Tis the season that I without a doubt start receiving more emails and even text messages about how to stay out of major trouble when it comes down to the holiday festivities and extra curricular events we start to hit up with friends and family this time of year.
I thought I would get off topic a bit from all the normal posts I tend to do and talk a bit about the ways we can conquer the holidays.
Many times, these holiday parties and get together’s are simply unavoidable and there’s bound to be different types of temptations in forms of sugar packed foods and highly intoxicating drinks at these events that we’ll have to either ultimately decide to avoid all together or strategically get around them one way or another.
If you’re the type of person that can avoid all of these sugar filled foods and alcoholic drinks 100%, then kudos to you!
But, for most of us, this isn’t the case. I prefer to strategically get around them without having to avoid them all together. After all, I am HUMAN and I must get out and live a little right!?
So, what am I talking about??
Well, you know all the different holiday festivities we start to have this time of year right???
Work parties, family get together’s, going out with friends, ect.
All of these events are based around eating and drinking and that’s why their fun.
Who doesn’t enjoy getting together with loved ones and friends to eat some good food and have a few drinks??
I like to have my fair share of fun but at the same time, I don’t want to risk losing my hard earned physique and general health over it.
I’ve personally seen what a week of binge drinking and eating until you’re blue in the face can do to your body and overall health as I used to do it all the time back in college…
What a week of this type of living can do will ultimately take you 3 weeks to come back from and erase.
Bottom Line – It’s not worth it!
But, before you get all bent out of shape, I want to let you know that there is a way to have your cake and eat it too during the holidays as well as anytime during the year for that matter.
But, There’s ONE IMPORTANT THING you must have before all else takes place. This ONE THING will ultimately determine if you fail or succeed during this time of year. In all honesty, this ONE THING is important to have at ALL times of the year…
This one thing I speak of is DISCIPLINE.
Overall, you must have the discipline to ultimately be able to control your actions which is in respects to eating and drinking.
In order to stay in control of yourself during the holidays season, you must have DISCIPLINE.
People without proper discipline are the ones you’ll find hammered drunk as well as the ones feasting endlessly over the whole holiday season. This is where you get into trouble.
Without discipline, you have ZERO control over your actions and you won’t know when to stop.
The truth is, everything is tolerable in moderation meaning, you can let loose a little bit by having some drinks and nasty foods here and there but ONLY is small amounts.
Just remember – the 90% rule which means to stick to a LEAN and CLEAN diet 90% of the time. If you’re already shredded up and at a body fat % that you’re content with, you can go down as far as the 80/20 rule… I wouldn’t go any less…
Moderation and Discipline go hand-in-hand.
Now, with MODERATION and DISCIPLINE in mind, take these next few tips and use them this holiday season. In fact, use these tips throughout the whole year to help ensure you stay LEAN and MEAN…
Tip 1 – Only eat sugary foods and holiday treats when you’ve EARNED THEM.
This should be pretty straight to the point and easy to understand. If you’ve ate sh*tty throughout the whole week and then Friday comes along and there’s a holiday party going on and you have different types of cakes, pies, fried foods, and drinks sitting around guess what, you don’t get any!
You haven’t earned the right to eat and drink this junk! If you want to eat it and drink it, you’ve got to EARN IT.
My best advise with this tip is this – focus on eating LEAN and CLEAN throughout the whole week so that on the weekends, when it’s time to let loose a little bit and have some fun, you can indulge on these treats.
TWO things will happen…. 1) You’ll not feel so guilty because you’ll know that you’ve truly EARNED the right to eat and drink bad sh*t, and 2) Eating and drinking unhealthy junk only after you’ve EARNED it will help ensure you’re sticking close to the 90/10 rule.
So, bottom line when it comes to eating like sh*t… Only do it 10% of the time and make sure you EARN the right to do so in the first place. Save the sh*t foods for your cheat meals!
Tip 2 – Keep grandpa’s cough medicine to a minimum… EARN THE RIGHT TO HAVE A DRINK!
Now, I know there are guys out there that will never give up their drinking and that’s cool. Drinking is a highly sociable thing to do and I will be the first to admit that I too like to have my drinks but, I know when to say I’m good.
This again comes back to DISCIPLINE. Some people have it and some don’t.
Now at the same time, I’m not promoting you drink. In fact, I would say to cut it totally out if you’re one that’s trying to build more muscle and lose fat.
The reason for this is because Alcohol is a toxin and when any type of toxin is present in the body, your body to cease all fat burning and muscle building processes in order to rid itself of the toxins.
So, when ever your hung over from an out-of-control night of binge drinking, it takes your body a good 48 hours to get rid of the toxins.
That’s 48 hours you lose on your progress…
Just keep those things in mind when drinking this holiday season…
Now, as I said before all the serious talk about alcohol I just mentioned, I too like to throw a few drinks back as there are ways of doing it right which I’ll share below…
1) Avoid the HEAVY brews – These are the most calories and carb dense drinks. Drinks like your heavy lagers and ales will pack on the points quickly. Watch out for these bad boys.
I would recomend that you instead reach for lower cal beer OR go with straight spirits. 
The “bodybuilder’s drink” would be your best bet which is vodka and water…
Not everyone’s cup of tea but with that, you get ZERO carbs and sugars and you’re keeping your extra calories to a minimum.
If that’s not your taste, go with ZERO calorie mixers such as Sobe water, Gatorade Zero, or even diet tonic water..
Also, I would avoid the energy drinks with the spirits… NOT a good combo…
2) Follow up with a H2O – For every drink you have, have a fresh glass of bottle of water with it. So instead of following up your Guinness with another shot of Jaeger, make it a clear glass of H2O instead!
You’ll slow down your pace of drinking and help stay a little bit more hydrated.
3) Eat Lean Proteins FIRST – If you knw you’re going to be throwing some drinks back later in the day, I suggest you CUT out all the carbs and fats for that whole day and focus on just taking in lean proteins.
You already know you’re probably going to be eating like sh*t while you drink so you might as well prepare for the damage that’s about to ensue. Think of this as “damage control”.
Final thought… PLAN and PREPARE!
There’s no other sure fire way to fail then when you don’t plan.
Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail…
So for example, Christmas falls on a Sunday this year so I already know that I’ll be eating super LEAN and CLEAN the Friday and Saturday night prior to Christmas. Heck, I’ll even plan it out so I can eat and drink what I want on Christmas eve…
In order to make sure you come out of the holiday season alive while staying and getting even LEANER and MEANER, you need to schedule your cheat days around Holiday Parties, weekends, Christmas and New Years. Make sure these days are set up correctly so you can cheat away without major guilt (no one wants to be around a cranky dude who can’t eat or drink)
When you PLAN, it all works out better!
Now, I hope this little write up has helped you out a bit on how to make this Holiday season the LEANEST and MEANEST ever!
Now obviously on top of all of the eating and drinking, you’ll still be training H.A.M.! That a given…
NO EXCUSES…
Live Aggressive and Get Strong!
Got any additional tips you would like to post up? Drop em in the comments below!
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