The holidays are just around the corner (WHAT??), and as fun and exciting as that can be it’s also a little scary when you consider this…

Many Americans gain more weight between Thanksgiving and Christmas as they do between Christmas and Thanksgiving.  In fact, I’ve seen claims of 6 -15 pounds gained in just those 4 weeks.  

With the effort to get FIT and not FAT this holiday season, I'm offering a very special Holiday Survival Workshop on Wednesday, November 20th at Chiropractic First in Evanston, IL from 6:30-8:30PM. 

During this extremely helpful Holiday Survival Workshop you’ll…

• Learn about stress management along with some helpful exercises you can do anywhere when the freakouts get the best of you;
• Get easy-to-implement tips and tricks for staying on track with your goals when you go to holiday parties or have to travel;
  
• Discover delicious alternatives to high sugar holiday dishes (and go home with the recipes!)
• Learn how to enjoy holiday treats and drinks mindfully (yes, there will be yummy snacks and beverages to be had!).

Tickets for the event are $25.  The value of the lessons you’ll learn and the tools you’ll walk away with…well, the cliché answer is “priceless”, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide.  How much do you value staying fit and not fat this holiday season?

REGISTER FOR THE HOLIDAY SURVIVAL WORKSHOP HERE

I look forward to sharing my holiday survival secrets with YOU!

I was recently asked to speak at a CRAVEChicago event about how to deal with freakouts and I thought, Well, the most stressful time of the year is almost upon us so I should share what I talked about!

There is a lot of stuff out there in the world that makes us freak out. From current events to what’s going on in our own overly-scheduled lives, I’m sure there isn’t a week that goes by when our hearts don’t stop beating with anxiety.

So why do we freak out in the first place? I think it's because we feel that we have no control over the situation at hand.

And why do we have no control over said situation? I think it’s either because we don’t have enough information to see the big picture (“I’m going out of town for the holidays and don’t know how I’m going to keep up with exercise!”) or we really don’t like the information we have and don’t know what to do with it (“There’s a freak storm coming and all flights have been canceled and I’m stuck at the airport with nothing to eat but McDonald’s!”).

3.   Appoint and then call your personal crisis manager. If you don’t have someone in your life that holds that title, appoint one ASAP. My bestie Kate is able to step aside as my friend and calmly ask questions about what’s going on and then she helps me craft a plan with several options that tackle how to take care of the crisis at hand. Sometimes you need fresh ears from someone who is super smart who cares about you/your success and can also support you without judgement.


4.   Complete a single task that helps you gain back control. To be completely transparent, I was FREAKED OUT after spending most of October out of town and then sick. I felt like I’d lost control of IzzyFit and that surely business had gone downhill and there was no way out. After going through steps 1-3 I was finally able to pin-point the task I needed to do: Take a hard look at my numbers. So I pulled up my spreadsheet, worked on numbers from the last month and a half for an hour and finally had some information to analyze. From there I was able to calmly form a plan of action to make sure I got back on track and now I can’t be more excited about things to come!

Freakouts are going to happen. Just know that they can be temporary if you allow yourself to go through the appropriate steps to regain control and rewrite the dialogue. 

What are some ways you calm yourself down? Share your tips in the comments below!

While we’re on the topic: Do you want to know how to survive the holiday season without going insane or gaining weight? I’m hosting a Holiday Survival Workshop in Evanston in November. Check out more information on my Events page here!