Ok, it’s here! December. Most folks gain some serious pounds over the holiday months. With a plethora of parties during the week and/or weekend, the extra food and drink can pack on the pounds. What’s worse, if you’re skipping your workouts because you are super busy shopping, party planning, or just straight up partying, that is a double whammy.

So, how can you combat the bulge and avoid the New Year’s Eve party dress blues? Or popping your pants button open on January 1st? Or giving up NYE plans to stay home and wear your comfy sweats (not that there’s anything wrong with staying home on NYE, but if you’re avoiding going out at all because you can’t fit in your clothes, well, that’s another story)!

1. As much as you can, move your body, walk, run, stand, crawl, jump…just avoid sitting. Ping!…there goes my apple watch alarm telling me to stand up!
2. Take time to de-stress. What?!?! I ain’t got time for dat! I call BS!  Take a hot bath with some lavendar and Epsom salts…without your phone. Skip the TV sesh a couple of nights a week and hop in your “dustbowl” instead. Everyone needs to be clean!
3. Pound the water before your party. You’ll either spend lots of time in the bathroom or you’ll be too stuffed to eat.
4. Alternate booze with water and you’ll drink less and be more hydrated. Who wants to be hungover anyway?!?! Plan to be the DD.  If people at your party bust on you for not drinking and therefore not being the life of the party, tell them you have a 5am date with your trainer the next day because you are on a mission to live longer for your family’s sake! Doh!
5. Eat before you go to your party. One, there won’t be any surprises on your own menu. Two, you’ll be less inclined to eat at the party as you won’t be as hungry.
6. Find someone at your gym or a friend that wants to stay accountable with you. The more the merrier applies to being healthy just as much as it does to accepting a drinking buddy’s offer to pop open that bottle!
7. Eat extra veggies!  Really!  Is that going to help?  Yep!  Veggies fill you up with extra fiber and are filled with antioxidants which will help keep your weight in check.

If you do fall off the wagon, don’t fret. Take one day at a time. At a minimum, get your workouts in as this will help with stress and burn some calories. Also, if you’re consistently building muscle, you’ll be burning more calories while you’re at that party!

The worst thing you can do, is completely give up. It far tougher to get back into a good habit once you’ve let that habit slip away. Stay consistent with your workouts and at least you have a fighting chance come January 2^nd of finding your way back to good health!  Give it a couple of weeks and you should be back on track!