So as I am sitting here drinking some nice scotch (my clients are awesome), I thought it was a good time to get out a quick blog post about planning to fail. Not fail in your weight loss journey or fail in your attempt to accomplish any fitness or health goal, but planning to fail for a day or two on holidays or during certain special events. It’s Christmas and there are endless food and drink options, but you are in the middle of a weight loss journey and have been consistently losing weight for the past 5 months. What do you do to not take a step back?? You enjoy yourself today and tomorrow! You indulge in things you haven’t in awhile so you can enjoy your time with family and friends. I will never tell a client to not eat what they want to eat on a holiday or tell them to not go out for a friends birthday etc. But, there are certain ways to have a good time and still maintain your weight loss and not be up 5lbs at your next weekly weigh in.

If you want to keep your progress rolling here is what you should do on a Saturday night or on any holiday:

-Eat ALOT of protein in the morning and the entire day leading up to your main meal (usually carb and fat loaded). This means protein shakes are probably a must.
-Limit carbs and fat throughout the day until your main meal.
-Limit your overall calories the entire day until your main meal.
-Drink ALOT of water throughout the day to fill your stomach. Drink a glass or two before your meal.
-Try to workout the day of your event or holiday to rev up your metabolism.
-Only (and I really mean this) log your food if you feel like it isn’t interrupting your time with family and friends. Maybe log all your food the night before so you have a general idea of what you have left over for dinner and drinks. If you go over calories it is OK! You just need to plan the next day well then to make up for it.
-The next day should ideally be a low carb/low fat/high protein day with lower calories than you normally eat. This is so crucial. Don’t let a day of 4000 calories turn into two or three days straight of 4000 calories. That is asking for trouble.

A couple weeks back I went out for dinner and drinks on Saturday night; nothing abnormal. I logged all my food the day leading up and the next day to give you an idea of how to do this. I screen shotted my food logs as best I could.

Saturday:

Sunday (low carb/low calorie day):

Things to note:
-I was allowing myself ~1000 calories over my maintenance calories (~3000) on Saturday; I was thinking around 4000 calories. So, I was slightly over that (around 300 calories), but not the end of the world. Allowing yourself around 1000 calories over your normal calories is OK as long as you go low the next day. I planned out Sunday then.
-I had 6-7 drinks Saturday but, planned for that the entire day by limiting carbs. I could have done that better by taking out my bagel on Saturday morning.
-On Sunday I tried to fast a little bit in the morning by only eating a banana and drinking some Gatorade just to rehydrate. No I wasn’t hungover; Macallan doesn’t give hangovers like Kessler does. By limiting my calories Sunday morning it was easier to keep calories low the entire day.
-I kept protein high again Sunday (228g)
-Carbs Sunday: 156g
-Fat Sunday: 72g

My weight on Saturday AM: 190.8 lbs.
My weight on Monday AM: 190.4 lbs.

Hope this helps out in the future; it is definitely possible with a little planning. Have a Merry Christmas!