What’s up guys?
Sean Nalewanyj, SeanNal.com.
And today we’re going to be going over some holiday diet tips.
It’s that time of year and a lot of people have been asking me for advice on what they
should do to stay on track with their diet during Christmas time.
So, let’s talk a little bit about it.
So, first things first, assuming that you do celebrate the holidays, and that the food
aspect is something that you really enjoy and that you do want to indulge in, my first
and my main piece of advice is to just chill.
I get that you have fitness goals, you don’t want to fall off track with things but keep
in mind that the purpose of the holidays is to relax and to enjoy your time, you know,
with your friends and family.
And if you start obsessing about every calorie you’re eating and heavily restricting yourself
then you’re just going to be adding a whole extra layer of stress on top that really doesn’t
need to be there, and you won’t be able to truly unwind and just appreciate the time.
So, don’t think “here’s my fitness program and how do I make the holidays fit into this”.
Think “here’s the holidays, how do I reasonably make my fitness program fit into this?”
When you look back on your life and if someone asks you if there’s anything you regret,
you’re probably not going to say, “I wish I had track my macros more accurately on Christmas
Eve”.
I could be wrong but probably not.
Now, that said, I’m not anybody’s life coach here and everyone is obviously different.
And so, how you choose to go about it, will depend on your specific fitness goals and
then what the holidays is actually look like for you.
So, let me go over three scenarios here and I’ll give a few tips throughout.
So, scenario number one is the more extreme route.
So, maybe you’re preparing for a fitness competition, or you need to be in a very specific
shape by a certain date, and you made up your mind staying fully on track with your program
absolutely is your number one priority or maybe Christmas time just isn’t a big deal
for you to begin with and you don’t feel any real desire to indulge in the first place.
That’s fair enough.
And in that case, you can just continue doing whatever you were doing previously in terms
of nutritional tracking by knowing what your calories and your macros are.
And continuing to just count them and using basic willpower to stay within your nutritional
limits.
Scenario number two is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum which is just to fully
let go and just eat whatever you feel like in whatever amounts you’d like.
Now, there’s nothing objectively wrong with this approach either, as long as you’re
aware of what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and what the possible consequences
might be.
How it specifically affects your fitness goals?
Really just depends on how many calories you’re actually going over by and for what period
of time.
So, if it’s just for a few days and you’re not going completely off the charts insane,
the impact is going to be very minor if anything.
Whereas, if it’s for two or three-week straight and you are going completely insane, then
yeah, it is going to affect your physique to some degree, you’re obviously going to
gain some fat.
Is that a big deal?
Depending on the person, maybe, maybe not.
If you’re still in the beginning stages of your fitness plan, and you start just fully
binging during the holidays for an extended period of time, and you end up erasing a bunch
of the progress you’ve made, and that causes you to lose motivation and fall off track
in the bigger picture then yes, it could have some legitimate negative consequences.
On the other hand, if you’re more experienced and you say, “You know what?
I’m just going to go ahead and just fully enjoy myself this Christmas.
I’m going to eat and drink whatever I feel like, maybe I do gain 3 pounds of fat.
But I’ll just go ahead and diet for a week or two in January and burn it back off”.
That’s a perfectly viable option.
As long as you know what you’re doing and you feel that it’s worth the trade-off.
So yeah, either of those two extremes, either continuing to track everything and being very
strict or tracking absolutely nothing and going a 100 percent all out, both of those
approaches can be fine for some people, depending on the circumstances as long as it’s being
done consciously.
Now, that said as with most things there is a middle ground in there somewhere.
And I think that that middle ground is probably what will apply and work best for the both
of you guys who are watching this, which means allowing yourself to relax loosening things
up, enjoying those holiday food and drinks but still being mindful about what you’re
doing and not going too far overboard with it because again, you have to think not just
in terms of how the excess calories are going to affect your progress right now, but also
how it might affect your progress once the holidays are over in terms of maintaining
your focus and your motivation moving forward.
So, in terms of practical tips, if you’ve been in a cutting phase and your goal is to
lose fat, you can attempt to maintain your calorie deficit but another good approach,
assuming that the food aspect of the holidays is something you really enjoy, is to just
treat this time as a diet break for maybe one or two weeks and just eat roughly around
your calorie maintenance level or in a small surplus.
It’s not going to negatively impact your results.
Even if you do eat in a surplus, a good percentage of those calories will be diverted to lean
muscle growth anyway, as long as you’re still training.
And if you’ve been in a deficit for a while, then a diet break can actually be a useful
tool to give you a nice physical and mental boost.
On the other hand, if you’ve been bulking and you’re already in a surplus then you
can just keep that surplus in place or just be a bit more generous with it.
In terms of actual nutritional tracking, this can be a bit of a challenge because a lot
of the items are going to be homemade.
So, just do your best to roughly estimate and go by feel.
Being a few 100 calories off is not a big deal in the short-term.
Losing fat and building muscle is all about what you do in the big picture.
So, don’t stress yourself out too much with it.
Just try to approximately ballpark it.
If you do want to be a bit more precise then the best option is to just take whatever homemade
item you’re eating and then look up an equivalent item using a nutrition database like my Fitness
Pal or CalorieKing, there’s a bunch of different ones that you can use.
So, for example, if you’re eating, let’s say a homemade Nanaimo bar or a homemade slice
of apple pie, look up the nutritional content for those items online and just use those
as an estimation.
It’s definitely not going to be perfect but it really doesn’t need to be perfect
either.
And again, if we’re talking just about a few days here and there where your food intake
is going to be particularly higher, so let’s say, you know Christmas eve, Christmas day
and New Years, I wouldn’t even worry about specifically tracking anything besides just
some very basic estimation.
I would say, just enjoy yourself and don’t worry about it because short periods like
that aren’t going to be enough to have any real detrimental effect.
And there’s no point in stressing yourself out during times like that when you should
just be relaxing and having fun.
And then one other tip you can use on days where you will be eating those bigger higher
calorie meals and snacks is to intentionally lower your calorie intake in the earlier portion
of the day so that you can save up calories for later on.
An intermittent fasting style approach is one option or you can just make an effort
to eat a bit less earlier on, in that way you can just enjoy yourself later with less
of a chance of going overboard on total calories.
So, I don’t want this to drag on for too long here.
Bottom line guys, take it easy and enjoy the holidays.
In the grand scheme of your life, you’re probably going to get more fulfillment from
enjoying your time with friends and family than you are from having a six-pack.
So, find a good middle ground in there where you can let loose and indulge.
But also do it mindfully and keep a rough tab on your food intake if holiday eating
is something that extends beyond just a couple days for you.
So, thanks for watching guys.
I hope this was helpful.
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Thanks again guys and I’ll see in the next video.