Welcome to the Unfuck your Fitness podcast . I am your host , Christy Castillo , and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love . I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take you from feeling stuck to feeling sexy . Let's go , hey guys what's up ?
Speaker 2Welcome to today's episode . I am going to be talking today about my best tips on how to navigate this upcoming holiday season . I have no idea , honestly . I know it sounds so cliche , like everybody says , time goes so fast . Everything sneaks up on you right , like all the holidays . But honestly , I'm recording this the week before Thanksgiving , so when this episode comes out , thanksgiving is in two freaking days , but the fact that it's even next week and I have , I'm not . I'm not exaggerating when I say I have nothing ready for Thanksgiving . I have purchased a couple Christmas gifts , but I'm not ready , like not , I'm not kidding , I'm not ready at all for any of this . So here we go . That's it is . It is what it is . I don't know , maybe you're like me , maybe you're completely ready . Whatever the whatever . But anyways , off of the topic of me being shocked that the holidays came so quickly , like they do every year , we're going to talk about the my best tips on how to navigate this season and , honestly , I'm just going to give it to you straight .
Speaker 2I swore that I would not do an episode like this , like on the holiday season and my best tips and all the things , because , I'll just be honest , I feel like it's so again , cliche . I feel like it's overdone . I feel like every fitness whatever you want to call us influencer , personal trainer , every everyone gives their tips on , like how to navigate the holiday season . For me , when I see that it's something everyone is talking about , I instantly don't want to talk about it because I feel like it's overdone . Like , if you want to know how to navigate the holiday season , you can Google it . Like you can go find out the information . For me , that's honestly just a turnoff in in terms of talking about it , because I'm like everybody does , like it's not helpful for me to talk about the holiday season and how to navigate that when everybody else talks about it . However , I realize that I'm your person and you're my person and you want to know from me and I am going to shoot it to you straight . So that's my promise to you is , I'm just going to give you honestly , like I said , my best tips , what I do , what I teach my ladies . I'm going to talk to you like you're my friend and give you straight up , no bullshit facts . Yes , there's going to be some balance and there's going to be some grace , and then there's going to be some real talk , like like in true Christi Castillo fit fashion . Also , I asked on social media just actually a few hours ago , so I've gotten some responses already on what you specifically struggle with and I'm going to read a couple of those and answer them . So I'm excited . Needless to say , I talked myself into the episode and I'm excited because I'm doing it in a way that's actually going to help you and hopefully it's not like everyone else just telling you basic shit that doesn't help . So I'm going to just go through a couple tips and honestly , like I said , just talk to you like my friend .
Speaker 2First of all , let me say that I have been in a very dark place in the holidays shouldn't say a dark place in the sense of my fitness journey restricting , not knowing what to eat , being scared of different foods . I remember one year specifically , I was pretty sick and like going through a lot of autoimmune stuff where I couldn't digest anything and I remember pigging out this particular thing , skipping this was years ago and feeling like absolute garbage , not only like as far as my digestion , but also just like I ate so much food . I felt so bad , I felt so fat , you know like , oh my god , I just I'm out of control and all the things that come along with that . I have been there and that's where I lived most of my years of the holidays is restricting and thinking , if I had a cookie , everything was ruined and why work out because I had a cookie ? And all the all or nothing thoughts , all the bad thoughts , all the restrictive thoughts . And now I don't have any of those thoughts . Typically , I mean , of course , they sneak in every once in a while , but , and in the holidays as a whole , if we're talking about them as a whole , I am not stressed out at all about the food . Um , so I say that because I want you to know I have been where you are . It's possible to be if you are in that restrictive place . I've been there . If it , it's possible to be , or , yeah , it's possible to get where you are if you're in that restrictive place and be where I am now to where you don't think about it .
Speaker 2You know that you can have things in moderation . You know that one day of eating isn't gonna , you know , derail anything . You know that if you have cookies , it's okay and you should still have your protein and work out like it can be this big lifestyle . Um , so let me jump in here . Number one don't try to diet this time of year . That is the worst thing that you can do is to have a restrictive diet mindset . It just ruins things , plain and simply . It just ruins things for you and for the holidays . If you are on some kind of a health you know , like literally for your health , and not just to lose weight , but like , if you can't have certain foods or if you're going to , you know , be in a body building competition in january and you have to stick to a plan , that's completely different . I'm talking about the ones of us who just want to be like quote , unquote , normal , right , we want to maintain we . Yeah sure , you probably do want to lose weight , you do want to look different , you do want to
work on your body .
Speaker 2This is not the time and I'm telling you right now it's okay . I think I read somewhere yesterday that I think it's 40 . There's 40 days between Thanksgiving and the end of the year . 40 days , you guys , out of the entire year . So by no means am I saying just screw off for the entire year , but it's 40 days . If you mess up a couple of those days . It's not a big deal , okay , so it's not that much time is what I'm saying . So this is not the time to be worrying about losing weight . I want you to just kind of kick that out the window . You're not going to lose weight . Maybe you are , but I'm just saying just tell yourself . You're not going to lose weight right now . It's okay to maintain , it's okay to view things as your health , it's okay to not want to go out of control , it's okay to not want to spiral , but this is not a good time to try to lose weight .
Speaker 2You're going to be stressed around the holidays . You are going to be around fun foods . You should enjoy yourself . You should enjoy your family . You should enjoy your friends , and I'm not saying that you should go hey , I'm at every single party and eat whatever the hell you want . But that's just the reality . You are going to be stressed out . You are going to want a glass of wine . You are going to want some cookies . You are going to be around fun things . You are going to be at parties , like you you are . So we have to like , admit that and deal with it right . Some tips about that is to plan ahead for these parties . Plan your meals ahead during the day so you know what you can fit into your macros . When you get there , take something healthy to the party . Have an appetizer or a dessert , not both .
Speaker 2Let me talk just for a second about this was not a holiday party , but the other day we had a volleyball awards banquet for my daughter , and how I navigated that was I I'm not . I , I think maybe being sick or something has kind of ruined my appetite a little bit . So I'm a little off as far as my food . But what I did that day was I planned to not really eat at this banquet . There was going to be some snacks there , little appetizers and stuff , and I'm like I don't really need that . I don't really need to like be hungry when I go . I'm not going to show up there starving right and expecting to like have dinner there , but I also don't want to like say I'm not going to have anything right . So I planned my entire day around this and kind of was like I'm just gonna pretend like it's a whole day of eating for me . That's normal , and when I go there , whatever I feel like I will have .
Speaker 2I ended up having like a scoop of raspberry cobbler or something , and then a piece of apple or pumpkin pie . I think I only ate half of each , but I just wasn't really hungry and so I did plan ahead for the day . I met my protein goal . I had dinner like before we went , but I was also like , if I'm there and I see something that I want , I'm going to have it . So that's kind of how you can navigate your parties too . So front load your day with protein . Have your protein in the morning , consume it early in the day when you get to these parties , these events . Fill your plate with protein . Drink a lot of water . Only eat the foods that you love .
Speaker 2I really wanted pumpkin pie . Honestly , I'm only going to probably see pumpkin pie one more other time this year and I'm like I really want some of that . That sounds good , and the raspberry stuff just looked good when it was there too . So I had some of that . But I had also met my protein goal for the day . I had met my other calories . So when I got home , I then was like now I need to have my evening snack , which is usually some kind of Greek yogurt with some like chocolate hummus in it , whipped cream , something like that . Instead of having the chocolate hummus in the whipped cream , because I had snacks at this banquet , I went ahead and just had the Greek yogurt without my additives . So it was kind of like I traded this for that right . So those are some tips as far as going to a party , going to an event or you know any kind of anything like that . Honestly , those tips can go beyond the holidays and they can go to any party , any barbecue , any banquet , but those are just ways that are very simple and just kind of treat your day like you would any other day , and this little you know situation doesn't have to be that stressful .
Speaker 2You don't have to eat anything at these parties . You can bring your own food if you want to . You can only have chicken , or you can eat everything you normally would in the day , show up and have a cookie , like you . Can do this however you want to . However , it works for you . So I'm just kind of explaining what works for me .
Speaker 2One thing I do want to say is protein , protein , protein . I cannot stress this enough . Have protein in your day period , hit your protein goal period and when you go to one of these parties , you can have a shake right before you go so that , and even on the way , so that you're not that hungry , right ? Because a protein shake is actually a good thing to have on the way to something like that . It's full of protein but it's not necessarily full of carbs and fats , so you're not stuffed . After you have a protein shake , you can still have a little bit , right ? So get there , decide what you're going to eat , but always , always , always , hit your protein . Always put some protein on your plate so that you have a little bit of something to eat , like that , to start off with . So you're not , right out the bat , just snacking on the appetizers and you're , you know , full already , and then , when it comes to the main course , you're not even hungry for the protein , and then you're having dessert and you feel like shit . So just really be aware of what you're doing . But , in general , every single day this holiday season , hit your protein . Hit your protein . Okay , but not having a diet mindset this time of year will go so far , so far .
Speaker 2Number two is to work out . If you were going to give a little bit with food at these parties on the weekends , whatever , and you're going to have some cookies . You're going to have some appetizers . You're going to , you know , splurge a little bit . You have to be game on with your workouts period . I was talking to a couple of my clients about this the other day and I'm like , okay , so if we're going to give a little bit of our carbs , right , we're going to save our carbs for these parties . We're going to save our carbs for these treats , you can have a little extra calories , it's fine . But what I need from you is to promise me that you are going to kick ass with your workouts .
Speaker 2You can't just screw off in the food department and screw off in the workout department and then be pissed at yourself because you're not making any progress and you feel like shit . Of course you do . So if you're going to quote unquote give a little with food and snacks , you have to be quote unquote game on with your workouts , right . You have to do one or the other . This is huge . You have to do one or the other . I will , every single day , either get a workout in or be good with my macros period , like that's non-negotiable right .
Speaker 2Speaking of workouts , this is the best time of year to lift heavy and to put those extra calories to work . So when you are working out , workout with purpose , lift heavy , put on that muscle , let's go right . Have a different mindset with your workouts , but you have to be game on with your workouts if you're gonna give a little with your food . Number three tip don't have the quote-unquote fuck it , I'll start in January mindset . I don't want you to just screw off the end of the year and be like , oh , forget it , I've already , you know , not met my goal this year , so I'm just gonna do whatever I want to the end of the year and start again in January . Right , we're all used to that mindset . We've all been there . You can maintain ground and go into the new year feeling good if you just stick to protein workouts , water and walking .
Speaker 2Okay , protein , and then the three W's workouts , water , walking . Get some movement in . Hit your protein , drink your water every day . The holidays are only a few days and it's what you do most of the time that matters . So doing these things like this can be your consistency , right ? That's my number four tip is to plan for this . Plan for everything that I'm telling you . This is your new normal . Don't plan to purchase a workout program . Go all in , not mess up , be perfect , right . If you try to walk around being perfect , you'll fail , so don't even try that . This is your normal , this is your standard . It's giving a little bit in the food department , having some appetizers , having some snacks , right , but still focusing on protein .
Speaker 2Workouts are non-negotiable , even if you can't go to something , even if you have to say no , I can't help with my kid's party . Or , okay , I like to go to the party , but I don't necessarily want to bring the decorations and the snacks and all the things . Right , I want to show up for my kids , but I'm not going to go ham on like making the cute little snacks . Go to the store , buy pre-made snacks , put them in a cute bag , take them to the party like , okay , so be smarter . That's a whole other thing . But you can do all of this and just give a little , and that's okay . But you have to plan for that , right ? So plan to maintain , plan to build muscle , plan to just stay on track and coast , plan to not go backwards , but this can be your new normal and you have to plan for all of that . So that's one thing that I also want to stress is just to not go in with this one diet mindset and to this perfection mindset of , like I'm not going to have any snacks at the party , or I'm not going to go to the parties , or I'm just going to say , screw it until you know the end of the year . Like , don't plan on any of that . I , what did I mention ? Protein , workouts , water , walking . There's no , there's no reason that we can't get three of those things in every single day . Right , you can hit your protein every single day , you can drink a lot of water every single day and you can go for a walk or workout every single day . So what's the problem ? Like , that's what we're planning for , that's it . That's it . As your coach , I am telling you this is what you are doing for a few weeks . That gives you time to go shopping , that gives you time to hang out with your friends , that gives you time to go to the parties , that gives you time to relax all the things right . So this is our new plan .
Speaker 2Number five I just want to say everything in moderation , and I want to say this in terms of alcohol . I get asked about alcohol a lot . I need to do a podcast about alcohol in itself . Alcohol , weight loss , alcohol with your fitness journey . I'm not exactly sure how I want to put my spin on that yet , so I'm working on that . But as far as your as the holidays , I did get asked that a couple of times . Like talk about alcohol , I struggle with alcohol during the holidays . So , hi , okay . So there's part of my brain that is the Christie brain , like kind of want to pop off here . And then there's this other side that's like okay , everything I'm going to talk about both , everything in moderation .
Speaker 2Alcohol , you can have alcohol . It's generally not the alcohol that's the problem . It's when you're drinking alcohol then you're snacking and you're eating and you're snacking and you're eating and you're drinking and you're snacking and you're eating . Right , the alcohol itself isn't necessarily the problem . Is it great for you ? No , does your body take longer to digest it ? Does it slow down your metabolism ? Yes , but it's not necessarily the alcohol . Just like carbs , they're not that bad for you , right ? Alcohol , it's okay in moderation .
Speaker 2There's this other part of me that is wants to just Honestly say if alcohol is something you struggle with in the holidays , don't drink so much of it , period . All of this is up to you in the long run and there's no bullshitting , that I can give you all the tips I can say drink alcohol in moderation . If you are not a moderate alcohol drinker , don't start drinking the alcohol Period and I've been there so I totally understand that . But this is only you know yourself . If you're going to go to a party and you're going to get wasted and then you're going to eat all the things and you're going to wake up and feel like shit and then the next day you're not going to be able to work out and your appetite's going to be screwed because you're hungover , then that's your choice . You get to do that or you get to choose the opposite and be like okay , no , I want to go into the new year feeling great , I'm going to make a shift here , right ? So , yes , everything in moderation . Alcohol is okay to have every once in a while during the holidays . If you know moderation is not your thing , then this is the chance for you to step up and be like I'm making a change here . At the end of the day , this is all up to you . So there is this other part of me , like my angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other shoulder , like , if you can't moderate your alcohol , don't drink it . Okay . So there you go .
There's a couple tips for you , and now I want to get into the questions that I asked on social media . I got some responses . What I asked was what is your biggest struggles , questions and concerns in regards to the holidays ? And they I got a lot , of course , but they were all pretty similar . So the first one I want to talk about is thinking that you can't have progress with all of the food and the drinks that happen during the holiday season . Hopefully , now that you're hearing these questions , you can go back into what I just said as far as my tips and realize that you can have progress with all of the food and the drinks that happen during the holiday season .
Speaker 2It's up to you how much food and how many drinks you consume during the holiday season At the end of the day , it's up to you . At the end of the day , you can't lose fat , you can't have we're not trying for weight loss right now but you can't build muscle , you can't feel well , you can't have health and happy hormones and you know well oiled metabolism if you are eating and drinking like shit all of the time and , yes , this 40 days between Thanksgiving and the end of the year . 40 days is a lot if you're overeating and over drinking the entire holiday season . So this season itself is a couple weeks , right . The holidays themselves are a couple days . So maybe on the holidays you eat and drink . Maybe you pick two other weekends , one or two where you go out and enjoy , and maybe the rest of the week nights you say no and you find a healthier drink or a healthier snack , right . So you can't have progress , honestly , if all you do is screw off during the holiday season . But you can have progress if you do it with what I said , if you prioritize protein and if you get your movement in and you drink your water . So hopefully , I kind of explained that a little bit , but it's really up to you . As far as finding that moderation and that middle ground and what you want to do and what you want to feel like , you can have progress . It's just going to look a little bit different and you have to change your mindset around that .
Speaker 2The next question or statement that I got was what order to eat macros in when you're going out to eat with friends , always , always , always , prioritize protein . This is why tracking is so important too , because if you track your food during the day and you see what you can eat let's say you know you're going out to a restaurant and you want to have tacos , open my fitness pal enter three tacos , see what that equals . Have you know , plug in your protein and eat that . It is what it is . Just kind of work around that meal if you want to . If you don't want to do that , then always prioritize protein and then carbs and then fats . Fats are the most calories per gram , so they add up faster . So always start with your protein and then move to carbs and then move to fats . I would always say an appetizer or dessert , like I mentioned earlier , or neither , if you can't fit that in your macros , but always , always , always , prioritize protein .
Speaker 2Next is because I do all the work for my entire family for the holidays . My biggest concern is that I will be exhausted . Girl , yeah , my biggest concern for you too is that you will be exhausted if you do all the work for your entire family . Maybe you can step back a little bit if you're going to be too exhausted to prioritize yourself . It's really hard because there are family dynamics where you have to do , I guess , all of the work for your entire family ? I personally do not , but I do know that in this situation , you are going to be exhausted .
Speaker 2So what I would say to you is pick one or the other on days that you don't have time or energy to work out . Hit your protein . Hit your macros On days that you feel good and you can go for a walk or you can get a workout in . Do that as well . Plan on , like , if you have to do all the work and it's a lot of work , right ? I'm sure you're already a planner , but plan , plan , plan . Start making a list of what you have to get done . Reverse , engineer that to what you can start doing now . Find days when you can work out and move your body . Find options to get your protein in . Frontload your day with protein . Ask for help . Recruit your husband , recruit your wife , recruit your children , recruit your in-laws , your family , like whatever .
Speaker 2Say no to things . However , you can kind of make that look and work for you , but I hate the fact that we you know as women or whoever's doing all the work for your entire family that you have to put yourself on the back burner for the entire holiday season because you'll be exhausted . How much fun is that for you , like ? I guess it's just kind of like looking at priorities at that point . But if you are going to be exhausted and I guess you're okay with that , that's one thing , but you wrote in with the question , so I'm guessing that you're not . So maybe it's time to just kind of take a little look at that and realize that you know three workouts a week is great . So if there's three days a week that you're not feeling too exhausted to get in a workout , definitely shoot for that . But you can get water in , you can hit your protein . Hopefully you can go for a walk . You'll be busy , so you'll be moving . So just try to focus on the positives as well .
Speaker 2The holiday season is short . After saying like maybe you should cut back and not do all the things , in reality , if you do enjoy that I know a lot of people do they love to bake and cook and , you know , have people over and entertain . That's not me , but I know people do love that . So if that's something that you love , enjoy that for the holiday season and then it's over , and then you can get back to your goals too . What I would just stress is to definitely do what you can and be happy with that .
Speaker 2Next is time falling off of the program and how to hop back in when you're short on time . I would say I talked about this last week fitting your fitness into your life . Modify your program so that it fits back into your life . You can't always be falling off of a program period . This goes for your entire life . If you are doing a program that you have to fall off of all of the time , maybe stop that program until the beginning of the year and just realize that three workouts is all you can do , plan for that and it is what it is , and move on . This is not a good time to diet . This is not a good time to follow a really strict program , so I would definitely suggest saving that until the new year .
Speaker 2Most importantly , I want you to set yourself up for success plan and be realistic . A lot of these questions they're so good and a lot of them can be answered . Or can ? The stress around these topics can be lessened if we just didn't try to be perfect all the time and we didn't try to lose weight all the time and we focused on different things and really like I just said , the only way we can really do that is to just set yourself up for success . Don't try to be perfect , don't try to do all of the things right . Look at your list and see what you can cut off . But planning is huge and being realistic is huge Also .
Speaker 2Lastly , I want to just say that I went so many years stressed out about holiday parties and all the photos and all the perfect gifts and all the perfect things , and also , along with that , there's a lot of stress that goes along with that in the holidays . On top of that , you're trying to look great in your clothing and feel amazing and restrict and cut things out and be perfect , and it's really overwhelming . And so , if you are working with someone who can help you realize that this is your new plan , I'm going to be setting all my clients up with some sort of plan , whatever that looks like for them , and going into the holidays next week especially , kids are off of school , routines are different . We're going to be feeling crazy , and then we have a couple of weeks in there where we can be kind and normal , and then it's Christmas and then it's New Year . So we're going to be working on a plan with all my one-on-one clients of how exactly that fitness is going to fit into their life for this season . And also in my Fit Club program I'm going to be running some . It's going to be called a challenge , but really what it's going to be is just kind of figuring out for you what that looks like .
Speaker 2In my Fit Club I do schedule five workouts a week for my ladies , but I'm going to just be saying if you need to do three , if you need to do four , let's focus on your water , let's focus on your steps , different things like that , so that we have certain things that they can be accountable for and I'll cheer each other on and I'll be in there talking them through this group . So if you are looking for something short and sweet this holiday season , I know financially it's not a good time to invest a ton of money . The Fit Club is $35 a month and it's absolutely amazing . You can go to my website , christycasteocom , and it's under construction right now , but you can sign up for Fit Club through there and I will help very gently walk you through this holiday season and that way you'll be set up in the new year for success .
Speaker 2But along with that . Just honestly give yourself some grace , but don't be afraid to be a little hard on yourself too and say how do you want to feel ? What do you want to feel like after this party ? Do you want to go ham on some alcohol , or do you want to chill out and feel good ? You get to set yourself up for whatever kind of success and enjoyment you want to have out of the holidays . So , most importantly , I hope you do have the best Thanksgiving and the best holiday season . I hope this episode was helpful . Thank you for being here and I will talk to you next week .
Speaker 1Thanks for listening to today's show . Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and , of course , follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes . And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo Fit . I will see you next time , ribbitcom .