Read Time: 2 x shots of butterscotch snaps + 1 x sugar cookie (5 minutes)
Key Points:
The holiday period from December to January has been shown to be a period of increased fat gain, with individuals on average gaining 0.5-1 kg.
Increased meals out, parties, “buffet” like meals and drinking will all contribute to the calorie surplus over the month.
The “ahhhh fuck it” mentality may actually be the most problematic factor when it comes to holiday weight gain.
While we don’t want to be overly restrictive, we also don’t want to remove all self-restrain and monitoring.
Around this time of year, it’s not uncommon for health and fitness bloggers to drop their top 5 tips on how to manage the holiday season.
Articles that say “focus on vegetables”, “eat protein first” and “limit alcohol consumption” and then finally, "remember the holiday period is a time for blah blah blah, enjoy yourself and don’t feel guilty” etc.
I don’t disagree with this.
You should do all those things.
And I don’t think you should approach the holiday season in an overly restrictive way.
But just like everything within nutrition, we don't want to go from one extreme to another.
The answer to not gaining fat in the holiday season isn't the YOLO method, as much as we may all wish it so.
Yet this is what we see happen.
Every. Single. Year.
Research indicates that the holiday period (from late November to early January) is often a period in which many individuals gain a significant portion of their yearly weight gain.
On average, we gain around 0.5-1 kg of weight over this period.
That’s not so bad, right?
Like me, I’m sure you expected this to be higher.
But hold your hippogriffs.
Before you smash another fruit mince pie we need to remember that the above is on average. When we look closer weight gain during the holiday period is highly variable with some individuals showing gains of 3+ kilos during this period.
Now I know what you’re thinking. “That’s cool, I’ll just drop it in the New Year.”
Ahh yes, the new year.
That magical time when we dedicate ourselves to new goals and apply ourselves with dogged determination…Only we don’t.
The majority of individuals don’t lose ALL the weight gained.
Realistically, none of the above should come as a surprise.
The holiday period coincides with:
More social outings, parties and meals out.
Increased delicious food, like everywhere.
Increased “buffet” like meals AKA help yourself to this smorgasbord of delicious foods
Relaxation around goals and reduced self-restraint AKA eggnog & chill.
Increased frequency of getting "lit" as the lads may say.
All these factors essentially lead to the underlying cause of all fat gain.
And while the above definitely factors play a big part in creating a large calorie surplus over the holiday period, I believe there’s an even more insidious cause to the problem.
What is this mysterious factor?
The ultimate case of "ahhhh fuck it" mentality.
“Ahhh fuck it” mentality is when we experience brief periods of disinhibited eating.
It’s when you eat something that doesn’t fit your personal diet “rules”, such that you feel like you’ve “broken” your diet, which leads you to , quite dramatically, feel like you’ve failed and therefore you may as well eat everything for the rest of the night/day/weekend, or in this specific case, until January 1st.
For example.
You’re currently following a diet or as I prefer to say “eating for your goals”.
You’re invited to your work Christmas party.
At the party, you’re faced with foods and drinks that don't fit your “diet”.
You swear under your breath as you see that at least 3 insecure Ians have turned up.
You know, those individuals whose idea of a good time is putting pressure on people to eat or drink so that they don’t feel as bad about their choice to finish a tray of fruit mince tarts.
While you manage to hold out for the first 15 minutes, said Ian's finally annoy you enough, or the temptation to order a G&T (am I a grandma for liking G&T’s?) and grab a slice of pizza become too much.
And that’s when it happens.
At that moment a little switch in your mind is flicked from “I’m doing well”, “I’m good” to “I’m a failure” and “I’m bad”.
You think “Well fuck it, I’ve already “broken” my diet, I may as well make the most of it”.
Lights out.
It's like a scene from Insidious.
Next thing you know you’re flossing on the dance floor making out with a greasy stranger.
Oh, wait that’s pizza.
This scenario isn’t a Christmas special though. For many individuals, it happens throughout the year, often on repeat.
I’m confident that you can recall multiple times when you’ve fallen victim to the “ahhh fuck it” trap.
What makes the holiday season so dangerous is that rather than it occurring for one day or a weekend, for many individuals it lasts a month!
You know you've got social events every week for the next month and decide that maybe it would just be better to take a break from being so diligent with your diet.
Or rather than bouncing between extremes of ON and OFF your diet, which has you riding the emotion rollercoaster, you’d sooner jump off, pull up a lounger and worry about it come the new year.
I don’t blame you.
It's a lot easier to choose what feels good in the moment and to pass the costs onto your future self.
Humans intuitively value our present selves over our future selves.
As obesity and neurobiology researcher Stephan Guyenet explains in his book The Hungry Brain.
“… from an evolutionary perspective, it makes perfect sense—for one simple reason: The future is uncertain. Our species evolved in a dangerous environment in which we had about a 50% chance of living to age thirty five. If you aren’t certain you’ll be alive next year, it’s rational to value whats happening right now more than what might happen next year. In the environment of our ancestors, it was advantageous to evolve brains that intuitively value our present selves more than our future selves.”
Unfortunately, in our current environment, our health would be better served by turning the tables. By focusing on what's going to be beneficial for future you.
The unfortunate news is, this requires constant diligence and effort to hold back the immediate gratification forces.
For many lasting fat loss requires ongoing self-regulation and self-monitoring.
Some of the most successful individuals when it comes to losing and maintaining fat loss frequently self-monitor or track key variables that are crucial to their success.
Tracking intake, weight, steps etc. can increase the awareness of these crucial behaviours and allow you to catch lapses in behaviours that could potentially lead to regression.
In fact, studies have shown that increased behaviour awareness, through self-monitoring, during the holiday period helps people with their weight-related goals.
Similarly, decreased attention to eating and weight over the holidays has been linked to greater weight gain.
"Well thanks for the pep talk coach Grinch" I hear you sigh.
"But what can I do to combat this? How can I practically limit holiday season weight gain?"
That's exactly what I'll be covering in part 2 early next week.