Balancing Diet & Fitness During the Holidays
Holidays represent a time when most people can take a break from their ordinary routines. Priorities get reshuffled. which often includes pushing your fitness and healthy snacking routines to the wayside. Opting for sugary sweet snacks instead of healthy snacks that enhance your workouts becomes an easy mistake to make. Of course, we’re not telling you to not indulge in treats. Moderation is key!
It’s okay to take a holiday from your work, your stressors, and take it easy. However, taking a complete break from your fitness and health routine could make it tougher for you to maintain the same level of consistency after the holiday. It doesn’t take much to break good habits.
Instead of kicking your fitness program and diet to the curb, you can always adjust it to the new environment. You could exercise less than usual, but this will go a long way into maintaining your weight and health. Watching your diet and sticking to healthy workout snacks is also highly recommended.
Here is how to stay fit during the holidays and a few healthy holiday eating tips to follow:
Plan For The Holiday Early
How well do you understand your holiday environment? Will you have a gym close by? How easy will it be to access workout equipment? You need to factor in all aspects of your holiday environment and plan your workout schedule around them. For instance, if you won’t have access to exercise equipment, you can always carry portable equipment with you.
Equipment like ab rollers and resistance bands are easy to pack. They also take up less space, making them ideal for environments with limited exercise room. Take into account the typical daily schedule during the holidays. You can set up your workout routine around this schedule.
Be sure to set workout reminders and commit to them. Last, bring along healthy workout snacks to optimize your exercise sessions.
Commit To Self-Monitoring Your Diet
If you are looking for insights on how to stay fit during the holidays, then self-monitoring your diet should be a priority. You need to keep an eye on what you eat and drink. Among the most important healthy holiday eating tips is to ensure that your energy expenditure is higher than your energy intake. Ideally, this will typically involve monitoring your calorie intake.
If you take high-calorie foods, counter it with exercises that burn even more calories. Alternatively, you could stick to low-calorie diets and lean proteins a week before the start of the holiday. Carry your own healthy workout snacks too. You can use them to improve the effectiveness of your workout sessions.
Lastly, carry other healthy foods with you. You might need to substitute some of the ingredients used to cook for everyone during the holiday. For instance, you might need to use almond milk instead of dairy milk if you are on a dairy-free diet.
Embrace Family-Friendly Exercise
You should spend your holidays socializing with family members, especially if you will not see them in the near future. Exercise might limit the amount of time you have for interacting with everyone. Why not involve your loved ones in your exercise routine and provide them with healthy workout snacks? You can make the exercise fun and enjoyable, which could present your family with bonding opportunities.
You can opt to do recreational exercise such as hiking, riding bikes or skiing. It all trickles down to what your family enjoys most. Besides, involving your family members in your exercise routine will offer you accountability partners to keep you focused on your goals. It’s okay if some family members aren’t intrigued by the idea of working out together. Consider a post-holiday meal walk in the neighborhood, if anything!
Get Ample Sleep
The amount of sleep you get each night will have a huge impact on your diet and workout routine. Sleep affects the production of two hormones; leptin (the satiety-inducing hormone) and ghrelin (the hunger-inducing hormone). If you are sleep-deprived, the body will produce more ghrelin and less leptin. This means you will most likely eat more, which will lead to weight gain and counteract your workout routine.
When you haven’t had enough shut-eye, it will be tough to concentrate during workout sessions, regardless of the kinds of holiday snacks, healthy or not, that you’ve been enjoying.
To improve your sleep hygiene, you should embrace healthy holiday eating tips, limit screen time before bed, and control your room temperature while sleeping.
Whether you are exercising for weight loss or to simply keep fit, you shouldn’t ignore your routine during the holiday. You might not exercise at the same level of intensity as before, but you should still work out. Be sure to carry healthy workout snacks, self monitor your diet and workout sessions, and get enough sleep to keep up with your fitness goals. For the best on-the-go workout equipment, try our Top Notch Ab Rollers, workout bands, and workout mat for a comprehensive, easy-to-use, and highly portable workout routine.
