8 hours if you can.
5) Get Your Walk On
I’ve talked before about how walking might be the most underrated fat loss exercise out there. Keeping activity levels high during the holidays can be just enough to offset some of the damage done in the kitchen. It’s also a great way to disconnect from the digital world and reconnect with family, friends, and nature.
Being able to have this release from the constant busyness can do wonders for your stress levels. Managing stress levels has become crucial in our 24-7 on the go modern lifestyle and it can directly impact your ability to stay fit. Start small and try for 10-15 minutes of walking after dinner. That’s it. Easy enough.
There you go. I hope you get to use some or all of these practices over the next few weeks.
We’ll be launching an awesome 30-day Fat Loss program starting early in 2016. Get on the wait list here.If you’re looking for a way to jumpstart your new year, you’ll have to check it out. Stay tuned for more info coming soon.
Have a great day and eat a Hershey kiss for me!
Nick
