The Easiest Ways To Stay Fit During The Holidays

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How to stay fit during the holidays with these simple tips that make diet and exercise easy and stress free while you celebrate.

How to stay fit during the holiday season?

Maintain consistency in your current workout routine and healthy diet, stay hydrated, and allow for planned moderation at celebrations to avoid overconsumption.

The simplest advice I can give you to maintain your fitness during the holidays is to remember consistency and moderation. You want to maintain consistency in your already formed habits, but allow yourself some moderation.

Do your best to stick to your daily exercise, but if you miss it one day to prep holiday dinner or to hit the road to the in-laws early, don’t sweat it! Or maybe you maintain your daily breakfast smoothie, but let yourself have a cookie at the party.

Do your best and allow some wiggle room. Speaking of food…

How do you stay healthy over Christmas?

• Maintain your typical eating habits and patterns as much as possible. So if you have dinner as the main event, be sure to eat breakfast and lunch as normal. Try not to spend an entire day (or worse, DAYS) eating in celebratory way. Like cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then lunch out to eat, two helpings of the holiday family dinner, all followed by dessert. Because that will make you overconsume, feel bloated, and deter you from tomorrow’s workout. Maybe even encourage you to eat poorly the next day by giving in to those reactivated cravings.

• You can also do this by simply making/bringing your own healthy dinner. You may catch some flak for it but you can eat “guilt-free” and most likely avoid overeating as well. It makes the entire meal so much less stressful because I take temptation away and can enjoy my meal without worrying about foods I’d like to avoid.

• Take/make healthy version(s) of the holiday meal. Take roasted green beans and a baked potato for your sides instead of casserole and mashed potatos that may have a lot of added ingredients.

• Take a healthy appetizer or snack to fill up on before the big meal. That way the dinner is eaten with appreciation and enjoyed instead of scarfing down food because you’re starving and you just HAVE to taste more *cue sheepish smile.* Also, be sure to drink lots of water that day to “fill up.”

• Mindfully utilize intermittent fasting. Fast for a portion of the day to naturally reduce your caloric consumption during the celebration. But proceed with caution. If you don’t ever eat like this you may just make yourself overeat at dinner because your are so starving. But I like it because it “shrinks” my appetite, so I fill up much quicker.

• Stay hydrated before, during, and after the meal to aid digestion, reduce overconsumption, and minimize bloat.

• Have moderation in the low nutritient dense foods like desserts and alcohol. Allow yourself one alcoholic drink, or one dessert. You will be sure to enjoy it more because it won’t be mindless consumption and you won’t regret it the next day.

How to stay in shape during the holidays?

• Be flexible with your workout schedule during those busy days. Plan for early in the morning before everyone else wakes up, during your lunch hour, or maybe even when you get the kids to bed that night.

• Incorporate HIIT workouts into your fitness routine. High intensity interval workouts are time efficient and effective by design due to their intensity. Plus, a quick sweat is better than no sweat. Check out my HIIT Workout Playlist for a wide variety to choose from!

• Save your rest day for the schedule packed days. Just be sure that you get back to it the next day. If you know that the holiday will wear you out and make you feel lazy the next day, plan accordingly. For me, I prefer to fit my workout in on the holiday if at all possible, that way I stay motivated the following days and I tend to eat better when I feel accomplished.

• Get active as a family to sneak in your workout while you bond with your loved ones. Suggest a walk after dinner. Or encourage a friendly game of football, soccer, baseball, or whatever activity gets a sweat going that everyone can enjoy together. (pssst! I have an entire PDF download of fun family workouts you can try!)

Stay HAPPY during the holidays

The holidays are a time for celebration. Although, they can be stressful, don’t let your fitness become another source of stress.

If you have been working hard on your routine and a hiccup will throw you off course for the next month, then do what makes yourself happy. Arrive late to the party so you can get in your workout. Prep your own separate meal that you can be sure is healthy.

And that goes both ways. Have that one piece of pie. Enjoy a drink with your loved ones. Try not to punish yourself if you hit a bump in the road. Have you ever heard something like, “if you get a flat tire, you don’t slash the other three”?

Give yourself grace and let yourself be a normal human that is allowed to have rest days and a few social meals that focus on your relationships rather than numbers.

If you overeat or miss a workout, don’t make yourself feel bad and talk yourself out of the goals you’ve been working toward. We have all drank, ate, or indulged too much on the holidays. Pick your battles and remember what it is all about, celebration and loved ones!

Home workouts to help you stay fit during the holidays

A great way to stay on track during the holidays is to follow a structed workout routine so you don’t need ot waste time or effort finding a workotu each day.

Head over to my Free Workout Routines for challenges and 4-week plans that will help you stay active while you have fun.

I have got a fun holiday-themed workout that is quick so you can fit it into your busy schedule. Enjoy this 10-minute PLANKsgiving workout for a fun, full body challenge that you can find to stay fit for the holidays time to do no matter how busy you are!

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