Holiday Tip # 3- Holiday Parties and Your Exercise Regime

At this festive time of year, when you have as many as two or three parties or dinners in a single week on top of your normal busy regime, how can you stay on course with your exercise regime?

Please don’t say you’ll cut down on sleep in order to get more done; not an option as lack of sleep is one of the first things you can do to ensure a weakened immune system, less likelihood of losing weight if that’s your goal and an overall poorer state of health.

Moving along then…

Yes, it is a busy month, however, you needn’t be black and white about it.  Just because you’ve got to attend a work function at the same time as your usual 90-minute spin class after work on a Tuesday night, that’s not a good reason to skip exercise completely.

• First, lay out a schedule at the beginning of the week.  What is mandatory?  What can be postponed to a less busy week?  Making an appointment to exercise and a promise to yourself is step number one.  Even if your five weekly sessions drops to four, temporarily, four is still better than zero!
• Ask your boss for a little bit of flexibility.  Perhaps you can work through lunch in order to leave early in order to squeeze in a 4pm workout before that night’s dinner engagement, or get in a slightly longer lunch to get to that master’s swim class around the corner instead of going at night.
• Multi-task.  While I usually recommend being as present as you can, if push comes to shove and you can fit in one hour on the stationary bike while responding to all your work email, rather than saving it for the end of the day when you’ve got a function to attend, you’ll kill those proverbial two birds with one stone.
• Remember that good habits create momentum just as much as bad ones, which makes it all the more important to stay on task with the healthy exercise routine you have in place.  Getting in a run, followed by a healthy recovery meal before you head to the office party will make you far less likely to grab a Christmas Cosmo and ten cookies compared to arriving in a starved state!    Anyway, do you really want to be anything but level headed around all your work colleagues?  (Just one more reason not to go hungry to the holiday affair and start pounding the booze!)

Knowing you can stay on track with your fitness through the holidays since you’ve got a plan will build confidence that you’ll be able to do so all year long, as there aren’t too many other times when everyone is so hectic, even if it is in a good way!