This Is How You Will Avoid Holiday Weight Gain In 3 Easy Steps

You could just toss your hands in the air and go nuts all month, eating without regard, designing plans for a new you come January 1st. Your plan to lose it in the new year is not wise. The cold hard truth is that most plans to lose weight fail. I know, I’m not supposed to say that, but you need to hear it.

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Resolutions don’t work. This is what’s more likely to happen. You’ll pick up a few pounds every December, slowing gaining weight over the years until some crisis point later in life.

Please don’t do that, not for aesthetic reasons, but for the sake of your health. Gaining body fat is not guarantee your health will decline, but it will impact your quality of life.

Not only that, from a guy who’s had to drop thirty pounds, losing weight stinks. It’s ten times worse than suffering a little discipline in the coming weeks.

This doesn’t mean that you avoid holiday parties or anything silly like that. In fact, my goal is all about enjoying the holidays. You just need a plan.

The key to holiday weight stability is to plan for the party, as opposed to partying for the plan. I’ll explain as we go. In essence, it means you will spend your workweek eating like a saint so you can let go when the time is right.

Eating Like a Saint

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There will be parties. In fact, in December it seems that everywhere you go is a party. Plates of cookies and treats adorn break rooms everywhere as if people thought you were starving.

There’s nothing worse-slash-better than walking into a room where a plate of yummy treats sits unguarded, daring you to take one. Nobody will see it. Why not? Don’t do it.

Do everything you can to avoid places of temptation. Break rooms are top of the list, so plan on packing a lunch you can keep at your workstation. Bring it in a cooler. On your breaks, take a walk outside instead of chilling in the break room.

Other places to consider, Grandma’s house and your mother’s. You can’t avoid those places, but you can do a gut-check before you walk in the door. Plan your route away from hot-spots, like the kitchen or the dining room. Good luck on this one.

The neighbors can be just as difficult. They always want to drop off plates of cookies. I have a plan for that too. Read on.

Give Away Your Gifts

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We’re gonna use what we’ve learned about break rooms to our advantage. Whenever someone gives you a plate of treats, thank them, then put those treats someplace off limits.

If you have to immediately take them to another friend’s house, that’s fine. Just don’t get caught.

The best thing you can do is take them to work, to the break room. Be sure to try one so you can tell the gifter how wonderful their cookies were or whatever, but drop that plate and run.

Tell everyone at work you put cookies there for them. They’ll think you’re the best thing since sliced fruitcake and you’ll dodge a grip of calories.

Don’t be sad. You wouldn’t have enjoyed them anyway. You wouldn’t plowed those cookies into your grill as you mainlined Netflix until all you had left was an empty plate of cookies and a bellyful of guilt.

Plan For the Party

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Why on Earth would you do these first two? You want to celebrate without being that weird person at the party.

There’s always that person, you’ll see, who isn’t joining in the festivities. He’s come to the party with that bellyful of guilt. Just watch, he’ll cave in and eat more. That could have been you.

Instead, you’re the one who planned ahead. You’ve been eating nothing but salads with the dressing on the side all week. You’ve been drinking water like you were training for the Olympics. You’ve even dropped a pound or two in the process.

Now it’s time to gain those pounds back. By Monday, you’ll be back to square one, ready to start fresh on another week.

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You may think this plan robs the holidays of spontaneity. It doesn’t have to. You can still step off the plan somewhat, but the closer you stick to it, the less work you’ll have to do in January.

It’s a lot easier to shed a couple of unwanted pounds than it is to drop ten. Gaining and losing weight isn’t the end of the world, but I want you to have all the fun without all the guilt.

My dream for you is that you take only the best from these holidays, then leave all the rest. Let those hounds at work fight for the scraps.