Holiday Weight Gain: Easy Come, Easy Go
(a bit long I know, but read it anyway)
So after my honeymoon back in April, I spent 10 days in the Mayan Riviera where I completely shelved my training/diet and did whatever I wanted. From a training standpoint that included only one workout. From a nutrition standpoint, all rules and bets were off and I ate whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted (the breakfast buffet was destroyed on a daily basis). I made this choice in advance of my vacation and with that accepted the outcome of that decision … which was a rather noticeable (ok, very noticeable) amount of fat gain. It was so much so that one night near the end of our trip Amy and I were talking about working out, etc. with a Scottish couple that we met and spent much of our time with and I wound up showing them a picture of how I looked when I arrived in Mexico (since I had dieted for the trip). Hilariously enough, they could not believe that I looked “like that” only 9 days prior. Zero belief. That’s how much damage I did.
I made that decision because for me, a large part of getting the most out of a vacation is food, eating whatever I want, as much as I want, enjoying whatever I want and putting the structure of my at-home life aside for a week or so.
I choose the behaviour and therefore I also choose the outcome. Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t exactly happy with how I came home, but the last thing I was going to do was let my “program” or my overall physique/fitness goals get in the way of my vacation. I certainly wasn’t going to be following a diet on vacation, nor will I ever because for me personally, that really takes away from my vacation experience.
I wrote an article about this experience and my philosophy regarding times like this called:
“Diet Hard, Train Hard, but Relax Hard and Enjoy Hard at Those Important Events in Your Life Too”
You can read that article here:
As many clients can attest to me advising, I consider this regression a case of “easy come, easy go” since it doesn’t take much time back on plan to undo this regression.
This just happened to me again. Amy and I were just in Hawaii for a week’s vacation and while I had an on-plan breakfast the first two days of the trip, the rest of the time it was eat whatever I want, as much as I want and so on.
I left for that trip weighing 233.5 lbs. I came home Monday and much to my SHOCK I weighed 251.8 lbs. Yes, 252 lbs! I have only ever weighed over 250 lbs once before in my life and I looked a lot different than this version of 252 lbs that’s for sure. First time I looked pretty good, this time, not so much. Trust me, I was not happy about this, really not happy. Not that going back in time I would have done it any differently, lol.
However, it’s Friday today, just five days later and what did I weigh today? 234.8 lbs. How about that?
Easy come, easy go.
What’s my point? Well, it’s the Christmas season and I’m sure many of you have Christmas parties, family dinners, cookies to bake … and eat as you bake them (don’t lie), and so on. I’m also sure some of you are “stressed” about these events, holiday weight gain, etc., since I think most people gain a bit of weight over Christmas.
My point is that that is A-OK! Easy come, easy go.
Personally, I think the time between Christmas and New Year’s is an excellent time to plan a week off from the gym as well. Holiday gym hours are annoying enough as it is and planned recovery weeks are really underrated as well. Relax, enjoy the holiday season and allow your batteries to recharge.
As for making progress over these next few weeks, relax. I would personally consider maintenance an overwhelming holiday success and think that should be the mindset of pretty much everyone (unless you have some sort of imminent deadline) but even if not, and you gain a few pounds (I gained nearly 20 lbs of “weight” in a week remember), remind yourself …
Think balance and lifestyle.
Easy come, easy go.
Happy Holidays,
Erik