Do the holidays stress you out ?
The end of the year is approaching again: short days, cold weather, and busy schedules. Suddenly, working out feels like a chore, while chocolate letters, drinks, and Christmas dinners are popping up everywhere. That can be quite demotivating, especially when you're already working hard on getting fit.
But: it's Christmas, and Christmas should enrich your life, not be ruined by stress about your health goals. And you can have a wonderful holiday without losing sight of your goals. In this blog post, we'll show you how.
For years, research has shown that many people gain between one and two pounds during the 6-8 weeks around the holidays (1, 2). And that doesn't have to be a problem, as long as you lose it again in the new year. But research also shows that many people don't lose this weight (2). If you do that every year, you'll be about 10-20 pounds heavier in 10 years, and you'll notice it.
This effect is much less strong in people who are consciously concerned with their health
There's good news, too. People who focus on healthy eating and exercise all year rarely gain a significant amount of weight during the holidays. While the average weight gain is about a pound, the amount can vary considerably from person to person. Overweight people gain more weight than those in a healthy weight range (3).
So, if you've been maintaining a healthy workout and healthy eating routine year-round, the holidays won't suddenly undo that. Your health isn't defined by just one month. It's all about what you do the rest of the year. Some months simply have more Christmas cookies than others. That doesn't have to ruin your progress at all, and here's why.
What determines your weight?
How much energy or calories your body needs depends primarily on your size, your fat-to-muscle ratio, and your physical activity. Whether you gain weight, maintain your weight, or lose it depends on the balance between what you eat and drink. If you consume more calories than you burn, you'll gain weight; if you consume fewer, you'll lose weight.
The combination of holiday stress, a less regular routine, less exercise, and more social mealtimes means many people eat more, exercise less, and therefore find themselves in a calorie surplus more often, leading to weight gain. But the damage is probably less severe than you think: the weight on the scale doesn't tell you everything; it can't tell you what the extra weight is made of. If you step on the scale after your Christmas dinner and suddenly gain 2 kg, it's not all fat.
You need to eat almost 8,000 extra calories (on top of your daily needs) to gain 1 kg of fat. This is approximate because the exact number can vary from person to person depending on how overweight you are, how long you've been dieting, and other factors beyond your control, such as genetics. That's a challenge in itself: 8,000 calories is equivalent to about 12 bottles of wine, or 9 pizzas. Even if you try really hard, you won't achieve that with just one Christmas dinner.
So what exactly is that extra weight? Mainly water, because you often eat more salty and carbohydrate-rich food than usual. This causes you to retain more fluid. But it's also simply more food in your intestines that causes the extra weight. If you step on the scale a few days after your Christmas dinner, this often evens out.
Yet, many people experience stress during the holidays. Among our clients, we often see one of two approaches: some people adopt an even stricter diet in anticipation of their Christmas dinner to limit the damage, while others give up on everything and decide to start over on January 1st. In our opinion, neither approach is ideal.
Two types of December dieters
Both groups respond to end-of-year stress, just in completely different ways.
1. The 'strict planner' – everything under control, until it goes wrong
This group will initially be extremely strict in December. Eating very little, eliminating carbs, living on lettuce and cucumbers, running every day or doing other excessive cardio: all to "make room" for Christmas. But restriction followed by excess results in binge behavior.
So it's no wonder that once Christmas rolls around, this group goes completely nuts. They eat much more than they planned, because in their minds, they have that freedom from depriving themselves of everything for so long. The result is that you eat more than you want, and then you feel guilty about it and fall back into the restriction for the new year. You start January exhausted instead of recharged, and this costs you much more effort than necessary to find balance.
Moreover, this yo-yo behavior has an unhealthy side effect: the ratio of fat mass to muscle mass deteriorates. Starving yourself first causes you to lose a lot of muscle mass, especially if you also do less strength training because your December schedule is chaotic. You then regain this weight as fat if you eat more for a few days and don't use those extra calories at the gym. This results in an unhealthy body composition at the end of the holidays, meaning more fat mass and less muscle mass, even if your weight is the same as at the beginning of December.
2. The "I'll start again in January" quitter
We also see the opposite: this group completely lets go of December and doesn't think about anything during it. No gym, no planning, saying "yes" to every Christmas party—it's the ultimate December sabbatical. December feels like the last supper where you still have to indulge because January 1st is over for a while. You give yourself unlimited permission to do whatever you want.
But the end result is similar to the first group: they end the holidays exhausted instead of recharged and the shift into January is extreme:
- from drinks every day to salads every day
- from 0 workouts to 6 workouts per week
- from no structure to 100% discipline
This shift is often too big and unsustainable, meaning all those good intentions are already a thing of the past by February. Healthy habits develop through small adjustments, implemented step by step, allowing you to maintain them for the long term, not through extreme leaps.
How to start 2026 without stress
A healthy lifestyle and a joyful Christmas can go hand in hand. Whether or not you focus on your health shouldn't depend on the time of year, because then you'll never achieve long-term results. The key is finding balance and moderation, and that's not as impossible as you might think. As mentioned, you'd have to eat a lot more to gain 5 kg of fat in two days, so the chances are slim, but ignoring it isn't wise either.
Start 2026 feeling recharged and full of energy with these practical tips:
- No December crash diets: Avoid starving yourself and then eating everything in sight. Focus on protein and plenty of vegetables and fruit at every meal. If you have a large Christmas dinner in the evening, you can easily skip a meal the next day. We recommend never doing this before, but always after, to avoid arriving at the dinner table starving and eating much more than you planned. It's mentally easier to skip a meal the next day because you'll still be full.
- Keep moving, but don't expect perfect training weeks: avoid spending the entire Christmas period stuck indoors by the fire. Keep training and accept that it might be a little less consistent due to chaotic weeks with holidays or closed gyms. If necessary, explore alternative forms of exercise. For example, take a walk with family or friends instead of another Christmas party.
- Say no for once: You don't have to attend every Christmas party just because you're invited. You don't have to try every dessert/snack/appetizer/oliebol just because it's on the menu. You don't have to join every round of drinks. Selectivity isn't unpleasant: it's self-care. Choose the moments you most look forward to and enjoy. How often do we find ourselves at yet another Christmas party that feels more like an obligation than something enjoyable? How often do we still eat dessert even though we're full and actually have enough, but don't want to disappoint our host? Do yourself a favor and stop doing that.
Christmas is all about enjoying time with friends and family, so focus on that. Try to stick to your routine as much as possible with exercise and staying active, but accept that it will be less efficient than the rest of the year, and that's okay.
Enjoy your Christmas dinner guilt-free, but always listen to your body and stop when you're full. Choose your drinks and parties consciously and say no more often.
Moving into December with more balance instead of an "all-or-nothing" approach will help you start January feeling recharged and energized. With more energy, less stress, better habits, and above all: many more wonderful memories. So by making more conscious choices, you prevent holiday stress from taking over.
Want to get through December with less pressure and start the new year with more balance, energy, and confidence in your habits? Do you find that holiday stress sometimes disrupts your healthy routine? Then click here. and fill out the contact form. Then we'll explore together how you can make healthy choices that you can actually maintain, in December and beyond.
References
- Schoeller, Dale A. “The effect of holiday weight gain on body weight.” Physiology & behavior 134 (2014): 66-69.
- Guerrero‐Magaña, Diego E., et al. “Interventions for the prevention of weight gain during festive and holiday periods in children and adults: A systematic review.” Obesity Reviews 26.1 (2025): e13836.
- Abdulan IM, Popescu G, Maștaleru A, Oancea A, Costache AD, Cojocaru DC, Cumpăt CM, Ciuntu BM, Rusu B, Leon MM. Winter Holidays and Their Impact on Eating Behavior—A Systematic Review. Nutrients . 2023; 15(19):4201. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15194201
