Don't let this happen to you. Take control of the holidays and learn to enjoy them without wrecking your body.



#1. ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS ON THE HOLIDAYS:

Set some parameters up front about when you will start and stop indulging and stick to your plan. For example, you could say from noon until the time I go to sleep on Thanksgiving I can eat whatever, so long as I...

#2. DON'T GO CRAZY:

Enjoy moderate, satisfying portions, don't go on a holiday food eating rampage. If you go on a "see-food" diet on a holiday you can easily wolf down 4-6,000 EXTRA calories without realizing it."

#3. SAY "NO" TO BOOBY TRAPS:

Don't take home the pecan pie, the stuffing or the gravy. Leave them with the relatives who really could not care less how they look without clothes on, their heart, their pancreas, etc. Recent, very expensive research in the Journal of Very Esoteric Science shows that if you keep junk in your house, you will eat it and that eating junk makes you fat. Don't leave land mines lying around your home, keep the sanctity of your home by only keeping healthy food there.

#4. FIND OUT HOW YOU'RE REALLY DOING:

I have yet to meet as single wholly objective person in my life, especially when it comes to their own reflection. One day you look in the mirror and feel fat, but the next you look great. The way we look to ourselves in the mirror changes constantly - with or without grounding in reality. Numbers on the other hand are wonderfully cold, objective and brutally honest.

Pick one day of the week to measure where the fat accumulates - at the naval for guys, and hips + naval for gals. Say Monday morning, or Monday right before you workout - keep the day and time consistent as your weight, size, etc. fluctuates hourly, and weigh and measure the important parts. Keep track on paper and then you can actually see if you getting fatter, leaner, or maintaining.

#5. SET DEFINITE BOUNDARIES:

Set an absolute upper limit to how big your waist and/or butt can get. If you're a guy with a 32-inch waist, that's great, don't ever let it get above 32 1⁄2 or 33. Use your weekly measuring to make sure that you are not kidding yourself by looking the mirror and saying "ah, it's not that bad, I can get a little fatter, I still look good." Stopping yourself after gaining only an inch on your waist, and still look good, is MUCH, MUCH easier than letting yourself go and not doing anything about the problem until you finally get fat. An inch on your waist can be lost in a month without that much trouble, but if you let yourself actually get fat, that is going to take several months and some hard work and deprivation that isn't all that pleasant. Plus wild fluctuations in weight are terrible for your health, and make your fat cells multiply AND they NEVER un-multiply. Ultimately making it much harder to be lean and much easier to be fat.

#6. KEEP MAKING TIME FOR EXERCISE:

The holidays come with lots of parties, travel, and friends and family in town. All of these make demands on your time. One thing you should absolutely be in the habit of doing is planning your weeks and days before they start. Some people think this sounds complicated, or that it will make them anal and rigid. Nonsense, planning gives you freedom.

Sit down Sunday night, afternoon, or whatever, pencil your fixed obligations into the days of the week in your planner (if you don't have one, buy one NOW). Then refer to your exercise plan. How often are you supposed to be working out? How much time per workout? How long does it REALLY take for you to get to the gym, park, etc? And back? Now schedule that time into your calendar and keep the freakin' appointment with yourself.

Guests are coming into to town? Ok, enjoy them, but still keep your appointment with yourself. A party you want to go to? Great! Go and have fun, BUT plan when you will workout, and if it won't fit any other way, take your outfit to the gym, workout, shower at the gym and arrive fashionably late and feeling fantastic about yourself because you did not let nonsensical excuses get in the way of creating the body you want.

It's not rocket science, just make the time in advance and keep the appointment, even if that means using the dreaded N-word - saying NO to something if it will keep you from working out. It's that simple, but its not that easy, but then again neither is being embarrassed to take off your clothes, go to the beach, or to go swimming, nor is getting triple by-pass surgery, or losing a foot or your vision to diabetes. Its the little things - the little choices over the years that add up to BIG changes (good or bad) in your physique and life.

(Side note: I have never, ever met a person that takes time management courses, and plans their weeks in advance that says stupid things like "I don't have the time to exercise," or that misses workouts for "lack of time." Because they know that we all have exactly the same amount of time, and that the difference between those with great careers, great bodies, AND great family lives and those that simply work a lot, are stressed all the time and say "I don't have the time to exercise" is just in how they choose to spend their time. They both have the same 24 hours in a day, one thinks about his goals in advance and plans his time accordingly and the other is just trying to get everything done so that maybe he can exercise - and of course, he almost never does.)

#7. EAT BETTER THE REST OF THE TIME:

You and I both know that you will be eating quite a bit of crap that 4th week in November, so eat better during the rest of the month to create a little buffer zone. If you have 4 cheat meals per week normal, cut back to 2 or 3, so you go into that week a little smaller than usual, so that you can really enjoy Thanksgiving without gaining any net fat.

#8. GREEN FACES TO THE RESCUE:

If you're at a party, a dinner, or whatever and you are at your limit for junk eating that week, then use Rachael Cosgrove's "Green Faces" strategy to stay on track. Just pick the veggies, the meat (had or will have a face), and a little bit of healthy fat. You'll be satiated, feel great physically, and feel great emotionally for keeping your promise to yourself to eat right 90% of the time.

#9. DRINK WATER:

As much as you should be enjoying your holiday meals, you can offset the negative impact that it will have on your body by opting to drink water or diet soda instead of wine, beer, punch or whatever other simple-carb/sugar loaded beverage is up for grabs. You can easily knock off 20% of the calorie impact and a lot of the toxicity (alcohol is a neurotoxin) from the day just by drinking water, and you won't feel like crap when you wake up the next day.

#10. KEEP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING:

Above all else, keep doing what you are doing if you already have good habits. If you're one of my clients and you eat right 90% of the time and perform highly effective workouts 3-5 days/week, then don't treat this as any different than any other six weeks of the year. All this means is that your cheat meals are with your family instead of with friends.