Technically, this article applies to any social meal, but it’s Christmas season, so “ho ho ho” and all that.
 
Anyway, if you decided to track calories and macros during the winter holidays, the following would be the most logical strategy to stay on track with nutrition and enjoy some higher-calorie food on Christmas Day:
 

• Aim to hit your calorie target as an average across the week instead of every single day
• Lower your calories leading up to Christmas Day
• Add the calories you “borrowed” from other days onto Christmas Day

 
At least in theory.
 
Given its sensible premise, this used to be my go-to suggestion whenever a client had an upcoming big social meal and was also using calorie-tracking as a tool.

In truth, it still is my go-to in this situation, but I’ve coached people for long enough to realise that it isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” solution for everyone.

In practice, humans aren’t perfectly logical or mathematically perfect creatures.

So, if you’ve tried this strategy before but you keep going over your calories anyway, these are the most common reasons why, with the solutions my clients and I find most effective:

Should you worry about holiday season weight gain?

When it comes to the festive season, the online fitness community seems to be divided into two camps: the Fearmongers and the Relaxers.

The Fearmongers will recommend you diet and exercise your way through Christmas, as if eating Christmas pudding is going to give you the plague or, worse, some weight gain. (Gasp!)

The Relaxers will tell you that it’s only a couple of days a year, so you can relax and have some higher-calorie food without blowing a gasket.

In this article, I’m going to cover some scientific research on weight gain over the winter holidays, its impact on the your fitness goals, and my own perspective, having coached others since 2019.

​Worried about ruining your fat loss progress during the summer holidays?
 
This is the article for you.
 
First of all, being nervous is a good thing:

1. It shows that you really care about the hard work you’ve done so far.
2. It also means that said hard work was actually worth your time, because you got good enough results that you’re committed to keeping them.

 
Second of all, being nervous is completely normal.
 
You’re going away from home, maybe somewhere you’ve never been before.
 
Your routine is going to be all over the place.
 
The healthy habits you’ve carefully crafted for months will need a radical change.
 
It’s OK to feel a little overwhelmed.
 
Fortunately, maintaining your fitness habits is far from impossible… if you treasure the five steps I’ll cover in this article.
 
This approach is based on my recommendations to my own clients, who end up not only maintaining their results like pros, but also having a smashing time. 
 
Let’s get right into Step 1.

As a teenager with a restrictive eating disorder, I used to love and hate the winter holidays: I enjoyed the joyful atmosphere and – most of all – the gifts, but I was also terrified of eating too much and not exercising enough. Sound familiar?
 
In my years of coaching, I’ve helped my clients overcome their own holiday anxiety. With this article, I’m going to give you three methods that can help you do the same:
 

• The “Fucking Relax” Method
• The Non-Negotiables Method 
• The Calorie-Tracking Method

 
Each method is devised to suit one of three of the more common scenarios I’ve come across so far:
 
1. You work super hard on your fitness goals for months and swear to yourself you won’t stray even once over the winter holidays.

However, if you happen to eat a single unplanned mince pie, all hell breaks loose: you panic, think, “Fuck it,” and find yourself losing control over food more often than you’d like to until January.

2. On the other hand, maybe you’re too afraid to eat anything “unplanned”.

As a result, you maintain your physique… but you’re also watching your friends and family drinking wine and eating dessert, wondering why you can’t sit back and relax like everybody else.

3. Maybe you don’t quite experience either of the extremes I’ve just described, but you’ve never had a holiday where you felt confident that you were doing your best to both enjoy the celebrations and continue making progress towards your fitness goals. 
​
I lived Scenario 2 for at least six winters before I realised that it doesn’t have to be this way.
 
You can eat a mince pie or two without overdoing it every single day.
 
You can maintain your physique without restricting your diet to three “healthy” foods all the time.
 
Finally, you can strike the balance between staying on track and enjoying a slice of Panettone.
 
Read on to find the method that can work best for you.