Mental Toughness To Survive Holiday Eating

Is mental toughness needed to walk past a plate of homemade holiday cookies, without pausing to ogle, sniff or taste?

Have you ever noticed how much you struggle with sensible eating and weight loss during the holiday season?

Wouldn’t you like to have a way to bring some mental toughness with you while dealing with the huge food platters, the family gatherings, and the endless office parties?? What happens when you have to go to your in-laws, your family, and your best friend’s home…all in one day?

Research by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) indicates that there is an average weight gain of one pound during the holidays, which tends to accumulate over time. People tend to disappear from the gym or become “slackers” in their home workouts during the holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. Shopping, food preparations, and partying take precedence over their healthy lifestyle. And before you know it, a pound or more has settled on your already-challenged body. I constantly hear, at the gym, the complaints and frustration about the lack of discipline regarding food choices during this time and concerns about additional weight gain this year. What about last year’s weight gain? Fast-forward five to ten years, there’s another ten to twenty very unhappy pounds to get rid of.

But, this sad story does not have to be true for you. That extra pound of fat does NOT have to be yours this year. There are techniques to help you to develop the mental toughness you will need to get through the overwhelming feasting of the holidays. You are going to put your own stamp on mental toughness and what it will do for you. The methods are really kind of basic and could possibly come in handy for other areas in your life. Wouldn’t that be great!?

Mental toughness is really just an attitude or state of mind to get you successfully through some type of difficulty or challenge, be it mental, physical, emotional or behavioral. One of the habits I teach my personal training clients (or anyone else who will listen) is to engage in some “talk therapy” with themselves - out loud if necessary. I encourage them to make positive affirmations or declarations about the upcoming food event.

“I am going to eat fruit and veggies before the party tonight,” “I am going to the holiday dinner already satisfied because I’m having soup before I get there,” “This event is all about the fun people I’ll be with, not the food.”

In addition to preparing yourself for the holiday feast, you’ll need mental toughness to deal with the saboteurs in your life who, for some reason, want to see you FAT or FAIL. The most effective way to deal with these types is to first identify them…DEMONS!!!… no, just kidding! Make a list of who they are and do -- not -- tell them what you are looking to accomplish. You don’t want to give them a fork to poke you with. On the other hand, gather all of your angels and enlist them for shoulder duty so that they can be there for support when you want it.

One of my most favorite and successful contests to conduct at the gym is a “biggest loser” kind of weight loss challenge that spans about 8 weeks through the holiday season. I make all of my coaching tips and tools available to condition their “mental toughness muscles”. To the uninitiated it seems very, very tough at first, but, the participants learn to develop the mental toughness to handle the demands of time for the workouts, the temptation to overindulge, and the stress often associated with the holiday season.

And guess what? They lose weight! They still enjoy the festivities. And they are happy to learn that, yes; they can enjoy a little cake (or pie) and keep their shape too.

One holiday pound, or so, a year can creep up on you and before you know it, you’ll be a dress size or two larger. You can prevent that from happening to you this year. You can survive the fat loading party season by learning to develop your mental toughness.

Actually, you can do better than that. You can acquire a life skill and fitness attitude for success.

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