Do you want to start 2022 feeling your best?

Navigating the holiday season while trying to maintain or even improve your fitness and physique is a challenge.

There are all of the social events with drinks, appetizers, desserts...

and then the *actual* holidays where there are plenty of celebratory foods that are important to enjoy for lots of reasons! Whether they're emotionally significant or you just really enjoy the food and want to have it!

Point being - the holidays can be a tough time to try and stay committed to workouts and eating well.

And, if you're the type of person who waits for the holidays to come around all year because it's a time when you can happily throw in the towel and think "well, now there's no point in even trying! Better just wait until January!" I have got some news for you - you have SO MUCH more power than you think.

And what if I told you that the real secret to being able to enjoy your special fun foods without guilt and without feeling so low energy, bloated, and puffy on January 1st that you're DYING for a "detox" is enjoying your food all year round.

Saaaaay what?!?!

Yep. The holidays shine a light on our relationship with food and exercise BIG TIME. If we use food as a reward or restrict foods we love in our day to day life you can bet we are going to take this time as an excuse to REALLY enjoying them.

If we use exercise as a way to always have to "earn" our food or exercise as a punishment for overeating you can bet that card is getting pulled from the deck this month!

And if we are used to associating these unhealthy behaviors with our own morality or worthiness then DAMN. It's no wonder January 1st rolls around every year and we feel HEAVY with guilt, shame, and a sense of hopelessness.

So how about we chat about a better place to start your new year from. A glorious place. A place of freedom and control. A place called "MAINTENANCE".

Maintenance is the fitness and nutrition goal of maintaining your current weight, typically while still gaining some strength or general fitness. Maintenance is the missing link to 99.9% of diets out there because maintenance is where you learn to KEEP WHAT YOU'VE GOT!

What if the goal this holiday season wasn't to lose weight or lean out and instead was just to make sure that you wake up on January 1st feeling good, having enjoyed the holiday season and knowing you are at least as healthy and fit as you are right now as you read this email?

Not too shabby of a proposition, if you ask me.

How does maintenance work?

Well, if weight loss is the result of a calorie deficit (taking in less than you burn) then maintenance is about eating and burning roughly the same amount of calories each day (or week). Think of this like goldilocks - not too much, not too little but juuuuuust right.

In maintenance you'll find your energy levels improve because you are eating more calories. Your body is well fueled for tough workouts, which means you might get more out of all that sweat equity you're putting in.

You'll recover better from those workouts too! Which means you're going to see more muscle definition as your body is able to recover and build.

All while adding a few hundred calories to your day to "spend" on special holiday treats.

Your mood will be better because you don't have to choose between guilt for eating the holiday treat or resentment for restricting said treat.

You might even find that you just generally enjoy the season more because you have available headspace to dedicate to all the other things going on!

So let's recap the benefits... higher energy, more productive workouts, better recovery, enjoying more delicious foods, improved mood, and increased general enjoyment.

SIGN. ME. UP.

And perhaps the best part? Not only do you start January feeling really good but you can now go back to creating a calorie deficit if that's what you want to do and you'll be properly prepared both physiologically and mentally to do so!

How to create your maintenance phase

Know your current calorie intake while trying to lose weight and creating a deficit. Whether this be in actual macros/ calories or hand portions the key is knowing what your deficit number is. (If you don't know this, that's exactly why it's a good idea to work with a coach like myself who can help you determine these numbers so you know what you need for your body.)
Add some calories! Typically it is a good idea to start with an additional 10% increase in calories, which will often fall between 150 - 200 calories daily. These should come primarily from carbohydrates and fat. I often recommend that my clients keep their protein intake constant, focus on adding mostly carbs, and maybe just a little fat - but this can be very individual and should fit your taste preferences.
Keep tabs on the situation. It's common to see the scale go up a bit when first starting on a maintenance phase, but it should go back down. The only way to know what's happening is to weigh yourself frequently (daily, if you can detach emotionally from it, which is something we should all strive for, honestly) and then take a weekly average or rolling average. I also recommend having pictures and circumference measurements since the scale rarely gives us the full picture.
Adjust based on your data. If your weight or body measurements are staying the same you can increase calories by another 10%, rinse and repeat until you feel you are seeing negative progress and gaining weight. If you go too far that's cool because you can just decrease by that same 10% and get right back to where you were.
Boom! That's it! Enjoy maintenance and all the awesome benefits it has to offer!

TIP: When making this change it's important to keep your exercise level consistent. If you suddenly decrease exercise or activity levels AND add calories, you're more likely to see weight gain because you will be adding calories in while decreasing calories out, which could lead to a calorie surplus (weight gain). Use those added calories to fuel your workouts and see how you thrive!

I want you to consider how you would feel if you start consciously adding 200 or even 400 calories per day to your food intake and DIDN'T GAIN WEIGHT. If you're like me you would be pumped to enjoy more food - but you'd also have a much higher intake to start from the next time you try to lose weight and create a deficit.

So what's my big point here?

I want you to ENJOY this holiday season without any guilt or shame surrounding your food choices.

I want you to move your body in a way that feels good and not get stuck in the low-energy, sugar-coma, "I'll workout again tomorrow"-which-then-becomes-January rut.

And I want you to do all of this while actually making progress towards your goals by simply not losing any progress in this tough time of year.

I'm rooting for you! Happy Everything!

Ash