Trainer's Tips for the Holidays

The holidays are here!! 🎉

In case you are stressing about keeping up with your training and nutrition plans, let me just tell you right now–it is 100% okay to enjoy the holidays. 

Eat that cookie. Sit around the house with your family and pets. Enjoy your time!

Living a fit lifestyle is all about balance. Your body only reflects what you do most of the time.

So if most of the time you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly–a few days off isn’t going to set you back in your progress!

If you would like to minimize the “damage” of the holidays, just remember to try and follow your exercise and diet plan as best you can. You might not be able to do 100%, but every little bit counts! 

A couple good rules of thumb are to: 

• Eat lots of protein and vegetables throughout the day. If there are veggie and protein food options at a holiday event, fill your plate with those first before going for the “goodies” (i.e., cookies, brownies, sugary or alcoholic drinks, etc).

• Try to stay active as much as you can (go on walks, hikes, bike rides, etc).

• Get your workouts in when you can, even if you need to do them at a lighter intensity than you normally would.

But please—don’t stress about not being able to follow your training or nutrition program to the “t” right now!

In fact, it’s actually good for our bodies and brains to take a break once in a while from the rigors of diet and exercise. 

Many people who regularly incorporate “cheat” days or meals (or as I like to call them “treat” days or meals) have a better time overall following their plans in the long run. Being disciplined all the time is stressful! Giving yourself a break to relax might just make it easier to recommit to your program once the holidays are over.

Taking a break from intense workouts can also help to resensitize your body to your training. This is why many bodybuilders and powerlifters incorporate deload weeks regularly into their training every 4 to 8 weeks.

So if you’ve been worried that you’ll lose all the progress you’ve made over the last year during the holidays–take a deep breath and relax! Enjoy your holiday! You deserve it :)

Your mental health is just as important as your physical fitness–and cutting lose once in a while is an essential part of getting those mental health gains! 

In the worst case scenario, you might develop a habit out of a holiday behavior (such as eating sweets or staying sedentary all day). In this case, we can always create a plan of action to get you back on track. 

But at the end of the day, you gotta know yourself! 

If there are some holiday behaviors that you know are extremely hard for you to stop once you start (drinking alcohol, for instance), then perhaps it’s best to plan to omit those things from your celebrations. Or at the very least, put some boundaries around it so that you have a clear “stopping point” which allows you to enjoy the thing without getting carried away.

Having a clear plan for getting back on track after the holidays can also help you to relax and enjoy the holidays more. In your calendar, go ahead and mark out the days/times you’re going to do your workouts and meal prep when the holidays are over. 

I hope that these tips will help you to enjoy the holidays! I’m Looking forward to hearing about your New Years’ resolutions in January :) 

-Jayd

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Jayd Harrison (Jaydigains)

Jayd Harrison (Jaydigains) is a personal trainer and affiliate streamer on Twitch. She has been an active trainer since 2014 and now specializes in comprehensive weight loss coaching. Check out some of Jayd’s coaching videos on Youtube, or join Jayd live on Twitch on Tuesdays & Thursdays 11am EST for a Fit Q&A session.

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