Podcast Transcription: 7 Strategies to Survive the Holiday Season Without Gaining Weight

Ted Ryce: Most people gain weight during the holidays and guess what? They don't take it back off despite best efforts, despite new year's resolutions, most people gain weight and don't take it off. So One of the issues that I've found in 25 plus years of coaching is that people need a better plan going into the holidays. 

And that is exactly what today's episode is about. So if that's what you're interested in, you're in the right place. What is up my friend, welcome back to the legendary life podcast. I'm your host, Ted Rice, health expert and coach to executives and entrepreneurs. So, we're going to dive into. These seven strategies to survive the holidays. 

And what I want to tell you is, again, look at the data. The data is that most people, even around the world, now the holidays in the United States are at the end of the year, as in most Western English speaking countries. But even if you look at Japan, it's during the holidays where People put on weight and don't take it back off. 

And this happens year after year and leads to much of the weight gain that people experience. And again, I've been coaching clients for over 25 years now, and I can tell you, You need a solid strategy. So let's dive right in. Number one is know your numbers. So here's the thing that I see with high performers, executives, they have a story about how they're doing with their health. 

For example, I had one client who was telling me, yeah, you know, I'm pretty stocky, but I have big bones and also I lift weights a lot. So I'm not that fat. I have a lot of muscle and my bones are big. I said, cool, get a DEXA scan. And after he did that, we saw that. He was obese. By the way, there's no such thing as like big bones. 

That's not really a thing. Obviously, some people have different bone sizes, but if you think that you can't see your abdominals because of your bone size or because you're stocky, You're mistaken. It's because you have too much body fat on your frame. You don't have to be ripped by the way. And that's not what I mean. 

But if you can't see any outline of any of your oblique muscles or abdominal muscles, then you need to lose some fat. If you care about your health, if you want to optimize your health, right? If that's important to you, fat loss, So knowing your numbers is a good way to motivate yourself. Because again, going back to those excuses that we say, well, I feel, I feel okay. 

I feel pretty good. My health is pretty good. My doctor said my blood work is okay. Well, guess what? Your doctor is looking. For diabetes, your doctor is looking for fatty liver, your dog, like over signals that you need to do something about your health. And there's a reason they call heart disease, the silent killer. 

A lot of people find out that they have heart disease because they have a heart attack. Okay. So don't be one of those people. And the other thing is this, a lot of people have a story about like, oh, I don't really have a problem. I'm, I'm pretty okay. Gosh. I remember one guy he was telling me he was, he was like, yeah, I'm pretty healthy. 

I mean, my cholesterol is high and I got to take a medication for that. And my blood pressure's high and you know, I've got a belly. I'm like, dude, your health is in the gutter. He was so out of touch. His health was in the gutter. If you've got a big belly because of how much you eat, how much you drink, your health is in the gutter. 

It is not. You're you're a ticking time bomb ready to explode and explosion. In this case, it's going to be a heart attack. It's going to be a diet, diabetes diagnosis, and it's already messing up your health. You're just not aware. It's already messing up probably even your mood and I'm not talking about The feelings you have when you see yourself in the mirror, which are totally different. 

We know that visceral fat, in other words, the fat around your midsection that accumulates in your organs, it starts to influence inflammation in the body, including the brain. And people, for example, with fatty liver have higher rates of preclinical anxiety and depression, as well as clinically diagnosed. 

Depression and anxiety. So get your numbers done, get a health checkup. Now they can serve as a wake up call to motivate action. So if you think, ah, no, Ted, I don't, I don't believe you, man. Yeah. You know, you're, you're really exaggerating this stuff. Cool. Prove me wrong. Go get a DEXA scan, go get blood work and prove it to yourself. 

Right? The second thing is prioritize exercise. So there's a good chance that nutrition is just going to be out of your hands to some degree. Holiday parties, family gatherings, mom's Thanksgiving dinner. We'll talk about nutrition in a minute, but I want you to focus on exercise because that's the thing that you're going to have the most control around. 

The travel, it's going to make it difficult to eat how you normally do. The social situation is going to make it difficult. There's going to be pressure to drink more, to eat more. And when I say pressure, a lot of people show love by giving you food. And by the way, I've lived all over the world. If you don't know my story, I've been traveling for the past six years. 

I've lived in Southeast Asia, in Thailand, Bali, Vietnam. I've lived in South America, Brazil, Columbia, Argentina. I've lived in Mexico. I've lived in Europe, in Portugal. I've traveled a lot. And those are the places I live, not the places I traveled. People all over the world show love, show connection, show care through food. 

And that's okay. So just understand it's going to be a little bit difficult because you don't want to ruin your relationships because you're trying to eat healthy. You don't want to strain or stress your relationships. You want to be able to be in the moment. You want to be able to, you want to be able to communicate, be on the same level. 

You don't want disconnection to happen because you're bringing your Tupperware of. Chicken breast and broccoli. That's the opposite of what you want to do because in the biopsychosocial model of health, or let's call it deep health, what is deep health? It goes beyond how much exercise you do, how many super foods you eat, how clean you eat, all those things. 

It, it, it, it encompasses both your psychological health and also the health of your relationships. Wouldn't you agree that the health of your relationships affects your health? So having healthy relationships, it's going to help you be more healthy. Okay. It's going to help de stress because we're social animals. 

We're wired for that. And that's why I say prioritize exercise because. The challenges of navigating the social situations for most people are going to be hard. We'll talk about again, a nutrition in a second, but what I want you to do is emphasize exercise. And when I say that, I mean, a combination of lifting weights or we'll call it resistance training because you don't need to lift dumbbells and barbells. 

You can lift your body weight. You can use bands, you can use kettlebells. But any type of resistance training and also the other thing I would say is that these are the two easiest things. For example, our clients, I give them travel workouts that are 15 minutes long, 15, 20 minutes long. They use equipment that you can travel with like bands and also body weight exercises. 

And then the other thing I would say is maintain a high step count. Look for opportunities to walk. For example, if you're that type of person, when you're going shopping last, doing a little last minute shopping, uh, for the holidays, either for food, because someone forgot something for the Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner, don't park, don't drive around for 15 minutes, trying to find the parking space. 

That's closest to. The place that you're going to, to the supermarket park far away and get steps in. Another thing is another thing is look for opportunities. If you're an apartment building, look for opportunities to get steps in. For example, I'm on the first floor. I'm here in Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

So, um, I don't have a, uh, it's, it's not the most, the best situation to get steps, but I, I was living on the, I think it was the maybe 10th floor. Actually, you know what? I think it was a 15th floor back in Sao Paolo. And I would walk up the steps, not all the time, but I would frequently walk up the steps and that's something that can change the game for you. 

In fact, it's underrated what getting a high step count can do for fat loss. So that's what I would tell you. Track your step count, look for opportunities to raise it. And then on the days that you can do some form of resistance training, go to the gym, do a home workout, do what you can now. If you want to take things up a notch in between resistance training sessions, you can also do some high intensity interval training. 

And I want to be clear, I'm not talking about burpees and squats and the body weight, high intensity interval training that people say that that's not really interval training, or it is interval training, but it's not usually high intensity interval training. So, What I'm talking about is getting on a piece of cardio equipment, doing running, that type of thing. 

So, you can do high intensity interval training. For example, you can do 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off, and you can do, let's say, 13 of those. Right? Take about 10 minutes. That's an example of high intensity interval training routine that you can do, but only do those if you already know, like your joints are healthy because hit training puts more stress on your joints and also cardiovascularly, you're already in decent shape. 

So number three is set boundaries. A common complaint I hear is that people don't have the time to work out or eat right. This might be true. If you're a single mom working two jobs to make ends meet, but if you're an entrepreneur or an executive, that's a bullshit excuse. It's a bullshit excuse. Okay. Now for all the single moms out there working two jobs, I get it. 

Okay. I don't know how anyone can do that. Right. I'm tired right now. And it's like noon and I'm just kidding. Okay. But the point is, if you're running a business, if you're working as an executive in a business, your boundaries suck. Right? I remember I had one client. She would just be on these back to back to back meetings. 

And I was one of them. And I said, do you need to pee? She's like, yes. I'm like, go use the bathroom. This is the psycho crazy approach to meetings and productivity. That is ubiquitous. And American corporate culture. So don't be part of that set boundaries and definitely make time to go to the bathroom. 

Gosh, can't believe how ridiculous that is that people do that. Of course, if you don't even have time to use the bathroom, you're not going to have time to, um, to work out. Okay. So again, that's not an issue of actual time. That is a boundary issue, right? We're not robots. We're not AI. I forget what the Tesla robots call, but we're not that you need to make time. 

You need to find time. Nobody's going to make it for you. And everybody else is having the same issue usually. So you've got to find time and set boundaries around it. Another thing I want to say about boundaries is. Setting boundaries with people that you're with. For example, we had a conversation on my group coaching call the other day. 

It's like set boundaries with people. One of my clients, uh, who's just lost 20 pounds, he said, well, I don't like bringing up, you know, boundary conversations in the middle of a party. So what I do is stealth drinking. And what he meant by that was he'll get maybe one drink just to participate in the festivities. 

But then after that, he'll ask for club soda and lime. So it looks like he's having a vodka soda, but in reality, he's just drinking water and it looks like he's drinking. Because people do put pressure on other people. Oh, have another of this. Have another of that. Oh, come on. Have another drink. Come on. So find a way to put boundaries or come up with strategies like my client Chad, where you're going to be able to address those issues instead of caving into peer pressure. 

And some of us cave in because we don't want to disrupt the relationships that we have. And that's Coming from a good place, but ultimately you're going to pay the price with your health. So critically assess your schedule and assess where social pressure is coming from. Assess your schedule and block off dedicated time for workouts and treat them as non negotiable appointments and If you're in the habit, by the way, of rescheduling workout times to fit in work meetings, this is exactly your issue. 

And by the way, diets don't fix that, do they? That's why coaching is so powerful. We look at what's really going on and we come up with strategies to deal with it, and we don't make excuses. Cause it's okay if you want to reschedule your workouts for business, but then just say the truth and say, you know what, I don't feel comfortable doing this or I'm not prioritizing my health. 

You know, be honest about it because a lot of that is a lot of this is just developing the awareness. And then being honest with ourselves about our behavior. Number four, now we can talk about managing nutrition wisely. So what I want to tell you is forget about clean eating or bringing Tupperware meals to the family gatherings instead. 

Yes. Participate. However, what you're going to do is you're going to use whatever tactics you can to keep calories in check. Yes. Calories regardless of whoever says anything different than this are the most important thing. No, dad, no. And I just want to go off on a tangent here because I believe it's important. 

If you eat six apples, apples are a hundred, let's say 120 calories each, but it's a piece of fruit. The thing is that's 720 calories. Oh, but it's, but it's fruit and fruit is healthy. Yeah. But it's a hundred, 720 calories. Oh, but I had a naked juice green machine and it's like all vegetables and fruit juice. 

Yeah. And it's 270 calories. Okay. So becoming aware of how many calories you're eating is the key and more and to get a result. Also being aware of strategies or using strategies to lower the calories. Is what you want to do. So that's why clean eating doesn't work because if you're having, and that's why look at some vegans, right? 

Some of them have a really clean diet. You could argue some of them don't for sure, because what is it? Uh, potato chips are vegan, right? But we're talking about the ones who don't do that and they end up overweight. Well, how do you do that? Well, easy, too many calories. So you can eat too many calories from conceivably any food. 

Some foods are harder to overeat. For example, vegetables. I used a, uh, example that someone didn't like. I said, if you eat too many calories of broccoli, you're going to get fat. And people, and this one particular guy who went on to listen to my podcast and lose a ton of weight, by the way, shout out to you, Steve, if you're still listening, don't know if you are, but he didn't like that example. 

And I understand because that's not a real example. Nobody is getting fat from eating too much broccoli. But what I will say is people are getting fat from eating ribeye steaks. And look at, look at the low carb group. Look at the keto group or the carnivore group. Yes, a lot of people lose weight, but if you get into their Facebook groups, just join one of just Google carnivore on Facebook. 

You'll see a lot of people arguing, by the way, about why they're not losing weight. And why they have other health issues and all sorts of other things that you'll read, but that never makes it to social media. You got to go into the groups and you'll see a lot of people struggle to lose weight. Why? 

Because it has to do with calories. There is no, Oh, well, if you just eat steak and butter and bacon, you're going to lose weight. Yeah. If you're over, if you're obese, if you're 30 percent body fat and you start doing that because you're going to be what cutting calories. But once you get to a certain point, uh, you're going to have to be a little smarter. 

You're going to have to, but you're going to have to get into the calories some way. So tangent over, so focus on calorie intake rather than attempting to eat clean. And the second thing is people hate the calorie thing because it's so abstract and people argue with me all the time. However, it is the mechanism that you have to be aware of. 

And also the, the, just the concept. That is actionable, right? So the other thing is how it plays out, though, is because what most people do. Well, okay, so calories. So I'm going to eat fewer calories. So instead of eating like a normal plate of food, I'm going to eat half of plate or instead of having a dessert, I'm going to just have two bites of a dessert. 

And what ends up happening is what you eat less food, And then you end up hungry. That's what happens. That's not what I mean when I say cut calories. And that's why we don't say eat less food because sometimes, for example, you can eat more food and have lower calories. I just had boiled chicken and spinach. 

Less than 300 calories, or I could have a chocolate bar, which is 500 calories. I'm full right now. But when I was in Lisbon recently, they have that Milka brand of chocolate. I had a chocolate bar actually wasn't even that good, but I ate it anyway. It was like 500 calories. I'm like, Oh my gosh, 500 calories. 

And it did nothing for my satiety. So certainly the food choices do matter. But they matter because it's easy to overeat calories when you're choosing foods that don't help with satiety. For example, a chocolate bar and they're high in calories, so calories are king for fat loss. I'm going to say it again. 

Calories are king for fat loss. However, finding some strategies with filling foods can help you to reduce overeating. For example, what I just ate. Chicken breast, egg whites is another good one. 0 percent fat Greek yogurt, another good one. So what you want to do is some meals. This is what I coach my clients on some meals. 

You're really going to want to indulge in. You're going to want to have a good time and some meals. You're just going to want to do whatever you want. You're going to want to enjoy it. So make sure for the meals that you care about with your family or with your spouse, whatever it is. Yeah. Okay, cool. But think about those other meals that you're going to have and look for opportunities. 

Yes, you can skip a meal. I don't like calling it intermittent fasting because I think you need to fast for at least 24 hours to be called fasting. So you can skip meals. You can also have a low calorie, high satiety meal. That looks like lean protein and vegetables, right? The chicken breast or egg white example. 

Yeah, but it's not delicious. Yeah. It's not supposed to be delicious. If you're in a rush to go do holiday stuff, you just need to shove something in your face so that you're not hungry. So those are the meals where you can capitalize on having low calories so that you can fit in the other calories and gain less weight overall while still enjoying the holiday. 

You can eat your cake, have your cake and eat it too, but you need better strategies. Strategy number five, monitor your weight daily. Many people don't like the scale because they don't feel it reflects their efforts in the gym or their healthy food choices. But you know what it does reflect? Whether you're eating too much, eating too many calories or not. 

I stopped, had to stop myself whether you're eating too many calories or not. So this is key. Weigh yourself daily and you can see, oh, is it, does it spike up? Does it spike down? And, uh, I had a client, I have a, I've got an entrepreneur client. He lives in Austin now. He was traveling and pitching investors in San Francisco and we were having a conversation about how he was doing. 

He's like, well, I'm eating pretty, pretty well. And I said, oh, okay, that's great. And then we had a look at his weight and his weight was trending up. I said, you're, you're, you're not eating well, man. You're gaining weight and certainly, and how, how much have you been lifting weights? Oh, well, you know, not as much as usual. 

Okay. Some of this is going to be water and then the rest is going to be fat. We don't know how much, cause we don't have a DEXA scan, nor do we need one, but we can certainly. We can certainly say here with a high degree of confidence that you're going in the wrong direction. So you're not eating well because eating well has to do with eating the right amount of calories, not just your food choices. 

And once we have that discussion, and once he started tracking his weight and started paying attention to, okay, well, how can I get my weight to go down? Better things started happening. He started losing weight. So daily weigh ins can help monitor trends and make necessary adjustments. Number six is keep expectations realistic. 

Let me tell you something. You're more likely to win the lottery than to crush it with your health goals during the holiday. Now some of you will because holidays for whatever reason, you have a lot of control over what you end up doing. You already have, uh, some, let's say your, your workouts are dialed in. 

You're not going to have a ton of outside influences or you're going over to people's houses who eat pretty healthy too. Thank you. But for the rest of you, you're not going to do well. And in fact, many of my clients who work with me now, I'm an expert. I've been doing this for 25 years. Of course, I'm an expert because to do anything for 25 years and not be amazing at it, you know, you should probably quit. 

So anyway, so I say that not because I'm so amazing, but I put in the time and paid attention, let's say, and continue to evolve even when they're working with me and I give them I guide them and give them personalized solutions. They still have challenges. So we have to change our expectations about what can happen. 

And a good goal is to maintain whatever weight you're at. That's a good goal. And I want to tell you something. There's a great model called the, or concept called the Stockdale paradox. And Stockdale was a pilot who got shot down in Vietnam during the Vietnam war, and he ended up in prison camp in Vietnam, and he was asked, like, how did you make it through that? 

Because he made it through and. He became an inspiration to many other people and people want to know, like, how did you make it through when others didn't? And he said, well, as soon as I got shot down, I knew I was going to be captured. I knew I was going to be in prison and I knew it was going to suck. 

I'm paraphrasing by the way. And he said, but I also knew I was going to make it through. I also had confidence that eventually I was going to make it through. I didn't know when it was going to happen, but I was going to make it through. I just needed to hang in there, but it was going to suck. And then he was asked, well, what happened to the people who didn't make it? 

Was there anything that you saw that was a common trend? And he said, yes, the optimists. The optimist got crushed. Why? And again, I'm paraphrasing. Because they would tell themselves, we're going to be out by Easter, then Easter would come and go. We're going to be out by Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving would come and go. 

We're going to be out by Christmas. Christmas would come and go. And that happened year after year. And it eventually broke them because too many disappointments. They gave up the will to live. Versus Stockdale who just said, you know what? I have no idea, but I need to hang in there because if I can hang in there, I'm going to get out. 

And that's exactly what happened. So balance optimism with realism to maintain your motivation and avoid setting goals that make you feel like a failure demotivate you and cause you to quit and number seven is Consider hiring an expert. You can try to do this on your own, but the reality, most people default to their regular bad habits under normal conditions during the year. 

But during the holidays, the stress and logistical challenges are even higher. Imagine someone who could guide you through the holidays. Who could help you with personalized solutions? For example, well, I don't know what to do at this holiday party. And then we come up with a solution for it. You're going to go, you're going to, you know, have a, you're going to have these low calorie meals for both breakfast and lunch, and you're going to eat what you want during the holiday meal, even have a few drinks. 

We're going to do this workout at your home or at the gym. That's near where you're going to be and you're going to get this many steps in and this is how you're going to do it. Imagine that because what most people will try to do is try to fit their schedule into a predetermined. Nutrition and fitness plan. 

What they really need. What you really need is a tailored strategy that addresses the unique situation that you find yourself in. So seek professional help to achieve your goals effectively. Yes, you can do it. Yes, you can figure it out, but. What ends up happening is it takes too much time. You, the failure stings too much and you end up quitting until you get enough motivation to try again. 

And just repeating that year after year after year. So if that's something you're interested in and you want to talk to me to see if I'm the right coach for you. Go to legendary life program. com slash apply. That's legendary life program. com slash apply. You can book your breakthrough session where we're going to have a call. 

We're going to dive into where you're at right now, what you want to achieve, what you feel is like in the way of you achieving it. And then if it makes sense to talk about working together, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. And by the way, this is not for everyone. Are you an entrepreneur executive or in a high performing career? 

Like an accountant, an attorney, a doctor, those are my clients. So if you're not one of those, this isn't for you. However, if you are a high performer, if you are running a business, If you are a, an executive working in a business and you want to fast track your success and overcome the hurdles that you've been facing probably for years, again, go to legendary live program. 

com slash apply, book a call. Let's talk. And again, I'm not a sales guy. So if it's not a good fit, we can part ways as friends. I'm really only looking for ideal clients. I have a very small business. So, so, uh, you'll be talking to me by the way, and let's have a conversation about it. And if it ends up being the right time, or I'm sorry, the right fit, because there's no such thing as the right time there. 

If it ends up being the right fit, imagine what it would be like to lose weight. Faster than you've ever done before and maintain it and feel great and boost your energy and like what you see in the mirror. That's all possible with the right systems and the right guidance. So that is it. Hope you enjoyed this episode today. 

Hope you're geared up for an amazing holidays and I'll speak to you soon.