Navigating the Holiday Season
November 2, 2022 | Words by Gabe Yanez
Less Than 10%
With the holidays quickly approaching, we wanted to touch on how to best navigate the holiday season without letting your fitness and nutrition fall by the wayside.
There are 61 days between the end of October and the end of the year. For the purpose of our topic, we’ll refer to those 61 days as the “holiday season.”
Historically speaking, the holiday season is a time when it can be challenging to stay on track with your nutrition and fitness goals. There’s leftover Halloween candy around the house, Thanksgiving dinner is around the corner, and then you have holiday parties and all sorts of dinners spread throughout the end of the year.
There will probably be more drinking than usual, more sweet treats than expected, and less control over the foods you usually have access to. And you’ll likely have less free time and flexibility to stick to your fitness routine.
All this creates the perfect storm for many people to throw their hands up and put off the pursuit of their fitness, nutrition, and health goals until the new year.
However, there is a deep flaw with taking this kind of approach: You may not be able to make significant progress toward your goals in just 61 days, but you can take a considerable number of steps backward in that same period.
If you completely let yourself go between now and the new year, it will take at least twice as long to work to where you are now.
A better way to approach the holiday season is to take a step back and realize that Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve only make up less than 10% of the entire holiday season.
So even if you enjoy all the cookies, desserts, drinks, and leftovers on those five days alone, you could still stay on track for over 90% of the entire season. If you can do that, you won’t just prevent yourself from taking steps backward. By staying on track for 90% of the holiday season, you can actually make significant progress toward your goals over the next two months.
One Thing to Try This Week: The 90/10 Commitment
Open your calendar and pick FIVE days over the next two months to set as “free pass” days. On those days, allow yourself to indulge in whatever food and drink you like (drink responsibly, of course). Have the cookies, the extra slice of pie, or the extra cocktail. Enjoy sharing those meals with friends and family without worrying about how those decisions impact your goals.
For the other 56 days, commit to three balanced meals and one snack per day. Avoid highly processed foods, and make sure you are hydrating adequately. Keep it simple, but don’t waver on food quality and appropriate serving sizes.
Make sure to get at least 30 minutes of movement over these 56 days.
If you stick to this 90/10 commitment over the holiday season, you may actually surprise yourself with how much you progress towards your goals.
