How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays
The holiday season is a huge challenge for anyone looking to stay in shape and improve their health or physique. The temptation of large Christmas dinners is ever-present, and you only have so much willpower. We’re going to take you through how to make the very most of your health and fitness during this challenging time, and how to get a jump on the fitness goals you should be setting yourself for the coming year!
Don’t Treat it Like the End of the World
One of the best ways to improve your fitness and stay healthy during the holidays is simply to adjust your mindset. The first thing you need to remember is that Christmas is one day: the holiday period is not a single, monolithic diet holiday. If you approach the holidays with the expectation that you’re going to fall off of your diet until January, then you’re probably going to fall off of your diet until January.
The best way to approach this is to treat Christmas as a single day, or perhaps even a few days if you have Christmas parties planned. If you stick to your diet for every other day in the month, you won’t even see the negative effects of a huge Christmas meal.
Counter-intuitively, the best thing to do about a “cheat day” is to carry on as if it never happened. If your diet is well-structured, with a calorie deficit, you will eventually work off the amount of calories consumed during the holiday period. We recommend moderate snacking, rather than simply giving up and binging.
Beware Alcohol
Alcohol is one of the most common, easiest ways to accidentally pile on the calories and, thus, the pounds. The best way to approach this is simply reduce your intake and treat alcohol as a taster, rather than drinking to get drunk. This is probably easier said than done, but a little awareness during the holiday season can help you reduce the effect of traditional Christmas wine.
If you’re able to reign in your alcohol consumption for the sake of fitness from January to November, it should be a simple matter of having “only one” during the Christmas period. Just remember that every drink you have is going to count against all the effort you put in. We know, we know, you don't want to hear that haha.
Stay active
Even if you’re spending your Thanksgiving or Christmas Vacation away with your family, you need to stay active if you’re looking to remain healthy and in shape. This could take the form of walks, recreational sports, or finding a gym nearby. The important part is to keep moving: exercise has profound physical and mental health benefits, and time off is going to mean a serious dip in performance and physical appearance.
Walking, Hiking, Cycling, or Swimming are all simple, family-friendly forms of exercise that will get you out of the house and embracing an active lifestyle, even when there is temptation to laze around. The winter seasons provide some of the best scenery, if you manage to wrap up warm and keep moving. Go with the family to look at Christmas lights. Our local zoo has a very beautiful light display that requires A LOT of walking! Vin Zen Calf Compression Sleeves would be great for both warmth and recovery if you choose to walk a lot outside during the Winter.
Another way to stay active is to involve the entire family in cutting down your own Christmas tree. Pile the family into the car and head to the nearest Christmas tree farm. Acres and acres of walking to find that perfect Christmas tree will provide plenty of calorie burn to have a little hot cocoa and cookies after you decorate your fresh cut tree! Enjoy!