Holiday Survival Guide

If you survived the first holiday, Thanksgiving, congratulations! But with December in full swing and New Year’s on the horizon, the temptations have begun. On average, a person gains 1 lb between Thanksgiving and New Year’s (much less than the original reports of 7-10 lbs during this time). That’s great news!
The bad news? That 1 lb or more gain isn’t lost for the most part during the rest of the year. In a decade, that’s 10 lbs and that ends up being a big deal as you get older.
Holly Hull, the lead researcher on the Oklahoma study, says Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a “high risk” time for the overweight. “I think the number of people who only overeat at the Thanksgiving meal is slim to none,” said Dr. Hull. “The holiday season doesn’t represent one day of overeating. You have this period that extends through the new year where there’s more alcohol, more snacks, more finger foods and appetizers that are energy dense.”
I’ve compiled a list of Holiday Survival Guides with plenty of advice, tips and tricks to get anybody thru this sometimes difficult time. If you are wondering how you will stick to your plan, these guides offer up some easy to use and quick to implement safeguards to keep you focused. While everybody else gains this season, you could get fitter while everybody around you gets fatter.

1. Strategies to Cope with Holiday Eating
There’s a great read over at SparkPeople called Busting the Top 5 Excuses to Overindulge During the Holidays it’s a really nice list of things that most everybody will experience at some point from now until New Year’s and what you can do to cope. Take a look at the following excuses and if any of them sound familiar, you’ll have strategies to cope.
2. Holiday Survival with Jennifer Nicole Lee
Not as much strategies as healthy traditional holiday meals. Fitness model, Jennifer Nicole Lee or JNL, dishes out some delicious treats and snacks. It’s possible to make that pumpkin pie taste good and not break your calorie bank. If you are going to a party or family gathering and need to bring food, here’s some ideas for a Healthy Thanksgiving to Fit Christmas
At the end of JNL’s article, there’s 10 additional tips for staying sane during this typically very busy period when people lose focus and fall off the wagon.
3. Survive the Holidays – Runner’s World Style

Even Runner’s World has some very good tips to stay on track for the holidays. What really hit home was the opening line of the 3 page article.
“Conventional wisdom has it that most of us gain about five pounds during the six-week holiday period. In reality, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the average person gains only one pound over the holidays–but never loses it.”
It’s worth reading the How to Stay Fit and Trim from Thanksgiving to New Year’s if you want to keep a decade of holidays from adding up over the years. Do the math. 1 lb a year, over a decade, magically you are 10 lbs heavier!
4. Holiday Survival Guide by Fat Loss Expert – Tom Venuto
Even a fat loss guru like Venuto has temptations. How does Tom do it? At this point, he’s got such strong beliefs that there really isn’t any temptation if it goes against your core beliefs. However, that wasn’t always the case. He’s battled thru holidays when an extra piece of pie or other delicious dessert is most tempting. But he’s put together a very nice list called How to Stay on Your Diet and Shape Over the Holidays
You will find 10 of Tom’s BEST tips for staying in shape over the holidays. Although I personally think Tom and I might differ on #10. Alcohol in moderation. What’s moderate to some is excessive to others.
One to print out and tack on the fridge.. right now!
5. Strength Training Guide to Surviving the Holidays
By now, you might be saying to yourself, I’ve seen a lot of the same tips and themes. That’s true. Every year these holiday guides come out and every year the same 10 tips are shuffle around.
However, Sumi does point out some very interesting tips I’ve not seen before that will be very motivation to the most tempted person.
Fitness Model: Sumi Singh’s Tips and Tricks
From eating before the party to signing up for a 10k.. Sumi has some unique and refreshing tips that can help not just motivate you during the holidays and avoid some of the temptations but seriously get you into better shape.
6. Holiday Advice from the Fat Burning Machine – Michael Mahony
Coined “The Fat Burning Machine,” Mike Mahony has put together a simple but fundamental tip list! One tip he does gives, makes absolute perfect sense. In fact, his tip was recently used by the last winner of the most ripped female in a body transformation contest. Here’s One Holiday Tip You May Not Have Considered
Because I’m a moderator and contributor to a weight loss support community called Burn the Fat Inner Circle, I literally read the journal of last year’s winner. Mike’s tip was used this Thanksgiving in a very strategic manner. I have no doubt that thinking strategically about one day like this leads to success.
If you have a calendar, you can plan to use tip #5.
7. 10 Ways to Restart Your “Diet” After a Break
While this list from Diet.com looks more like how to get back on track after a setback, in reality, the tips and advice can easily be put to good use to keep from falling into a rut during the holiday season.
If you feel like things are getting a bit out of control, here are 10 Easy Ways to Hit the Reset Button.
Point number 5 is something you can and should do year round. One way to avoid temptation is not to have it available.
8. Holiday Weight Management by Charles Poliquin
Even premier strength coach, Charles Poliquin has a very nice list of Ten Simple Ways to Beat Holiday Weight Gain. His list is fundamental to avoiding the pounds during this season along with some tips and tricks you can use to keep yourself on track. Charles isn’t your average fitness guy. He’s the creator of the 21 Poliquin Principles amoung many other famous and foundational fitness principles. When Charles’ speaks, people listen.
Bonus: Top 10 Stay Fit During the Holidays Tactics
Hugo A. Rivera is an internationally-known best-selling fitness author of over 10 books on bodybuilding, weight loss and fitness. Hugo discloses his Top 10 Personal Strategies for surviving the Holiday’s with minimum fat gain, if any.
Tip: Take all the tips from these lists and quickly write or type them out. You will see many of them overlap, with a few fresh ideas. In matter of minutes, you’ll have your own bulletproof list for avoiding holiday weight gain.
Scott and Angie Tousignant of Metabolic Masterpiece have put together a “short” 8 minute video that just nails the basics and gives you options to stay on track and NOT beat yourself up over a few mistakes.

Do you have any tips that aren’t in these guides? What have you done that works to avoid the constant bombardment of sweets and excuses to overindulge?
Resources:
Holiday Weight Gain Slight, But May Last a Lifetime
The Effect of the Thanksgiving Holiday on Weight Gain
Holiday Weight Gain: Fact or Fiction?
Update:
6 Simple Ways to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
Marc David – CPT