How to Not Get Fat during Holiday Season

Hi there!

Yep, here it is: that time of the year where food is EVERYWHERE. Sweats, tasty meat, potatoes, cakes, sugar, sodas, alcohol…
It is that time of the year when so-called fitness nutritionists, experts, coaches will give their absolute/ultimate/best advice regarding how to not look like a round ball after a few days ie. eat normally during the day and limit yourself at night.

Whether it is a family gathering, a professional after-work meeting with coworkers, school student feasts/parties or even city events, you will probably feel socially pressured into eating a lot, and not that healthy stuff, when not healthy at all.

So, what can you do to not get fat during the holiday season? Remain strict on your diet like it’s a life or death situation, thus making your mum sad after refusing her homemade cookies? Or are you going to go full beast mode on food, devouring anything whenever possible, ending up looking at your body in early January and saying to yourself “Well, fuck”?

In this article, I want to help you get prepared without destroying your social life and stretching your pants. I also want to help you better understand some hidden psychological mechanisms and traps you could fall into and, also, how to actually take advantage of that period for your fitness and overall life goals.

Embrace the Need to Feast

That’s right. There is no point nor a good reason to not enjoy this time of the year when you can surround yourself with family, friends, loved ones, and have a good time. Depending on your religion/beliefs, you could also see this as a “magical” moment of the year, or a switch of your focus and goals since it’s also the time where we get into another new fresh year, full of possibilities and opportunities.
Instead of resisting and then risking to break loose and pig out until you get sick, keep the total caloric the same as usual, deficit if you cut, maintenance if you recomp, surplus if you bulk. Keep the same guidelines as your normal diet and keep on.

Eat Small or Fast During the Day

The best way to ensure you can eat like a whole family by yourself at night is to simply have a lot of room to work with. If you eat just a few kcal or not at all, you will have plenty of space left to eat and not break your targeted amount.
It seems so simple and stupid that I often see people forgetting about it. Not only is fasting good for your health, it will also help you both not get fat and enjoy yourself during this period.
Drink coffee and tea without anything in order to blunt hunger and facilitate the fast and/or eat small snacks, like meat and nuts, fruits, fish and veggies… Basically high protein, zero/low carbs, medium fat meals to keep you going. This will keep the insulin level low and help your body functioning without trouble. Also, if you have a tiny stomach or have trouble with eating, prepare your digestive system for the huge meal at night.

Forget About Macros

Yeah, you read that right. Forget about it. Except for one: protein. Be sure to stay around 1gr/lbs, and you’re free to go “Yolo” mode for the rest. Whatever you do, just make sure (if possible, it’s not a big deal if you don’t) to have low fat when you get high carbs, and vice-versa. But again, it is the time, the only time of the year, where you can lay off a bit and just relax. So relax! Keep the protein where it should be, and just let yourself live a bit. Spoiler: you won’t die, your gains will stay there and you aren’t going to get fat if you respect all that is above.

Learn to Prioritize and Say No

Again, one simple thing to do is to prioritize what you will be eating.

For example, I remember the big family gatherings at my grandparents’ house when I was a child, and the never-ending meals that kept coming and coming. Salads, rice with beans, huge plates of cheeses, fresh oysters, snacks, red meats, fried chicken and roasted potatoes, fish soup, fruit mixes, cakes, ice cream… It was crazy. So, a little technique I had was to simply hold myself for the things I would absolutely love to eat. I wouldn’t touch the plate of cheese but rather destroy the meat and potatoes. I wouldn’t take any oyster but eat as much rice and beans as I could. Just do the same: if you know that some food you don’t really like will be available, and some that you crave for will be too, just go crazy on the later, let the first be.
Another technique is just to say: no. Between two evils, choose one, or not at all. For example, it is well established now that mixing sugar, alcohol, gluten and lactose is a huge inflammatory bomb (especially with those synthetic shit in processed foods). If you feel the urge to feel satisfied with ice cream and get a stomach full as if you were a 5 months pregnant woman, then maybe it would be wise to just drink alcohol and not take dessert. Or do it the other way round: if you don’t like alcohol, why would you force yourself to drink while you could rather just eat cake? Be careful with smoking weed or other recreational drugs too. Mixing them with drinks, alcohol and sugar can totally wreck you with weakening your immunity system, wrecking your digestive track, perturbating your sleep pattern…).

Stop Worrying about Fat

Seriously. At worst, you cut for a month. At best, you didn’t gain any. You will most likely end up in the middle, and just getting back to a normal diet and training will be sufficient. What you can do is to be slightly in deficit for a few weeks before those feasts, and train harder with more volume: either via drop set, rest-pause, adding another set to every exercise… It will also deplete a lot more your body of his glycogen and thus, will make you less prone to store fat after a big cheat meal (or several ones). If you got something periodized and you can’t change the training, just add some HIIT or bodyweight workouts. It will also help you stay on track, ’cause moving your body when getting fat gets really difficult.
Everybody is going to get fat while you will remain fit and sexy. So just stop worrying about other people looking at you, or just feeling miserable. Have some fun, make sure to work hard the rest of the year to earn it. Period.

Of course, these strategies could be implemented every time you need to be present at a birthday, wedding party and don’t want to be a fat slob afterward. Remember, it is about having balance in your life, between training, good nutrition, good recovery and also social life. Don’t sacrifice one (or two) over the other ones.

I’ve trained many people and helped a dozen guys get past those celebrations and feasting periods, with the tiny drawback to their waistline -if any-. If you want my help, just check out what I can do for you and let’s get to it!
Have a great end of the year, I wish you the best quality time with whoever you want to spend it with.

Your lightkeeper,

-Hersovyac.