“The Holidays Are So Challenging”

In this article, we’ll focus on two of the most common challenges that come up during the holidays: our health and comments from others. 

Exercise

There are a couple of things that typically pose a challenge to exercising during the holidays:  there’s less time and we’re in a place without our usual exercise equipment. But these challenges are surmountable as long as you create a realistic exercise plan.

Sit down and think about a realistic amount of time you can commit to exercise during the whole holiday season. Write out your plan and decide the minimum amount of exercise you can commit to no matter what. Schedule in what works for you.

Let’s say you’ll be with family on Thanksgiving. Maybe Thanksgiving day itself will be a rest day for you. Or, if not, maybe you’ll fit in twenty minutes in the morning before the festivities begin. 

Scheduling in your exercise is how you’ll get past the roadblock of not having enough time or the right equipment. You can get creative with your exercise. You don’t need something elaborate; walking works. Jogging is great. 

Once you commit to a holiday season exercise schedule, make it non-negotiable. It’ll help you enter the new year feeling energetic and amazing.

Food

We know this challenge well: there is so much food everywhere during the holidays. But maybe that’s something to be grateful for. When we come from a place of gratitude, we can savor and enjoy our food. 

If you approach the food situation with gratitude, you don’t have to stress and worry about temptation. Gratitude will put you in a more mindful place and help you eat intuitively. It’s all about asking yourself if you’re hungry or full, and what your body needs in any given moment. 

Commit to one goal: only eat when you’re hungry. If you can live by that rule, you will be so much happier during the holidays. You’ll cruise through the season and even make progress. You can start this habit today and carry it with you forever.

If you’re new to this, you may not have a strong sense of your natural hunger cues. If you’ve been on diets, it can take time to redevelop this sense. But it’s possible to regain that ability, and it’s worth trying. 

Drinking

Festive holiday drinks are so fun, but it can get a little crazy. That’s why it comes down to having a plan. 

Try to really decide ahead of time how much you’re willing to drink. Focus on how you feel after you have a large quantity of alcohol. How are you sleeping? How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? Yes, in the moment, drinking will be fun. But how will it affect you long-term? Keeping that in mind will allow you to make a better plan for you.

If you know ahead of time that your family likes to bring out the spiked eggnog and frosted martinis for Christmas, you’ll want to plan for that. If you want to partake, own it ahead of time so you can enjoy it. You don’t have to be restrictive, but you do need to have a plan. Every sip of every drink should be worth it to you. 

You don’t have to take the food and alcohol out of the experience and have a boring holiday in order to be healthier. You’re welcome to have whatever you want. Just get hungry first, plan your alcohol, and keep water nearby to double hydrate whatever you’re drinking. That will allow you to feel better and stick to your exercise plan.

Comments from Other People

When it comes to comments from other people, you have three choices. You can be prepared ahead of time, deciding how you’re going to respond and feel. You can be prepared to set a boundary when these comments come up. Or you can just avoid the party and the comments altogether.

Maybe your Aunt Betty will comment on why you’re not eating dessert. You know that Aunt Betty shows love through food and you don’t want to hurt her feelings. You’ll think, “She feels bad that I’m not having dessert, which makes me feel bad.” Then you start considering having the pie that you already planned not to have. Instead, you can say something gracious like, “Everything has been amazing and I’m so full. I’m going to wait until I get hungry again.” Nobody can argue with that.

Or maybe at the dinner table, you’re comfortably full, so you stop eating. And then somebody will ask, “Aren’t you going to finish that?”. Again, you can go back to, “The food has been so amazing. I’m not hungry at all. I’m going to wait until I’m hungry again and I can really enjoy it.” You can own it.

If you haven’t seen your family members for a while, they may notice you look a little different and pay more attention to what you eat. They may say, “You barely ate anything.” This is a great opportunity to educate your family with, “I’m just really listening to my body and I’m not hungry right now.” It may even motivate and inspire other family members to get curious about intuitive eating and food freedom.

Or somebody may flat out comment on your body and ask, “Have you lost weight? You look so thin.” or “Have you gained weight?”. This can be triggering for many of us, so it may be a good time to set a boundary. Maybe you’ll say, “I’ve been really trying to listen to my body.” Or maybe you’ll set a boundary and say, “You tend to focus on my body and it makes me really uncomfortable. I’d prefer if you stop doing that.” Most often, people will listen to you.

I hope these tips will allow you to have the holiday you deserve knowing you’re in complete control.