Santa’s coming to town and he’s bringing all the good stuff. However many of us endurance athletes are starting to worry, watts per kilo are not the present under the tree this year. The holidays are full temptation, great food and even better wine. So we all want to enjoy a bit of time with friends and family but we would rather it didn’t come at the expense of our hard earned fitness or waistline. This conundrum can make even the best of us can feel anxious, guilty and create stress on a day that is supposed to be fun.
Here’s some ideas to help you find the balance this festive season.
Keep it simple with a few key habits you can enjoy your holidays without stressing about your performance goals.
Firstly it’s important to remember a few days of enjoying a bit of extra food won’t make a dramatic difference. It can even be a beneficial period of recovery for your body (1, 2). Just like you can’t lose body fat quickly you can’t gain it that quickly either (there will be a blog on this shortly). Most change on the scale is likely to be from water stored with muscle glycogen replenishment (2.7g water per 1g of glycogen (3) and will come off when you return to your normal routine. That said Christmas will start in November and last till New Year if you let it. Try to keep it to just a day or two away from your nutrition routine to enjoy the holidays before getting back to your normal habits.
1. Main meal after exercise
Whether you enjoy doing a full training session, a social run or walk with family or a kick around in the garden. Try to get this in just before you sit down for your meal. (4)
2. Eat when your hungry stop when your not.
Avoid feeling as stuffed as the turkey this year. Keep it simple by focussing your mindset on the moment with mindful eating. Mindful eating means being aware of your body signals like hunger, thirst and fullness (5,6). Our aim is to keep the stress as low as possible and we find this is a simple way to do this. However if you have a IIFYM plan and this helps you, by all means use this instead. If you find it less stressful to have no counting, do that. As long as we have enjoyed our food and feel good about it.
We want to beware of the “start again tomorrow, so what I do today doesn’t matter” mindset as in our experience this can lead down a rabbit hole full of problems including; binge eating, false starts or yo-yo’s.
3. Protein and veggies go on the plate first .
Whether your cooking or not this is a sure fire way to consume nutrient dense and high protein foods that help fill you up, repair muscles and keep the calories down (7). Then add on those roasties.
4. Fun Activities
Talk chat with friends and family (whether this is in person or over video or phone calls). Do fun activities (games, puzzles etc) a great way to enjoy time without food (8).
5. Drink water
If you are enjoying a few beers or glasses of wine also drinking water will help keep you hydrated. It will also mean you are less likely to unknowingly drink your calories through sodas, creamy coffees and alcohol (9) ( enjoying a couple of these is not a bad thing just everything in moderation 😉)
When it’s time to get back to your normal routine. Do just that normal alarm normal breakfast, normal training... Consistency is key.
If you have anymore questions drop us an email or want to know how to adapt your specific nutrition plan drop us an email or DM we are happy to help.
Enjoy the holidays guys
References
1. Bussau1, V., Fairchild1, T., Rao1, A., &, P., & Fournier1, P. (2002). Carbohydrate loading in human muscle: An improved 1 day protocol. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-002-0621-5
2. M. Bonifazi, F., DJ. Cavanaugh, K., DL. Costill, D., DL. Costill, R., LJ. D’Acquisto, M., SL. Hooper, L., C. Petibois, M. (1970). Physiological Changes Associated with the Pre-Event Taper in Athletes. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200434130-00003
3. Sherman WM, Plyley MJ, Sharp RL, Van Handel PJ, McAllister RM, Fink WJ, Costill DL. Muscle glycogen storage and its relationship with water. Int J Sports Med. 1982 Feb;3(1):22-4. doi: 10.1055/s-2008-1026056. PMID: 7068293.
4. C. Kerksick, T., J. Ivy, R., DG. Candow, P., JJ. Hulmi, C., S. Kukuljan, C., CP. Lambert, M., Y. Yang, L. (1970, January 01). Nutrient timing revisited: Is there a post-exercise anabolic window? Retrieved December 19, 2020, from https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5?optIn=false
5. Christian H. Jordan, Wan Wang, Linda Donatoni, Brian P. Meier,Mindful eating: Trait and state mindfulness predict healthier eating behavior,Personality and Individual Differences,Volume 68, 2014, Pages 107-111, ISSN 0191-8869, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.04.013.
6. Nelson, J. (2017, August). Mindful Eating: The Art of Presence While You Eat. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5556586/
7. “Dietary protein - its role in satiety, energetics, weight loss and health..” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23107521. Accessed 26 Aug. 2019.
8. Chung N, Park MY, Kim J, et al. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT): a component of total daily energy expenditure. J Exerc Nutrition Biochem. 2018;22(2):23-30. doi:10.20463/jenb.2018.0013
9.Popkin, B.M., Barclay, D.V. and Nielsen, S.J. (2005), Water and Food Consumption Patterns of U.S. Adults from 1999 to 2001. Obesity Research, 13: 2146-2152. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2005.266
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