Hi there! How was your weekend?
My long holiday weekend was glorious! Backing it up to Thanksgiving, I spent morning hiking Iron Mountain with my hubby and puppy. We hadn’t hiked there since last summer, and it seemed like the perfect half-day trip: 2 1/2 hours of hiking + 40 minutes of driving each way.
We thought that the trail wouldn’t be all that crowded with the holiday and a lot of people traveling, but to our surprise a lot of people had the same idea as us. The trail was busy with lots of families and happy dogs! The hike was a nice gradual incline workout with gorgeous area views.
I had wanted to get in a family outdoor workout prior to our afternoon holiday festivities, and I’m so glad that we went hiking. It’s such a great way to start Thanksgiving together!
Afterwards, we headed to our friends’ Tiffany and Jeff’s house for their annual friendsgiving party – where we ate, drank, and laughed the rest of the day away. It’s become a tradition to spend Thanksgiving with them, and we had a blast celebrating the holiday at their house. 🙂
I brought a maple pecan goat cheese ball with cranberry jam appetizer and a pumpkin apple crumb cake, both recipes courtesy of Ashley (Thanks for sharing these great recipes, lady!).
I think I might make the goat cheese ball again for my Christmas Eve on the East coast!
Other weekend highlights included crossing the border into Baja California on Saturday (a recap of the trip to come later this week!), as well as nabbing a tree and putting up our Christmas decorations on Sunday. Between all of my decor being up and the hours of online Christmas shopping I did over the weekend, I’m fully in the holiday spirit now!
Since Thanksgiving is really the kickoff of the holiday season, last night I got to thinking about my weekend and how many indulgences inevitably come with this time of the year. I would much rather splurge with my diet when I want, but then also even it out a bit by being really active.
For example, I drank too much wine on Thanksgiving, ate dessert three nights in a row, and ate a lot of guacamole and chips in Tijuana. But I also went hiking on Thursday, went for a nice long walk along the beach with my dog on Friday, ate really clean on Sunday, walked a ton in Mexico on Saturday (I literally walked across the border), and had a sweaty kickboxing session on Sunday.
Carlsbad beach in November – not too shabby!
Here are some of my guidelines for healthy living over the holidays:
1.) Live by the rule that every little bit counts when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. I usually try to keep my diet lighter during the day since I know that I’m bound to indulge more with dinnertime and afterwards.
On the fitness side, I squeeze in whatever workouts I can. Sometimes they might not be as long or intense as what I prefer, but a 20 minute workout is always better than no workout at all! I especially follow this rule when I’m on the east coast seeing family over Christmas. It does not have to be all or nothing!
2.) I try to balance out my eats between indulgences and clean food. If I know that I’ll be eating a lot at a holiday party, I eat a healthy, fiber-rich breakfast, and I try to eat a bit lighter the following day.
The new Brooks sneakers that I nabbed during a Thanksgiving sale
3.) I pick and choose my diet splurges. I can skip the bread if I know that I really want to have dessert, or eat a smaller portion of dinner, or have one glass of wine instead of two. Life’s too short to not enjoy foods/dishes/drinks guilt-free that you really want to have, but it’s all about picking and choosing for me.
4.) Reduce the stress whenever you can. Holiday parties, gift giving, traveling, hosting get togethers… and the list of holiday fun goes on and on. While all of these things are usually great, they can also be stressful. I try to be as organized as I can so that I don’t get overwhelmed.
For instance, I keep a list of gifts I’ve gotten people and gift ideas so that I’m not frazzled when I’m shopping. Before my hubby and I fly home for Christmas, I figure out all our plans in advance. We’ve always got a lot of family and friends to see with not a lot of time, so scheduling it all in keeps it from stressing me out.
Ask yourself, “How can I make things less stressful this holiday season?” and then DO IT! You’ll be happy you did.
Some of my family and I wearing my late grandma’s Christmas sweaters last year in honor of her love for the holidays
5.) Remember the reason for the season. Focus on the real meaning of the holidays and why it’s important to you. For me, it’s about spending quality time with loved ones, enjoying the people that I’m around and continuing family traditions. It puts things into perspective and always reminds me of how grateful I am. Practicing gratitude can only make you happier and healthier!
6.) Healthy living over the holidays means being more relaxed about things than usual. I probably won’t workout as much as usual, which is fine. Between Christmas and New Year’s I typically ditch logging into MyFitnessPal and just eat more intuitively. I have no idea what my macros are those days, and that is a-okay. An extra cookie here or there or a glass of wine too many isn’t going to be the demise of my healthy lifestyle!
Tell me… How do you strive for balanced living over the holiday season?
I love this!! First of all, I just truly admire how active you are!! Seriously, it’s so inspiring! Also, those sweaters are so cute, what a sweet tribute to your grandma!! 🙂
Thanks so much, Cailee!
Yea, it was pretty funny having us all put on her sweaters. She had so many of them, and we looked through them all together and chose which ones we wanted to wear.
Such gorgeous pictures!! Those mountain views are stunning…and no, that beach is not too shabby at all.
I really love that you all put on Christmas sweaters to remember your grandma! That is seriously so great 🙂
Ohhh yes, I love mountain views around here! It’s so peaceful to get away from city life and be in quiet nature around here.
So have to make the cheeseball!
So hard to be good during the holiday season-wine…
Haven’t been to the gym in over a week but until the snow came today my dog and I were at least walking a mile every day.
Love the hikes- wish I could do more of that!
I drink lots of wine over Christmas too! Think I’m going to make an apple wintery sangria over the holidays this year. And yes, I highly recommend the cheese ball! It was really easy to make and everyone loved it.
It sounds like you had a great Thanksgiving! Friends, cheese balls, cake, and Mexico? Yes please! 🙂
I love your perspective for finding balance during the holidays. I also allow myself to splurge a little but I try to make up for it by squeezing in a few kale salads and nice long walks. Although it has been so dang cold here, I don’t want to leave the house! Mexico is sounding really nice right about now. 😉
What’s Christmas without some indulgences right? 🙂 I’m looking forward to it later this week!!
Great tips! I’m with you on picking and choosing your indulgences. For example, when I was visiting my in-laws they love to have cake and coffee (traditional morning and afternoon tea for English-descending Aussies!) and dessert. I basically refused all offers of those things so I could chow down on some delicious meals out and enjoy wine most nights while I was there.
Also, those goat cheese balls sound so amazing!!! I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on some cranberry products! 🙂
It always sounds like you have great balance in your life, Britt. You rock lady!
I don’t even want to talk about the amount of wine I drank this past week… but I did hit the hotel gym 3 times… and played a lot of corn hole… 🙂
Did you make that wine cork wreath? I want one!
Yes! I made it last year, and it is probably my most successful DIY project to date 🙂
Ohhh man, those hiking photos. I am itching for a good hike! It’s been sooo cold here.
I’m always dying over your hiking photos. Maybe one day we can meet for a hike the next time you’re in Southern Cali! 🙂
Maple pecan goats cheese ball sounds INCREDIBLE!!! I am going to have to make that.
I am determined to keep up with my workouts this month, even if my eating isn’t that great.
Yesss, I’m making the cheese ball again for Christmas Eve!
Family activity dates are the best over the holidays! Your hiking photos are gorgeous! I also love your Christmas decorations. Such a fun way to get in the holiday spirit!
I always try to stink to the 1/2 rule over the holidays. 1/2 veggies, 1/2 good stuff 😉 or, 1/2 of what my eyes tell me that I want, haha!
And by stink, I meant stick*** hehe 😀
Thank you! I absolutely love holiday decorating. And I like that rule, Lauren!
Love this, Nicole! Your dog is super cute :). I agree that finding balance is important – it’s tough to do during the holidays!
Thanks Annie, I love my crazy pup!
That hike looks absolutely gorgeous!!! How fun! The holidays are so hard to watch what you eat! I try not to limit myself but also not overindulge either…so I’ll save room for dessert, but instead of having 3 cookies, I’ll take one!
The holidays are definitely a challenging time for weight watchers – but, like you said, it can all be done in moderation!
Oh my gosh that goat cheese ball looks ah-mazing! I’m going to have to try that! Great guidelines and glad you were able to get out and be active over the holiday! I was in LA for the week and was surprised at how many people were hiking the day after Thanksgiving as well…guess the whole “staying active thing” is finally catching on!…P.s. LOVE your wine cork wreath!
One thing I LOVE about Southern California is that a lot of people are into active living. Any time I take my dog for a walk along the beach there are lots of people out walking and running too. Everyone is always out and about moving!