How to Not Lose Progress Over the Christmas Period
If you’re reading this post right now, you’re probably wondering how you’re going to get through the next few weeks whilst continuing any form of progress with your health and fitness.
Yes, it is going to become more difficult when the rate of social occasions increases, as does the availability of mince pies increases over the next few weeks!
But it doesn’t have to be complete pause on everything you’ve been working on over the past few months.
You may see some personal trainers and coaches talk about the ‘Lowest calorie Christmas pudding options’, or ‘How to avoid eating too much chocolate at Christmas’.
But the reality is that you don’t need to be that strict.
Having a more relaxed approach without going silly is not going to kill all your progress.
So here’s how I’m going to be approaching my health & fitness this Christmas.
Keeping my movement routine as similar as possible
’ll be aiming to treat the weeks as normal as possible, so if I can get down the gym then great. If not, I may swap a gym session for a run, or possibly even a 30 minute workout from home.
I will probably need to decrease the amount of sessions compared to normal, just because I’m busy… But there’s no need to put a complete stop to it.
Keeping the habit in place in some form is going to make everything a whole lot easier when I return back to some form of normal routine in the New Year.
Steps, steps and more steps!
This is something that I refer to constantly.
Maintaining a high daily step count should be a habit all year round, and there’s no reason why this should stop over Christmas.
Use any opportunity to get outside to get some steps in.
I think steps and general movement are one of the most underrated forms of exercise going - the benefit of them should not be underestimated!
No waiting until January!
At the point of writing this, we still have 22 days available of 2023 to crack on with our fitness goals.
The conditions may be slightly more difficult given that not everyone is on the same wavelength in terms of their priorities, but that doesn’t mean that you have to wait until January.
If you’ve been thinking about starting a new training routine - going to the gym, going for a run, taking up a new fitness hobby, then why not start now?
If you’re looking for a reason to not do something, then you’ll always find that reason.
A little bonus for this is that you’ll probably feel a little smug when you’re ahead of the game of everyone else in the January crowd.
Having a relaxed week (or two) with your nutrition will not ruin your progress
Now this doesn’t give you an excuse to eat and drink everything in sight - it doesn’t have to be silly season.
But you should learn to enjoy a more relaxed period over Christmas.
I’ve spent years being pretty rigid over what I eat over Christmas, but I don’t feel like it’s helped me achieve any extra progress.
Yes, you may feel a little bit more sluggish when you come back into your first week of normality.
But after a week or two, you’ll be back to where you were and your body will be grateful for the rest.
Let us know if any of these tips have helped you.
Or if there’s anything we can do to support you over the next few weeks, click the button below to get in touch.
