“With the holidays coming the paranoia and worry and stress over diet is starting already. Listen: If you are fortunate enough and blessed enough to have a family tradition of holidays meals – then have a “healthy” perspective about that. This is not the time to get all bent out of shape over “sticking to my” diet. Don’t lose sight of why you are doing all this to begin with! If you can’t embrace and celebrate with food the spectacular holidays and events that tradition and culture provide, then your diet mentality is HURTING YOU” – Coach Scott Abel

Like Coach Abel said, many people are likely stressing out over the holidays, but you shouldn’t be! You need a strategy that allows you to enjoy them, and not feel stressed or guilty. Recognize the signs of obsession before they start to take over your life.

So how do you set yourself up for success over the holidays, when holiday celebrations tend to stretch from December 23rd to January 2nd?

Here’s what I recommend

Vacations are times of rest, relaxation, and freedom from our regular activities, which often leads to changes in our eating habits throughout the vacation. When faced with trying to figure out how to enjoy vacation and still be faithful to the new eating habits, it is not uncommon for people to have some minor anxiety over vacations in relation to their new eating habits. There can be an overwhelming feeling that taking a vacation from those new eating habits is going to have a lasting effect by erasing their hard earned progress.

I felt that way for a long time. I struggled, bouncing back and forth between using vacations as an excuse to eat all of the things and trying to ignore the fact that I was on vacation all together in regard to my food choices. I would either eat all of the food I had been previously denying myself in quantities that my former 400 lb self would have enjoyed, or I would try to make the healthiest possible choices for every single vacation meal, agonizing over the menu often hours in advance of heading to the restaurant. I also once brought my scale with me on vacation so I could monitor my weight throughout the week. I can say with hindsight that neither approach made me happy, and that I was doing myself and my long term happiness a disservice.

As with most things, a middle ground approach results in the best of both worlds. For the most part, I now don’t obsessively track things, I enjoy alcohol and desserts every day while on vacation, and I take a break from the scale. What’s most important is what you do the day you come back after vacation. Sure, you might step on the scale that day (I don’t actually recommend it), but what I mean is that regardless of what the scale shows, or how much you ate and drank on vacation, as long as your eating and exercise habits return to their new normals, then so will your scale weight. What you ate on vacation should have no lasting impact. People (formerly me!) get into trouble when they continue the vacation style eating and possibly lack of exercise long after the vacation has ended.

This summer for my family has been awesome so far.

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Comfort foods = feel good, at least at first

Comfort foods, sugar, candy, cake. We generally feel great while eating them. When we are feeling sad or have a bad day, eating them temporarily makes us feel better. The reason that we feel better is that these foods release the hormones serotonin and dopamine in the brain, which are our happiness hormones. So it’s no surprise that when we do feel sad our first reaction is to turn toward food, specifically the food that has made us happier in similar situations. We’ve learned over our lifetimes that our comfort foods are a quick and easy fix to move us toward a better mood and alleviate the stress from our day.

However, when we are working toward long term health, and fitness, this habit of eating highly palatable, calorically dense, nutrient sparse foods works against those long term goals. In fact, it even works against long term mood and happiness. In short, it’s a brutal cycle of feeling the need to eat foods that make you better in the moment but make you feel awful in the long term as they erode your health and fitness levels if over consumed. Given how stressful modern life is, and how easy those foods are to overconsume (by design), it is no surprise that our journeys toward health always seem to be detoured by stress and the accompanying stress-eating.

Feeling good, and feeling full, by turning up the volume

There is good news though. It is possible to create some of the same feelings without overindulging in foods that will likely lead you in the opposite direction of your goals.

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If you are anything like me, you’ll jump at the chance to go out for a meal with good company. I mean, what’s not to love? No cooking, no dishes, no cleanup, and you can sit and talk with people who are important to you. Or, if you are going solo, you can save yourself some time, since there are only a limited number of hours in a day, you want to make the most of them.

Yet, trying to stick to a healthful diet, and going out to eat often can be difficult, especially if you are tracking your calories or macros. Perhaps you have encountered some of the following problems when trying to eat out while tracking:

1. Feeling hopeless when looking over the menu, not knowing what to eat that is in line with your goals.
2. Trying to look up nutritional information for the restaurant on your phone, then trying to figure out the math.
3. Skipping going out so that you can stick to your diet. When I first started, I did this too many times to count, but never again. Your lifestyle changes should be a part of your life, not overtake it!

The good news is that there is an app for that.

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What’s in a haul?

I’ve been recently asked what my grocery list looks like, and what “healthy groceries” I buy to be able to prepare my meals in advance.

Rather than just list the items, I figured it would be easiest to just show you what I bought in case it might give you any ideas! This is my most recently healthy haul of groceries, which will enable my wife and I to prepare meals over the weekend for all of our breakfasts, lunches, and for some of our dinners for all of this week, plus some to freeze for the future.

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Cravings. We all have them. For women, cravings can be a regular, monthly occurrence. Dealing with those cravings can be a huge drain on willpower. Many people have turned to traditional advice on how to deal with cravings, and as a result, have considered that time of the month to be something that ruins diets. Fortunately, there is some new information that can help. If you are a guy, please keep reading, as this may help you too!

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Have you failed at losing weight before?

Have you questioned why you don’t have enough willpower to stick with your diet and exercise plan? Perhaps you’ve gone as far as thinking that this is a character flaw, and that you simply aren’t able to harness the elusive willpower that you think everyone should be able to utilize.

The good news is that there is nothing wrong with you. You aren’t missing some fundamental part of your brain that is required to be successful.

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