Julia shares how she's spending the holidays without food guilt, swapping intense workouts for walks and 12-minute ab sessions. She advocates slowing down to savor meals, ditching diet culture's good-food-bad-food labels, and trusting that a week of indulgence won't derail long-term health.
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This is how I enjoyed the last few days of 2020.
Ho ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!
The holidays are finally here. No school for 2 weeks, no deadlines, no worries. And while it can be a a very exciting time full of laughter and cheer, spending time with family, giving and receiving presents, the holidays also come with overwhelming thoughts. What will happen with my results? Will I gain weight and have to start my fitness journey from the beginning? Don't worry, you're not alone. A part of me also felt nervous. I knew I was going to be eating more food than usual, from turkey, gingerbread cookies, cake, to lots of chocolate and candy. But my goal was to enjoy the holidays as much as I could, not to worry about food or exercise for once, and just relax and let go. And that's what I did. What is food guilt? Why do we experience it, especially during the holidays? Well, let's break it down. Guilt is a feeling you get when you've done something wrong, and food guilt is the guilt you feel after eating something quote-unquote bad or detrimental to your progress. And while I do have a better relationship with food compared to a few years ago, food guilt still finds a way to creep into my life. And in this video, I want to focus on how to avoid it over the holidays and really any time of the year.
Hey, we could drive straight to the beach, put your feet on my dashboard. I'mma bring some roses, anything that you ask for.
Now, as much as I love working out, there is going to be less of it this week just because I'm really letting my body rest. What I am going to be doing though is a lot of walking. Daily walking is definitely a big goal of mine coming into 2021. It's such a great low-impact exercise that will truly bring you one step quicker to your health and fitness goals. Anyways, for today I followed a workout by Anna from the channel Growing in a Nasa. This workout was a 12-minute intense ab workout, nothing too crazy, just a light workout in my room to start off this busy, exciting week. Going into the holidays or any seasonal celebration, make a commitment to yourself. Tell yourself that you're going to eat the food you you enjoy. If that means lots of your favorite chocolate and no one's stopping you, go for it. If you restrict and don't listen to your body and its cravings from the start, you'll find yourself overeating later, and that would be way worse. Remember, as much as what you eat on a daily matters, food is more than just nutrition. Every bite of food we take isn't just for the purpose of our health. Food brings people together. It's about enjoyment and making memories. A few days of consuming more calories than usual isn't going to make you gain weight. You might feel bloated like me and every other person after a big Christmas dinner, but one less nutrient-dense meal will not cause you to gain weight. Keep in mind that eating habits you make in the long term are the ones that are going to predict your body changes. So eat those Christmas cookies, drink that chocolate milk, enjoy the holidays, have precious time with family, and don't waste your time looking at the nutritional information on every food you eat. Trust me, I did that, and it's exhausting. It really is. For today's workout, I followed Anna's 30-minute advanced kettlebell HIIT workout, full body, no repeat, and it was literally such a killer.
My bad! I should make something of myself— Something of myself— Something of myself— I should make something of myself— Something of myself— I should move to Vegas baby!
Just finished the workout, you guys. Really sweaty. That was a workout.
Look at this.
When indulging in all your favorite foods, do it in a mindful way. You'll not only enjoy the food more, but you'll know when to stop before feeling extremely stuffed. So when you eat slowly, appreciate every bite, you'll feel more satisfied for sure. I'll talk more about overeating and binging and what I'm doing to slowly overcome it in my next video, so stay tuned. The last workout I did before taking a little break was Caroline's Christmas Cardio, and while it definitely got me in the Christmas spirit, I only managed to complete half of it. I really wasn't feeling it, so I stopped. I never intend to make exercising a chore. I want it to be exciting. So my rule is whenever I genuinely feel tired or not into it, I stop and I finish off the workout the next day or so. —Tessa Knight on my neck, I promise— Make the holidays an opportunity to practice self-love. From experience, I know when I feel guilty about something that can't be changed, I just create more unnecessary stress. I criticize myself and tell myself I'll eat less the next day, creating this cycle of overeating, punishing myself, and overeating all over again. By turning to forgiveness and kindness, one will be able to see things more clearly. I find that the times I let all my worries go, I'm more aware of my food guilt. Why I'm guilty in the first place, and what to do about it. Happy Christmas, baby! Merry Christmas!
Happy holiday!
It's 11 o'clock and I honestly really want to show you guys what I got. It's really simple and nothing much, but I'm really, really grateful for everything I got. A couple days before Christmas, I actually purchased an iPhone XS Max as a little, you know, early present for myself. And oh my gosh, am I in love! I've never owned any Apple products before, so getting an iPhone has just opened me to a whole new world of technology. Now that we have the phone out of the way, now I want to show you guys what I got for Christmas. I got— it's basically a smoothie maker. My other smoothie maker is really, really broken. It just doesn't really mix well anymore. It's getting old, so a new one was definitely needed. This is also a super small one, so it's really compactable, and I'm just so excited to use this. Look at the mess right here. That's my little candy haul. Also, I want to thank Betta from @bettabullets for sending me a December bullet journal. Definitely go check out her Instagram. She's so creative and talented in the work she does. Let go of food rules and try to move away from labeling your food as either healthy or unhealthy. As we all know, diet culture has painted this false image of food. It's either good or bad. But let me tell you, there is no such thing as good or bad food. It's just called food, and it's either more nutrient-dense or less nutrient-dense. Any food we eat, regardless of how good or bad you may think it is, gives us energy, keeps us alive. And I don't know about you, but it It would just feel so out of place for me to eat super quote-unquote healthy during the holidays while watching everyone else in my family indulge in literally the most delicious food ever, like mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, pizza, sugar cookies, you name it. So you know what? I don't care. I'm treating myself for the holidays and that's that. To end off this video, I just want to say Happy New Year to everyone. 2020 has been tough. It's been full of changes we all weren't expecting to happen. Experience, but we made it. 2021 is here, which means a fresh start, new goals to achieve, new memories to make. I wish you all the best, and whatever it may be, I hope this year brings joy and success. Let's make 2021 a year to remember.
