How to get back on PROGRESS after HOLIDAY SEASON?!
Christmas is a time of giving; whether it is gifts or love. It is ALSO a sacrifice of progress due to all dinners, celebrations, drinking, etc. The holiday is a time where a lot of people mentally tap-out and stop putting in the time and/or work. This article will give you some pro-tips that will turn your holiday slump back into full flight progress. But first, let’s consider the following quote:
“Every second you spend thinking about what someone else has, it is taking away your time that you can create something for yourself, spend that energy on your vision and execute.”
– Gary Vaynerchuk
About Mr. Vaynerchuk, he is an entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author and an internet personality. He first expanded his family’s wine business then went onto digital marketing and social media work.
This quote is simply telling all of us to focus on our grass. It does not matter how green the other lawns are. It only matters how green we can get our lawn to be. Focus on yourself; you are completely responsible for all YOUR actions. Use the energy on what you want and EXECUTE.
Now let’s put it into context. Some of us are able to stay on track of progress, some of us may have fallen off a little bit, and others have fallen off by a lot. But none of this matters because you are who you are. Your grass is that green. Your job is to get it as green as you can. Ask your personal trainer in Richmond if they have heard of Gary Vaynerchuk.
You can’t go back in time, so focus on what is in front of you
Many of us, including myself, dwell on the mistakes we have made in the past (or in this case, what we ate). “Ah I ate a lot of cake over the holidays” or “I drank so much alcohol at that party”. These are things we hear all the time in the New Years. While these are good points to remember and reflect on, DO NOT kick yourself for it. Remember, you ate “that cake” and drank “that much” because it made you happy during that time. Don’t fault yourself for it because of happiness.
However, reflection is a must. If you had a lot to eat/drink, or did not train, then now is a time to change that. Key point here: it is NOT your fault, but it is your RESPONSIBILITY.
Now, moving forward, know exactly what elements you can control and execute. Take control of your training frequency and intensity. Take control of your meal prepping and intake. Take control of your sleeping habits and stress management. All these are tools for you to use on your lawn to make it the greenest it has ever been.
Don’t fault yourself and take control of what you can. Ask your personal trainer about personal responsibility and accountability.
Beware of over-correction
It is great that you recognize the faults in the past and now you are clear of what you need to do, but how much more? Very commonly, people will overdo their training and diet plans in order to compensate what they ate over the holidays. While a lot people adopt mindset, and on the surface level it might make sense, it is not the greatest tactic.
Your body has a baseline. In order to lose weight, you should aim to go just below that baseline in terms of caloric deficit, and above the baseline in terms of training intensity and exertion. That’s it.
Over-correction simply means restricting your meals to half as much as you were eating before on your diet – which means even less when you were trying to lose weight. This may even mean training twice as hard or twice as often. This is a recipe for burnout, disappointment or even injury. Ask your personal trainer in Richmond on tips on avoiding over-correction.
Pro-tip: do what you were doing before the holiday hits. Stick with your diet plan and training schedule. Re-evaluate it and change anything that needs changing (without going overboard on food restriction or training intensity). If you fell off the wagon, simply get back on it and continue grinding.
Until next time,
Coach Marco
