Got the Holiday Bulge? Here are 5 Things You Can Do Get Back Into Your Fitness Routine
It’s really nice to celebrate the holidays. The warmth of loved ones, snow blanketing roads, rooftops, trees, and parks, the lights, the loud singing, and most importantly, the food. Thanksgiving is a wonderful night to indulge in food and drinks, but for others, it’s the holidays that make eating and drinking truly something to look forward to, especially because it doesn’t have to be formal or have a “routine.”
While the holidays are indeed one of the most celebrated events for those who live to eat, it can be quite a problem for our health, especially our weight. It’s not unheard of to see a colleague or classmate come back from the holiday break with a bit more waist than usual.
The solution is to simply get back on track, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. If it were, then we’d have fewer people buying new jeans and shirts in the first week of January.
If you have trouble getting back into shape, then we made a list of the 5 things you can do to claw your way out of the holiday slump and start pumping muscle again.
1. Sleep and wake up the same way again
Perhaps the first thing you change during the holidays is your sleep habits, and it’s practically inevitable when you hang out with a lot of people. Like, why sleep early when you can sleep all day the next day? Therefore if you want to get back into your fitness routine, the first thing you have to fix is your sleep schedule.
It will be terribly hard at first, but once the body realizes “Hey, we’re going back to doing our old thing again,” everything else should follow.
2. Clear out the fridge as early as possible
By clear out, we don’t mean throw away, but maybe take the food somewhere else. The last thing you want is to be tempted to eat leftover holiday food (which can still be really good) instead of doing your meal preps. You can’t exactly calculate the exact macros of leftovers, so it’s best to just give the food to someone else if you want to get back on track.
3. Exercise at home
Many gyms will likely be open the first week of the New Year, but let’s be real here: You don’t want to share the same squat rack or bench with hundreds of people right now (or ever), so you might as well just let the first waves of gym goers their turn and do your own stuff at home.You don’t even need equipment when you think about it. There are a lot of ways to exercise using minimal or no equipment, so just get started with those and see where it takes you.
4. Have short term goals
It’s nice to want to lose 15 lbs, but you don’t go out there thinking you can do that in a week. Having short term goals means you’re able to check more boxes, and this can give some positive reinforcement which can be better for long term. This can be something as simple as NOT eating sugary sweets or substituting veggies over what used to be junk food.
The more short-term goals you accomplish, the sooner you’ll reach your long term goal.
5. Find a fitness buddy
Lastly, the best thing you can do to get yourself back into fighting shape is get someone else to do it with you. Not only will this make the entire process easier and fun, it will also have you more accountable in a good way.
Takeaway…
Getting back into shape after a wild week or two of eating, drinking, and staying up late can be one of the most difficult mountains to climb after the new year starts. But like all things in life, hard isn’t impossible. So long as you have the discipline and accountability, and a lot of patience, you should find yourself in fighting shape in no time.
