My favorite holiday dish, without a doubt, is pumpkin pie. But I don’t discriminate against any of the other holiday foods either! I love a juicy turkey or a rare prime rib and overfilling the rest of my plate with all the wonderful side dishes.

I enjoy these without guilt, because I know I will return to the gym, and I know I have habits that are tried and true to maintain the body composition I want. I believe that the way the fitness community can be, we have sometimes been led to believe that we must feel guilty after eating like this, or else we won’t be able to stay healthy or acquire that body composition we have been working for relentlessly at the gym. Or that it’s an all or nothing type of mentality. Like we have to submit to becoming unhealthy during the holidays, or else we won’t enjoy it.

Thanksgiving ensues, we overeat, and then the doom of what the next month and a half will look like for our diets imposes its anxiety onto us. Holiday parties, sweets sitting around the workplace, peer pressure from family and friends to eat, Christmas and then New Year’s to top it all off! And probably some comfort eating to relieve the stress of holidays to really kill your dreams of being healthy and having the body you truly deserve. And it’s all justified right around Thanksgiving as we tell ourselves, “It’s ok, I’ll get back in the gym during New Year’s.”

It doesn’t have to be this way! You can still enjoy your holiday foods as well as stay healthy and still make progress towards your desired body composition over the long term. Balance is key and honest self-reporting can keep you accountable to staying disciplined when it is necessary, and it will be necessary. Studies show that people typically do not gain weight linearly throughout the year. Your average American will gain .5 to 2 kilos of body weight per year, but it mostly happens during the 6-week period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

Here’s a couple tools to use, or concepts to keep in mind so that you can stay on track during the holidays.

1.) The 80/20 principal. This principal uses moderation and some basic rules around consistency that help us stay on track towards our goals. This goal is not for people who are training for bodybuilding competitions. Staying on a tightly wound, strict diet that allows no room for fun is not realistic for long term goals. This principal could also be called a form of “Flexible Dieting” which I’ve written about before.

Basically, this principal states that as long as you are adhering to healthy and clean eating habits eighty percent of the time, then you will allow yourself to splurge about twenty percent of the time. This is a great way to eat some of your favorite foods and still maintain your path towards fitness success. You can enjoy the pie after the meal at thanksgiving, the milkshake with your kids, and the pizza on the weekends. This reduces shame when we spend a meal a day, or a few meals throughout the week, eating some excess calories.

There are boundaries with this! And the obvious danger would be that maybe we are a little too flexible with our nutrition and end up underreporting what we are actually eating to ourselves. Since you are not counting your macronutrients specifically while using this style of flexible dieting, it can be dangerous if you are not honest with yourself. When you eat certain foods, or eat in excess, then yes you may feel and look a little more bloated temporarily, even though you are mostly eating healthy, and that’s ok. If you are staying active in the gym, you can switch your perspective in that you are using these calories as fuel for a good workout. I always love eating a big personal record after a day of eating some junk the day before! Just be specific with how often you are using that “20%” to eat your fun foods and be honest with when you need to dial it back. And if you really have to, yes figure out the actual percentage of how often you are eating clean vs. eating for fun.

2.) Stay active! You don’t have to be the one who does a 5k on thanksgiving, though if you do, I admire you and think you’re awesome! Sometimes it just means that you need to get back into the gym or back into physical activity the day after the holiday or cheat meal. Personally, I’ve found that my best workouts come after a high caloric day or high caloric meal a few hours prior to working out. This may not be possible on the big days like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but if you can be sure to workout on a day when you do know you’ll be indulging the naughty treats, you can ensure you those extra calories will be put to good use.

All in all, it boils down to balance and self-awareness. If the intuitive dieting or flexible dieting method hasn’t worked for you in the past, it’s ok to be strict and to measure your food and measure your calories as long as you stand firm with your boundaries. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!