A Guide to Fitness Planning Throughout the Holiday Season

When you receive an endless flux of invitations for catch-ups and dinner parties from old friends and family during the holidays, it makes you think that merely the idea of staying fit during the season is impossible. But fortunately, there are ways in which you can avoid holiday temptations and still enjoy yourself! You just need to stay disciplined and formulate a game plan ahead of time, for both before and after the celebrations.

Here is your go-to guide to help you stay fit during this holiday season!

Specify Your Fitness Goals

Don’t go into the holidays telling yourself you’re going to be “healthy and fit”. Define what being “healthy and fit” actually means to you! Is it maintaining your current weight, staying faithful to your workout routines, avoiding unnecessary pumpkin cookies, etc.? Specifying your goals enables you to visualise all the steps you must take to succeed clearly. Generalising goals makes you more prone to falter from them.

Meal Prep and Strategize a Workout Plan

No matter the time of year, you can always fall back on a pre-made meal to keep you healthy. Meal prepping has more power than you think! If you solidify a week’s worth of meals, it keeps you from diving into yesterday’s party leftovers or grabbing a convenience meal on the way home from work. Furthermore, like prepping your meals, strategize how you’re going to tackle workouts throughout the week. For example, find a way to workout four days a week, no matter what, or partake in new exercises every week that keep you excited to stay physically active. Spontaneous plans will happen and some days are tight on time of course, but you always have the choice to take a moment for yourself to exercise, even if that’s just fifteen minutes. Remember, working out for a short amount of time is always better than not working out at all.

Eat and Hydrate Before a Party

Mindfully eating and drinking water before a party will help curb your appetite and cravings for the array of treats on the table. Also, mind your alcohol intake! Excessive alcohol consumption isn’t good for your waistline or health in general. Lastly, remember that even though you may have eaten a pre-made meal before a party or don’t feel as hungry during the get-together, you’re still able to attend an event where you can socialise and catch up with the people you care about – and that’s what really matters!

Choose Your Indulgences Wisely

Are there certain treats you look forward to every year during the holidays? Be kind to yourself and indulge in moderation. Being healthy and staying fit shouldn’t have to be a miserable process. Allowing yourself to take small bites here and there can help cut the intensity of cravings.

Let Others Know You’re Following a Fitness Plan During the Holidays

There’s never any harm in letting your friends and family know you want to maintain your fitness goals throughout the holidays. By communicating your goals, people will back off and respect them. If anything, they could even join in on staying healthy as well – the more, the merrier!

Staying fit and eating healthy during the holidays is no small feat. In fact, it has to be one of the hardest things to do. Despite this fact, don’t feel discouraged from reaching your goals. Even if you make a mistake or eat more than expected, you always have the opportunity to move forward. This is an important challenge to you, and it’s worth all the effort. Think of it this way: sticking to a holiday fitness plan will make it that much easier to keep your New Year’s Resolution.


Trevor is a freelance writer and recovering addict & alcoholic who’s been clean and sober for over 5 years. Since his recovery began he has enjoyed using his talent for words to help spread treatment resources and addiction awareness.

In his free time, you can find him working with recovering addicts or outside enjoying about any type of fitness activity imaginable.

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