Every year at least one client asks me about dieting over Christmas.
Although it’s not my personal preference, I can see why some would choose to do so.
- Being “on diet” for some (not all) can help prevent overeating/bingeing and as a result weight gain and give them a leg-up Jan 1.
- The necessary structure of a diet can help balance out the chaos of the holidays. (Careful: don’t try to impose structure into an impossible environment i.e., regimented meals while staying with the in-laws)
- If alone or lonely this time of year, gives them something else to focus on. (Though volunteering works very well too._
Having said all that, it’s not that hard to diet over the holidays.
It’s not even hard to diet and still ENJOY the holidays (family, parties, food, debauchery).
So today marks three weeks until Xmas (holy that was fast!) and four weeks until Jan 1 2020.
Assume you start your diet TODAY. Wednesday is the new Monday I hear.
Set an aggressive deficit. (At least 500 calories under maintenance; depends on you, and you should always just do you). Don’t worry, you’ll get breaks.
This week through the weekend:
Diet. You got a Xmas party to go to? Well, that sucks. Eat lots of mistletoe.
Next week (Dec 9th–15th):
Continue dieting all next week. At some point on the weekend (14th or 15th) have a cheat meal, or a re-feed meal, or just eat bigger portions of your normal meals that day. The differences are more psychological. If cheat means binge, then don’t cheat.
Following week (Dec 16th–22nd):
Same deal as the previous week. Diet hard all week, but on the weekend (21st or 22nd) you get the high calorie opportunity.
Xmas week (Dec 23rd ’til New Year’s):
Take Xmas Eve and Xmas Day off and eat. Just one of the two is probably better but come on, it’s fucking Christmas. Get back on the diet the 26th.
New Years Eve (Dec 31st):
Blow it out yo. Drink, eat, drink some more but ideally don’t throw up … but if you do take pics you’ll look dry as a snake yo.
Maybe this the real Snake Diet? Certainly better than the original.
Point being, if you wanna lose fat over the holidays, simply PLAN YOUR NON-DIET DAYS IN ADVANCE, and DIET AROUND THEM ACCORDINGLY.
You run this game and you make the rules.