Diet and Exercise during Holiday
Brief
Balancing between goals and the environment/routine change during the holiday
practical tips on diet, exercises, relax.
What is your intention?
“I wanna keep progressing no matter the holiday'“.
be aware that your fitness goal is more important than the full experience of enjoying the holiday.
understand others don’t share the same goals with you
make extra efforts to stay in your routine while traveling or staying with friends/family
“I wanna feel relaxed and enjoy the holiday time.”
put aside the fitness goal, vibe with the environment
reflect how your body experience the new lifestyle, eg. more relaxing time and more food around
trust your body knows when/what to eat
keep active, move around, dance, go hiking
“I feel anxious around food during the holiday.”
communicate your feelings with people who can give you mental/emotional support.
talk to your therapist if that is accessible.
stay away from the stimuli that makes you feel overwhelmed.
for me, ““I wanna feel relaxed and enjoy the holiday time.”
My Diet
During the holiday, with more free time, I like to try out new recipes. When I search for a recipe, it is more based on my curiosity, (“hmmm, I am curious how this will taste like). I trust my body to regulate the amount. I will eat when I feel hungry. I will stop if my body tells me it is full, at this point, even I might still get curious about the food in front of me, I will save the curiosity for the next time.
I stay consistent about my diet structure: breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. The only thing change is what I eat. I enjoy the tasting experiences with friends and family and curious how my body will respond to different food.
In terms of calories and macros, I learn not to manage them during the holiday.
My Exercise
I stay in my routine most of the time in a year. Holiday is the time for me to let my body stay out of the routine, so it can reassess, and have a flexible space to feel what it needs.
Most of my training is strength training, and I tend to overwork because I get obsessed with things I love to do and always try to achieve more. Holiday is the time I stay away from the gym and try not to train.
I still wanna stay connected to my body. What I do is body scan via breath and movement. I have various approaches doing body scan, eg I will tell myself a task: “move every joint in sagittal plane ( head forward/backward, spine bending/extending). identity which part of body have problem to access the movement.”
How much time, how frequent? I don’t really know. I move when my body feels like doing it. For example, if I listen to techno while showering, I will rotate my body in a quick tempo, flinging water from my body like a dog/cat. If I have a hard time to play this way, I know I need to work on movement in transverse plane which it allows body to rotate.
