Include your Christmas dinner, dessert, and drinks in your daily nutrition by adding it to your tracking app first. Plan the rest of your meals for the day around the remaining macros.

Track your Christmas meal first…

Eat enough protein and fiber throughout the day to help balance out your nutrition, and stabilize blood sugars. Protein and fiber will help keep you feeling full and satiated, which can help the consumption of less nutrition dense foods stay within moderation.

Prioritize protein & fiber …

It often leads to overeating in the end, and can develop a bad relationship with food. Never go into a holiday feast starving. You will have more control if you are comfortably hungry. Keep your meals around the holiday meal high in protein, and veggies to make sure you still hit your protein and micronutrient needs for the day.

Don’t skip meals ….

Water helps with digestion, absorption, and removing waste products from your system. Water will help reduce bloating from eating foods higher in salt and sugar.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate...

Get a workout in or at the very least go for a walk the of, after, or both. Movement can help with digestion, and add to your overall energy output.

Exercise and move…

Practice mindful eating techniques to help with portion control. This brings awareness to our eating behaviour and slows the eating process down. It gives our body to digest the food we have ate, and communicate with our mind that we are full. Eat until you are comfortably full. It allows us to make mindful decisions, and being more aware of our natural hunger cues. This is a good way to control portions in a social setting.

Be mindful…

Once the holiday feast is over, get straight back into your normal routine the next day. Don’t let the holidays bleed into the entire week, or month. You also do not need to eat everything up all at once. This is an all or nothing mentality that perpetuates the idea that some foods are good and some are bad. You are allowed to have “bad foods” whenever you want, preferably in moderation. Track it on your app first and plan the rest of your day around it.

Get back into routine ASAP…

Flexible dieting follows an 80/20 approach. If you are consistent with your nutrition, and fitness 80% of the time than 20% of the time allows space for things like holiday season. It is just as important for our mental health to spend quality time with friends and family as fitness and nutrition are. Enjoy yourself, and don’t over think it. A day or two going over your macros is not the end of the world in the bigger picture, and won’t ruin your progress. You are what you consistently do!

Enjoy yourself …