How can I prevent gaining weight during the holidays?
Research shows that, on average, people gain about one pound during the period between Thanksgiving and the New Year.
Just 94 calories per day are all that is needed to cause a one-pound weight gain in 37 days!
What’s the real problem?
The problem is a change in our thoughts, feelings, and habits.
The holidays often knock us off our routine, be it traveling, our schedules becoming super packed where we aren’t nearly as active, skipping the gym, or other physical activity falls to the side. Or traveling, again limiting our mobility and creating havoc on our routine. What about the added stress? Does anyone get stressed out during the holidays?
More than anything, our thoughts power our feelings, and the feelings are what create our actions.
We are thinking, feeling beings.
If we were in a coaching session, I would want to understand what your holidays look like deeply. I would seek to understand what you imagine will occur during this festive time of year, the specific challenges and barriers, and what worries you most. For example, are you traveling, what will the stress be like, your sleep patterns, and what changes will occur in your typical eating patterns?
What are some strategies, ideas, or ways to navigate the aspects you will encounter in an empowering way during the next few months?
What strategies could we think of to keep physically active?
Staying active will help with the higher than normal stress levels and often provide the space and time to reboot, reenergize, and schedule time for self-care and/or reflection. Around the holidays focusing on appreciation, gratefulness, and creating memories can be an excellent foundation for staying in high spirits; this, in turn, will aid in making healthy choices.
What ways to recover if your sleep schedule is thrown off?
As we enter adulthood, there’s this myth that we aren’t allowed to nap.
Sleep is precious take that power nap!
What are some ways to navigate food choices during the holiday season?
What foods or drinks will be the most tempting and can be overdone?
If you are a holiday chef, there are lots of fun, easy food hacks to lower typical dishes. Liquid calories can often get us in trouble; there are ways to reduce or maybe best avoid them altogether.
How do you want to feel going into and coming into the new year?
Allow this answer to guild you to the response to a healthy mindset.