Let me first start by saying, STOP. Stop feeling guilty for enjoying yourself over the holidays and indulging a little or even a lot. It’s okay to want to do better and to get yourself back on track after the holidays, but do not shame yourself or feel guilty.

I see a ton of people posting how they are staying on track for the holidays and resisting temptation, etc etc. This is great! This doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong and that you’re going to completely derail your progress from one week of holidays. The worst thing you can do at this point, is get into that mindset. Why am I even stressing this? Why is it even important? How is this even relevant? This is important because your mindset is going to determine how you move forward. If you’re feeling down on yourself, in a bad mood, and feeling terrible about yourself – you’re going to have higher stress levels. Higher stress levels not only make you FEEL terrible, but they also increase hormones in your body that will only hurt your physical progress. On top of this, it creates an all or nothing mindset. You start to think you’ve gone to extremes with your over eating over the holidays, and this means you now need to go to extremes to get back on track. You begin to eat way less, aim to workout 5-6 days a week when you were typically doing 3 days before, and you don’t allow yourself any kind of treats or foods you enjoy. This may work for a week or two, but you’re going to quickly burnout because this simply isn’t sustainable. It is GREAT to set higher goals for yourself and push yourself, but you shouldn’t be going to extremes to “punish” yourself for indulging and enjoying the holidays. Set realistic and attainable goals for yourself as you go into the new year, and aim to get back on track in a healthy and sustainable manner. Extremes will never be sustainable, we all burnout at some point. The best way to reach your goals is by setting achievable stepping stones to gradually progress yourself. As for food, if you deprive yourself to extreme lengths, you are setting yourself up for failure as well. You are going to begin to binge ever chance you get and eat everything in sight, and/or give up because you think you can’t do this because of the unrealistic goals you’ve set for yourself.

Let’s step back and really talk about the holidays. The holidays are a time to be with family, for some of us this is the only time of year we get to see some of our family. The holidays are a time to give to others and spend time making memories. The kids are out of the school, you’re traveling or family is in town, friends and family invite you over for gatherings, everyone is working on finding the best gifts to give, and all the lights and events are going on. These are not “excuses,” so stop telling yourself they were. They were priorities to you at this particular time, and that is totally normal. We only get so much time on Earth, and you never know when you won’t have someone around anymore for Christmas. CHERISH this time, embrace it, love it, soak up every single second of it. One week will not derail everything you’ve built so far, and a break is actually good now and then to reset and give your body a break. If you indulged a little and weren’t tracking every single thing you ate, then that is totally okay too. When you’re with family and enjoying dinner, the last thing you want to do is measure out everything before you eat it or have to skip out and eat a prepped meal. Be flexible with yourself, these things happen and it’s just not what the holidays are about. I hope you understand that even those super fit girls you see on Instagram have cookies now and then and take a week off to spend time with family, take a trip, rest up, or just enjoy the holidays. You may have gained 2 pounds (and it’s probably just water weight anyway), but you’ll shed that off quickly when you get back to your regular routine. 

How do we get back to our regular routine, though? Here are a few tips to get you in a better mindset and get you back on track without feeling guilty:

1 – Take a deep breath and tell yourself that you did nothing wrong and that you should not feel guilty. Clear all of those negative thoughts from your head, and focus fully on the present moment and planning for the future. 

2 – Write down your goals and make them SMART(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Bound). Make weekly and daily smaller goals in order to reach your goal you wish to reach in the next 6 months-12 months.

3 – Pack your bags ahead of time and prepare the night before, so that you have no excuses not to get your workouts done the next day.

4 – Go to the grocery store as soon as you can and stock up on foods you can prepare for the week. Spend some time preparing your meals in advance so that you have no excuses when it comes time to eat.You will then be less likely to snack or go get fast food all week.

5 – BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOUR ABILITY TO SUCCEED! Keep a positive mindset and outlook on yourself at all times. 

I hope this makes you guys realize that it’s okay to take a step backwards sometimes or even completely fall down, because what matters is that you stand back up and continue to move forward! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with your loved ones. We should all be grateful for the amazing people in our lives and the opportunities we are lucky to have in front of us. 2018 will be what you make of it, so be sure to make it even better than the year before!

XOXO

Devon