By Nikki Ternay
What a great time of the year!
A great time to be with family and friends.
The next few weeks are filled with holiday parties and delicious foods, along with many tasks and errands that are on top of your regular “to-do” list.
Because you are busier, the first thing that gets tossed out the window is typically your health and fitness!
It is incredibly easy to tell yourself, “I’ll skip my workout so I can get [fill in the blank] done.” And food… I don’t even need to tell you about the FOOD!
So many parties to attend and cookies to be eaten that it is VERY easy to add some extra pounds over this holiday season.
But I think we have forgotten there are only TWO to THREE holidays coming up (depending on your background): Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. EVEN if you celebrated ALL the holidays and National “whatever” Day, you still can lose weight when you have your mindset set up for weight loss success.
Or even maintain your weight over the holidays if you can’t wrap your mind around losing. You do not have to worry about Santa leaving that gift of extra weight around your waist.
It’s a HoliDAY, not a HoliMONTH!
Do you want to love your holiday season or hate it?
Of course, you want to love it!!
Running in the background of your mind is the predominant thought:
“I am going to get the most out of the holidays!!”
“I am going to have a fantastic time celebrating… hanging out with my loved ones… baking cookies… all the things!!”
Remember, your primitive (subconscious) brain wants ALL the pleasurable things in life.
There is NOTHING wrong with this.
If we had no enjoyment in life… what’s the point???
Your primitive brain, however, isn’t in it for the long game.
It’s hyper-focused on the now.
It wants instant gratification… NOW!
If you are in Dieter’s Mentality, you will probably hate the holidays.
The chronic dieter will hear their primitive brain saying, “Eat ALLLLL the things… because you won’t see these foods for a REALLY long time… if ever!” (Remember, your primitive brain is very much the drama queen.)
You will also hear how you “shouldn’t” eat those holiday cookies, that you “should” avoid all carbohydrates and sugar, and that you should restrict—except when you make the one exception or have a “cheat meal/day/week.”
Then, when you find yourself face-to-face with a plateful of your favorite holiday cookies, you just can’t take it anymore, and you dive in. (If this is resonating with you, it’s because I have been there too!!)
“That was sooo yummy… but wait, what did I do???? …I blew it!”
THEN all hell breaks loose inside your brain—all the shame about how you can never stick to a diet, how you are a horrible person because you couldn’t resist the cookies, and how you need to buckle down and be more strict with yourself. Does this sound like any fun??? NO. And yet, you continue to do this to yourself year after year.
Here are some ways you have come to HATE the holidays:
- Depriving yourself of foods you really want to eat.
- Beating yourself up because you haven’t lost the weight yet and are faced with even MORE food during the holiday season.
- Comparing yourself to others: “How come everyone else gets to eat what they want?”
- Jumping on another diet. (I want to give you this suggestion: if your diet can’t hold up to the holidays, then maybe you want to think of another way to lose weight.)
- Procrastinating and saying you’ll work on your weight loss once the holidays are over.
Ways to love your holiday:
- Eat what you want.
I teach my clients there are no foods off-limits. I do not give my clients meal plans, have them count calories, or use any other diet tactics. You CAN eat your favorite holiday foods and still lose weight. - Make decisions that will affect you long-term, not short-term.
Your primitive brain wants short-term satisfaction. Your sophisticated brain (prefrontal cortex) wants long-term gains. Your primitive brain is very loud and dramatic. Your sophisticated brain is soft, grounded, and confident. If you are only listening to the loud noise (your primitive brain), you can’t hear what you REALLY want… a.k.a. the long-term goal—losing weight for the last time.
- Talk kindly to yourself.
If you are drowning in Dieter’s Mentality, the way you talk to yourself is probably not very nice OR you may not even be aware of how you are talking to yourself. It’s like white noise to you. Sometimes it just sounds like absolute facts you are telling yourself. This is why working with a coach is so incredibly helpful. - Accept where you are now… and still want more.
Feel gratitude for where you currently are, whether you are 20, 40, or even 100+ lbs overweight. Have gratitude for your body (it pumps blood throughout your body without you giving it one thought). It gets you places as you walk. You have a brain. You can go on and on with ways to feel grateful about your body. You can feel sufficient where you are and still want more. This is where we women get tripped up. It’s OKAY to want more! You are not vain because you want to be healthier and fit! You are SMART for wanting more. ALWAYS want more. That is how you get the most out of your life!!
Happiest of Holidays to you and yours!
