Holiday Tips from “Train With Delaine Meets Chat With Kat”


My friend and colleague Kathryn Manigross asked me to do this interview the week before Thanksgiving. In this video, we talk about fitness in the holidays and how to get started. The big takeaways are as follows:

1. Get started, no matter WHERE you’re starting from  
I hear people all the time say, “Let me get in shape and then I can train withyou.” If that is the mentality it will never happen. Someone can’t just wait to get in shape. Something has to be DONE to get in shape. Fitness is a journey. It’s a lifestyle and it might take some time to get where you want to be. Then it takes effort to stay where you want to be, but I promise it will be worth it. The key is to enjoy the journey.

2. Show Up
The biggest battle in an exercise program is showing up. Once you get there, you’ll more than likely get into it and enjoy your time there. Then when it’s over you’ll REALLY be glad you did it. But show up and the hardest part really is done. In the interview, we discuss how athletes have off seasons. You can treat the holidays as your off season, but still show up. It’s easy to say “I’ll just wait until January.”  But show up and do something lighter or incorporate more play or “active rest” into your training. But show up. Staying in the habit will make your “Hit it hard!” New Year’s Resolutions so much easier to keep.

3. It’s Not About Deprivation but Pick Your Battles
The holidays are a time we can spend with those most important to us and there are aspects of kinship that involve certain foods. Is Aunt Teri’s carrot cake “worth it?” Yes. I had a piece for dinner Thanksgiving night and a piece for breakfast the next morning. You know those foods that you build up in your mind to be so good and then when you have it it’s a big disappointment? Yeah… Aunt Teri’s cake is NOT like that. 🙂 But what I didn’t have was macaroni and cheese or a biscuit. If macaroni and cheese and biscuits are important to you, eat them…but skip the stale leftovers in the break room next week.

And for those of you who haven’t picked it up yet, here is the 5 day workbook I mention in the interview that you can use as a no brainer for the holiday season. You can also check out more from Kathryn on Facebook.

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