My 5 Most-Effective Ways to Avoid Weight Gain this Holiday Season...and Beyond: Tip #1

Happy Monday, ya'll!

I hope you had a great weekend. I spent mine coaching bootcamp, meeting with clients, revisiting the American Museum of Natural History and buying and decorating my first Christmas tree! I say first because I've never had one in my own apartment before. Since I go back to Maine for the holidays, I've always just waited until my Christmas vacation to trim the family tree. It's a nice tradition: the adult children coming back to decorate the tree and listen to Christmas tunes. I realized that the only drawback is that I end up suspending my full holiday immersion: it's like I can't fully embrace the season until I get back to Maine. Because I'm eager to get into the spirit a little earlier this year, I bought my own little Charlie Brown-style tree which I'm in the process of decorating with red lights and hand-strung garland. My hope is that this little tree, along with the smell of pine, gets me into the holiday mood (and hopefully motivates me to finish my shopping!).

Want to know what doesn't need to be motivated to get into the holiday spirit? My stomach, LOL. This time of year is like an endless smorgasbord, and I'm sure you can relate when I say that it can be hard--like really hard--to stick to our healthy-eating goals.

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But if you know me you know that I love a challenge, which is why I am not only aiming to maintain this holiday season, but lose a little extra fat. Don't misinterpret this, though!: I am not passing any judgement on myself for "letting myself go," or making this out to mean anything other than what it is. I'm a wee bit softer than I prefer to be right now, and that's it. No guilt, no shame, no judgment, just a fact.

To help me shed this holiday season, I'm employing some of my most helpful strategies to avoid holiday weight gain by actually putting the seasonal indulgences to work for me. These tips have helped me to lean out, stay energized, and avoid any crazy, neurotic behavior that's derailed past efforts. Over the next couple of days, I'll share with you my most effective tips 'n' tricks for healthy fat loss that you can use any time of year. Whether it's spring time and you wanna shed a little fat before hitting the beach, or the holidays when food is abundant and willpower is at a minimum, these strategies will get you on track without diminishing from your quality of life!

Today's Tip:

Structure your indulgences around your workouts

Carbs are often vilified in the fitness industry, but when it comes to making gains in your training, carbs are your friend. Consumed prior to a workout, they'll provide energy to get you through those long lifting sessions or killer metcon workouts. You'll lift heavier, jump higher, sprint faster, and perform better when your body has that immediate source of energy at its disposal.

Consequently, after a heavy workout, our bodies tend to be more glycogen-depleted we deplete our glycogen stores. Glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrates, and it is the primary form of energy that your body accesses in order to perform. Intense exercise vastly diminishes these reserves. When glycogen stores are in this depleted state, you can afford to eat more carbs because your blood sugar levels won't rise as fast or as high, so you're not going to experience that damaging insulin spike. In fact, post-workout nutrition can help to optimize the release of insulin and human growth hormone to help promote muscle synthesis.

Some articles on this topic get into the minutiae of post-workout feeding, arguing that a high-glycemic carb source paired with a fast-acting protein (like whey protein isolate) will most effectively promote muscle synthesis post-workout. I'm sure there's an ideal ratio to best exploit the glycogen-depleted state, but I'm a firm believer in both feeding my muscles and appealing to my palate. If I can sneak in some of my favorite foods and mitigate their effects, I'm not going to worry too much about the macronutrient make up of my post-workout. In other words, #justfeedmecarbs

In conclusion, there are a couple of ways to strategically indulge over the holidays to both avoid weight gain and even lose some fat. By structuring your treats around your heavy workouts, you benefit by either increasing the stores of energy accessible to you during your training session or taking advantage of a state of glycogen-depletion where a heavier meal won't hinder your fat loss efforts, and may in fact spur muscle growth and protein synthesis!