When people talk about gaining weight over the holidays, they usually blame Halloween candy or Thanksgiving dinner.
And sure, those days add up. One day of eating candy. One big Thanksgiving plate. A couple of holiday parties.
But at BridgeFit Personal Training, we have found it’s usually not those days that do it. It’s everything that happens around them.
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine weighed adults before and after the holidays. On average, people gained about a pound. That doesn’t sound like a lot. The problem is most of them never lost it. They were still carrying it a year later. Do that every year, and it adds up fast.
Read the study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
What stood out to me was who gained the most. About 1 in 10 people gained 5 pounds or more, and they were the ones who moved less and felt hungrier. The people who stayed active? A lot of them held steady or even lost weight.
Click Here For 2 Free Weeks Of Personal Training, Including Project Zero (5 Spots Available)
That matches what we see at the gym every year.
It gets cold out, so you stop going on your evening walk.
Your schedule gets crazy. Work parties, family stuff, kids’ events, travel.
The workouts you never missed in October start getting skipped in December.
And you snack more. Most holiday food is easy to grab and doesn’t have much protein in it. Protein is what keeps you full. So you eat, you’re hungry an hour later, and you go back for more.
It’s not that you lack willpower. Your schedule just changed.
That’s why we do Project Zero every year. It’s our holiday challenge, and the goal is simple. Don’t gain weight during the holiday season. You get a plan and a few habits to focus on, like getting protein in at every meal, getting your steps in even when it’s cold, and putting your workouts on the calendar before the week fills up.
You also get accountability. Our coaches check in with you, and if a week gets away from you, they help you get back on track. You can still go to the parties and enjoy the food. The goal isn’t to be perfect. It’s to keep making progress, even when your schedule gets busy.
If you’re interested in not going backwards this holiday season, click here for a chance to get 2 FREE weeks of personal training, including Project Zero (5 spots available)
Dustin Yantzi
Owner, BridgeFit Personal Training
