by Michael Plank
Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Which means we are officially in the season where people will start telling me “I’ve been so BAD with the holidays.”
It breaks my heart just a little bit every time I hear that.
Now things get complicated. But in theory, the holidays exist to celebrate. They’re a time to enjoy being around your favorite people, to eat foods that remind you of your favorite memories, and to bask in the love and gratitude in your life.
You know what makes all of that about a billion times worse? Eating kale chips by yourself in the corner while you stare at the pumpkin pie with sad puppy dog eyes, and then sneaking into the kitchen to weigh and measure all your food with the digital scale and measuring cups you brought to your in-laws house so you wouldn’t go “off track.” Please don’t do that. It makes your life less fun and, pretty likely, it will make such a negligible difference to your progress that no one will notice anyway.
But there’s some nuance here of course. Because if you want to keep making progress, it’s no problem to indulge on Thanksgiving – eat the things you want to eat, drink the things you want to drink, don’t worry about your fiber goals or vegetable goals or protein goals or movement goals or stretching goals. But it will of course become a problem if that’s the approach you take every day from now through the end of the holidays on January 1.
So this is where the 80/20 rule comes in. When we talk about that in the fitness world, what we mean is that if you are intentional with your habits 80% of the time, the 20% of the time that you aren’t will have minimal negative impact. And really, will be balanced out by the fact that you are having fun and enjoying your life. What good are six-pack abs if you are all alone and miserable?
As I write this, January 1 is 40 days away. If you give yourself 2 days each for Thanksgiving and Christmas, throw in New Year’s Eve and an additional 3 holiday parties, you’ve got space for a full 8 days where you can, guilt-free, enjoy these special occasions that only come along this time of year. If you are mindful and intentional about your habits with things like movement, nutrition, sleep, and stress management the rest of the time, you will roll into 2024 very much keeping the momentum you have, but will have been able to enjoy yourself along the way.
Happy Holidays!