I gained weight at Christmas… what should I do now?

• 4 reasons people gain weight at Christmas
• the FIRST thing to do if you’ve said: I gained weight at Christmas
• a scale doesn’t give you actionable steps! Do this instead ↓
• What to do if you gained weight at Christmas but don’t have a rock-solid routine to return to
• what you’ll start craving when you build a healthy routine

Christmas is over

(It hurts to write that.)

Does this sound familiar?

“I gained weight at Christmas.”

If it does, don’t worry!

Here’s how to get back on track ↓↓↓

I gained weight at Christmas

It’s been said many times… and in many ways.

For instance:

I gained weight while cramming for my LSATs.

I gained weight when I couldn’t duplicate my whole genome sequencing results.
So I ordered in food at every meal for a month… I basically lived at the lab.

I gained weight at my all-inclusive in St. Barts.

This week my inbox was flooded with messages that said:

HELP! I gained weight over the holidays

So… in the spirit of whole genome sequencing (!) let’s focus on data over drama and crack this weight-loss code… Science-Project style!

PROBLEM: I gained weight at Christmas. What should I do now?

It’s easy to panic.

And charge ahead with a restrictive eating plan, maybe even a bone broth diet…

Then sign up for a string of punishing HIIT workouts.

But going from one extreme to another sets a dangerous pattern in motion:

A cycle I was caught in for 10 long years ↑

So… instead of yo-yo dieting, I beg invite you to learn from my mistakes, and try something new.

I don’t want anybody to experience the years of crazy and UNNECESSARY dieting that I went through.

Ok.

So the first best step is to STOP.

And reflect.

…Something I NEVER did when I was struggling with my weight.

And that lack of reflection turned 10 extra pounds into 30 extra pounds, which I lost and regained hundreds of times. Because I was either:

so anxious about my extra weight I was running miles and miles a day

OR

so bloody hungry that eating half a cracker and a bite of cheese and a couple rice cakes…
would suddenly turn into a full-blown binge;
a word I didn’t even know at the time!

So let’s press pause.

And reflect on why you gained weight.

And make a strategic plan
to make THIS THE YEAR
you unlock your H 🙂 PPY weight… for good.

HYPOTHESIS: Why I gained weight at Christmas

So many of your patterns change over Christmas, it’s easy to fall out of your healthy routine.

VARIABLES: Getting specific about why I gained weight at Christmas

Some “changed conditions” might include:

• trying to find the perfect gift which turns into shopping over meal times & eating a jumbo chocolate chip cookie at the mall for dinner
• traveling by trains, planes & automobiles equals eating on the run & harder to make 1/3 of your plate fruit & veg… which is key because fiber helps you lose weight!
• eating out more means consuming food that contains more salt & therefore retaining water
• attending parties puts pressure on your wardrobe game & makes you worry about your weight which triggers over-exercising and skipping meals and then… eating the rest of the chips and dip after everyone’s gone home
• seeing loved ones involves your cousin’s famous peach pie and Aunt Sophie’s SECRET made-from-scratch (*cough* Pillsbury’s) shortcake cookies
• being back in your home town and hanging out with family & friends can be emotionally charged (everybody wants to know if there’s a wedding, baby or other-milestone on the horizon) prompting a 4th round of Dom Pérignon… as grandma side-eyes your empty ring finger. (Hot tip: next year channel Audrey Hepburn and wear long, elegant black gloves). Then once again you find yourself in a pitch-black kitchen, lit only by the light of the fridge, engaging in “Who gives an F!”-eating aka bingeing
• spending a week at your new boyfriend’s parent’s house might make (oversharing here!) going to the loo less regular

…Ahhhh, the holidays.

Who needs a holiday to recover from the holidays?

OBSERVATIONS: Analyzing why “I gained weight at Christmas”

After collecting and combing through the data…

Any combination of these changed conditions can lead to one or more of the fab four:

1.
a little weight gain
2.
a lot of weight gain
3.
water weight gain
4.
constipation weight gain

You heard it here first.

Another hot tip: crack open a cold can of club soda and it’ll do the “go more to the loo” trick.

There’s nothing strange about disappearing into the guest washroom with a bit of bubbly… Is there?!

This effervescent water ↓↓↓ will help “move things along” and is positively refreshing!

…And just like that, you’ll be free of #4 above.

RECOVERY METHOD: I gained weight at Christmas. What should I do now?

Get back to your regular routine.

RESULTS: I gained weight at Christmas then returned to my regular routine

When you return to your regular routine, you’ll also return to your regular weight.

Ta-dah!

Simply cut out the excess (see VARIABLES above).

The WORSE thing you can do is crash diet because it puts your body into survival mode which makes it easy to gain weight and hard to lose it.

Plus restricting what you eat naturally leads to over-eating.

One extreme leads to another.

Weight-loss is not about willpower!

CONCLUSION: I gained weight at Christmas. What should I do now?

This is REASON No. 4297 of WHY stepping on the scale gets in the way of you having a healthy relationship with food:

Your scale doesn’t give you ANY actionable steps!

Instead, simply reflect on what you’ve been doing and eating that’s out of the ordinary.

And then get back to your regular routine.

Add a little patience and… PRESTO!

You’ll be back in your pre-holiday jeans.

For many people, even people with a healthy relationship with food, a little weight gain is natural and normal over the holidays.

But they don’t even know about it because they’re not jumping on and off the scale all the time.

Put your scale away.

Get back to your healthy routine.

And the extra weight will come off as fast as you can strip ornaments off your Christmas tree.

Application: I gained weight at Christmas. What should I do now?

Whenever you find yourself out of your routine… whether it’s because you’re:

getting take-aways at work
trying to duplicate your whole genome sequencing results

stress eating
while studying for your LSATS, or GMAT, or MCAT…

OR

chillin’ with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bezos and Drake
in St. Barts…

Simply press pause, reflect and get back into your healthy routine and you’ll get back to your healthy weight.

Stop blaming yourself and blame your weight-loss method!

TRUTHBOMB: I gained weight at Christmas. What should I do now?

I’m proposing Truthbomb as a new Scientific Method subtitle.

Are you with me?

Aside from the beginning of COVID (when I hadn’t figured out how to get my heart rate up because I have bad knees and our gym was closed, and I was chain-drinking milky coffees)… I’ve never gained weight over Christmas, a holiday or stressful situations.

I’m telling you this because I want you to know the POWER of building and ingraining a PERSONALIZED Gold Standard Eating and Exercise Routine you love.

I LOVE ❤️ my routine.

I CRAVE the fruit and vegetables in my routine.

And even seek them out when I’m away, and bring them back to my Hotel.

Last trip: New York City!

I bought oranges from a street vendor straight-outta Penn Station.

Ok, that pic ↑↑↑ is actually in Kensington Market in Toronto… I have a pic from NYC but the camera card got corrupted 🙁

And I love how much energy my routine gives me.

(No SECRET shortbread recipe or Christmas Holiday Season can derail the choices I love!)

I still enjoy desserts at Christmas, and beautiful Christmas meals and holiday brunches… but never to any excess because… (drum roll!):

I love my healthy routine.

Now I crave my healthy routine

Sticking to that healthy routine, that makes me have more energy than I did when I was 13 years old… is my coping mechanism for stress because it makes me feel so good.

And remember, this is coming from someone who for 10 years:

• thought about food all day and had bad dreams of overeating at night
• craved sugary stuff and often binged on it 🙁
• eventually overeating was actually a habit
• picked at food from morning to night and was scared to eat an actual meal
• was 30 pounds overweight

What I’m saying is that if it’s possible for me…

…it’s possible for you too. xo

I’m not a unicorn.

But I did find these unicorn post-it notes in the garbage ↓

You simply have to take the time to build a rock-solid routine you LOVE that works with your lifestyle.

Don’t crash diet!!!

As one of my clients said to me:

The other day I walked into the grocery store and found myself in the fruit and vegetable area. Before I’d go straight to the chocolates and wine. I was like… “Who is this person?” (Feeling very proud of myself!)
– Maria, England

Saying I gained weight during [insert life change] is common…

…until you build and ingrain a rock-solid routine you ❤️ love.

Just because I feel low right now
It doesn’t mean all that I’ve got has run out…

It’s true!

Change. Is. Possible.

There’s so much good stuff ready for you in the year ahead.

So if you’re saying:

I gained weight at Christmas

It’s time to flip that script.

First step:
Focus on building or getting back to your healthy routine.

Why… Because it will make you fffeeeeeeeeeel good! (Even if you feel low right now.)

Getting healthy isn’t the hardship the diet industry makes it out to be

Building my GOLD Standard Routine was one of the most exciting times of my life.

Not only did a healthy routine unlock my HAPPY weight 24+ years ago and give me more energy… but I got back so many hours each day to be productive. AND it gave me the clarity to stop blaming myself for certain things… and stop watering dead plants (things you can’t change). Without my disordered eating taking up the whole day I had the clarity to stop attending to relationships that were unhealthy and put that energy and love into the things that I can change during this tiny trip we have here on earth.

What’s your unhealthy relationship with food distracting you from?

First step if you said: I gained weight at Christmas

What’s one healthy thing you didn’t get to do over the holidays that you’re going to get back to doing NOW?

-Having fruit with your lunch?
-Walking each day?
-NOT skipping breakfast?

…Let me know in the comments below!

And if you have a friend who might want to hear the message in this post, please share it on Facebook or send a link in an email.

Hey I’m Kelly!
Author of It took me 10 years to lose 10 pounds. Click HERE and you’ll get my next article that answers a common question about how to unlock your HAPPY weight—without dieting.
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Want a One-Day Meal Plan? It’s an example of what I eat each day These kinds of meals and snacks unlocked my HAPPY weight 21+ years ago (I lost 30 pounds without dieting!)

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Want a One-Day Meal Plan? It’s an example of what I eat each day These kinds of meals and snacks unlocked my HAPPY weight 21+ years ago (I lost 30 pounds without dieting!)

You'll also be subscribed to my newsletter. Don’t like it? Unsubscribe in one click

Want a One-Day Meal Plan?

It’s an example of what I eat  each day

These kinds of meals and snacks unlocked my HAPPY weight 21+ years ago (I lost 30 pounds without dieting!)

You'll also be subscribed to my newsletter. Don’t like it? Unsubscribe in one click