The holidays are a busy time and its hard to keep your workout schedule intact. Travel schedules, family visits and all that shopping can wreak havoc on your fitness routine. Not to mention all the delicious holiday food you’re bound to eat.
You don’t have to abandon your fitness goals over the holiday. You can enjoy this special time of year and keep your fitness goals at the same time. The key is to make a holiday fitness plan.
Assume the season is going to last a few weeks. Let’s use the dates December 12th to January 2nd. It’s a three-week stretch that starts when the office parties and holiday shopping swing into gear. It runs through New Year’s Day when the festivities start winding down.
Grab your calendar and look at each day through the three-week holiday season. What parties do you have? Where are you travelling? When are the get-togethers with friends and family? Put events into your calendar. Be realistic. Even if something is tentative put it in your calendar. You can always add and delete.
How many days a week do you normally work out? Four days? Five days? It’s not realistic to assume your going to make your full, normal workout schedule. Three days a week is the minimum for a maintenance program. Cut your workout schedule back to three days a week so you know you can make your workouts. It’s not going to hurt you for three weeks to do three workouts a week. You can ramp back up after the holidays are over.
When are you going to work out? Put your workouts into your schedule. Jostle things around to make your workouts a priority. It may be an after-work workout where you shower in the gym and head out for shopping or party. Your schedule is going to be busy but by scheduling your workouts into your calendar you are more likely to make them.
How intense are your workouts? It’s not reasonable to assume you’re going to keep up with the same intense workouts you normally have. Where can you scale back? Instead of a half-hour of cardio training, scale it back to 20 minutes. Instead of 45 minutes of weight training, scale it back to 30 minutes. Trim your workout length and intensity by about one-third just for the holiday season. You’ll enjoy your workouts more and you won’t be worried about getting to the festivities.
What about your diet? Do you throw caution to the wind and taste one of everything at the holiday party? Much like your workout routine you need to apply moderation to your holiday eating. If you want a piece of pumpkin pie, then have it. Eggnog, sugar cookies and pretzel reindeers are going to be calling your name. Eat and enjoy. Just apply some moderation. You don’t need two sugar cookies. Eat one. You don’t need two pieces of pumpkin pie. Eat one. You don’t need a handful of pretzel reindeer? Have a few.
Going through your calendar you should be able to see which days are going to present the biggest challenges to your healthy eating. Dinners out will be a challenge. Office parties may be a little rough. Know where and when your appetite is going to be challenged. Think about how you can apply moderation and still enjoy yourself. No need to be a Scrooge but you don’t want to go overboard.
Plan your workouts into your holiday schedule and apply moderation to your food choices and you should make it out the other end of the season just fine. Don’t stress about it. Enjoy the holidays and keep your fitness goal at the same time. All it takes is a little planning. Have a blast!
