I’m heading back east next week to celebrate Thanksgiving in the states with my family, and I’m excited for a little R&R. But I have to admit, as practiced as I am in #moderation365 and travel, sometimes I still stress.

What sweet and treats will be around? Will I be able to exercise? What about jetlag? The political climate is tense, how will I navigate those conversations? Will my mom have enough wine for the week? Lol.

As you know, I am not a huge fan of stressing about food or training, mostly because I focus on doing only a small handful of things consistently and let the chips fall with the rest of it. Here are what my intentions look like going into the holiday week:

I’ll do my best to fill up on satiating protein and veggies (fiber) as much as possible at meals. These will be the first things to hit my plate, and I won’t stress about the fat content of the protein or the sodium or the marinades.

In an effort to be both satisfied AND not neurotic, I will just let these big dial-moving choices be enough. And if I want to sprinkle on some starches and dessert, I’d take a few bites of things that look delicious and practice mindfulness.

I’ll never forget Thanksgiving after my first figure competition. I went to visit my 3 brothers who were all still in grade school and my Dad, and—no joke—I went to the gym TWICE A DAY every day and did 2-3 HOURS of cardio. I would only come back to the house to eat and relax for a minute and then head back to the gym.

I was obsessed, not because I was excited about the gym, but because I was terrified of gaining weight. Let alone the fact that the sheer about of exercise I was doing was causing me to be ravenous and binge eat.

Now, I try to train with weights a few days during a holiday week—and when I do, I make sure to move intensely, using heavy weights and do 10-15 mins of HIIT training on the treadmill, but the hours and hours of preventative exercise are over—and so are my insatiable cravings.

Mostly, I go for slow leisure walks with my family, with my puppy, Pip and on my own to clear my head—30 minutes here, and hour there. I try to move each day and don’t make the mistake of thinking something isn’t nothing.

I like wine. I’m not compulsive with it, but for me, it’s a way to feel satisfied, relaxed and enjoy the quality time with my family without overdoing it on treats and sweets. I might indulge a little more over the holidays (days in a row), but if I do, I pull back on the desserts. Not because I have to white-knuckle it to resist them, but simply because mindfully sipping wine makes me feel satisfied enough.

And just because it’s “the holidays,” doesn’t mean I have to eat every single last dessert—as if in the future they’re never going to be around. Scarcity and urgency and Food FOMO can be huge traps around the holidays. Grandma can actually make her special holiday apple pie anytime—or, if she can’t, you can whip it up yourself in April if you want? NDB, yea?

Any food is available any time.

You don’t have to anticipate arguments, but all I’m saying is that sometimes the booze is flowing and not everyone at the dinner table agrees on everything.

The way I see it, this is one of the BEST opportunities to practice your mindset work. For me, it’s a great opportunity to practice what I preach—giving people the benefit of the doubt, honest and clear communication and also, the opportunity to have a conversation and being okay with agreeing to disagree.

Most of the tough conversations I have with those closest to me sound something like this, “You don’t have to see it my way, and I respect your point of view, we just see things differently. I still love you, and I hope we can continue to engage in these kinds of dialogues. To me, these kinds of conversations deepen our relationship, because we can ‘go there’ together, and come out on the other side with more understanding.”

Honestly, I think my family gets nervous as hell around me because I will dive right in, ha! But I do think it’s important to talk about important things. Small talk is fine, but it’s always going to keep the relationship at surface level. Which is again, fine, but it’s hard to feel connected or even excited to hang out when things don’t get deeper.

Anyway, my 2 cents. Speak your piece as clearly and as articulately as you can, and then let the chips fall in terms of how that’s received.

Try not to take things personally and know that all you can really control is how YOU show up. Your job is never to convince anyone of anything, just do your best to get YOUR truth across and then release attachment.

And when in doubt, just stick another drumstick in your mouth🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Happy holidays to you! Have a great week and as always, let me know what you need!

Xo,

Jill