Holidays and Fitness

September 3, 2010 admin No comments

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Hi,

With Labor Day coming up many health and fitness gurus will talk about the holidays and fitness.

Holidays are almost always associated with good food and lots of it. It is a time of gathering with friends and family and drinking and eating is part of that celebration.

Many will tell you that you must maintain your discipline in order to get through the holiday with minimal deviation from your diet or fitness program.

I say hogwash.

A friend of mine was training with some nutrition and fitness guru (this was in another town). He told her that she had to maintain her diet and her training schedule through a three day holiday weekend.

She did do it and had a miserable time. She couldn’t let go and just enjoy herself. And of course you can imagine the teasing and questioning she got from everyone.

“You are going to go work out now?” “Oh, don’t you want a bite of this?” And so on.

Doing that is just plain silly.

Let’s look at the bigger picture. If you decide you have to lose weight or get in better shape that is great.

And if a trainer helps you do that, then it is even better. But, remember it is your life that you are trying to improve.

Is your life really improving if you are not enjoying yourself? If you have to put up with questions and teasing from everyone?

If you can’t enjoy some holiday food and drink?

So what can you do? You still want to stay on track with your fitness and nutrition programs and you still want to enjoy yourself.

So here are a few tips.

Nutrition: Make sure you do eat some healthy, nutrient rich foods at every meal or snack. But, go ahead and enjoy the rest of the eats.

Sip on a protein shake throughout the day. But, go ahead and have a soda or alcohol drink.

Stop eating and drinking when you start to feel full. Do not keep gorging.

Take some extra Vitamin C and some anti-oxidants.

Fitness: If you want to keep your workout schedule, then do it early in the morning when no one is up.

Add an extra walk before and/or after a meal. Take someone with you.

Have an extra hard workout on the day before the holiday weekend.

See that wasn’t so hard was it.

Remember life is about enjoying what you do. This includes getting fit and eating healthier. It also includes enjoying the holidays with your friends and family.

You can balance the two so that the holidays and fitness are not enemies.

Enjoy,

Mike Val