If you have been carrying extra weight for too long, making the decision to get to work on your health and weight loss goal is a big step to take. You must also realize that it is a major commitment, changing how you think about the foods you eat for life.

Getting started on this goal in the midst of holiday season might seem like a recipe for disaster. FOMO kicks in when you think of all the holiday dishes that you WON’T be eating. However, it’s better to get your mindset right and your program started before the holidays arrive rather than waiting until the New Year.

Resolution Time

Weight loss is typically a top New Year’s Resolution, having a lot to do with the amount of weight we tend to put on from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve. However, if you get started now with your new way of eating and incorporating physical activity, you’ll get a nice jump start on your progress. Plus, you can either skip making a resolution, or create one that focuses on other areas of interest in your life.

Practice Makes Perfect

During the holidays, you’re faced with a lot of food-related decisions. Almost everything at the holiday dinner table is loaded with fat, sugar/carbohydrates, and sodium. If you begin focusing on healthier foods now, you’ll be able to practice your new eating habits throughout the holiday season. It will be that much easier to continue making healthy choices in the new year, which will make it that much easier on yourself to see some great progress.

Keep the Pounds at Bay

Most of us tend to gain a few pounds, if not more, in the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. If you typically gain 2 pounds in November and 5 pounds in December, that averages to 3.5 pounds per month. If you get started early by simply cutting back on some of those sugary, fatty foods, and only gain 1 pound in November and 1 pound in December, you’ll have cut your weight gain down by over 70%! If you can commit to your program, you can get an even bigger jump start on your goal.

It’s a Lifetime Commitment

You can get started on your weight loss plans now or someday in the future. However, the holidays are inevitably going to come around each year regardless. Losing weight and keeping it off is a lifetime commitment, so you’ll be faced with the same decisions every year. Getting started now doesn’t mean you’re depriving yourself; you’re just getting into a healthier mode that you can stick to for life. If you decide to have a holiday binge one last time and get started in January, you might experience feelings of deprivation and sacrifice, plus you’ll be starting even heavier than you are right now.

Opportunities to Learn and Experiment

When you decide to lose weight (and in the long-term, keep it off), you’ll have to rethink how you cook and prepare your foods on a daily basis. You’ll be swapping out high calorie, high fat, and high carbohydrate foods for healthy selections instead. The holidays give you a chance to learn and experiment with lots of new recipes, side dishes, and condiments/seasonings that will still be tasty but will work for your health and wellness long into the future.

Don’t Do It Alone

Find someone to stay accountable to and be honest with. You can turn to a friend, family member, or a weight loss coach to help remain focused on your goals. Sharing ideas for recipes and how to get through holiday parties and dinners is much easier when you have someone you can rely on. If you’ve done it alone in the past and have struggled, try something different this time around and find someone who can help motivate you to make it through the holidays.