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The holidays can be one of the most meaningful and most challenging times of the year. Your routine shifts, your schedule expands, stress increases, and food and alcohol show up everywhere. Many people spend November and December bouncing between two extremes:
white-knuckling through rigid rules or throwing their hands up and giving up completely.
Neither approach supports your long-term progress.
At Central Athlete, we believe in something different, an “always something” approach rooted in self-awareness, personalization, and resilience. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s staying grounded and intentional, even when life is full and unpredictable.
Below is your guide to navigating the holidays in a way that supports your health, honors your goals, and still leaves room for joy.
1. Control the Controllables and Let Go of What You Can’t
The holidays bring more variables than usual: travel, last-minute plans, hosting obligations, social events, unfamiliar meals, and disrupted sleep. Some things will be out of your control, no matter how hard you try.
Trying to control everything creates more stress, and ironically, the stress is often more harmful than the food, the missed workout, or the disrupted routine.
This season, practice the skill of:
Your mindset is the anchor that keeps you steady.
2. Establish Your Minimums, Your Holiday Non-Negotiables
Your “minimums” are the smallest, most realistic behaviors you can commit to, no matter what, during high-stress or high-disruption seasons or, as Coach Justin says, “what you can maintain during your worst possible day”. These vary dramatically per person and should be tailored to your lifestyle, barriers, travel schedule, and stress load.
Examples of effective holiday minimums:
In other words: what’s the lowest level of effort that still moves you forward?
A Central Athlete coach can help you determine your true minimums, not what you wish you could do, but what you can actually execute in real life.
3. Collaborate With a Professional to Build a Holiday Game Plan
Most people go into the holidays with one of two plans:
no plan at all or an unrealistic one.
Working with a coach gives you structure without rigidity. Together, you can develop a personalized strategy that includes:
A collaborative plan is powerful because it’s yours, not a template or someone else telling you what you should do. It comes from you and supports consistency without stripping away the joy and connection that make the holidays meaningful.
4. If You “Fall Off” Return to Your Minimums, Not Your Shame
Here’s the truth:
You will overeat at some point.
You will skip a workout.
You will have late nights, missed meals, and curveballs.
That’s normal.
The people who maintain long-term progress aren’t the ones who stay perfect; they’re the ones who adapt and course-correct quickly.
If you derail, don’t spiral.
Don’t compensate.
Don’t punish yourself.
Simply return to your minimums.
They are designed to bring you back home.
5. Support Your Body With Strategic Nutrition
You don’t need to avoid holiday foods; you just need to approach them with intention.
Here are a few evidence-based strategies:
This slows glucose absorption, reduces blood sugar spikes, and helps you stay energized and satiated.
Examples:
Post-meal walking is one of the most powerful tools for:
Bring the family. Take the dog. Walk around the block.
Small efforts compound.
6. Hydrate and Mineralize
Holiday foods, alcohol, travel, and stress all increase your physiological water and electrolyte needs.
Aim for:
Proper hydration supports digestion, blood sugar, sleep, and cravings.
7. Manage Stress: Your Hidden Holiday Multiplier
When stress is high, your resilience is low.
This impacts:
Use simple, accessible practices:
Stress makes everything harder. Managing it makes everything easier.
8. Lean Into our Vitality Guidelines: The Core Pillars for Life and Holiday Resilience
At Central Athlete, the VG's (Vitality Guidelines) are the foundation of long-term health and consistency. During the holidays, they matter even more but the groundwork is build throughout the year.
The VG's include:
Why they matter during the holidays:
The more resilient your system is, the better you handle:
The guidlines don’t need to be perfect.
They just need to exist to some capacity based on your circumstances.
9. Enjoy the Holidays Fully, Without Losing Yourself
This season is meant to be enjoyed.
You can savor the moments, the meals, and the memories while still honoring your goals.
The key is not perfection.
It’s awareness.
It’s the ability to adjust without unraveling.
It’s recognizing that progress is a spectrum, not an on/off switch.
You don’t need to “survive” the holidays.
You need a plan that supports the life you want, one with health, joy, resilience, and freedom.
Final Thought
Staying consistent during the holidays isn’t about discipline; it’s about strategy and support.
When you understand your minimums, control what you can, release what you can’t, manage stress, nourish your body, and lean into the BLGs, you create a life where your health doesn’t fall apart when life gets busy…
It adapts.
It flexes.
It continues.
If you want support building your personalized holiday plan, a Central Athlete coach can help you create a strategy that keeps you aligned without sacrificing the season’s joy.
Because your goals matter, and so does your life.
We have 4 spots left before the end of the year. Claim yours today by starting with a complimentary strategy session to learn how Central Athlete will support you and your goals. We use a collaborative, holistic approach to remove roadblocks and provide support during both the simple and chaotic times in life.
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