1. Expect to stay on your program over the holidays
“Fail to plan and you plan to fail” is a time
worn and cliched statement, but it’s still some of
the best success advice you will ever hear.
Not only do most people fail to plan, they consciously
plan to fail over the holidays. Most people expect to “blow”
their diet and skip workouts over the holidays. They expect
to eat more, to exercise less and to gain weight. As a result,
they don’t even make the effort.
Instead of taking control, they resign themselves to maintenance
at best, or back-sliding at worst. This negative expectancy
leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. By the first week of
January, they’re in the worst shape they’ve
been in for a year and they frantically make New Year’s
resolutions to shed the excess fat they’ve gained.
You can avoid this trap by planning to succeed. Set up
a positive expectation. Resolve now that you will not tolerate
slipping backwards. Keep your standards up and don’t
settle! Not only can you plan to “stay in shape”
over the holidays, you can plan to improve! All you have
to do is make the decision and expect success.
2. Plan all your workouts in advance
You know your schedule is going to get hectic over the
holidays. You’ll be cooking, shopping, wrapping gifts,
sending cards, going to parties, traveling, visiting family,
and so on. To stay on your training and nutrition regimen
is definitely going to take some sound time management skills.
Plan your schedule in advance. Anticipate what’s
coming up. Write it down. Put it on your calendar. By doing
so, you won’t be caught unprepared.
Use a schedule book or monthly calendar and “make
appointments” for ALL your workouts for the entire
holiday season. Then, post a copy where you will be forced
to look at it every day. This is a powerful exercise that
will keep you focused and force you to think about and prepare
for each upcoming workout.
If you try to “wing it” and squeeze in your
workouts and meals whenever you have time left over, you’ll
find that there never is any time left over! Somehow your
daily activities always seem to “expand” to
fill the hours in every day. So schedule your workouts and
meal times in your calendar just like you would any other
appointment or event. Once you’ve done that, stick
to your schedule religiously.
3. Set some compelling training and fitness goals
over the holiday period
Don’t wait until January 1st to set your goals just
because you think it will be harder to achieve them over
the holidays. On the contrary, studies on personal achievement
have shown that you’ll usually reach 80% of the goals
you put onto paper. The problem is that few people set any
goals at all, and fewer still set them during the holidays.
Why wait? Why not do it now? Set some big goals that you
can start working on during the holidays:
Set a goal to lose the 25 lbs you’ve always wanted
to lose NOW Set the goal to gain 10 lbs of solid muscle
NOW Been contemplating a competition in bodybuilding, fitness
or the new ladies figure division? Pick an early spring
show and GO FOR IT - START TRAINING NOW!
Goal setting should not be a once a year affair, it should
be a continuous process. You should always have your goals
in writing and your list should be regularly updated and
rewritten. If you only set goals once a year, you’re
not going to accomplish much in your life.
4. Give yourself permission to have “cheat
days” - and schedule them in
A planned “cheat day” helps you to stay on
your program better in the long run. If you’re too
strict all the time, you’re setting yourself up for
cravings and bingeing.
One or two cheat meals per week will have very little effect
on your physique. If you’ve been on a strict, low
carb and/or low calorie regimen, a cheat meal might actually
be good for you! It will boost your metabolic rate and give
your body the signal that you’re not starving and
that it’s ok to keep burning a lot of calories.
Over the holidays, schedule your dinners and parties so
they fall on your cheat day. Then, on the other days of
the week, be steadfast! Just the fact that you know you
have a “cheat day” coming up will relieve the
pressure of staying on a strict diet for a long time.
Also, when you do have your cheat meal – ENJOY IT!
If you’re going to eat it and feel guilty, then don’t
have it at all. If you’ve stayed with the program
all week long, then when “cheat day” rolls around,
you deserve it!
5. If you fall off the wagon, get right back on
it
So you had about a dozen too many of those Christmas cookies
did you? Don’t worry; because you have cheat days
built into your plan, you shouldn’t let guilt immobilize
you. Even if you fall completely off the wagon, don’t
beat yourself up. All you have to do is get right back on
your program without missing another beat.
Too many people mess up once and then think their entire
diet is ruined. They feel as if everything they’ve
done prior to that day was wasted and there’s no sense
going on. Or even worse, they rationalize to themselves,
“Well, I already cheated, so it doesn’t matter
now, I might as well keep pigging out.”
That’s nonsense. If you threw in the towel every
time you didn’t score 100% on your diet, most people
would never get through more than a few days on any structured
program. Just because you mess up once doesn’t mean
you should quit! You’re only human. Don’t let
one small slip keep you derailed. Firmly plant your wheels
back on the tracks and start rolling again.
6. Maintain your consistent eating schedule
If there’s one thing that all people who successfully
get lean and stay lean have in common, it’s consistency.
Without it, you never get any momentum going. It’s
like taking two steps forward, only to take three steps
back.
Many people allow the busy Holidays to throw them off their
regular eating schedule. They completely veer off their
usual five or six small meals per day, or they start eating
foods they would normally never eat (because “it’s
there”).
You have to keep your metabolic engine revving all year
round. Once you have it going, it’s fairly easy to
keep it going. But once you lose it, it’s very difficult
to get it going again because you must overcome inertia
all over again. (An object at rest tends to stay at rest!)
On the major holidays, when there’s a big dinner
scheduled, many people think that skipping their morning
and afternoon meals to “save room” for the big
one later is a good idea. It’s not. This is a sure-fire
way to invite a binge that could set your back for days.
Don’t lose your consistency or your momentum. Continue
with your pattern of eating small, frequent meals all year
round. All you have to do is count your holiday dinners
as one of your regular meals and keep them small.
7. Control your portion sizes.
You can have your cake and eat it too – you just
can’t eat the whole thing! One of the most important
rules to remember this holiday season is the law of energy
balance, which states: To lose body fat, you must consume
fewer calories than you burn up each day.
There are two corollaries to the law of energy balance:
1. Too much of anything gets stored as fat – even
healthy food. 2. Small amounts of anything – even
junk food – will probably NOT get stored as fat.
There’s no reason to deprive yourself of things you
enjoy. Just make sure you don’t overindulge. As long
as you enjoy your favorite foods in moderation, and you
keep working out, it probably won’t end up around
your waistline.
8. Don’t buy into the low standards and expectations
of others
Keep your standards high, but don’t expect other
people’s standards to be as high as yours. Remember
that most people have already planned in advance to fail
at fitness over the holidays. You’ve decided to stay
strong (haven’t you?) Don’t let their negative
influence drag you down.
When you’ve reached your pre-ordained drink limit,
say “When” and switch to water or a non alcoholic,
non caloric beverage. When they offer you seconds on dessert,
politely say, “No thank you, it was absolutely delicious,
but I’m full, I can’t eat another bite.”
And when the wee hours of the morning start to roll around,
and your friends are egging you on to keep partying, politely
tell them you need your sleep. Tomorrow is a work out day.
If they’re really your friends, they’ll understand.
9. Make the best choices possible in every situation.
You know those tables you see at holiday parties that are
covered with yards of chips, dips, pretzels, cookies, salami,
candies, punch, liquor, and a seemingly endless assortment
of other goodies? Well, did you also notice that there is
usually a tray full of carrot sticks, cauliflower, celery
and other healthy snacks too?
No matter where you are, you always have choices. Sometimes
you have to choose between bad and worse. Other times you
can choose between good and better. But always make the
best choice possible based on whatever your options are.
If nothing else, you can choose to eat a small portion of
something bad rather than a huge portion, thereby obeying
the law of calorie balance.
Chances are good that there’s probably something
healthy on the menu at every holiday gathering. As you know,
lean proteins and fibrous carbs are a great for getting
lean, so fill up on the turkey breast, try to get a vegetable
in there, and go easy on the desserts.
10. If you drink, enjoy alcohol in moderation
If you enjoy having a few drinks on special occasions,
then go ahead and have a drink or two. But if you’re
serious about your fitness goals, you must drink infrequently
and in moderation. Alcohol almost totally inhibits your
body’s ability to metabolize body fat. When there’s
alcohol in your bloodstream, you’re not in fat burning
mode.
I’ve never met anyone in my life that was truly serious
about fitness or bodybuilding who was a heavy drinker. Alcohol
and muscles just don’t mix.
The impact goes beyond added body fat; your energy levels
and workouts can be ruined for days after a night of heavy
drinking. A glass of wine actually has some health benefits.
But there’s NEVER any never reason or excuse for binge
drinking or getting drunk.
So go ahead and toast to the New Year, but know when to
say when.
Get fitness and weight loss help with Tom's E-book. Stay
in shape and stay fit during the holiday season and all
year around, click the link below:
>>
Click here for Tom's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program
About the Author
Tom Venuto is an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified
strength and conditioning specialist, lifetime natural bodybuilder,
and author of the #1 best-selling e-book "Burn the
Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM). Tom has written over
170 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN Magazine,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine,
Olympian’s News (in Italian), Exercise for Men and
Men’s Exercise. For information on Tom's "Burn
The Fat" e-book, click
here.
|
