There is no other season of the year that people eat more than during Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are the two holidays that people just don’t care and eat whatever they see in front of them.

#Ugly Truth: Most people calculate their Christmas holiday meals to be 2.000 calories per day, but according to a research done by the Associated British Foods, they found out that the average person’s daily consumption on Christmas holiday is about 7.000 CALORIES>.

It is a whole lot of calories for one person; 3x more than what what the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recommend for a daily calorie intake.

Do you want to lose all your gym hard work?

I was blown away when I found out about this numbers. We work so hard at the gym so I really don’t want to loose all my hard work in one weekend.

It is a lot of temptation, I know, but there must be something we can do to avoid throwing everything we worked for in the garbage.

You need a whole lot of workout just to burn out the calories you ate on the holiday dinner. I checked this free activity burn tool to calculate how much cardio I would need to lose some of those calories.

For example, I chose the stair master on a moderate intensity. Myself been a 174 pound man I would have to do 60 minutes of cardio to burn 606 calories, which is not even the average 7000 calories that a person consume averagely.

That amount would be just to even out with the calorie consumption, and you probably know that you need to be on the negative side to lose that extra layer of fat.

How I Manage To Stay Fit During The Holidays

I was shocked at my last holiday experience, I actually didn’t gain much fat at all. I was able to manage my weight, and even though I ate like a crazy man after been kept in captivity for a week, I didn’t gain any “bad weight”.

I need to start saying that the results of this experience also is due to long term training and how good you have been with your health through out the year.

I am sure you follow a lot of fitness athletes on Instagram and you see that they post their holiday meals, and it does not look even close to clean.

They are able to do that because they know how their body works and there is a whole process before that day.

I do eat a lot on the holiday. I am talking about fatty meats, gravy, sauces, sweets, and everything you can think of.

#It’s part of the plan: The preparation for the holiday is actually not something too different from what you would normally do prior to a vacation or a special photo shoot.

You do workout almost every day anyways, so balancing your meals is just part of your regime.

How Do I Prepare

This is a tough topic because with my 10 years of training, I have learned that all bodies are different and react differently to foods.

I like to say that “I am very sensitive to carbs”.

What that means is, I can put on mass very easily so I need to watch my diet frequently so I don’t get fat.

I shared with you guys before about the change I made to my diet and I am pretty much all protein, high good fats and I try to stay away from a lot of carbs.

#Holiday Preparation: So what I actually do is try to stay on the negative side of carbs for two to three days before the holiday so when it gets to the day of, you won’t see much difference on your body.

I did the same preparation before my trip to Mexico and I think it worked well. I was there for four days on a luxury all included resort and believe it or not I didn’t gain any weight.

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Sample Meal Plan I Follow

One thing I learned since I started following a more restrict diet regime was; “try to find the clean foods that you like because you will be eating a lot of them.”

For this three days prior to the holiday I drop almost all my carbs and I ate a lot of protein and good fats.

Eggs became my best friends and one of my main sources of protein. Not only because it has a lot of protein but I actually enjoy eating it.

Another thing I had to “learn’ to love was the avocado, and that’s a good reason for it.

• It is a great source of vitamins; it has a variety of 20 vitamins.
• Great source of healthy fats.
• Also it is a fibrous food, which is awesome.

Breakfast

I usually wake up and do a 30 min cardio on an empty stomach and then I will cook my breakfast. It is pretty much the same thing everyday.

• 3 whole eggs and 3 egg whites ( Scrambled )
• 2 Turkey bacon slices
• 1 full hand of almonds ( you can get flavored ones )
• 5 blueberries

Lunch

I eat when I feel hungry, period. It can be in two hours or four hours. The one time I really need to calculate is the pre workout meal since I can’t show up at the gym with a blown up stomach.

• 200 gr of Protein ( chicken/fish/turkey )
• 150 gr vegetables
• 1/2 avocado

Afternoon Pre Workout

• 3 whole eggs and 3 egg whites ( Scrambled )
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 apple

Post Workout

• 200 gr of Protein ( chicken/fish/turkey )
• 150 gr vegetables
• 1/2 avocado

Before Bed

I may eat boiled eggs or straight chicken/fish/turkey with a salad, if I feel hungry.

PS: This is a type of diet I follow because it works for my body. I know that many guys that struggle to put on size would starve themselves by eating just this amount of food.

I feel fine with these meals and I don’t feel that I need to add anymore food than this; and if it was the case, I would just eat more.

My New Mentality About The Holiday

Some time ago when I used to be more of a fitness fanatic, I would miss holidays, birthday parties,etc. It was pretty painful to see everyone eating and having fun and I couldn’t enjoy it too.

Now I do it all different. Like I said before, If I live a healthy lifestyle, I will be training and eating clean anyways, so I might as well just a push a little more some days prior, just so I can enjoy my holiday guilt free.

6 Tips On How To Stay Fit During The Holidays

Drink Water

Did you know that many times your body confuse thirsty by hunger?

What happens is that your body can receive mixed signals and you may think that you are hungry but you are actually dehydrated.

Keeping track of your water intake may help you not to over eat during the holidays. Specially because you will be eating a lot of foods and drinks loaded with sodium.

Soda drinks are formulated to give you that thirsty feeling so you can keep drinking more and more of their products.

Choose Cardio

I would recommend you to do some training in the holiday morning. Also I would say you should choose aerobic exercises over weight lifting.

Unless you want to build a lot of muscle and you don’t care about putting extra pounds, you can even do a light cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach before you go meet your friends and family.

Eat With Moderation

Even though you can feel free to eat whatever you want, don’t think that this will be your last meal. I get so excited to eat that sometimes I eat too fast and I then I feel sick afterwards.

Break Down The Meals

I usually arrive at my family’s house early for lunch and I stay there the whole day; normally wait for dinner too.

That’s how you get the 7.000 calories, but not if you know how to break down your meals. Try to have small meals; get a plate with your best food and eat slowly through out the day.

Carbs Over Sweets

If I was you I would rather eat a lot of carbs instead of not eating too much and filling up with sweets.

The desserts, even though it taste so good, will be a lot worse to your packs than mash potatoes and bread. You can eat it but be conscious.

Only One Day Treat

Make sure to enjoy the holiday because on the next day you will need to move on and go back to your training and diet.

Doing two days of food cheating can do a lot of harm to your body. I often tell the people I help that it is better to eat bad in two different days than two days in a row.

Getting Back On Track

The hard part about eating cheat meals is not even that you will lose your six pack in that one meal, the bigger problem is that you open your taste buds to crave that “tasty foods”.

I was always a big believer that before giving yourself a treat, you need to first teach your body that “it doesn’t get what it wants.

The first two weeks on a new eating plan are the worst. You are craving sweets, you feel tired and depleted; but you have to break through that point to succeed.

If every time you feel a craving you fall for that delicious food, you will never be able to reach a point where you have a balanced physique.

Like I said, it is harder to get to your weight goal, but once you get there, you don’t need to be always on a calorie deficit because you can just balance your meals and you will be able to enjoy a holiday meal without feeling guilt about it.

If You Fall, Get Up and Continue

How many people do you know who have put on their new resolution list “become healthier” ?

I know a lot of people like that, and it is funny to see the gym full of people in January after the big holidays.

It is even funnier that by the end of first month most people start dropping their gym membership and give up.

One of the main reasons for it is that when and if they fail, they give up right away. That’s not how it should be done.

You should make it a lifestyle, and not a short term goal. That’s what separate the ones that succeed from those who don’t.

I have seen many people that were once over weight, and even though they failed, they never gave up because they had a goal to attain.

This conduct should be something you follow in all areas of your life.

Conclusion

I would like to enforce what I said before. I don’t think that any diet or training is more important than your family and the moments you will make with them.

I always loved visiting new places and trying out new restaurants. Every time me and my wife remember a moment from a trip we made, it is always related to either family, friends or food.

I would never say ” remember that day we skipped our holiday reunion to go the gym? it was so fun“.

I believe that everything in life needs to be balanced out. Go out, have fun and work hard when you need to work hard.

The question remains, how do you manage to stay fit during the holidays?

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