We all feel the shift in gears as the holidays begin their fast approach! This is the time when we start to hear client concerns about hitting their macros through the holiday season and how to balance it all. We get it! It’s an exciting season filled with lots of special memory-making moments and we want to be able to enjoy it with our loved ones! Let’s talk about how we can balance the memories AND macros at the same time!

Prioritize Your Holiday Events

First, get out your calendar and take a good look at what your commitments are going to be. How many events do you have that will require you to navigate a buffet, Christmas cookies, office parties, etc? It may feel overwhelming, but I bet once you pull out your calendar, you’ll feel a lot more confident about how to approach these events.

Some of them are likely to be things you are totally ok saying “no thanks” to (extra goodies brought into the office, candy you can buy any day of the week that’s just dressed up in a holiday wrapper). Then there are the events like Thanksgiving/Christmas Eve/Christmas Day that you know you want to take off and just soak up the moments and memories and yummy family recipe foods. For me, I’m looking at around 5 to 7 events/days in the entire holiday season that I know I won’t be hitting my numbers. The rest of the time it’s GAME ON. Knowing your plan and staying committed to eating your protein and maintaining a balance will keep you feeling so much better through the season!

Focus on Whole Foods

Don’t let winter be an excuse for not getting those veggies in!! This is when frozen steamable bags come in clutch- pop them in the microwave to go along with your meal and DONE.

Bring a Macro-Friendly Dish to Share

Potlucks are a great time to pull out those SFM cookbooks and make a macro-friendly dish, or take a veggie/fruit platter to share! I personally love to make a favorite family recipe that may not be so macro-friendly (sweet potato casserole, anyone?!)…bringing it to a potluck means I get to share the yum and also not have a whole dish that I’m tempted to eat later! Enjoy a serving at the event and let everyone else enjoy it, too! 

Keep tracking!

Even if you choose only to track your protein for the day, staying mindful of what you’re putting in your body will keep your head in the game and keep fueling those gains. If we wanna build muscle, we gotta give our bodies that protein!!! You’re going to find it really hard to exceed your calories in general if you focus on hitting your protein goals, because protein will keep you so full and satisfied.

Set a Holiday Weight Range for Balance and Accountability

Giving yourself a weight range on the scale will help you feel some freedom for the untracked days but at the same time give you those healthy boundaries. I feel great with a +/- 5 pound range as my target; it keeps me intentional but also lets me keep a realistic sense of balance through the holidays. Stepping on the scale daily and using it as one of our tools to hold ourselves accountable can help us make the best choices for ourselves each day.

Pick Something to Train Towards

Pick something to train for/towards! A race, a PR in the gym, a 5k with the family– something that will help you plan out those workouts through the holiday season and keep you moving is a great tactic to stay in motion even when busy schedules want to make you push pause on workouts. You only regret the workouts you don’t do, so keep moving!

Start the New Year Strong

Think about your goals for 2025 and how you want to show up on January 1. We are notorious as a country for setting New Year resolutions and cruising through the holiday season pushing off what we should be paying attention to right now. Don’t be that person! Prioritize your health and nutrition NOW for 2025 you! You will wake up on January 1 excited about what’s to come and already on the path to those goals!

Remember in the end, the holidays are about the memories and the people we make them with, not the food. We can enjoy the food but also don’t need to let it consume us. We don’t want to miss the goodness and gifts of the season!