Practical Tips to Curb Your Holiday Cravings (And Keep Your Calories In Check)

Home / Blog / Nutrition / Practical Tips to Curb Your Holiday Cravings (And Keep Your Calories In Check)

The holiday season is a time to relax and spend time with family. But, for many people, it is also the time to enjoy good food and not worry about calorie intake.

Unfortunately, relaxing too much can lead to fat gain and erase some of the progress you’ve worked so hard to achieve. Between eggnog, Halloween candy, Christmas cookies, and Easter bunny chocolates, people often eat thousands of calories, mainly from sugar and unhealthy fats.

To that end, we’ve shared five practical tips to curb holiday cravings and stay on track with your fitness goals. Let’s review.

1. Plan Meals Ahead of Time

Yes, planning your meals might feel tedious, especially during the holidays when you are supposed to relax and take your mind off responsibilities. But, we could make a case that putting that small amount of effort into your nutrition would pay dividends down the road.

For one, planning meals isn’t that difficult. If you can do it year-round, you can spend 15 minutes preparing daily meals. You can pick from numerous good apps or use a simple spreadsheet on your computer. Second, planning meals ensures nutritional structure and helps you control calories. Doing so can feel rewarding and prevent you from feeling guilty.

Most importantly, maintain a regular eating pattern and avoid blending meals and snacks into one huge mess. People who let loose during the holidays often struggle to return to their normal structure and gain significant weight (1).

2. Load Up On Protein and Fiber

Let’s say that it’s the middle of the holiday season, you’re away from home, and you don’t want to bother planning meals or tracking macronutrients. So what else can you do to curb your cravings and keep your food intake in check?

One excellent option is to load up on protein and fiber at the start of each meal. Both nutrients are necessary for good health and play an essential role in your overall calorie intake and appetite (2, 3, 4, 5).

Start each meal by eating your protein (meat, eggs, poultry, fish) and vegetables. As a result, you will feel much fuller, and the risk of overeating will drop significantly.

You can also take some protein powder with you and make protein shakes when hungry or craving something sweet. Instead of eating holiday candy, mix some protein powder with milk, and go about your day. Fruit is also a good option for curbing your sweet tooth. Apples, bananas, pears, peaches, and oranges are just a few delicious fruits you can enjoy and keep your calories in check.

3. Get Unhealthy Foods Out Of Your Home

People often rely on sheer willpower to make good nutritional choices, which is a mistake. The battle starts at the grocery store because what you buy determines what you eat. For example, if you buy a big box of cookies, it would be nearly impossible to resist them when you feel hungry later.

Removing unhealthy foods from your home serves two essential purposes. First, it reduces the likelihood of eating junk food because doing so gets more challenging. Instead of taking a few steps to your kitchen, you must get dressed, drive to the store, buy the food you’re craving, and return home. The extra steps make you more likely to sit tight and eat what’s available at home.

Second, taking these foods out of your kitchen makes you think about them less. The saying goes, “Out of sight, out of mind.” Not seeing that box of cookies on your kitchen table leads to fewer cravings.

An excellent way to complement that tactic is to buy healthier alternatives. For instance, if you stop buying sugary soda, you can get sparkling water or green tea. That way, you can have something healthier when you want a drink and gradually break the habit of drinking soda. The same goes for food: instead of buying cookies, get some fruit and eat a piece when you crave something sweet.

4. Get More Active

An ever-growing body of research suggests that regular exercise is fantastic for our health. It promotes strong immunity, supports weight loss, improves insulin sensitivity, favours mental health, and much more (6, 7, 8, 9).

A considerable benefit of physical activity is that it encourages a balance between the calories we consume and those we expend. As a result, we can maintain our body weight and not deal with fat gain.

Regular physical activity is even more critical during the holidays because most people let loose and enjoy all the foods they restrict throughout the year. First, moving around more is a great way to burn extra calories. Second, physical activity engages your mind and removes your thoughts from eating.

The great news is that you don’t necessarily have to hit the gym to get active. You can go for walks, play sports with friends or family, go swimming, and hike if you’re out of the city for the holidays.

5. Be Careful of Liquid Calories

Having a drink here, a glass of soda or fruit juice there, and an energy drink before working out might not seem like a big deal. After all, these are liquids, so they shouldn’t impact your daily energy intake that much, right?

Unfortunately, liquids can be jam-packed with sugar that adds up throughout the week, increasing your intake by hundreds or thousands of calories. For reference, a simple can of soda has roughly 145 calories, a can of beer has slightly more, and some cocktails have up to 500 to 600 calories. But at least eggnog has to be low in calories, right? Well, a cup has roughly 220 calories, one-third the energy you would ingest with an average-sized meal.

Replacing most drinks with water and tea is an excellent way to save calories. If you must drink soda, pick a sugar-free option. Similarly, replace regular beer with light.

Coach Michael

Don't miss out!

Want the latest blogs sent straight to your inbox? We can do that!

Send me weekly blogs

Straight to your inbox

Remember to check your junk mail if you don’t hear from us!