ERF 901: How to Go into the Holiday Season with Confidence (Without Losing Progress)

The holiday season is busier for you, but if you wait until January to get your health and fitness together, you're going to gain an extra 10 to 20 pounds. You're going to have worse energy and self-esteem, and it's just going to be harder for you to dig yourself out of the hole. It doesn't have to be that way. In today's episode, we're going to be breaking down exactly how much time off track you would have this holiday season. We're gonna be speaking about how to think about progress during this busier holiday season, how to specifically adjust workouts and nutrition without throwing in the towel, and why you shouldn't feel guilty for enjoying yourself this holiday season, because you can enjoy the holidays while still making great progress with your fitness. And before we dive in, I just want to say welcome back to the Eric Roberts Fitness Podcast. I'm super excited to have you here. I do this podcast once a year, aka the holiday season, and it's always one of the most listened to episodes. And I'm hoping this one is the same case because I don't want you to think you have to throw away all of your progress during the holiday season. So before we dive into the meat of the podcast today, I want to announce we are kicking off a brand new Holiday Head Start 6-Week Challenge. So it's a 6-week challenge designed to help you lose 6 to 15 pounds before Thanksgiving so you can head into that holiday season feeling confident, in control, and already ahead of the curve instead of effing off, gaining 20 pounds, and hoping to fix it come the new year. And I'm not saying that from Thanksgiving to Christmas you're going to be perfect, but if you're already down 12 pounds, you can go into that busier, more chill period of time where it maybe is a bit harder to drop some weight ahead of the schedule, ahead of the curve. You've already dropped 12 pounds because you did our Holiday Head Start Challenge. So if you want to start the holidays off right with momentum, this is the perfect way to do it. You'll have structured workouts inside of my Clubhouse app. You will get exact calories, macros, example meal plans that you can follow along. You'll have daily accountability inside of our app where you'll track your workouts, you'll track your body weight, you'll track your food every single day, your steps. You'll have a community of people doing it along with you. If you listen to the podcast and you hear our clients and Clubhouse members, those are the people that you're gonna be doing this challenge with. And again, it's just a short burst, a short hard push to drop some body fat before the craziness of the holidays roll around. The enrollment period is going to be October 1st to October 6th. There's only about 5 days that you can sign up for this, and we officially— the first day of the challenge is October 6th. So if you want to get in, there's going to be a link In the show notes of this podcast to learn more. It'll show you everything that's included. The price is going to be less than $2 a day. That is less than a cup of coffee for this 6-week challenge. So if you think investing a cup of coffee per day is a good investment to help you lose 6 to 15 pounds of fat before Thanksgiving, if you think you've been wanting to get back on track and you've been wanting to get on a plan, now is your opportunity. Click the link in the show notes. And really briefly, before we get into the rest of the podcast, one last note I'll say. Recently I talked about our 8-week challenge that we were doing for our one-on-one coaching. And we are, you know, that, that happened, that is, that is currently going on. But I had a lot of people who reached out to me and they were like, Eric, I would love to do it, but like, I just can't afford the one-on-one coaching at this moment. And I totally understand. And that's why I wanted to kind of offer this little 6-week challenge, less than $2 a day. That way, really, I want anybody and everybody to join this challenge and hopefully get some results, get on a proper program, get some guidance and accountability and motivation with a 6-week challenge. So again, link in the show notes, check it out. There's only a couple of days to sign up, so don't miss your opportunity. All right. Let's go into the first part that I always like to highlight into holiday season here, and that is the math that lowers your anxiety. Let's take the holiday season, and I'm, I know everybody's holidays are a bit different, but I'm gonna go Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Those are the 3 holidays I'm gonna be talking about. So let's just say that you took 3 days off Around Halloween. By the way, Halloween's only one day, but let's say you take 3 days off and then let's say you take a week off for Thanksgiving and you take a week off for Christmas. If you did that for the last, for the rest of the month, or I'm sorry, for the rest of the year, October, November, December, that would be 15 to 17 days that you're taking off of your diet, exercise plan, whatever. That's 16 to 18% of the 3 months. That means if you took 3 days at Halloween, an entire week at Thanksgiving, and an entire week at Christmas, you could still be like 85% consistent and you would still see great progress. And by the way, if you did that, that's only 4 to 5% of the entire year. So many people get such anxiety around holidays because they're like, oh my God, I'm gonna be so off track. It's gonna be busier. And you could sit here and argue, well, Eric, I have work parties and my kids, their schools have this and we have these things. And I get it. My, my, my spouse has a, a party I have to go to. I understand. But that's 17 days and you could still be 84 to 82% consistent. And it's only, it's less than 5% of the entire year. The problem isn't the holidays. It's when you wave the white flag for 3 months straight because of 17 days. What, like, I'll relay this back to the 6-week challenge that we have going on right now. Some people will be like, well, I might have a trip during the 6-week challenge, or like, oh my God, the holidays are going to be so crazy, or I'm doing this and that. It's like, Why would you let 17 days throw away all 3 months? It doesn't make any sense. And so looking at it from that perspective, logically, it's just like one big— well, it depends how big of a purchase, but I was going to say one big purchase doesn't bankrupt you. It definitely could if you go, I don't know, if you go buy a fucking yacht for $50 mil, but they wouldn't let you buy it anyway. But you get what I mean. It's, It's usually just like months of reckless spending that just continue to add up and add up and add up. So this one day at Halloween or these couple of days at Christmas, it's not gonna ruin all of your progress, man. Even if you do say, I'm not like, if you like Thanksgiving, I'm, I'm not staying on track Thanksgiving. I'm not tracking. I'm gonna eat whatever I want. Even if you do that and you do it for the whole week, that's still just 7 days out of the fucking, like it, I really wanna try to wrap your guys' head around this. Yeah. So please know the, the true math of it first off. And then going into the second part that I wanna touch on is kind of talking about progress versus maintenance/maintaining. What we have to understand sometimes is I'll take that week of Thanksgiving or the week of Christmas, no matter what you do, let's say you maintain during that time. What we have to understand is maintenance is progress. It is because what's the alternative that I said earlier in the podcast? I said most people gain between now and January 1st. Most people gain 10 to 25 pounds of body fat and they do it because they're drinking, they're eating out. They're saying, oh, well, I gotta travel here, or this holiday is coming up. Or this birthday party or this work event. And they just, they just kind of say screw it and it just snowballs and it snowballs and it snowballs. Funny, I, somebody just signed up for coaching with us right before I hopped on this phone call. Her name is Venus. Shout out to you, Venus. But, you know, she was kind of like, Eric, I, you know, like the past, the past couple of months, you know, I kind of do okay during the week, but then I just overdo on the weekends. She's like, Friday rolls around, we go out to eat, I have some drinks, I wake up the next morning, I'm a little bit hungover, I'm tired, I stay in bed all day. But then I go run errands, but I haven't eaten anything because I felt like shit in the morning. So now it's nighttime and I'm starving and I go out to eat. I have a couple slices of pizza, I got some wings, I got some more wine. Now Sunday morning, I really feel like shit. I don't do anything. I just lay around and watch football all day. And then Monday morning, you know, I had 2,000 steps, 1,000 steps on Sunday. So I wake up Monday morning, I'm up 5 pounds, I'm bloated, I have low energy, and I just feel like shit. Does that sound familiar to you? This stuff snowballs. So when we look at the holiday season, understand like maintaining and being able to maintain is progress. That actually is progress because it means you're not backsliding. And by the way, even if you do gain a couple of pounds, that's not backsliding. Backsliding is I completely throw up my hands. I wave the white flag. I say, Fuck it. And I just give up until the new year. That's what I don't want you to do because you don't have to. You, you, you legit don't have to fucking do that. And learning how to maintain is during it, it, during that time is progress. Even if from now until January 1st, even if you lost no weight, which by the way, if you join the 6-week challenge, you, you will absolutely lose some body fat. But even if you lost no weight, guess what? That's better than you gaining 15 pounds, like what most people do. So number one, maintenance is progress. But number 2, like we just said, you could still be on track 85% of the time, roughly, if you took all that time off. What do I always say on this podcast? If you're 80% consistent, you're gonna see progress. So you can be 85% consistent, and that's being generous with how much time you're taking off for the holidays. If you think about the month of both, I mean, really all 3, but I'll focus in on November and December. People are like, oh, there's just no way I can, I'm gonna stay on track, or I'm, I'm gonna ruin all my progress at Thanksgiving. So why even try? It's like the entire month of November, people think, well, I have Thanksgiving and I have to travel for a couple of days. I'm gonna lose all my progress. So why even try the first 3 weeks of Thanksgiving, of, of November? What sense does that make? Like it doesn't. And the same thing with December. And again, I get it. Maybe your kids are outta school. Maybe you are traveling. Maybe you have some trips coming up, whatever it is. But even if that is the case, that doesn't mean the rest of the month is ruined. So let's say out of the 4 weeks of the month, 1 week on each of those months, you're traveling, you take off, you're not tracking calories, whatever. The other 3 weeks, you could still lose a pound, 2 pounds a week, depending on your plan and, you know, the rest of what's going on. Wouldn't that still be amazing progress? If you lost 3, 4, 5, 6 pounds a month in November and December, wouldn't you still have momentum on your side? Wouldn't you still be able to get to January 1st and be down? 10, 15, 20 pounds than what you're at right now and not have to restart and not have to, and by the way, let's just be honest. I'm not saying New Year's resolutions are bad. I'm not saying you shouldn't do them or make them. But what I am saying is the harsh reality. Most people make them and never do anything about them. By, by the second week of January, you're already back to what you were doing. So why are we putting all of our emphasis And faith and trust into this. I'll restart New Year's. It hasn't worked for you yet. It's not going to work for you. Now, again, I, I've coached people who have started New Year's resolutions with us and they've kept them. So I get it, but for the vast majority, so why wait until then? You can make progress right now. You can make progress, like actually making progress, actually like losing body fat, seeing the scale go down, but you can also make progress by maintaining. And you have to switch your brain to think about maintenance is progress. And by the way, another form of progress could be enjoying the holiday season, enjoying time with your friends, family, loved ones, without feeling guilty around food, without having to feel like you're doing something wrong by God forbid enjoying yourself on Thanksgiving. If you are somebody who has that happen to you and you say, you know what, I'm going to enjoy this Thanksgiving. I'm going to get right back on track the next day. That's also progress. You can still make workout progress during this time. There are so many ways you can make progress. You don't have to just throw it all away. And that brings me into part number 3, kind of adjusting the plan without losing the plot. And this is something we talk about so much in our coaching program and what we do with our clients. So for example, and this is an option, if you join the 6-week Holiday Head Start Challenge, link in the show notes of the podcast to check it out, but maybe during October, November, December, maybe instead of doing 4 times a week workouts for 60 minutes, like you've been doing all year, maybe because you know, your kids are in sports. They have events going on, you know, they have choruses and they have band concerts and you're traveling to your in-laws, you're traveling to your parents. Maybe, you know, it's going to be crazier. So you switch your workouts to 3 times a week, 30-minute workouts instead. This way, as opposed to dedicating 5, 4 hours each week to your workouts, you only have to dedicate an hour and a half. And oh, by the way, if you have a good workout program, 3 times a week, 30 minutes is more than enough. This is what we actually have in our Clubhouse app. We have a 3 times a week, 30-minute workout program. And people, I'm so proud of the people in the Clubhouse who do this because they realize something is always better than nothing. And so as opposed to trying to stick to the 4 times a week, 60-minute workouts that clearly are not working for them right now, Because it's so crazy busy, they just adjust and go to 3 times a week, 30 minutes. And guess what? They still make great progress. You can too. So if you want to join the 6-week challenge and get on the 3 times a week, 30-minute program, link in the show notes. But that's a way where you can just like adjust the plan. You don't have to change the goal, change the plan. Remember, it's not— this journey is not an on and off switch. It's not like I'm perfect or I'm not. And how many people struggle with this, right? All or nothing mentality, perfectionist mentality. It's, it's a dial. It's, it's a light. It's a, it's a light dimmer. You can turn it up. You can turn it down, turn it up a little bit, turn it down a little bit, find the right spot for where you're at right now. And that's the thing you guys have to understand. Okay. If your life looks different during those holiday, the holiday season, Why would you expect to have the same plan? Nobody can explain that to me. Your life isn't the same as it was in the summer. So why would you have the same plan? It doesn't make any sense. And this is what we try to encourage our clients to do is just make adjustments to the plan. You don't have to change the goal. You can still have a goal of losing body fat. You can still have a goal of being consistent. You can still have a goal of improving yourself and wanting to live a healthy life, but that doesn't mean you have to stop doing everything. Or the same thing. was nutrition. And maybe instead of being in a calorie deficit, maybe you're in a calorie maintenance. And that could be just for the week of Thanksgiving or the week of Christmas or Halloween. But that could also be for from now until the New Year's. You could say, you know what? I'm going to be in maintenance again. I don't think you have to do that, but maybe your life is just so crazy. But again, guess what? That's better than you saying fuck it. So maybe there's maintenance periods worked in. Maybe it's, I'm not really gonna focus on my calories right now. I'm just gonna focus on hitting my protein goal because I wanna make sure I hit my protein. It makes me more full. It helps with my workouts. Maybe it's that, maybe it's, I'm not gonna track my calories. I'm gonna follow a, a 3-2-1 method. You have 3 meals, you have 2 snacks, and you have 1 One of 3 treats at events. So it's alcohol, appetizer, or dessert. Like you don't have all 3 of the treats. You have one of the treat. So maybe it's that, maybe it's saying, I'm just going to stick to one plate of food, no matter what I eat. I'm going to stick to one plate of food. Maybe it's, I'm going to get my 2 fruits and 2 veggies per day. The point of all this here is you don't have to be perfect and you can make simple adjustments and it's okay. You know, I could sit here and give you all the, I could give you all the different ways you can adjust. And again, this is, you know, if you were to join our 6-week challenge, this is why, you know, you'll get access to all of our coaches. So the coaches you hear on the podcast, you'll get access to our coaches and we'll be able to help you through things and you can ask questions and you're actually chatting with us. It's not like AI or any of that shit. It's actually real human beings, but I could give you all the things, but you have to understand it. There's, there's no reason to feel guilty about this. There's no reason to say, well, I can't lose weight as quickly, or I can't hit the workouts I was gonna be hitting, or I can't do the extra cardio sessions I was doing, or I can't be perfect tracking my calories. Like, what is that doing for you? It's not doing anything. You're, it's, it's not gonna help you. Be successful towards the goals that you have by feeling guilty or shameful or feeling less than, or feeling like you don't have enough discipline or willpower. This is something I see all the time about in the holiday season with people that they're like, you feel like you don't have as like, oh, I should have more discipline. What the fuck are you talking? Discipline is setting your ego to the side and saying, I'm going to do 3 times a week, 30-minute workouts. That's discipline. You know what's easy? It's easy to say, fuck it. It's easy just to quit. And this is a conversation a lot of you guys are just quite simply not ready to have, but I'm gonna call you out. You say you're, oh, I'm a, I'm a perfectionist. I, if I do things, I'm gonna do it all the way. You're fucking lying to yourself. You're lying. 'Cause you're not that way in anything else. I'm gonna be a perfect parent or I'm gonna get rid of my kid. I, none of us are, none of you, I'm not a parent. None of you are perfect parents. That doesn't mean you fucking get rid of your kids. Do you never make mistakes at work? I make mistakes every single day. What am I going to do? Fire myself from my own business? You're a fucking liar. You know, you know what's easy to do when it's hard, when it's difficult, is to quit. That's the easiest fucking thing you can do. And that's why you say I'm all or nothing, because it gives you an out to quit. It gives you an identity to quit. Oof. I don't know if you're ready for this one, but And you keep calling yourself this all or nothing person. You are giving your subconscious identity an out and you're giving your subconscious identity the okay to quit because you're an all or nothing person. So when you quit, it aligns with who you are. So you almost want to do that because that's your identity. And we all want to be congruent with our own self-identity. Never said that on the podcast. That was a good one. You should fucking remember that because it's true. So stop doing that this time of the year. Stop doing that this time around. Adjust the plan. Guilt is not going to get you anywhere. And when you have a day or 2 or a week, not if, when, do something, have a plan, have a routine, have some accountability. To get back on track. So it's like the 48-hour rule. I think I sent an email one day on this, but the 48-hour rule, within 48 hours after having a day of overeating, you want to have a day of 7,000 steps. You want to hit your protein goal. You want to get a workout and you want to drink at least 100 ounces of water. So like, that is a very simple 48-hour rule to get back on track. It's not crazy. It's not go fast or go do 3 hours of cardio or go get 20,000 steps. It's just a simple rule to get yourself back on track. And you can use this rule. You can anchor your plan with this rule to say, okay, I know I'm giving myself these 4 days. Around Thanksgiving or around this trip I'm taking or my spouse's work event. But I'm also, while I enjoy myself, the next day I have this plan to get myself back on track. This, I already know exactly what I'm going to do. And you'd be shocked at how helpful that is for you. You'd be shocked at how much easier it is to get back on track when you already know what you're doing ahead of time. This is also side note, but it will tie in. I talk often about when our clients go on vacation, we try to not just help them before the vacation, help them make a plan for the vacation, whether they want to plan or not, but we really try to focus on what are we going to do after we get back? Are you going to have food in the house? Are you going to order the food ahead? What days are you going to go get your workouts in? What time are those workouts? What time are we gonna wake up? Like we lay out the plan for after they get back on track. Why? There's a couple of things. Number one, it helps you get back on track quicker. Number 2, it helps you actually enjoy the vacation more because you'll know exactly what you need to do to get back on track when you get back. And then number 3, it just shows it, it, it tells you exactly what you need to do. So there's no guesswork. You just go and do it and you get back on track. And that's what I would encourage you during this holiday season. And again, when you're, when you're in this holiday season, when you're going, 'cause this, I'm telling you guys, and this is why I'm making this video early or video podcast. I'm making this podcast early October because I want the seeds planted for you now. And please, wherever you're at, If you're in the gym, if you're in your car, you're taking a walk, please, like, just listen to me for a second. You're gonna have days where you go way off track. You're gonna have days, even when you made a plan, you're gonna go way off that plan. You're gonna enjoy one too many drinks with your friends. You're gonna enjoy one too many desserts at your aunt's. House when she cooks the best apple pie. These days are going to happen to you, but that's not a reason for you to say I ruined all my progress. That's not a reason for you to say I fucked everything up. I'm not going to be able to bounce back from this. All the hard work I did is now ruined. It's not true. I just gave you the math. If you take three days at Halloween, a week at Thanksgiving, a week at Christmas. And by the way, even if you don't take like a full week at Thanksgiving, because I'm already hearing, well, Eric, I have a holiday party this day. Okay. So then you take 6 days at Thanksgiving and you take 1 day for the holiday party. You take 4 days at Christmas and you take 1 day for your work party, 1 day for your spouse's work party, 1 day for your kids' event. Spread it out. I don't care. But 17 days. If you are off track 17 days over the next 3 months, you'll still be 82% consistent and you will, you will still make great progress. So I'm, I'm trying to prep you for this now. You're not going to be perfect. And also guess what? Let's, let's talk about this too. Let's talk about the elephant in the room as well. You know, we have our 6-week challenge. Starting today, link in the show notes of the podcast to join our 6-week holiday head start. If you want to drop 6 to 15 pounds of fat, link in the show notes of the podcast, less than $2 a day, legit, less than a cup of coffee a day. So we have this going on and yeah, you're going to make great progress if you join this 6-week challenge, but you know what? Let's say in the month of November, You have a crazy month. I also know sometimes during this time, people take family vacations because maybe kids are off school, things of that nature. Maybe you just, you're like me, you fucking hate the winter. You want to get the hell out of here. I get it. So let's just say that maybe you're not going to make as fast of progress as you would earlier in the year or at some other point. Okay. Let's talk about it. I know you want to make as fast progress as possible, but what would you rather have? Would you rather lose an extra pound or 2 of fat in November from 3 pounds to 5 pounds? Or would you rather be more flexible with your diet, enjoy time with your friends and family, make memories with the people that you love, Enjoy some of the foods that only come around during that time, spend, maybe not have as much workouts or cardio time to then use that time towards, you know, living your life. We only have but so much time in a day. We have 24 hours in a day until that changes. You only have but so much time. So would you rather do all of that or would you rather Sacrifice that time with your family? Would you rather sacrifice those memories with the people that you love? Would you rather say, no, I can't have my favorite apple cider donuts that only come around during this time because I want to lose an extra 1 or 2 pounds of fat this— which would you rather do? And we have to make a choice because guess what? When you make the choice to just say, I'm okay. With a little bit slower progress right now. I'm okay with not losing 5 pounds a month. If I lose a pound or 2, that'd be awesome. If I just maintain, that will be awesome. You have to be okay with saying that and making the choice to do that. Because when you make that, we all have choices. When you make the choice to do that, number one, you'll actually do it. And this is something most people don't talk about. When you make the choice to do that, you'll follow through. When you say, no, I still wanna, I still wanna lose as much weight as possible, but then really, you know, you're not gonna give up that time with your family. You're not gonna give up. Maybe you have some extra drinks or desserts a couple of times that month because you're hanging out with certain people you only see once or twice a year. Then what happens? You say, fuck it, because you're not in congruence with what your subconscious is supposed to be doing. And that's when you feel guilty and shameful and say, fuck it. But when you actually just say, hey, I'm going to lose a pound or 2 this month, and that's okay. Hey, even if I just maintain this month, that's okay. You'll actually do that. And you won't have this guilt, shame, I feel like shit. I feel like a failure. 'Cause you just like decided that's what you're gonna do. And truthfully, that's what I think most people should be doing, to be honest. That's why we're doing this 6-week challenge as like a head start on the holidays. So we're kind of going up until around the Thanksgiving timeframe, because I want you to enjoy Thanksgiving a little bit. I want you to enjoy Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever holiday you celebrate. I want you to enjoy that. I don't need you being perfect with your diet, but right now for the 6 weeks, we can push hard until Thanksgiving. By the way, link in the show notes of the podcast. If you want to join the 6-week challenge, remember there's only like a 5-day enrollment period. After Monday, enrollment is closed because we officially start on Monday. So join, don't miss your opportunity, but just be okay with that. And you'll actually just do that. I promise. And you can't, you can't feel guilty for saying that because so many people like you want to be okay with saying that. But then the other voice on your head is like, you shouldn't be saying that. You should be making more progress. You should be making faster progress. You still have 50 pounds to lose. You can't be okay with only losing 2 pounds a month. Why the fuck can't you? Why not? What the fuck are you in such a rush for? If you're still going in the right direction and you're still building healthy habits, which, oh, by the way, whether you lose 6 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, or whether you lose 2 pounds or lose no pounds, what impact is that really gonna have on your long-term journey? So what, you get to your goal 3 weeks sooner than what you would have? Like, what are we talking about here? And even by the way, even when you get to the goal weight, which is bullshit in and of itself, but let's just go along for the ride here. Even when you get to the goal weight, what are you going to do action-wise? You're still going to go work out. You're still going to go get your steps. You're still gonna eat healthy, high protein foods. You're not even gonna do anything different. So what the fuck does it matter if it takes you an extra 2, 3, 4, 5 weeks because you enjoyed a little bit during the holiday season and saw a little bit slower progress? Who cares? You guys, your life is not gonna be that materially different if you lose a little bit less weight During the holiday season. Now again, like I've been saying, I still think you can lose a tremendous amount of weight. You can still be very consistent and you can still make tremendous progress. It just might not be as fast as maybe what you had earlier in the year, and that's okay. Don't listen to that voice on your shoulder that's saying you shouldn't be okay with maintenance. You shouldn't be okay with maintaining. You should be seeing more progress. You should be seeing faster progress. What are you doing? You should feel guilty. Don't listen to it. It's bullshit. Think long-term. As somebody who's been doing fitness, I'm 29. I started when I was 16. Wow. 13 years. Fucking old. As somebody who's been doing fitness for over 13 years, let me tell you, you're going to get to your goals eventually. And it's really not even about your goal. I know right now, if you're overweight and you don't feel good, I know, I get it. You want to, you want to feel better, but You don't feel better getting to your goal 3 weeks sooner. You feel better by not quitting during the holidays, by not saying fuck it and gaining another 20 pounds during the holidays. You feel better from learning how to still make adjustments and work fitness into your lifestyle versus trying to be perfect and just stopping when it's not. And that's one of the last things I want to talk about. We'll get, you know, this, this is within the fitness industry, obviously, this is pretty apparent. You know, people will, they'll be on the fence about signing up for coaching sometimes during the holidays because they're like, well, you know, it's the holidays, I got to travel, there's good food. And it all stems from like, well, I can't be perfect. And I'm like, well, wouldn't you want to know how to keep going with your fitness and work fitness into your lifestyle in a realistic way? When things aren't perfect? Because if you can only do it when it's perfect, which by the way is like, how, how much are you actually gonna be able to be perfect? But if you can only do it, then it's not gonna stick around. So don't you want this to be a lifestyle change anyway? Aren't the holidays gonna come up, God willing, next season and the season after and the season after? Don't you wanna know how to navigate and work it into your life? And this is the mistake most people make. You're trying to fit your entire life around a diet or a workout routine. You should be finding a way to fit fitness into your life. And guess what? Your life changes throughout the year, throughout the years, throughout the stages of your life. That doesn't— it's not going to always look the same, but you need to learn how to fit fitness into your life. And again, that may look like doing dumbbell-only workouts for 30 minutes. That may look like not being in a calorie deficit, but just maintaining. And sometimes feels like holding on for dear life. That may look like being okay with not losing weight as quickly, but you have to learn how to still keep going and not just quit when things aren't perfect. And that again, in and of itself is progress. That is tremendous pro— coming from a coach who's been coaching people for over 8 and a half years. Trust me when I say that's tremendous progress. All right. So guys, that is the podcast for today. Holiday Head Start. Again, we have a Holiday Head Start, a 6-week challenge, you know, drop 6 to 15 pounds of fat before Thanksgiving, put yourself in a really good spot heading into the holiday season. So again, if you do end up gaining some weight or even just maintaining, you'll be much better off than if you were to fuck off for the next 6 weeks, not do anything, and then go into the holiday season saying, well, shit, I haven't made any progress. You feel worse about yourself and you just kind of say, screw it. And then you end up gaining 10 to 20 pounds before January 1st. At the very least, join the 6-week challenge. Link in the show notes of the podcast. It's less than $2 a day. I wanted to make it as cost-effective and, and available for everybody as humanly possible. And also, by the way, we have a 5-day money-back guarantee. So if you join and you're like, hey, I fucking hate this. Okay, fine. Give you your money back, man. Like, it is what it is, but I don't think you're going to hate it. If you listen to this podcast and you resonate with what I'm saying, I don't think you're going to hate it because all the stuff I'm talking about, this is what we do. This is how we set up the workouts. This is how we set up our nutrition. This is the philosophy that we coach with. So click the link in the show notes of the podcast if you want to join our 6-week Holiday Head Start Challenge. Again, there's only about 5 days you can sign up, October 1st to October 6th. That's it. After October 6th, you cannot join. So if you want to join, go ahead, take advantage. Don't miss out on the opportunity. And you guys, I know it's only early October. But save this podcast. Come back to this podcast when you're driving to your aunt's house. Remember this podcast, bring up the podcast, listen to it again. When you're about to go to your work event, listen to this podcast. Remember what I'm talking about. Remember where you are right now listening to it, because I promise you, you're going to need to hear this more than once. All right, guys, I love you. I appreciate you, and we will chat next time. Bye.