When a holiday rolls around, it can be really difficult to stay on track with your goals. We celebrate with friends and family, have an extra drink (or three) and won't turn down the foods we normally avoid.
The scale may have jumped up or you might be feel a little bloated, but... just because we had a day or two of celebrating doesn't mean we're derailed for ever!
Here are a few quick ways to get back on track:
1. Set a day to get back on track (and stick to it). One day of fun won't destroy your diet success. It's when one day turns in to 3 days, 5 days or a week that we start to derail our progress. Set a day to get back on track, like the day right after the holiday, and fall back in line. The sooner you get back into the swing of your diet the easier it will be.
2. Remind yourself of your goals. You started this journey for a reason and managing holidays is all part of the process. While we don't want to deprive ourselves and we do want to be able to celebrate, we can do that for a day and then go back to what we were doing. If you didn't nail it this time, use it as a learning experience for how you can navigate these situations in the future and get back to chasing after your goals.
You can also take some time to check in with yourself. How are you feeling when you don't eat healthy versus when you do? How are your clothes fitting? How is your mood and energy? By looking for feedback from yourself and recognizing the positive effects of your healthier diet versus your temporary holiday one, you can make it easier to get back into the groove.
3. Switch back to whole and natural foods. Holiday foods are once in a while foods and that's okay. Making the quick shift back to whole and natural foods can help us get back into the groove quickly.
Since these foods are lower in calorie than their baked good/processes counterpart, it will be easier to get your calories under control. We are better at maintaining a diet when we limit highly palatable foods and stick to the ones that are good for us.
4. Temporarily increase your activity. Temporarily increasing your activity can help curb your damage, but we don't need to go crazy with it. One or two short HIIT sessions, a few extra walks or an added run during the week can help us recover from going overboard without stressing too much.
5. Don't drastically drop your calories. It's tempting to cut all the way down to compensate for going over on calories, but this can cause a pendulum effect. You cut your calories really low and by the end of the week you go way over because you're feeling deprived. Go back to the original plan, recognize that you probably won't have as much progress this week and chalk it up as a learning experience.
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