The holiday season brings an annual tug-of-war between “enjoy yourself” and “don’t overdo it.” Food becomes both the celebration and the stressor.
The background buzz of anxiety over our health goals drowns out our common sense—one holiday, or even a few festive weeks, cannot undo your long-term progress. What matters is how you navigate the season as a whole, not a single meal or moment.
Below are practical strategies to help you stay steady without slipping into restriction, guilt, or the infamous all-or-nothing mindset.
Take the Fear Out of the Festivities
In surveys from Orlando Health, nearly half of adults say they feel stressed about weight or food during the holidays, a tension that often overshadows what should be a restorative season. Nutrition researchers note that while people tend to gain a small amount of weight between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, it’s usually far less than feared—and most of it comes not from one meal, but from weeks of chaotic routines and skipped self care.
Americans talk about holiday eating with an almost moral intensity. Naughty foods. Good choices. Cheating on a diet. The language alone can make the season feel like impending doom.
But your body isn’t keeping score on a single plate of stuffing or a slice of pie. A balanced routine built over months isn’t erased by Christmas dinner.
This perspective is the first step toward a calmer season. It immediately softens the pressure that drives “I ruined everything” thinking. The holidays are meant to be joyful and communal. Approaching them with fear often leads to the very swings in eating behavior you’re trying to avoid.
Make a Plan—Don’t Wing It
Have you ever heard of “choice overload?” Behavioral economists explain it as that moment when the environment becomes unpredictable or overstimulating. In response, our decisions get worse, not better.
Holidays are a perfect storm—a food festival wrapped up in a lot of fear. Even confident eaters feel unmoored.
Everywhere you turn, there’s something new in your line of sight: a towering display of peppermint bark, hot-chocolate kits stacked on end caps, coworkers exchanging tins of toffee, eggnog in a bowl the size of a birdbath.
Then, you walk into a relative’s kitchen and see four types of cookies, two casseroles, and a giant cheese ball and immediately think “well, forget it,” not because you want all of it, but because the sheer volume makes choosing feel impossible.
A plan gives you a sense of agency in the midst of all the abundance. It doesn’t have to be ridgid, in fact, it shouldn’t be. But having a few guidelines will help you avoid decision-fatigue and keep you from being swept along by circumstances.
Your plan might include:
- Where you want to be flexible (for example, Christmas dinner) and where you want structure (for example, breakfasts)
- A short list of foods you truly love and want to savor
- A few simple boundaries, like sticking to one plateful at dinner parties
- Daily habits that make you feel healthy and strong, like a morning walk or a protein-rich lunch
Find and Make Cleaner Versions of Your Favorites
A decade ago, “healthy holiday recipes” meant salad with lite dressing and dry turkey. Today, food bloggers, dietitians, and home cooks have created an ecosystem of healthy, wholesome spins on the classics. Now, you don’t have to choose between total indulgence and total restriction.
Start by listing the foods you look forward to most—gingerbread cookies, mashed potatoes, peppermint bark. Then search for versions that fit your goals. This small step alone reduces the pressure to “get it all in now before January,” which is a hallmark of the all-or-nothing mindset.
Need recipe inspiration? I’ve rounded up some of my favorites here.
Take Your Mind Off the Menu
Food is meaningful, and a big part of holiday identity in the U.S. But it’s not the only source of holiday joy. Anthropologists who study holiday rituals consistently find the same thing: people create strong, lasting memories of their holiday rituals—things like the songs, decorations, and family traditions.
When asked to recall childhood holidays, we often describe sledding, candlelight services, the smell of pine trees, wrapping gifts with grandparents—but rarely the exact foods on our plates.
This is a powerful reminder that joy isn’t limited to what’s served for dinner. When food becomes the entire centerpiece, other sources of meaning fade into the background. Pulling your attention outward rebalances the season.
Let Post-Meal You Guide Your Plate
Psychologists have a name for this concept: temporal distancing. It’s the ability to imagine how you’ll feel in the near future and use that as your guide. During big holiday meals, long-term goals (“I want to lose 10 pounds”) can feel abstract in the middle of Christmas dinner.
But asking How do I want to feel in an hour? is concrete, grounded, and surprisingly effective. This could look like pausing and thinking: If I eat this much, I know I’ll be uncomfortable on the couch afterward. Not a moral judgment, just practical wisdom.
Focusing on post-meal comfort rather than on discipline naturally leads people to eat more moderately without feeling deprived. This is why considering your nearby future self works so reliably on holidays: it keeps you grounded in your sensations, not glued to a set of rules.
Here’s what often happens when you eat for your one-hour-in-the-future self:
- You stop overanalyzing your plate and naturally gravitate toward a balanced mix of foods.
- The “last chance to eat this” mentality fades because you’re no longer thinking extremes.
- You enjoy indulgent holiday favorites without sliding into overload.
- You leave the table feeling good, and that steadiness carries into the rest of the day.
This approach is one of the most reliable antidotes to the all-or-nothing thinning: make choices your on-hour-later self will genuinely appreciate.
Know How to Recover From a Slip
Ask any dietitian who works through December, and they’ll tell you…
The issue is rarely the indulgence itself. It’s the reaction. People who maintain their progress aren’t the ones who avoid treats. They’re the ones who recover quickly without spiraling.
It goes like this: A lady eats three slices of pie at a holiday dinner. No biggy. But she panicked, skipped breakfast the next day, and by noon was starving. That lead to more overeating.
Another lady also ate three slices of pie, and simply moved on. Guess which one stayed steady through January?
The difference wasn’t discipline. It was a recovery.
Even with the best intentions, you’ll have moments that don’t go as planned. Maybe you over-served yourself at the dessert table. Maybe you ate past fullness and woke up feeling that food hangover. That’s normal. What happens next determines whether the slip is a blip or the start of a spiral.
A quick check in with yourself can bring you back to balance:
- Take a breath: Pause before reacting—a short walk a few deep breaths help interrupt the urge to compensate dramatically.
- When you notice yourself getting too strict: Overcorrection backfires. A balanced plate with protein, fiber, and healthy carbs and fats will stabilize you.
- When you notice yourself throwing in the towel: The “I blew it, so it doesn’t matter” mindset has an antidote: one small, immediate act toward feeling your best. This could be preparing your favorite energizing meal, going for a walk, or setting a hydration goal.
A Happy and Healthy Holiday Can Really Happen
With perspective, a loose plan, and a recovery strategy, you can enjoy the season fully without slipping into the extremes that make holidays feel harder than they have to be.
If you want support that extends beyond December, my LEAN program offers a steady, realistic framework for staying consistent year-round.
*Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. I don’t recommend products because I get a commission, I choose them because I believe in and use them.
