A step by step guide on how to survive Christmas
You spent the holidays dyke-ing the halls, making the yuletide beyond gay, and now you are spent. If you are anything like my GF and I, we “tried” to be good. We made a plan going into the holidays. We were going to have our regular breakfasts, NOT overindulge in eats, and keep up with our scheduled workouts.
What actually happened? I went for a run and sauna post wine(s), and wondered why I wasn’t sweating. Dehydration is like totally a thing! My boo, she woke up day 3 of our 6 day Christmas party marathon and had cookies for breakfast. I ate all of the cheese everywhere I went, and by the end of it all… we were sleepy, bloated, kinda cranky and just not feeling our best. We, despite our efforts got ourselves a serious case, of what I like to call “the holiday lulls”.
Come Monday it was back to reality. All the things we put on hold over the holidays were there waiting right where we left them. Work back in full swing, laundry piled high, decorations to take down. The only thing left to eat at my place and fuel up on, was about 34,692,634 boxes of holiday baked goods and sweets. Which the sight of made me actually want to tantrum. How was I ever going to get my life together?! Where does one start?! Here is the step by step guide to how I got my life together after my favourite Xmas yet.
· Took down Xmas decorations ASAP. Getting over Xmas is like getting over a break up. Out of sight is out of mind.
· Green Tea. Started off my Monday with this and poured liberally throughout the day. There is something about the simple act of drinking green tea that makes you feel good about yourself. Packed full of antioxidants and hints of caffeine, green tea gives you a little boost without leaving you jittery. It’s also proven to improve mood, brain function and memory too.
· Kitchen Clean Up. I ransacked my cupboards and filled a box for my local pantry. Food banks are the lowest right after the holidays. Those 34,692,634 boxes of chocolates and candies don’t need to be hoarded till they get chalky at my place. Folks scrapping by on just the necessities might really enjoy a treat in January when things are extra tough.
· Had a normal breakfast. I’m a creature of habit. Every day I have an egg and toast for breakfast. Because, well… it’s what makes me feel my best. Getting back to routine, helped me shed that “over-hormoned water retaining sea cow” feeling.
· Water. Drank all of the water! Water flushes out your body of waste, it’s hydrating, gives you energy, helps you focus, improves mood and gives your skin that glowy look. It basically is the pill for all that ails you post holidays.
· Grocery shopped like a healthy badass. After I cleared out the 34,692,634 boxes of sweets, there wasn’t much to eat in my kitchen other than holiday leftovers. As unreal good as my holiday meals have been, what my body really needed was something without cheese. So I headed out to stock up on fresh food.
· Meal Prep. The early post holiday period is a whole other rat race. Being crunched for time means I don’t have a ton of time to cook. I need something ready to go. For me, this was my grandpa’s famous chicken and vegetable soup. Bone broth is pretty much the only thing my naturopath prescribes. Good for the belly and boosting immunity. A big pot of this is sure to make sure the 20kgs of kids germs I encountered over the holidays don’t take root, annnnd keep me from grabbing a big mac pizza on the way home.
· Gym. As much as I wanted to just have a nice long coma. I hit my workout routine. Although I doubted I had the steam, once I got started there was no stopping me. Getting my body moving after days of sitting, socializing and feasting felt amazing. Best part I was stupid proud of myself. Nothing quite like impressing yo-self.
· Fresh friggin air! I parked my car and ran my errands “a pied”. Crisp air in my undercut, sunshine on my face really turned my waddle into a strut.
· Relax. I think I was more overwhelmed after Xmas than I was during it. So much to do to get my life borderline back on track and organized. The list was long! Sighhhhh. My adorable friend Rachael however gifted me with an awesome smelling LUSH massage bar for Xmas. My girlfriend and I put this to work, going massage for massage on our post holiday date night. I felt relaxed, the room smelt amazing and it made for some nice alone time after so much socializing.
· Sleep. I got 8 hours of beautiful amazing incredible sleep.
When I woke up this morning I felt like a brand new lady! So if you’re like me and find yourself in the throes of a “holiday lull”, try some of these recovery techniques. Have any other post holiday go to strategies? Share them with me here in the comments. How are you bouncing back this year?