267 | Fitness and the Holidays: Maintain Your Goals Through Parties, Pressure, And Pie

The holiday season doesn’t have to be a tornado that wipes out your routine. We break down a realistic path to enjoy the food, the people, and the moments while protecting your progress and your peace. Instead of the annual cycle of “screw it” now and “fix it” later, we walk through a maintenance-first approach that keeps you steady and proud by January.

We start with clarity: decide whether you’re maintaining, dialing back slightly, or dialing up if your schedule allows. From there, we map simple tactics that travel with you to work parties, friend dinners, and family gatherings. You’ll hear how to use the “pick one” rule for drinks, appetizers, and dessert; why checking menus ahead of time reduces pressure; and how protein-first meals and smaller portions of favorite sides can make big meals feel satisfying without the regret.

Beyond food, we talk boundaries and consumer pressure. Hosting doesn’t mean self-sacrifice. Gift exchanges can be swapped for experiences, price caps, or skipped entirely. If gifting brings joy, support a small business or make something personal; if it brings stress, opt out. We also challenge the myth of perfect traditions. Keep what you love, drop what drains you, and create new rituals that match your life now—whether that’s a quiet morning coffee, a walk with your dog, or takeout with people you actually want to see.

If you’ve lived in the all-or-nothing mindset, we offer a gentler lane. Maintenance is not “doing nothing”; it’s a skill that protects your hard work. Press play for practical strategies, mindset shifts, and permission to choose what serves you. If this helped, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a calmer holiday plan, and leave a quick review so more people can find it.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Holiday Rush Meets Fitness Goals
• 1:49 The All-Or-Nothing Trap
• 3:12 Setting Realistic Holiday Intentions
• 4:35 Planning For Parties And Triggers
• 6:02 Smarter Dining Out Choices
• 8:26 Holiday Meal Strategy And Protein
• 10:03 Boundaries, Consumer Pressure, And Gifts
• 12:05 Traditions, Expectations, And Doing Less

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello everybody, welcome to Tired But Toned. Today, something that's been on my mind is I want to talk about the holidays and fitness and your routine. So as we go into the holiday season, at the time of recording this Halloween just wrapped up, I would say that is kind of the start of the holiday uh rush. Okay. Uh let's think about this from how most of my clients, women that are in their 30s, 40s, 50s, um, view this. Some have kids, some don't. Some have fur babies, you know, some are career-driven women, whoever you are. Um let's think about the holidays. So Halloween comes. Maybe we uh are stuck eating the leftover Halloween candy. Then we feel guilty. Now, you know, it's November. Thanksgiving's coming. Oh my god, I have to host this year. I have to host, I have to host. Um, I gotta get set up. I'm really stressed, and then oh my god, I don't know. I still gotta think about Christmas presents, I gotta get Christmas presents. I'm I'm buying Christmas presents and we don't even want to exchange them. And I have that annoying aunt coming over, and she always critiques my food. Uh, nobody ever helps me clean up. Um, the annoying uncle, there's always gonna be talk of politics, and people are gonna be fighting. Um, but then we all have to pretend we're gonna be happy and oh my gosh, what am I gonna eat? I know there's gonna be like work parties and holiday outings. It's not just gonna be that one day. There's gonna be all these parties, and I'm gonna go ice skating, and then there's gonna be drinking, and you know, I'm just gonna say screw it until after the new year, because you know, we're gonna have Thanksgiving, we're gonna have Christmas, all those events in between, and then New Year's, so I'll just wait maybe like mid-January, end of January, once things die down to start, and I'll just put my whole the you know my goals on the back burner. Now, if you do this, there's not it's not necessarily a wrong decision. I just want you to understand the consequences of your decision, right? So maybe you've been working towards your fitness goals, and then you're just gonna say, screw it, not even attempt to maintain anything, and you probably, if you follow through with what I just said, will gain 10 to 15 pounds of fat, um, be bloated, feel crappy about yourself, and then when you do start, you're gonna want to do something extreme because you sit feel so disgusting in your body, you feel so uncomfortable, you feel like you let yourself down, and you're gonna do some extreme New Year's jumpstart program that's gonna be maybe four to six weeks, you're gonna get some results, but then you're gonna be like, oh my god, this is so hard and unsustainable, and then you're gonna give up. Excuse me, you're gonna give up, and then you're going to be in a funk again, and then it's just gonna be the cycle of well, March before bikini season, you're gonna try again, and then you're gonna give up because it's summer and you can chill, and and then we're gonna be back at the holidays. I see this happen a lot. Uh, you may not be this exact scenario, but I bet you some of it resonates. So, I want to kind of talk you through how I like to view the holidays as a way to either maintain or lightly work toward your goals. Okay, so first of all, I want you to kind of look at yourself and think about what your goals for yourself are right now. Like, where are you at? Are you currently working towards something? Um, if you already have some momentum, do you want to stay there? Do you want to try to dial things up a little bit for the holidays, or do you want to maybe dial it back not completely, but you know, hold on to something so you can at least maintain or you know, make the damage like five pounds or less for the holidays, right? Think about that first. That is the most important thing of what you want to get out of the holidays, right? And if you're somebody that's like, I just want to lose a ton of weight, you know, and you feel like it's more of an extreme method, I highly suggest that you rethink it and sit on it and think about something that is realistic, okay. Most of you ideally are gonna want to maintain at least the progress you've made this year, um, or slightly dial back. Okay, and some of you may be in the position, if you maybe you don't have all these responsibilities, um, to dial it up a little bit because maybe this time of year you're off work more and you can put some more effort into working out, right? It just all depends on your schedule. Okay, with that being said, based off of your goals, this is where you're gonna kind of visualize some things as far as the holidays go. So think about are there gonna be any work parties? Are there gonna be any friend parties? Um, are you going to say no to some of those events because they're gonna be a trigger, or are you gonna go in with a plan, right? So you can choose to say no. There's nothing wrong with that. Um, you don't have to say yes to everything, right? Setting boundaries is important, but also with these events, you can also plan ahead of time. Most places nowadays have healthier alternatives to you know whatever we're eating. You know, if it's a bar and there's a ton of bar food, can you get the chicken salad instead of like, you know, a greasy fried chicken sandwich that maybe has cheese and bacon on it, fries, and you're gonna get like three beers, right? Um, and maybe instead of the chicken salad, can you get one and one beer and a light beer instead of three full beers? Um, maybe you get the greasy fried chicken sandwich, but maybe you get a vegetable side instead of the fries, right? Skip the appetizer, split a dessert. There's a lot of ways to be a little bit better. Think about what you would normally get, what you wanna get, and then think of a way to compromise to make it a little bit better. You don't have to be completely strict and be like, well, I'm just gonna get this plain ass salad and it's gonna suck, and then I'll probably just end up eating something greasy on the way home because I'm gonna be so hungry. You know, meet yourself halfway. It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other, right? Think how can I make this a little bit better? And my big rule of thumb with eating out is you have drinks, appetizers, and desserts. I would pick one, not all three, and then see if you can either get a grilled option for your protein, um, no bun, maybe, a lettuce bun if it's a sandwich. Can you get a side of veggies or do rice instead of the fries? Look at the calories because sometimes the French fries are a lower calorie option than a lot of the other things that you would think would be healthier or better. So, you know, play play with the options there. Kind of have that in mind. See if you can know where you're going ahead of time. I always like to look at the menu either the day before or like as I'm going there, kind of get an idea so I don't feel peer pressured to order something. Um, if your friends aren't supportive and make fun of you, find new friends because that's stupid. Um, and and again, try to go in because you're less likely to kind of give in to peer pressure if you set those boundaries. And usually it's us, you know, we're just like, oh, well, everybody else is drinking or everybody else is eating a big dessert, so I should just do it. Um, you know, if you kind of set those boundaries and say, hey, this is supporting my goals, I'm doing this for me, then that's fine. Now, some of you though may have come from a very restrictive past, and maybe you are trying to introduce some more fun foods and allow yourself to say yes to things, and that's okay too, saying, you know what, I am gonna enjoy this pie guilt-free because I've been so restrictive with my diet in the past, and that is also progress. So, see why this comes down to very individualized um circumstances, right? This is why you have to really take a couple minutes to think about what you want, what works for your goals, and set that plan accordingly. Okay. Um, it's individualized to you. So, really, that could work with Christmas, Thanksgiving, um, limit your outings, decide what you're gonna do, like bulk up on the protein, right? The turkey or the ham, and you can still have the servings of sides you want, like the mac and cheese, the pie. Maybe you have smaller servings of it. You load up on the good stuff, have a little bit of the stuff you want, and hopefully that'll allow you to be full so you don't overeat on the bad stuff. Um, and I hate to label it as bad, but just a general way to label it the less nutrient-dense stuff. Um, also having breakfast, you know, a lot of people like to starve themselves till the till the meal. Um, you know, have breakfast, load up with protein because you're most likely not gonna get enough protein in your dinner. It's gonna be more carbs and fats. That's the stuff that tastes good. So even if you have a protein shake, um, like I said, a protein hardy breakfast before the big feast, and that that goes for going out as well. If you know you're gonna go out, maybe have a nice protein-filled breakfast, have a smaller lunch to hold you over, and then you'll, you know, you'll have room to have more calories and some things for your dinner out, right? So there's a lot of different tactics here. Um, so with the food, that's a thing, and then I just kind of want to lightly touch on the the wellness part of it. Like I briefly mentioned before, is I feel like there's this a lot of this pressure um to show off, and I've even seen it in commercials already. Like, there's a Sephora commercial pretty much where they rub it in our face that we're trying to like save money for Christmas and that you need to be buying. And I've really been seeing a hard push from companies this year already, um, of like this subtle message of like your Christmas will be better, your holidays will be better if you buy all these things and you have the best decorations and just buy, buy, buy, which I get it. They're companies, that's how they live, you know. They that's how they stay afloat, is by you buying their products. But it's a little icky to me, right? And I want you to say that want to say that if you're not in the financial position to buy things, it is okay to not exchange gifts for Christmas, because for one, you guys probably exchange gifts that like you're like, I don't even know what to get this person. You either exchange gift cards of the same amount, so it's like I got you a$25 gift card, I got you a$25 gift card, or um, you probably buy them something that they're not really gonna use. You know, spending time together, use that money maybe to go out to a dinner or do an event like ice skating or go see Christmas lights, that can be a present too. You don't always have to get materialistic things and it will probably last better. Um, now if you are somebody who enjoys giving gifts or maybe you have something handmade or you want to support a small business, that's great. Do it if it feels good, but don't feel this pressure. If you feel pressured and and like somebody's pressuring you, see if you can be like, hey, can we not exchange gifts this year? Maybe let's do an experience or let's just spend time together. There's nothing wrong with that. Um and and the same thing with the decorating, too. Don't feel that you have to uphold these like standard traditions unless you really want to. Truly, you know, if there's something that your family does and you love it, that's great. Um I came from a family that really doesn't do a lot of stuff. I feel like a lot of it came out of like doing it to impress others, and they felt like they had to, so now I'm kind of left to start my own traditions, and it can be challenging because you see a lot of people around you having traditions, and a lot of them are upholding it out of like stress, right? They feel like they have to, but you know, you just still see everybody doing it, and um, it's okay, it's okay to like relax in the holidays if that's something that you want to do, it's okay to get takeout food, it's okay to create your own kind of wacky wonky tradition. If it's something you enjoy and something you want to do, there's nothing wrong with that. So I feel important it's important to share that. Um, because at the end of the day, if you're spending time with loved ones, furry friends, they don't have to be blood relatives, you know, depending on your situation, or even if it's just you and you just want to enjoy some alone time, there's nothing wrong with that. Do what feels good for you. Um, and that's ultimately if if everybody's happy, that will be the meaning of the holiday. You know, just trying to stress yourselves out and you hate everybody and you're putting up this front and it looks great for IG photos, but you really didn't have a good time. Is that really worth it? You know, we're we're losing the meaning of things. So I'm all for doing what works best for you. Um, but yeah, so between the food, between the boundary setting, let's lay off the people pleasing, let's lay off the pressure here. Um, I hope that that kind of sets the tone for a less stressful, more you in control um holiday season. And um yeah, just wanted to share that for today. Have a great rest of your day, and I'll chat with you soon.