How to Incorporate Fitness into the Holiday Season

Reaching physical fitness is a journey on its own with many hills and valleys. Insert the holidays, and you’ve got yourself the Olympics of trying to meet your fitness goals. The holidays are well known and associated as a time of celebration, indulgence, and often—throwing caution to the wind when considering routine.

However, as you may have heard once or twice, where there is a will, there is a way. Forget leaving fitness a priority for the new year. Start now, and enjoy your life in January.

Toss the Extremes Mentality

As previously mentioned, eating and drinking whatever comes one’s way during the holidays, and then clean it up in January to start the new year differently. In theory, for some time, it made sense. But does it? Cleaning the slate and inevitably coming full circle to arrive back at square one by the end, where’s the growth in that?

It’s a cycle that only moves one way, in a circle. Rewire your mentality. Resisting temptation becomes easier the more you do it. Keep consistent with your goals to avoid having to take extreme measures, later on, to make up for falling off. This doesn’t mean you can’t indulge at all; however, more on that later.

Modification to Keep Motivation

We get it, keeping up with energy to work out and maintain a balanced diet during the holidays is hard with a capital H. With running around, tending to guests, and attending celebrations, who has the energy? It’s perfectly normal to feel winded along with a lack of motivation.

Don’t let this stop you. Show up even when you’re tired. Showing up is your way of keeping your word to yourself, even if it’s the best you can do. Modify your routine to its most basic form. Cut specific workouts, do a little less time, modify it to the point that feels like you’re doing the minimum—but do it. You may even surprise yourself and find the energy to keep going.

Plan Your Indulgences

Try your very best not to fall into the trap of ignoring your standards for the sake of the holidays. It’s much easier said than done. Make it happen by planning out when you’re going to indulge. For example, if you know, you have a function coming up, or an actual holiday, stay disciplined the days leading up to it as well as after. If you come across temptation, remind yourself that you will have your time to indulge. This can even work to help you savor it

Try Out a Reward System

Similar to planning your indulgences, allow yourself little treats and cheats as rewards for sticking to your fitness routine. Any time you feel like giving up but don’t, treat yourself to something. It can be a food, sure, but it could also be an impromptu shopping trip or a viewing of your favorite film. Celebrate the little wins to win big.

It doesn’t need to be a structured ordeal but sticks to some general rules to avoid overdoing it. The reward system can also work in reverse. If you say, you do fall victim to temptation (we’re all human): Make a deal with yourself that you will balance it out by doing something extra to support your fitness journey.

Goals are not met by wanting them every second of every day. They are met by the inner resilience to keep with them despite the moments where you care for the least, the moments that are led by the drive that motivates you to start in the first place. We believe in you.