I am honored to have my friend and fellow TITLE Boxing club On-Demand Trainer, Leena on the Blog today! I absolutely love following her on instagram and tell all of my clients to too. I asked her to put together some “practical” tips for all of you for staying on track during the holidays! This list is packed with great information and be sure to follow her for tons of great nutrition tips.

Meet Leena: A holistic nutritionist and health coach setting out to preach the practical balance with health and nutrition.

“In my own journey I’ve seen every extreme. Starting out as an unathletic and not health conscious teen, I thought the best way to be healthy was to be skinny and the only way to do that was eat less. As I got older and went to college, I fell in love with the gym and building strength. With an increased appetite and increased desire to be strong and lean, I was heavily counting macros and calories. An unhealthy relationship with food and my body spiraled into binge eating that resulted in uncomfortable weight gain. I wanted to lose weight but I wanted it to feel natural. And I sure as hell didn’t want to count anything anymore. So I set out to study the habits of “naturally” healthy people and integrate them easily into my personal lifestyle, and now my client’s. “

Make sure to connect with me on Instagram @Pracitcal.Nutritionist and check out my website livingwithleena.com for more practical health tips and healthy recipes to help you hit your goals and build habits that will last a lifetime! To work with me one on one, book a free consultation with me here!  

Whether your goal is weight loss, more energy, strength, or just an overall healthier lifestyle the holidays always creep up on us making us feel like our goals are, well, shot to hell. Cookies here, family dinners there, random Tuesday night excuses because the grocery store is selling peppermint bark… I get it. I’ve been there.  

But here’s the deal guys, it doesn’t matter if it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, Suzy Q’s birthday from down the street, or Tuesday - there will always be an excuse or set back if we look hard enough. So as much as I totally want you to enjoy yourselves on the holidays (trust me, I do), I also want you to get really real with yourself and ask “Is it really just a few days a year or is it more like a week or two here and there every month for 12 months?” 

For a lot of us, before we make this Healthy Lifestyle part of our normal lives, it looks more like the later. And that’s okay. It takes time. Which is why I’m here. I’m going to offer you 5 Habits you can start to build to make staying on track so much easier during the holidays. I say Habits because I want these to be things you practice all year round, every season, at every social event. This is your new normal. 

With any habit, give yourself grace. We don’t build habits overnight but we also don’t give up just because we messed up once or twice. For every day, holiday, or social event that you practice your healthy habit, mark it on a calendar, in a journal, or tally it on a note in your phone. Hold yourself accountable.

5 Habits to Build to Stay on Track During the Holidays:

1. Make Your “Why” Your Phone Background: 

If your kids are your “why” make them the background of your phone. Be reminded every time you pick that phone up that you’re doing this for your kids. You’ll be triggered by your “why” so much, it’ll trump your desire to grab the food. If you don’t know your “why,” dig deep. Ask yourself a couple questions like:

“What are you willing to struggle for?”

“What do you want to think about you?”

“What do you want people to think about you?”

“What’s a limiting belief about yourself you want to prove wrong?”

Dig deep to find out why having a healthier life, losing those last 10 pounds, or avoiding gaining 10 pounds from Thanksgiving to New Year’s important to you? 

If you can figure out your “why,” make it the background on your phone, you can be reminded of it hundreds of thousands of times throughout the day. Your “why” should always trump the cookie. 

2. Don’t Skip Meals (it backfires):

I know it’s tempting a couple days before Christmas to try a “cleanse,” intermittent fast, or just eat as little at breakfast on holidays as possible. But let me be clear, skipping meals almost always leads to irrational hunger and overeating later in the day or week. Three meals a day tends to work best for most people in terms of keeping their hunger managed and still having room to enjoy the holidays. If anything, it just allows you full permission to eat to prevent any restriction induced binges. 

3. Fluff with Veggies & Prioritize Protein:

Alright I said eat 3 meals but I didn’t tell you of what… So here we are. The one thing you’ll just about never have to search for on the holidays are carbs. They will be there, everywhere you turn. So instead, I want your focus to be on fluffing with veggies and prioritizing protein at every meal you can. Ideally 3 meals a day, realistically 2-3 meals. By fluffing with veggies, I mean about 2 cups or half a plate of low starch vegetables. By prioritizing protein, I mean about 20 grams of protein at each meal. 

Your low starch vegetables and protein can come from wherever you want. Ham, meatballs, and turkey are all fine sources of protein on the holidays. Christmas salads, roasted brussels sprouts, and spaghetti squash are great sources of low starch vegetables. (So many more on Google!)

4. Recognize False Desires & True Desires:

Restriction is something that tends to really hold people back from their goals. Humans hate feeling restricted. So if you’re craving a cookie, I’ll be the last person to tell you not to have it. But I will challenge you to ask yourself if it’s a true desire or a false desire. Take 5 seconds, breathe, close your eyes, and let the impulse subside. Ask yourself, do I want this because the habit loop I have now is familiar and comforting? If the answer is “Yes,” that’s likely a false desire. Eating that cookie isn’t satisfying your current goals and true desires of being healthier and losing that 10 pounds, but instead satisfying a false and momentary desire of wanting that cookie just because you walked past it. 

Current Habit Loop:

Cue: In Sight, Boredom, Hunger

Routine: Grab & Eat Cookie while walking, working, on phone

Reward: Kept you busy for 3 seconds, Comforting, Short Term Energy Boost

New Habit Loop:

Cue: Out of Sight (cookie in freezer, veggies on counter, meal prep in fridge), Boredom, Hunger

Routine: Grab and Eat veggies while heating up meal prep for lunch

Reward: Work Break, Relaxation, Comforting, Long Term Energy

Our goal is to keep as many of the rewards the same and simply change the routine.

5. Keep Treats Out of Sight until You’re Ready to Balance Them In:

Listen guys, I love treats. And I know it’s not realistic to say you can always keep them out of sight, especially with families. But hear me out. On the day to day, when it’s holiday season but not actually the holiday just yet, take those cookies and treats and put them in the freezer! Your family won’t think twice about them if they’re out of sight and neither will you! 

This is not a form of restriction! When you’re ready for a treat because you truly want it, you can balance it into your day accordingly. For the nights I have a sweet tooth, I balance in treats by going veggie and protein heavy at dinner. For dessert I’ll balance in carbs and fats through the dessert that I choose to have. 

Grab a tip or two, pick the ones that seem most realistic for you and your lifestyle and slowly integrate it in. As one habit becomes more natural, add in another. Then another. A year down the line you’ll be impressed with your progress. 3 years down the line you’ll be shocked at your sustainability. 5 years down the line, you’ll forget you ever lived any other way. 

Make sure to connect with Leena on Instagram @Pracitcal.Nutritionist and check out her website livingwithleena.com for more practical health tips and healthy recipes to help you hit your goals and build habits that will last a lifetime! To work with Leena one on one, book a free consultation with her here! 

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