Healthi Coaches’ Best Holiday Tips

Wednesday, Dec 15, 2021 Coaches, Featured, Lifestyle

Best Holiday TipsHi friends! We hope that your holiday season is off to a great start! 

We all know that this can be a challenging time for health and wellness. In an effort to give you an extra boost of encouragement, we enlisted a few of our beloved Healthi Coaches. Read some of our best tips, tricks and hype messages for achieving a “healthi holiday season” below! 

Coach Allie: 

“Enjoy the holidays but be mindful! Send leftovers home with family & friends. Give extra cookies to kids school or neighbors. Make sure to have lots of fruits & veggies to snack on but just remember it’s one day and you can get back on track the next day! Enjoy the time with your family & friends! Happy Holidays!”

Coach Ashley: 

“The holiday season is such a big time for many of us! Parties and dinners.. try not to stress and enjoy the holiday season with loved ones. I know it means lots of food, desserts and temptations and can be stressful for anyone on a weight loss journey. So maybe you want to think about the idea of maintaining through the holidays instead of losing. This way you’re not stressing over how you’re going to lose through all the events, but instead will be comfortable knowing that you don’t have to gain either. Be mindful of your choices and watch portions. Go for lean proteins when possible. Fill your plate with those and lots of veggies. Try air frying them for less oil (or none at all). Don’t starve yourself just to make room for a big meal- it can lead to overeating later on. You can try pre-tracking if possible, and it can just give you a better idea of how you’d like to plan your day. Remember that 1 or 2 meals in the grand scheme of things is not going to hinder your weight loss journey. Just get right back to it when you’re done. I wish you all love and success this holiday season and Merry Christmas!”

Coach Paul: 

“The one thing that I’ve truly taken out of this year is the importance of time. Time with our families, time to enjoy the beauty of the weather outside, and taking time to truly see how blessed I am in my life. I have come to treasure the people around me, more. I don’t value the gifts under the tree nearly as much as I value the time spent with the people who brought the gifts. This past year made me truly realize what a gift life is and it’s time to enjoy the people around me more than what’s under the tree or on the table. So this holiday season, instead of focusing on what’s filling our bellies (good or bad), let’s instead focus on what’s filling our hearts.”

Coach Courtney: 

“One Holiday after another seems really crazy when you’re on a weight loss journey. The parties, food, overthinking and the stress galore! I’ve been there, and believe me it used to be an all out binge eating fest for me when I would be at any holiday party. How I broke myself of that took a lot of practice and thoughtfulness. When the holidays come around these days, and if I happen to be at a Holiday party I analyze what is available and make my choices based on what I know is good for me versus what’s not so good for me. This means more veggie based dishes, less sweets, more lean protein if I can get it! I usually do not track these events because I am trying to enjoy myself and not constantly be on my phone tracking every nibble and bite of food I have. I enjoy myself within reason! My best advice is to not overdo it, watch your portions, watch your alcohol consumption and you’re golden! Don’t deprive yourself, just be mindful!”

Coach Rachel:

“I think it’s important to intentionally be active and move during the holidays. It’s easy for us to get in a slump sitting on the couch and then feeling sorry for ourselves after eating too much. One way that I like to feel in control is to walk or be active. Like cleaning around the house or offering to go to the store and pick up last minute items as a way to get extra steps in during the day. Taking a walk with my dog. These intentional activity bursts helps with digestion and helps to wake up the brain and body. During Thanksgiving I was able to complete a 2 mile Turkey Trot and Dog Jog walk. During the month of December there may be a Hot Chocolate Race to enter. Get up and move extra steps around the home or an extra trip to-and-from the mailbox or road. With the extra movement comes better brain function to make better mindful decisions around the dinner table. Happy Stepping!”

Coach Brianna: 

“Instead of worry about losing weight, during the holiday season. Actively making the choice to maintain your weight over the holiday season takes away that stigma of trying to see that number on the scale go down, while trying to enjoy holiday parties, and special meals and fun desserts or treats. Being able to maintain your weight allows you to have extra calories to enjoy some of those holiday goodies.

  • Be more flexible. Ditch the all or nothing mindset for the what can I do instead mindset. If I don’t feel like doing the hour long workout I have or run out of time, what can I do instead? Go for a walk? Get extra steps in while gift shopping?
  • Keep in mind of how many special meals there are in December. If you think about it, we eat 3 meals a day for 31 days.I guarantee you that not every meal every day will be a special holiday party worthy meal, and they are just going to be your normal meals. If we focus less on all of the indulgent things, I’ll be off track we are setting ourselves up for failure and fatigue mentally. Instead remember that the majority of your meals are on track meals and the ones you may decide to go over your BITES or not track, will all counter act in the end.”