Staying healthy during the holiday season can be pretty difficult, especially if you live in an area where it gets pretty chilly during the winter. I’ve noticed that I like to stay in quite a bit more when it’s winter time.
This can be both a good and bad thing because I don’t want to go to restaurants as much. It’s not a good thing because I pretty much never go running outside when it’s the winter time. I could layer up and go running, but I despise the cold air that I inhale while running outside. I’ve looked up several different ways to deal with the cold while running in the winter, but nothing has truly worked for me. So for now, I do all of my cardio at the gym.
Cardio in the winter is much harder because I have to drive to the gym, while in the winter it was so much easier when I could run basically any free moment I had by simply walking out the door. I also live by a nice trail so I love taking advantage of it when I can.
Here are some of my quick tips to stay healthy this holiday season:
Tip #1 Eat a good amount of protein before each family/holiday meal.
This will fill you up so you don’t eat as much during the meals. I try to eat or drink my protein about 20 minutes before a meal, so I’m pretty full by the actual meal time. I like to eat a small bag of nuts/almonds before my meals.
If I don’t have that, I’ll drink a small protein shake with some fat free milk.
[wp_ad_camp_3]
Tip #2 Get your family involved in workouts.
Once I started eating healthy and working out, it was a wave effect. Everyone else was starting to become inspired and motivated to live a healthy lifestyle as well.
There were more healthy options at our holiday dinners and it got everyone excited to eat healthy. There are so many clean recipes online and it can be very delicious as well! I’ve tasted clean brownies/desserts that could’ve been mistaken for regular desserts.
Tip #3 Eat correct amounts of food.
Realize how much better you’ll feel when you don’t over fill yourself at the holiday dinners. I hate how tired and grumpy I get after eating a bunch of food. The overstuffed feeling isn’t enjoyable for anyone.
Anytime I feel like eating something that is processed, I think about how I will feel afterwards. The 20 seconds of eating the food will be fantastic and heavenly, but afterwards I feel lazy and my energy is completely gone.
How do you stay healthy during the holiday season?
Are there certain workouts you do in the winter as opposed to the summer time?
During the summer I was walking outside a lot (I’m not quite up to running speed), but I can’t stand the cold so like you I’m going to the gym now, which has helped me branch out into other types of exercises. I find tracking my workouts on an app (I use MapMyFitness) helps to keep me accountable. It also lets me join challenges that give me extra motivation.