Between Labor Day and New Year’s Day, I typically gain 12 – 15 pounds, and none of it muscle. It all starts with the first Gator football game on Saturday of Labor Day, and continues with the disproportionate business trips throughout the month of September. It’s a slow creep of increased calorie consumption and decreased discipline through October, but then Halloween hits and the candy nightcaps start and roll through Thanksgiving. After gorging on fried turkey for a week or two, the Christmas cookies, holiday beers, and pumpkin spice lattes take me through December. And there I sit on January 1, wearing sweat pants and pajamas as often as possible because I can’t fit into anything else.
In previous years, I’ve tried everything. One year, I set a goal to completely avoid the gluttony. Although I was successful that year and gained no weight, it wasn’t much fun… at all. I’ve taken the other extreme and completely surrendered to the season’s temptations, with a plan of getting back to fighting weight by ISC West (early April for those not in the security industry). Obviously, that wasn’t a healthy method.
Well, not this year. This year I had a strategic, realistic plan, and it worked. I’m writing this on January 2nd, and I’ve only gained four pounds since Labor Day. Here’s what I did…
I split the last four months of the year into sectors and treated each period with a different discipline. Below is the exact plan I followed. I’ve shared it so you can understand the pattern, but you should use this template to build your own specific plan next year. Use my plan as a template, but mold it to your behaviors (it'll probably turn out to be simpler than mine). The objective is to understand the timing of the different weeks of the season, hold yourself accountable to a discipline some of the time and indulge other times. Below was my plan for 2016:
- Labor Day Weekend – Halloween Weekend
- Follow the same nutrition and workout pattern as I have for the rest of the year.
- For Gator football games, all rules out the window. I can eat or drink whatever I want.
- Halloween – November 18th (the Friday before Thanksgiving this past year)
- All rules from previous period, plus…
- Allow myself four small pieces of Halloween candy with milk at night, when at home.
- While traveling for business, same discipline as the rest of the year.
- Thanksgiving Week
- No rules – eat and drink whatever and however much I want.
- November 28th – December 16th
- Follow the same nutrition and workout pattern as I have for the rest of the year.
- Allow myself one serving of Christmas cookies / brownies with a glass of milk at night, while at home.
- While traveling for business, same discipline as the rest of the year.
- Christmas Break (December 17th – January 1st)
- No rules – eat and drink whatever and however much I want.
This approach worked wonders for me. I had one of the most joyous holiday seasons, felt like I fully took advantage of the seasonal treats, and only gained four pounds – which is a reasonable amount to lose in the next month or so. My pants are a little tight, but they button!
Happy New Year everyone. I’m really looking forward to an interactive and fun year of blogging with you!
