UGH! The holidays are here already.

I’ll fully admit it. I have a love-hate for this time of year.

I love Halloween and Thanksgiving! Those are two of my very favorite holidays. I love decorating, cooking meals and baking treats. I love fall colors and flavors.

But I feel like I am continually busy. And the list of things to do is never ending. And I hate how I continually feel like I am acting against what I want in the long-term.

I do get the feeling that I’m not alone here just because I work with people every single day who say just about the same thing. This time of year is really hard for my fellow mamas with kids in sports and who also want to give them every holiday while they’re still under their roof because they know that their holidays are fully numbered before they’re out of the house.

Also… I apologize if I just triggered your existential crisis with the whole this is how many summers I have left with them thought process now put onto the holidays.

But let’s get real. it feels like some of the normal rules or thought processes that we could implement on a coaching side with nutrition, fitness and wellness might not apply here anymore.

Hear me out…

Scarcity, really?

Are the things that are offered during this time of year actually only during this time of year now?

I’m picking on pumpkin spice… Yeah, I’m going there. it now starts to be released in August. And it’s carried through all the way through to the end of December. That’s a third of the year. That is not scarce. It is not what it once was. It used to just be the month of September and October. Maybe November… but that was if you could get your hands on it because it was almost always sold out and November was like that transition month, where a lot of places would then move over towards like peppermint flavors. So can we actually say these pumpkin spice items are really scarce because it doesn’t feel that way right now. It feels like everything under the sun has a pumpkin spice spin on it.

My point here is… the rules of abundance and scarcity when we look at mindset stuff… It doesn’t always apply.

Now I’ll be the first to say if it’s like a pumpkin pie that your great aunt only makes during Thanksgiving… Different story!

Resource: Tempting Foods & Feelings of Scarcity

But we don’t need to throw caution to the wind to have a pumpkin spice latte every day that it’s available because that quite literally is going to pack on 500 cal in drink form to every single day for four months. Hello holiday weight gain… Goodbye thoughts of finding your way through maintenance and not needing to diet in January.

1. Discernment is necessary to make it through this season. And I say that as a person who quite literally started their initial weight loss journey that actually came through during this time of year. Those who don’t pay attention. Those that don’t use discernment. They are the ones that generally get tripped up and end up back into the diet cycle come January.
2. Plan your treats. I don’t suggest completely restricting and resisting everything. Pumpkin spice is quite literally everywhere. If it is your favorite flavor, not only do we go by the whole phrase “what we resist, persists”…. But you are gonna see it every single place you go. You’re going to get worn down from other things that are happening and the likelihood of grabbing some thing that maybe doesn’t necessarily quench the urge… But then starts you in a cycle where now you’ve already opened the gates… Has begun. If you absolutely love the pumpkin spice latte, exactly as it is… make it work. Pick a day. Make it a special thing! Be intentional. You love it. So make it happen… the same way you do with other things that you absolutely love.

Note: this is not everybody. There are people who can moderate very very well. And there are others that must abstain. This is more about knowing yourself and planning for those moments so that you can stay true to yourself and to what you want in the future. You can check out more here. Moderator or Abstainer

Lessen the load!

There are a few ways that you can lessen the load when it comes to the busyness of the fall… sports season, holiday season, and social event season.

1. Say “no”. Oh, I know I’m not making friends after that one. it’s never the popular one for me to say. But it’s true. A lot of of us are overwhelmed with the busyness of a season because we fail to say no. We fail to acknowledge the limitations that we have that include putting aside time for our own self-care so that we can continue through the season and actually smile instead of feeling burnt out come January. Trust me when I say this… you can say no. It is a full sentence. You can take care of yourself. If you are pushing yourself to your max, the only thing that you are missing out on when you say no is additional stress and anxiety.
2. Pull back on perfect. You may have had a way of doing things through the spring or through the summer. It might have worked really well for you with your training program or your meal prep. But now you don’t have as much time. The easy thing for a lot of Fitspo people to say… you must not want enough. And that ain’t the case. Your schedule is completely different. When your schedule changes your strategies can change too. In fact, your schedule doesn’t even need to change for your strategies to change. You can change things whenever you please. If it helps, it helps. There’s no such thing as perfect. There is only perfect for you. So if you need to change it up… Change it. Meal prep in a different way. Train less days out of the week. You can talk to somebody still and ask what’s the bare minimum. You could go into more of a holding pattern with things. It is all OK.

Resource: Lessen the Load

Mind your surroundings

There are a lot of things that you’re not going to be able to control. Your surroundings outside of your home is one of them. So there are a few things that you can do to really help yourself the most here….

1. Control the inside. If you know that it is really hard for you to avoid the Halloween candy, do not buy it until a few days before. If it’s not in the house, you’re not gonna go for it. Same thing goes with treats here. Wait until the day before you need them to make them. Or wait until you know you will have friends over to help with moderating. What you do in these different moments will matter.
2. Practical hunger is a thing. In one of my previous blogs, I talked about how mindful eating addresses a practical hunger. This is basically us being strategic with our hunger. We know that it’s going to happen and we’re trying to get ahead of it. The way that you may want to do this during this time of year is make sure you go for all of those different foods that bring on seriousness before you head out and are around the candy dishes or the treat tables or the cookie exchanges. If you are able to get in your protein, healthy fats, fruits and veggies for both volume and fiber & hydrate… You are hitting your hunger in every possible way you can. When you go out, you’ll be able to use more of your discernment because you’re not going to have the physical sensation of hunger, along side of that or the emotional desire for what you see. This means that you will be able to challenge yourself and make sure that it’s something you want in the moment but also something that you’ll still want later.

Resources: Mindful Eating & Food Environments for Weight Management, Understanding Types of Hunger, Hunger, Satiety & The Satiety Index & Mindful Eating Strategies for Dining Out & Weight Loss

Takeaway

The holidays are definitely challenging, but this happens every year. You know that it’s coming. They are set dates. They’re on every calendar. And things are like this almost every year. You know what to expect.

Let’s try to make this season a little bit different by

…admitting what really is scarce and really is abundant

…lessening the load

…and minding your surroundings.

Those three things really will make a big difference. And they don’t take a lot of effort. It just takes forethought.

If you need help, reach out. I’m more than happy to chat with people who are struggling.

I hope this helps

With love,

Coach Nik