Previously when I would “try and eat well” it would always be destroyed over the holidays.
So this year I decided to think about this in advance and solve it…and it worked beautifully!
There was a Zoroastrian Congress in Houston over the holidays where all my friends and family would be. It took place at a hotel, which ensured I’d be eating out all the time and have plenty of chances and excuses to eat like crap.
It’s easy to think, “It’s the holiday, I’ll just indulge a little”….but I KNOW the end result is being sluggish, feeling fatter and finding it hard to wake up etc…
So for the weeks prior to the holiday I began tracking my meals like I did during the 6-pack experiment. I didn’t necessarily give up ANYTHING…I simply ate good, not bad.
I made an old piece of cardboard into a “tracking chart” starting two weeks before Christmas. Everyday I was to write down everything I ate on a little sheet of paper (which I carry in my pocket), then post it on the board at night:
In around two weeks the chart was full:
I actually filled up BOTH sides of the cardboard, for 20 full days of tracking:
It’s amazing how just being conscious of how much you’ve eaten for the day keeps you on track.
Here were some of my eating habits during my hotel stay:
- I’d keep fruit in my room, or eat it wherever I could (I stole a bunch from the gym at the hotel).
- I’d get the vegetarian meals at hotel-catered events because they would generally have more veggies..not just a big piece of meat and little else.
- Tea or water instead of sodas.
- I still drank alcohol, but would account for it and compensate by eating fewer calories earlier.
- Worked out on a normal schedule.
- I wouldn’t “skip” dessert…but rather I’d “pass up foods that don’t add nutrition”.
Since I was eating so well, the tightly packed schedule during the holidays was much easier. I could wake up easier, recover from drinking much quicker, and just in general feel good instead of weighed down….all by simply writing down what I ate!