Fitness Notes: Thanksgiving and Christmas

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And you need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul Podcast.

You know, when it comes to fitness and the holidays, a lot of people look at Thanksgiving and Christmas with a lot of fear. Why? Well, it's because it's almost like a mandatory celebration time. We are coerced into eating these massive meals full of turkey and roast beef, and mashed potatoes, and candied yams, and big slices of pumpkin pie, and bread, and all of these other things. And for a lot of people that creates a lot of, I wouldn't call it stress, but but maybe anxiety around sitting down for that meal.

Because they're putting their work in, trying to get in shape, and then the holidays come, and they feel like they have to eat this stuff. What I want to talk to you about today is why you shouldn't worry about it. Why you should be able to enjoy your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. Why you should be able to sit down and enjoy your family and not have that anxiety. I'm going give you some strategies for being able to do that.

First, before we get into that conversation, I just want to tell you, this is the Warrior Soul Podcast. My name is Chris Albert, And the reason why I started this podcast is because over the past decade and a half of war, The US military veteran community has faced really high rates of suicide, really high rates of depression, and really high rates of chronic disease. And there's a lot of people out there who are trying to raise awareness around these issues and I think that's awesome, but I don't want to just raise awareness here, I want to deliver real solutions. So when you come to this show, you're going to hear me interviewing some amazing experts who who have some knowledge that they've gained over their lives that could help you. You're going to hear on Wednesdays our fitness tips episodes, and this is where I teach you how to take care of your body so that you can take care of your mind and live your best life and get everything you can out of this life.

And on Fridays, I publish our Warrior Notes episodes, and these episodes get into mindset and all the weapons that you need to develop in your mind to live the best life that you can. And for each episode, I just wanna give you an actionable tool, something you can apply to your life to make it better right now. I don't ask for anything in return for this. All I ask for is that you spread the word, that you tell other people about the show, that you write us a review up on iTunes that helps so much to spread the word, not just putting the five stars up there, but but actually writing a written review for us lets people know exactly who we are, what we do, and how we can help them. If you're not a veteran, please stick around because, obviously, anything I talk about here that can help you to live a better life could also apply to you, whether or not you served in the military.

And you're all welcome here. The other thing I wanna let you know is that this podcast would not be possible without our amazing sponsors at F Bomb Nutrition. They make awesome delicious packets of fats. They are known for their macadamia nut butters. They mix them up with chocolate, they mix them up with sea salt, they mix them up with pecan butter, and they're absolutely delicious.

So definitely check them out. Head over to www.dropanfbomb.com and use the code Warrior Soul at checkout to get yourself 20% off of your first order. Now, back to the subject at hand. Dealing with your diet over the holidays, over Thanksgiving, over Christmas, during a time period where, you know, drinking and being merry being merry is is probably, you know, a mandatory event in your family. Now, here's the thing guys, which have to understand about times like this is that they are doable.

Right? They are doable. And it's not written in stone that you're gonna gain five to 20 pounds over the holidays. And it's also not written in stone that you can't enjoy these holiday meals and still remain in shape and not sacrifice the hard work that you're putting into your body. But what does it come down to?

It comes down to discipline. It comes down to making sure that you are consistent with your diet on every other day, your diet and your training. Right? So whenever I go into the holidays, whenever I go into Thanksgiving, whenever I go into Christmas, I'm not worried about it. The reason why I'm not worried about it is because I've been consistent the whole way up to that point.

I've stuck by my diet. I've got my training in. I am eating like I should be on a day to day basis. And the thing is, I think a lot of people get a lot of anxiety around this because we overly weight these meals in in their ability to to pack weight on us. Right?

So we overly weight the impact that they have on us. But the reality is that, you know, a single meal isn't gonna have that much impact. A single meal isn't going to keep you from your goal. In fact, it actually could help you towards your goal if you're doing it properly. So what is the strategy that I use when I'm going into the holidays when I know I would be sitting down for a big meal on Thanksgiving or on Christmas?

Well, for the whole month of November and December, I make it a point to be as disciplined as possible with my diet and with my training. I'm not skipping workouts. I'm making sure I'm getting into the gym. I'm making sure I'm hitting the weights. I'm making sure I'm getting my HIIT training and my cardio done.

With my diet, you know, I particularly follow an intermittent fasting protocol along with kind of a targeted ketogenic diet where I'll eat my carbs after I've trained in the day, but my day to day diet during this time period is pretty low carb throughout the day. I'll eat, you know, a serving of eggs in the morning, and then I'll generally have a salad with some protein in the afternoon with my lunch. And then, you know, a snack might be some some Greek yogurt or some French yogurt or something like that, or I might have some beef jerky as a snack, or I might have a can of tuna or or some some sardines. And then at night, what I'll do is I'll have meat, vegetables, and a serving of carbohydrates. Now, generally, for my dinners, I cook them in an instant pot.

And if you have an instant pot or a crock pot, you can make this really easy. Right? So the instant pot and the crock pot, they both kind of create a situation where you can create a delicious meal, and it's really set it or forget it, particularly with a crock pot. I love the instant pot because it's faster to can cook a full meal in generally under an hour, but but with a crock pot, it's as simple as sticking some meat, some bone broth, some spices, and some vegetables into a pot, setting it, let it sit there for about eight hours, and then at the end of it, you've got a really tender and delicious meal. The reason why I'm telling you this is because you can find these recipes so easily over Google.

Anything you're looking for, if you're looking to make tri tip, if you're looking to make a roast, if you're looking to make some some delicious chicken, most of the comfort food that you guys seek, it's out there and it's out there in a healthy version, and you can find it simply by googling it. Right? There's a lot of people sell these cookbooks and all this stuff, but most of that stuff's out there for free. So, you know, that that's a general daily routine that I use, particularly when I'm going very strict, you know, some protein and vegetables in the morning with the eggs, and then some some protein and vegetables in the afternoon with maybe some chicken or some steak with a salad, and then in the evening, having a full meal with protein, vegetables, and some carbohydrates. The carbohydrates I generally consume, I go for gluten free carbohydrates like white rice or potatoes, but some of you might not be gluten intolerant and you can go for what you want.

Now, when it comes to the days before Thanksgiving or Christmas, when I know I'm going to have a really big meal, what I'll do is this. I will fast starting at 8PM the night before. So I'll generally have my last meal sometime around six or seven, and then I'll stop eating around eight. From that time period, the next morning, I'll wake up, I'll consume my water, I'll go, and I'll get a really good workout in. Generally, what I try to do on these days is I'll try to get a good leg workout in because it's total body.

It's gonna use a lot of energy, and it's gonna burn off a lot of glycogen. So I'll get a really good leg workout in, and then I'll do a little bit of HIIT training. Now, HIIT training might involve me pushing a sled. It might involve me doing a bunch of burpees mixed in with some kettlebell training or something like that, but generally, it's going to be something with a lot of activity and getting my heart rate up really, really high in short bursts. Alright?

And again, the reason there is to use a bunch of that energy to use up to burn off a bunch of glycogen and to get me to the point where I am going to be able to sustain a very large meal later on. And I'll continue to fast for a few hours after the workout. So generally, I'll get that workout in around ten or eleven. Now, some of you might not be around gyms where they're they're gonna be open on Thanksgiving. I'm lucky enough to have one in my town that is.

But if you aren't if you don't have a gym that's gonna be open on Thanksgiving, what you can do is you can get a couple of dumbbells or a kettlebell. You could do a bunch of squats with those dumbbells or that kettlebell. You do lunges. You do some Romanian deadlifts. You do some kettlebell swings, and then you can get into a really good HIIT training workout.

Now that might involve, like I said, burpees, it might involve doing some thrusters and burpees, but any combination of exercises that you could do at lightweight, but at maximum intensity for short bursts, that's going to get your heart rate up really, really fast for different intervals. That is what you're looking for. Now, after the workout, I'll fast for a couple more hours. Generally, I'm the chef in the house, so I'm cooking for a little bit after that. I I don't do the turkey.

My brother-in-law does the turkey, but I am generally responsible for cooking the vegetables or doing the potatoes or something like that. So I'll spend my time doing some cooking, and then a couple hours later later, we're ready to eat. And when I sit down to eat, I'm really hungry, and I'm able to enjoy whatever I want to. So I'll have one or two servings of all the food, and then I'll have a slice of pumpkin pie, and I'll enjoy myself. Now, the most important part of this is what happens the next day.

The next day, what am I doing? I'm going right back to my routine. Right? So waking up, I am having some eggs. And then that afternoon, I'm having a little bit of vegetables.

Maybe I'll have some of that leftover turkey or that leftover roast that was there from the night before. Get some good protein in. I'll go for a workout, and then dinner time again back to the strict dinner that I'm used to. Alright? The most important thing to understand about this is that consistency trumps everything else.

If you are consistent, if you are disciplined, then you can enjoy yourself. You can have the holiday that you want. You can have the holiday meals that you want. Unless you're a pro athlete and you've got a fight or you've got a bodybuilding show or something like that. In that case, it's gonna be a little bit of a different story.

But even then, if you're super disciplined, you can enjoy yourself a little bit. That's what I got for this week, guys. I want to wish you all a very, very happy Thanksgiving. I want to wish you all amazing times with your family. And, you know, if you've got any questions about this, you can hit me up.

We've got the Warrior Soul Fitness Academy private Facebook group. It's open for you. You don't have to buy anything to get in there. We're here to help you out, help you with your workouts, to answer your questions, and you can get on there, And I will be answering questions all this week about Thanksgiving, about the holidays, about fitness for anybody on that group. So thanks again for listening, guys.

This is the Warrior Soul podcast. I am Chris Albert, and I will be back at you on Friday with an episode of Warrior Notes.