I am sure we all felt the first holiday bulge hit after Thanksgiving.  

Hopefully, you got right back on track!

Hopefully you are eating clean, avoiding Suzy’s Peanut Butter Balls at the office, only having 1 cocktail at the holiday party that seems to be happening every night, and sticking to your workout routine!

I’m guessing for 25% of you, I am right–you are back on track.  For the rest of you…well let’s talk about what we can do!

Holiday season can be tough.  Not only do we have genetics working against us, but we also have our brainstem telling us we EARNED our holiday binge!  It is easy to fall into the route of justifying sweets, drinks, and goodies around the holidays.  It is the end of the year; we are tired, stressed, and that one cookie will release so much dopamine!!  It will make us feel better–for about 5 min.  Then you will hit the dopamine crash and need another cookie and then another and then a cocktail to wash it down and with just 3 cookies and a cocktail you have eaten 1300 calories almost an entire day’s worth of food.

As half of you are putting that cookie down as you read, I want you to know the holidays don’t have to be fitness doom and gloom!  You may not lose weight during the holidays, but if you exercise you can prevent weight gain and allow yourself some budge room to have 1-2 peanut butter balls.  The major problem is exercise around the holidays can also be a problem.  With so many holiday parties and end of year work deadlines our workout routines seem to go out the window.

So set a goal for yourself now!

 It is proven that people are more likely to workout if they are working towards a goal.

Sign up for a holiday 5k within the next week or two and then a New Years 5k!  Make it your goal to beat your time in your New Years Dash!  Most towns have both a jingle bell dash and a New Years run.  Get online and look for the nearest ones near you.  If you can find one, create unofficial holiday 5ks with 3-5 (the more the merrier!) friends.  It will help keep you all accountable and perhaps become a holiday tradition!

Remember, if you train hard you actually did earn a cookie!  But only one.  A 3.5 mile run burns approximately 350 calories (depending on your body weight).  Think about that the next time you see the cookie tray laying out at work!  We don’t have to deprive ourselves, but it is important to separate whether we actually earned a treat verses we wish we earned a treat!