Here is the ultimate guide to finding room to enjoy the festive foods you love while still managing to avoid holiday weight gain and even lose a little weight before the end of the year.

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Once midnight strikes on the 31st of October, the store shelves restock, the music playlists flip and the multi-billion dollar retail industry goes into action to convince you that the holiday season has started and it’s time to spend all of your money.

Along with the temptation to buy tons of stuff you don’t need comes the temptation to eat a bunch of stuff you don’t need.

The two month period between the 1st of November all the way through the 1st of January brings the biggest obstacles to your dietary adherence of the entire year. 

Your ability to navigate that two-month window will determine whether you can build momentum into the new year, or if “weight loss” will be that resolution once again.

Related: Stop making resolutions, and instead learn to make goal setting a more effective process with this guide to creating a goal setting routine. 

Here’s the deal about all of that worry over the holiday dieting pitfalls: it’s just messing with your head. You need to chill because at the end of the day, the damage won’t be nearly as bad as what you’re envisioning. Allow me to explain.

Let’s budget four meals per day for yourself:  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and a Snack. So between November 1 and January 1 that’s 62 total days and 248 total meals. 

Of those 248 meals, let’s say you eat like a total asshole for 10 of them. 

We’ll give you free reign to dig in on Thanksgiving and a holiday party and a Hanukkah or Christmas get-together and even New Year’s Eve. That leaves a few holiday party meals in there, too. 

Ten meals over the course of 62 days and 248 total feedings is just 4-percent of your total meals. 

That leaves 238 meals where you can be on plan. Which means progress can still happen. Or at least progress can still be maintained. 

Long story short: you are totally fine. 

But look, I get it. If you have been working hard all year long and you’re looking for the best strategies to have a little fun and still hold onto your momentum, I’ve got you covered. 

In this article, I’ll breakdown:

• The rules to surviving the impending food traps to avoid holiday weight gain
• Additional quick tips to get through the season
• My favorite fat loss approach so you can still lose weight while enjoying yourself this holiday season

Let’s get into it.

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As the year winds down, the temperatures finally reflect more of a fall feel. The work obligations start to wrap up for the year in place of social obligations in the form of parties and get-togethers and family gatherings.

And with those get togethers comes food. Lots of food. Cookies and pastries and side dishes and alcoholic beverages and cakes and snacks and appetizers and every in between.

It’s a damn obstacle course of calorie excess. But I’m here to help you navigate this and find a solution to avoid packing on that extra holiday weight.

Let’s establish a few baseline rules for how to make the holidays work for you so you won’t feel like a piggy come January 2nd. 

The rules of Holiday Dietary Adherence 

• Do not feel guilty
• Load up on protein and veggies when possible
• Be mindful of portions
• Continue to stay active and lift heavy weights as consistently as possible

Follow these rules and you’ll be absolutely fine. Let’s break each one down.

Stop feeling guilty

There are a few ways to tackle the Holiday season window:

• You could opt to go all in and just devour every cookie, pie and carb-heavy side dish offered up. 
• Or you could take a more balanced approach and enjoy in moderation. 
• Then there’s the sticklers of the diet who’ll want to avoid and restrict everything.

There are no right or wrong answers here. You can opt for either approach depending on your willpower and your relationship with food. 

But, if you’ve been following me for some time now (and you should, because I’m awesome), you’ll know that I’m a huge believer of balance. 

When you restrict calories too hard and eliminate entire foods and food groups, it leads to disastrous and unsustainable dieting. Most dieters that end up failing do so because they’ve followed a plan that is simply too hard to keep up.

On the flipside, blowing up your diet over the final eight or nine weeks of the year can lead to some pretty undesirable consequences that will have you feeling pretty shitty come January 1.

That’s why I preach about the 80/20 Rule and leaving room to enjoy foods that you love while on a diet. Because as long as that diet leaves you in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight.

Related: If you need help setting up your calorie deficit, I have the guide to doing that here.

This is a roundabout way of saying that when grandma has a plate full of homemade cookies and pastries and they are staring you in the face, you can and should absolutely have one. Or two. 

Do not feel guilty about living a little during the holidays. 

I want you to shift your mindset a little bit to overcome some of the food anxiety. You work hard from January 1 until November 1 so you can relax a little from November 1 until January 1. 

Make sense? Good.

Because as long as you are mostly on point throughout your days and weeks, those one or two cookies will not screw up your progress. 

Going over your daily calories by 200 is a big difference from just throwing up your hands, saying, “Fuck it, I ate one cookie so now I might as well go cray cray,” and vaulting more than 2,000 calories over your daily target.

Balance.

Enjoying that cookie is how you build a healthier relationship with food. It’s how you make the progression from a chronic yo-yo dieting mindset to a lifestyle approach and long-term adherence to health and happiness.

Once you fully embrace the idea of balance and avoid beating yourself up over every little bite of lasagna, you’ll realize how much easier it is to see long term benefits of this entire process.

From there, it’s time to hit some of the practical strategies.

Load up on protein and veggies

This is a little technique that I share with all of my online coaching clients that I call PPL: Protein & Produce Loading.

You see, most options that you’ll find at parties and gatherings will be heavy on the carbs, heavy on the fats and really light on the protein and vegetables. That’s just the nature of the beast.

The PPL strategy involves front-loading your protein and vegetable requirements for the day so you’re covered before you head out for the Happy Hour or Family Dinner. 

Focus on eating big ass salads loaded with tons of leafy vegetables. Top that plate of greens with a huge helping of lean protein. The idea is to go high on the protein and fiber quotient here. You’re looking to satisfy the majority of your protein intake for the day and conquer all 3-5 servings of veggies that I recommend. 

Keep these calories low carb and as low-fat as possible. Essentially, you’re treating your calories like a bank account and saving the carbs and fats for later. 

The protein and produce will fill you up and will go a long way towards helping stay clear of going overboard once you do indulge.

Be mindful of portions

Once you get to the get-together, it’s time to enjoy yourself. Because what the fuck is the point of life if we can’t enjoy it? 

I just want you do so in moderation. That means setting a rule for yourself that you won’t break so it holds yourself accountable.

That’s where the One Plate Rule comes into play.

Grab a dish or a saucer or a plate (we’re not talking about a sheet-pan-sized tray) and fill it up with the good stuff. 

It must fit comfortably on the plate. You’re not aiming to pile food on top of each other like you’re at an all you can eat BBQ buffet in Kansas.

Just one plate of fun food that you normally would not allow yourself to have when you’re eating on plan. 

Then the key is … enjoy it. Guilt free. Savor every bite. Eat slowly and mindfully and appreciate the culinary excellence.

When the plate is empty (or if you’re full, whichever comes first), stop eating. That’s it. You are done. One plate of awesome. 

It’s enough to satisfy the urges and the cravings without going crazy and blowing up the entire diet in one sitting. 

The No Doritos Rule

Okay so here’s an extra rule that goes hand in hand with the One Plate Rule. If you find yourself traveling or just really tempted by the food options before you, it’s important to establish additional bright lines for yourself that you won’t cross.

You can get a bag of Doritos anywhere (or insert whatever highly processed, commercialized product of your liking). 

But, you can’t get a second helping of Nonna’s lasagna or that homemade cookie or that slice of pie.

Avoid the overly-processed, highly-marketed junk. 

Instead, if you are going to enjoy some fun foods, make sure they’re the ones that you can’t just pick up in a bodega or in the checkout aisle of your local grocery store. 

Make sure the fun foods you enjoy over the holidays are the truly special treats worth savoring.

Keep lifting heavy and keeping moving a lot

Don’t stop working out just because the holidays are here. Sure, the schedules can get pretty crazy with shopping and travel and dinners and other obligations. 

But, you must make the time to fit some physical activity into your routine.

It’ll help you overcome some of the biggest stressors of the season. The benefits of strength training are endless:

• Increased metabolism
• Injury prevention
• Boosts mood (perfect for overcoming those holiday blues)
• Improved sleep quality, heart health, blood pressure and lowered cholesterol

If you’re looking for the best way to start strength training, I’ve got you covered with this comprehensive guide here.

Similar to the concept of setting up rules for yourself in terms of eating and balance, you should do the same with your devotion to fitness over the holidays.

Your workout volume can decrease a little to accommodate for a more hectic schedule. However, at a minimum, you should commit to at least 2-3 strength-focused routines per week.

Set another bright line for yourself: “I can’t do X if I don’t hit my 2-3 workouts this week. Period.” And then stick to that rule.

And if you need some fast-paced workouts with options for travel-friendly routines with minimal (or even no) equipment required, you should download my FREE 52 Fat Loss Workout guide here.

Additional rules to avoid holiday weight gain:

Know what to say to food pushers 

You’ll likely have to face the one or two people that just can’t get over their own insecurities so they’ll corner you and try to pressure you into eating the cookie or grabbing another slice of pie or drinking more alcohol. Understand that this is more about them than about you. 

But it’s still not fun to deal with this obstacle and you’ll want to have your deflector shield raised in order to strike down these attacks on your dietary adherence. 

One thing that I found to be helpful is to stop saying you’re on a diet. That will inevitably lead to the counterattack of “Oh come on, it’s [insert holiday] just live a little.”

Instead, tell them you’re taking on a 30-day challenge. People seem to appreciate that more.

Or you could just tell them to fuck off. Up to you. Just know that at some point this holiday season, you’ll need to dust off this handy line of attack. 

Have a game plan for the obstacles

Planning ahead is one of the most important strategies whether you are dieting during the holidays or over the summertime. To be honest, it’s not even good strategy for keeping a calorie deficit, it’s just good strategy overall.

If you’ve got a holiday dinner at a restaurant planned in a few days, peep the menu online to find a few plan friendly dishes you can enjoy. If there’s nothing on-plan worthwhile, you’ll need to either get creative, get restrictive or just decide to enjoy yourself. 

There is no right or wrong answer here. You’ll need to be the judge on how you’ll want to navigate the waters.

As long as you keep the mindset of never missing twice on your plan and getting right back on track with your next bite of food, you’ll be fine going forward. 

Create some space for yourself

It might only be a few extra holiday guests, but when those loved ones bring baggage and drama, even the biggest of homes with the spaciest of spaces can feel more cramped than Times Square on New Years Eve.

The holiday blues is real. And I’m not going to sit here and play therapist. But, I can say that your mindset will play a huge role in how you handle food cravings throughout the two month segment. 

If you need time to yourself, make sure you take that time. Find a safe space that’s quiet and drama-free and separated from the craziness so you can escape, recharge and relax.

Prioritize sleep

Getting quality rest is never gonna not be important. Yes, I went double-negative on you to underscore its importance.

The stressors from work and family and travel will absolutely wreck your body and mind over the coming weeks. While it’s tempting to give in to this and grind away to get everything done, that’s not the healthiest path to victory.

Sleep plays a bigger role in weight loss than you might think. When we don’t get quality rest, it leads to stress (an increase in the hormone cortisol), which leads to water retention, which leads to scale weight increases.

Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Try to go to bed at the same time every night, too, in order to regulate your circadian rhythm. It will go a long way to helping you feel better over the holidays, both physically and mentally. 

My favorite method to avoid holiday weight gain and even lose weight over the holidays

Okay cool, Pete. I can eat some pie and cookies and not gain a ton of weight this holiday season. But, can I actually lose weight over the holidays? 

Absolutely. 

You don’t have to settle for maintenance or weight gain over the final two months of the year. It is possible to enjoy fun foods and still lose weight, even in the most funnest food time of the entire calendar.

That’s where my favorite holiday fat loss approach comes into play. It’s the Plate Tracking Method.

Sometimes, you’d like a little more leeway throughout the holiday season. Or even during vacation. That’s where this Plate Approach to Fat Loss works. And it works really well.

In this setup, you’ll skip tracking calories and instead, take time to keep track of how many “plates” you consume throughout the course of your day. 

Give yourself a budget of two to four “plates” or meals. It works out like this:

• 2 plates = rapid fat loss
• 3 plates = moderate fat loss OR maintenance if you are under 130 pounds
• 4 plates = maintenance OR calorie surplus if you are under 130 pounds

Here’s how to build your plate:

• 1-2 palm-sized portions of protein 
• 2 handfuls of leafy vegetables (spinach, broccoli, bell peppers all work here; things like potatoes are starches)
• 1 serving of fruit (apples, berries, etc.)

The rest of your plate can be made up of whatever you choose, as long as it is moderate in size. And you can toss in one or two snacks throughout the day, as well (in the form of a vegetable or fruit or more protein like greek yogurt). 

Quick rule to implement: If you plan on drinking alcohol later that day, eliminate the snacks in between meals. 

The Plate Tracking Approach still provides ample amounts of protein and vegetables. It gives you the freedom to break away from counting calories during the chaotic holiday season. And you’ve been given the green light to add a few fun foods to your plate here, too. 

When you’re ready to jump back into a more structured calorie and/or macro tracking approach to fat loss, maintenance or muscle gain, you can do so seamlessly and be 100-percent fine.

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay 

Let me help you learn how to avoid holiday weight gain … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “avoid holiday weight gain” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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