Why You Aren't Reaching Your Goals During the Holiday Season

Let's face it, the holiday season comes with busy schedules, more stress, and hopping from one holiday party to the next. It might mean more takeout and less time to cook, more sweets in the house, and less time to dedicate to your workout routine. But this doesn't mean that you have to put your goals on pause and wait until the new year to get back on track.

When it comes to reaching goals during the holiday season, I often see that it's not just the extra cookies in the house that are causing you to regress in the progress you have made.

So why aren't you able to reach your goals and stay consistent?

1. You are stuck in the all-or-nothing mindset.

Culprit #1. If you are always feeling like you need to "get back on track" after eating something that was "bad", you likely fall into this category and get stuck thinking that your health and fitness goals need to be all or nothing. But trust me when I say, you CAN have both! You can have the cookie decorating party and a few glasses of wine and still make progress toward your goals. First things first, you need to stop thinking that these events and seasons are throwing you "off track." Your mindset is everything when it comes to reaching your goals. If you are constantly feeling guilty for what you are eating and stuck in a binge restrict cycle or constantly having "cheat days." Really take some time this season to assess your relationship with food. Food should never make you feel guilty. You should be able to have a balance between the fun foods you love, and the nourishing foods you know set you up for a healthy life, no matter what season it is.

2. You are setting too high of expectations for yourself.

Please, don't set the bar too high for yourself. If you know you have a crazy week with holiday gatherings, hosting parties, and shopping that's going to take more of your time, don't put so much pressure on yourself to hit the gym five times a week. Work to adjust your expectations depending on what you have going on for the week and know that this is okay to do. If 2-3 days is going to be more feasible, set a goal for that rather than beating yourself up when you don't get there all five days. Give yourself permission to not meal prep everything for the week or to order out food when you really don't have the time. Do what you need to in order to adjust your expectations week by week and day by day during crazier seasons rather than continuing to fall short when you are setting the bar too high for yourself. This does not make you a failure, this makes you smart for being able to adapt and adjust so that way you are still reaching the goals you are setting for yourself.

3. You think it's your lack of willpower around holiday foods.

Constantly feel like you just can't say no to the dessert table and end up overdoing it every time? This used to be me until I realized that I just really didn't give myself permission to eat these types of foods unless it was a holiday or special event. So ask yourself, do you give yourself unconditional permission to eat fun treats that aren't just on special occasions? This might be why you feel out of control around these types of foods.

4. You give yourself permission to over-indulge because "it's the holiday."

Spinning off of #3, do you find that you justify every cookie or extra serving of food that pushes you past your comfort level of fullness because it's the holiday season? Yes, I want you to be able to enjoy these things, but again going back to the all-or-nothing mentality, this doesn't mean you have to consistently over-do it and feel miserable after every holiday gathering just because you say to yourself "it's okay it's the holiday." This only leads you to feel that you need to get back on track yet again come the new year.

5. You forget to make yourself a priority.

With crazy schedules, focusing on giving, etc. it sometimes just gets easy for us to forget that we need to protect our own energy and make ourselves a priority during the holiday season. Not meaning that you need to neglect responsibilities or make yourself become selfish... But to a certain degree, you have to remember that you need to make yourself a priority as well to take care of yourself and your well-being so that you can show up for others!

Finding a realistic and sustainable balance during the holiday season (or any busier season of life) is crucial for creating a healthy lifestyle that doesn't have to feel like it's always an "on again, off again" thing. It can be forever! You just need to work on shifting your mindset, adjusting your expectations, and remembering to make yourself a priority- no matter how that looks! Remember that something is going to be better than nothing and that you have the power to continue to make progress during the holiday season, it just might look different compared to less stressful times of the year.