For many, the holidays are a time that one gets to connect with those they care about that they may not see on a regular basis. Old friends and relatives come together to share a meal, reminisce about old times, and build new memories. While the good times are there to be had, there is often an accompanying overindulgence. In an isolated silo, there’s no harm done there. But if you’re someone who is trying to make a change this holiday season by trimming down, this time of year can wipe out all your progress like an avalanche coming down the mountain. If you’re looking to keep your nutrition in check during the holidays, here are a few tried and tested strategies to make it happen.

Check Yourself

The first strategy: just don’t let it happen. Listen to this, did you know that you can enjoy the company of others without eating like an unrefined animal? Sure, maybe you can’t weigh and measure grandma’s green bean casserole as you make your way through the holiday buffet. But just so you know, by putting the food on your plate you’re not signing a contract saying you have to eat all of it or Santa’s putting you on the naughty list. So make a pass through the kitchen, grab all the goodies you think you might want, and then eat like normal. Normal should mean you don’t stuff yourself until you need to put on your stretchy pants. Normal should mean you eat food bite by bite, taking a break in between bites to catch up on conversation with those you’ve missed throughout the year, and then take another bite. Taking time to both chew your food and taking breaks to talk to others will help give your body time to send the fullness signals. And when you’re full, walk away from the food. “But there’s so much food I want to try!” Great, try it all. If you know you’re going to load up on a bunch of stuff, be sure to take smaller portions. The thing about the holidays is you can always go back for more.

Plan the Day

Around here, we usually have a holiday meal at my in-laws somewhere in the early afternoon. So, just as if it were a normal day, I’d have my breakfast that morning. But, this past Thanksgiving I knew my wife was going to be making an absolute killer pecan pie that I wanted to have. So that morning I made my plan and dropped some carbs from breakfast so I could shift them to lunch. Again, I didn’t weigh and measure my slice of pie during the meal, but I knew that even if it was more carbs than I dropped from breakfast, it wasn’t going to completely throw me off the trail. Similarly, around 7pm that night I was starting to get hungry again. Back home with some leftovers now, I had access to my food scale again. Knowing that I did eat a good amount of carbs during Thanksgiving, I opted to weigh out some leftover bird and stick with that for dinner. While nutrient timing may matter for a very, very small portion of people, most of us just need to find balance in our calorie intake. Shifting some calories from one meal to another is an easy way to keep everything in check. I actually woke up the next morning about half a pound down from what I weighed Thanksgiving morning.

Control the Context

This last tip may catch a little flack from some folks, but when the day after the holiday meal rolls around…if your goal is to be losing weight…step on the scale. Whether you step on the scale or not doesn’t change what happened the night before. But if you’re wanting to avoid the scale, chances are you know you went off the rails and you just want to avoid confronting yourself. Hold yourself accountable now even if you couldn’t the night before. You’re not a bad person if you overindulged, but you’ve got to come to terms that it was in fact YOU that chose to overindulge. Don’t beat yourself up over it because the past is the past. But don’t give yourself reason to think some unforeseen circumstances got you here. Weigh yourself and understand what that represents. If you ate more than normal, you have a more than normal amount of food sitting in your gut. If you ate more carbs than normal, you have a more than normal amount of fluid in your muscles. If you ate more than normal you likely have some bloat or inflammation that you wouldn’t have otherwise. These things aren’t weightless. So weigh yourself knowing that everything you added can quickly be dropped. But connecting a number with a feeling will help keep yourself accountable for the next holiday party.

Whether you’re managing holiday indulgences or preparing for your next training cycle, Power Athlete’s nutrition protocols can help you navigate your diet with precision and purpose. From macronutrient guidance to actionable strategies, we’ve got you covered. Check out Power Athlete Nutrition today.

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