Turo Virta: 1:08

Hey, it's Turo here, and welcome back to the fit me Turo fitness Podcast. Today, I want to talk about something very real and very timely. So how to reset after the holidays without punishing yourself. So if you are listening this after Christmas, after big family weekend, or days after a lot of food and not so much movement, maybe a bit of alcohol, and your first thought is, I need to fix this. Now. I was so bad, I have to detox. I need to burn this off. Then this episode is for you. I want you to give a different way, a reset that is calm, kind and realistic, not a boot camp, not a glance, just the way to get back to your groove without hating yourself or your body. My goal for this episode is simple. By the end, I want you to know exactly what to do the day after and the week after in the holidays, so you feel back in control again, without crazy rules, without all or nothing thinking. So all right, let's jump in. So first, I want to see say this very clearly, you do not need to undo Christmas. You do not need to punish yourself for enjoying food and the time with the people you love eating more on some some days is totally normal, and you actually should be doing it, because that is how life works. You are human, not a robot or some dieting machine. So what usually creates the real damage after it's it's not the Christmas day itself. It is what happens after the kilt, the shame to screw it. I ruin it anyway, thinking two or three weeks of I will start later, because you feel bad. And that is the part that makes you gain weight back feel stuck, not the one special meal or day or even a couple days. So what I tell to my clients all the time, one meal doesn't make you lean, one salad doesn't make you thin, one meal doesn't make you gain all weight back, so it is what you do most of the time, not what you do on special days. And I'm sure you know it deep, it inside of you, but there is still some part of you who is, who is trying to avoid this conversation, what we go with ourselves. So I want you to imagine this. Maybe you had a big holiday weekend, maybe you ate more dessert, maybe you had more wine, maybe you moved less. Okay, that already happened. Now you stand in front of the front of two doors. Door one is punishment mode. You step up. You step on the scale. You hate the number. You say bad things to yourself. You decide, no carbs, no sugar, I will be perfect from now on. You over train, you undereat. You feel hungry, tired, and in day five, you are so exhausted that you give up and fall back into old habits. Tortue is a gentle reset. You accept that you ate more. You take a deep breath. You decide, I will treat today as a normal, healthy day. I will do a few simple things to support my body and move on. You feel more calm. You sleep better, and in a week or two, your body feels back to normal again. And this episode is all about door two. So let me talk quickly about why punishment resets don't work in the long term. So because punishment usually looks like this, I will eat 1000 calories, or I will eat nothing at all. I will do two hours of cardio. I will not eat sugar for 30 days because I was so bad. Sounds very strong. Sounds very disciplined, but here is what really happens. You are tired, your body is inflamed, your sleep is off, your mood is slow, and then you add stress on top less food, more training, more rules and your your body feels unsafe. Your brain thinks we are under attack. So cravings go up, willpower goes down. You obsess about food even more, and when you finally kind of break and eat something what was forbidden from your rules, you feel even more guilty. You tell your. Self, see, I can't do it. I always mess up. So you didn't eat only one cookie, you taught your brain another lesson. I'm the kind of person who can't be trusted, and this is the real damage. So we don't want that. We want a reset that sends the opposite message. I can trust myself. I can get back on track. I don't have to be perfect. So I want to get a little bit practical. So imagine it's the morning after a big holiday day. So you wake up, you maybe you feel a bit heavy, puffy, tired, like I'm sure if you have ever celebrated Christmas, you know this feeling, so maybe your brain goes straight to, I should not have eaten that. I hate this feeling. I need to fix this. And I want to give you a very simple day after script. You can even write this down in your notes app if you want. And this is how it is. Step one is one kind sentence to yourself, before you jump on the scale, before you plan anything, say this to yourself. Yesterday was one day, I'm not broken. Today, I take care of my body. That's it short, simple, but it changes the tone in your head. Step two is big glass of water. Your first action, big glass of water. It's not some magic detox, it's just helping your body after salty food, alcohol, sweets. So you don't need lemon water with the cayenne pepper. Plain water is okay. So of course, if you enjoy eating a lemon water, go for it. But there is no magic effect with with the lemon like I'm I'm a person who enjoys lemon. I had it. I have it, a little bit of lemon every day in my my first glass of water, but that's because I enjoy the taste a bit more. It's not that it has some magic effect. So then step number three is protein first breakfast. So that is, that is your next step if you usually skip breakfast or just have a croissant or and coffee. This day is a good day to do something different, examples. So my personal favorite is Greek yogurt with fruits, and I add on top of it some kind of nuts or seeds. Maybe you enjoy having eggs with some vegetables and slice of bread, or maybe you have a skewer or cottage cheese with berries and oats. Maybe you had from Christmas dinner some leftover chicken or turkey with some salad. So the only goal with this is to aiming for around 2530 grams of protein so you don't need to be perfect, just make it a protein meal. Why? Because that protein, it keeps you full longer. It balances your blood sugar. It reduces grave crazy sugar cravings later in the day, and this already makes it so much easier to snack all afternoon. And this is kind of controversial. What maybe you have done in the past. Maybe you are the person you said that you were overeating, so now I need to punish myself. I just skip breakfast. I maybe you are not feeling that hungry. But trust me, all these tips later on, you make it so much easier for yourself. So then step number four is to move your body without a big pressure. So then you are planning, plan it some kind of movement. And I didn't say two hour workout or run until you die, just go for a walk or do 2030, minute light workout, mobility, training, stretching, whatever you what feels easy to do or break it into, like a small movement, snacks. So for example, three times five to 10 minute walks, because I often tell my clients, your job is not to burn off food. Your job is to tell your body, I still move. I still care about you so you move to feel better, not to pay for what you were just eating a day before. And then step number five is one normal plate later in the day for lunch or dinner. What I love to recommend is to have one normal plate, and that includes you have some protein source, you have some veggies or salad, you have some carbs, you enjoy. And a bit of fat, nothing, nothing special, just a normal, balanced plate, and your goal is to return to normal, not to starve. And then step number two, six is early bedtime, or at least better bedtime. And very, very important, try to get to bed a bit earlier, even one night of better sleep. It reduces your cravings, it improves your mood, and it helps you to feel more in control again. So if you can just do these things on the day after you already did a perfect reset, there was there was no detox needed, no Extreme Rules, just a bit more of water, protein, movement, sleep and kind self talk. So instead of taking things away, start adding things. Because once you are adding these things, it's you are seeing that it's automatically reducing the Tata stuff, and you don't need to have the crazy rules and trusting your willpower to be able to see how long you can resist this time. So then now sometimes one day is not enough, and maybe you had a whole week of parties, travel, work events, or maybe it was whole month. So then I like to use, like three to seven day gentle research. Same idea. It's just repeated. So you can think of this, I'm giving my body one calm week, and here is what that week, week can look so anchor one is two strength trainings. So it's two sessions in the week. It's a full body sessions, 3045, minutes. It's not a perfect plan, not six days. There is no real pressure. It's just doing some kind of squat movements, or sitting on a bench and getting up some kind of Hinge Movement, like a deadlift or hip thrust, some kind of push movement, like a push, pull, push, push ups, dumbbell presses, bench presses, some kind of Pull movement, which is some kind of rowing movement. Bench pull and some kind of core work. So two times is enough to tell to your body, hey, keep the muscle. We are still using it. Then anchor. Two is your steps. That's your kind of, what I like to call a safety net. So pick a realistic step call for that week. Maybe it's 6000 steps per day, or maybe, like a weekly step call, what I personally prefer to instead of having aiming every day some amount of steps, I have a weekly step call. Maybe it's 40,000 maybe it's 50,000 steps, maybe 70, depending on what what feels realistic and kind of like it shouldn't feel it's way too easy, but it shouldn't be that, oh, you I have to go to every day to two hour walk, and then you find yourself talking yourself to da, I should go to walk for two hours, but I don't have that. You those two hours, that number is not the most important thing, but because the key is that when you move more than on, you are than on those you're like what I call kind of full couch days. And this is, again, your safety net. And even if nutrition is help, it's not perfect. Those steps are helping with the blood sugar, with your mood, with the digestion and with your stress, and then anchor three is protein at two meals for that week. Tell yourself on five days this week, I will have protein at two meals. For example, protein at breakfast and lunch, or lunch and dinner. Again, aim around 2530, grams on those meals, and this alone is most likely reducing your snacking, keeping you fuller for longer, and it will help you also to keep or build muscle. So you don't need a perfect tracking app. You just need to have it and then anchor four is better sleep for two to three nights. Then you pick those two to three nights in that week where you protect your sleep a bit more, and that might mean no screens 30 minutes before bed. In bed, maybe you call 30 minutes earlier. Maybe it's less alcohol those nuts, because you are not trying to sleep perfectly, and like a monk, you are just saying that these two to three nights, I will really support my body, and those four encores together are two time strength. Like your steps, protein at your meals, two to three good nights of leads, sleep, and that is what a powerful, gentle reset looks like. It's not extreme, but it's very effective. So let me bring to this, to this to life with my two clients, Catherine. Catherine is a mum. She has a very busy job. She have her own company and a lot of responsibility. And in the past, that's two years ago, every holiday season was meaning that she was eating a lot, she was feeling guilty. She would, she would do a crazy diet in January, then she, of course, she would lose some weight, but then gain it back. And two years ago, we did something different, and that was that's, I still remember vividly, because that her December recent plan was simply 7000 steps per day, two strength sessions per week, and it was not even doing full sessions, but it was only to Get started with those sessions, and that was, that was, that was hard moment for her, because she was someone who used to train three, even sometimes four times per week, but we, with the purpose, reduced her strength for two sessions. Because the problem is that, or she already knew before that December is going to be crazy busy month. There's going to be lot of days off, days with the family, and it was not realistic to do those three or four sessions per week. So we said, Why? Why then to aim for three if you know that it's most likely not going to happen. So what is happening if you plan something? What is more realistic you don't like most of the people like myself included, if I have planned three, three workouts per week and I'm able to do only two, I feel guilt about that one workout that I missed, and I don't feel proud of myself doing actually those two sessions. And there is a huge difference when you plan only two and you are able to keep promises what you make to yourself so it's not there is nothing wrong when you access your own expectations based on time and season in your life you are at then what she what she had was a protein at breakfast, and she didn't have any rule about weight loss. And after a weekend with more food, she still had her days when she was having a chocolate, she felt bloated, and she messaged me that I feel off. But she kept those her anchors, and she still walked. She still did get started with her workouts. She still had protein in the morning. And the result, she didn't like she didn't lose 10 kilos in December, but she didn't gain like before, and most important, she didn't feel like a failure. And that's a successful reset. So then another client story that is about Sarah. Sarah, many would she calls kind of imperfect periods, so times with the stress, life problems, personal life, emotional eating. And in the past, after holidays, she would gain a lot of weight, and then she feels like that. She had to start from zero. Now she does it differently, and we look looked at her after behavior like, what is the day after behavior, and she decided that no more I give it. I give up until January, and when she has a big day the next day, she focuses on walking, drinking water and normal protein meal. The last time we talked, she said, this time, I didn't gain as much as I usually do, and I can do many things physically now that I couldn't do before, even though I'm not at my ideal weight yet. And this is the power of not punishing yourself and just gently resetting so often, especially at Christmas time, progress, there are progress, and that is the hardest part to see your progress. Progress is not always losing weight. Progress is maintain everything, or even not gaining as much as usually, because you compare yourself in the past. What happened, maybe year ago, and at this point, maybe two years ago, five years ago, and if you are able to improve from that time, doesn't matter if it's still not going in the direction where you would like, but there is still something have changed. Something is improving. That is a Progress. Progress is not always that scale is going down, down as quickly as possible. So I that is a good point. I guess I want to talk a little bit about scale, because I know that many, many of you will step on it after a holiday weekend, your wake can jump up a lot, and not because you suddenly gain three or four kilos of fat, mostly because of water, salt, carbs stored in your muscles, less movement, maybe alcohol. So if you step up on the scale and see a higher number. I want you to remember that this is not my real progress. This is just my body holding extra water, and you have basically three options. So either you don't if that scale is making you feel bad, or you have some kind of emotion with that number on the scale, if it ruins your day, I probably wouldn't wake yourself for a few days. Just focus on your reset habits or wake yourself. But treat is as a data. It's not some test, and you can literally say, Okay, interesting. I know why it's higher now I will do my reset or only look, and this is my favorite way. What I personally do is to look at weekly average rate, not just one single day. So I wake myself every single day, and some days it's interesting. You learn from your habits what what is like if you I have a digital scale app where my it's everything's there and but I don't look daily numbers. It can fluctuate between 234, kilos within one day. But I look what number is interesting me is weekly average, monthly average, and when I see the trend is going into a direction I don't like, not both daily numbers, but weekly averages, if they are moving into a direction that I don't like, then I know that, oh, there is something I need to be doing. And this is just brings awareness for me. Because often, like most people, they don't gain, you don't gain three, four kilos in a month. Even it's on, on your average weight. But it comes maybe it's one kilo in a month, maybe half kilo a month. But if you repeat those things for several months, it's, then it's, maybe it's two, three kilos per year. Maybe that goes on for five years, 10 years, and then we will have a problem so but whatever you choose from those methods, the only key here is that do not let one number decide if you are good or bad, because you are not the school grade. You are a human and now I want to put this all into a one simple checklist you can use so you can even pause and write this down. But the day after reset, they say one kind sentence. Yesterday was one day. Today I take care of my body. Big glass of water in the morning, protein, first breakfast, and that is the 25 to 30 grams of protein, move, walk or light workout. And there is no punishment. It's just movement. One normal, balanced plate later in the day, and try to go to bed a bit earlier. And if you decide to go three to seven day reset, then you do two strength trainings in a week. You have some kind of step call. It's either daily call or weekly total protein at two meals on most days, and to try two to three nights with better sleep, seven to eight hours, if that is possible, and that's it. If you do just this, you are already going to do more than 95,000 of people, because you don't need extra detox redox powders. You don't need a perfect meal plan. You don't need to punish yourself. And I want to now finish this episode with some sentences you can borrow when your brain starts to be mean to yourself, if you will hear, I was so bad, try. I. Ate more than usually, and that's okay. Today, I support my body. If you hear that, your brain is telling you I have to fix this, try. I don't need to fix myself. I just need to come back to my habits. If you hear I ruined all my progress. Try, my progress is not that fragile. One weekend cannot destroy months of work. If you hear, I need to start this crazy diet in January. Try, I need a plan that I can actually live with not for two weeks, but for the whole year, and talk to yourself like you talk to your best friend, because you would never say to your best friend, you are disgusting. You ruined everything you don't say, so don't say it to yourself. Imagine if every time, this is the best reminder I have that if you are telling yourself things you wouldn't tell to your best friend, like, imagine your best friend is coming to you after Christmas and say that I'm disgusting. I ruined everything. What you would tell to your person? Would you say that you're right? You're totally right. You fucking idiot, what you just did. You are disgusting. You ruined everything. Now you have to go for detox. No, you probably would say that those things what I just told earlier. So you need a plan that you can live with. Be gentle. If you are gentle, person with your best friend. Be that person also with yourself. So to wrap this up, a good reset after the holidays is not about punishment, it's about support. So support your body with water, protein, movement and sleep. Support your mind with Kinder thoughts, and support your future self by not starting another extreme cycle. And remember you are not behind. You are just continuing your journey with a few big meals in between. And here is what I would love you to do after this episode, pick one day after reset step you will use next time. Maybe it's protein breakfast, maybe it's the walk, maybe it's the early bedtime. Pick one anchor four to seven next three to seven days. Maybe it's strength two times per week. Maybe it's your steps. Maybe it's protein at two meals or better, sleep. Just one to focus on. And if you want some accountability, send me a message on Instagram and tell me Turo, my recent anchor this week is and whatever you decide to choose. And if you feel stuck or want more support with strength training habits or building a balanced lifestyle, you can actually keep you can always check my coaching options and free tools on my website, I will put link to show notes and thank you for listening, for taking care of yourself and for not giving up even after Christmas days. Have an amazing day, and I'll talk to you in the next episode.