Willpower strategies to survive the holidays

Unfortunately it is also the time of year that we can lose a lot of goal progress in just a few days of indulging.
For those of you who are looking to come out of the holiday season as healthy, if not healthier, here are four research-based ways to use willpower to survive holiday temptations.
1. Play offence, not defence
When we think about willpower, we often think about “playing defence”; we see temptation and use our willpower to resist it, when really we should strategise ahead.
Rather than waiting until the bottle of wine is opened, you should plan that two glasses will be enough for you.
Rather than relying on your willpower to save you when your family is serving three kinds of dessert, aim to have one serving of your favourite.
Understand that during the holiday season, your willpower will indeed be tempted.
This is a phenomenon called the “hot-cold gap”.
Decide which indulgences matter the most to you and stick to them.
2. Do not defer to January 1
The biggest mistake people make during the holidays is to stray away from their healthy lifestyles mid-December and pick it back up on January 1.
Researchers call this type of thinking the “what-the-hell effect”; if the new year is really going to be the time that I start dieting and exercising, what the hell, I may as well enjoy these cookies and wine while I can.
In moderation this is not a terrible idea, but the what-the-hell effect leads to going completely overboard.
Avoid the trap of going overboard and think about how much better you will feel on January.
3. Do not deny yourself anything and everything
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the people who attempt to deny everything they come into contact with.
They try to cut out the treats, the mashed potatoes and gravy and the delicious wine.
This will lead to either:
a) missing out on the celebrations completely, or
b) eventually giving in and feeling guilty because you feel as if you have no willpower
Trying to completely cut things out that we really want can lead to what researchers call “ironic rebound”.
This means that you will end up with even more cravings.
Holidays is about moderation.
4. Eat the frog first
Mark Twain had a famous quote: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning then nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
What Twain meant is if you get the hardest things done first thing, everything else in the day will be easier and more enjoyable.
For the holiday season, this means accomplishing our goals of health and well-being first thing in the morning when your willpower is the strongest.
If you want to exercise, do it right after you wake up or if you are worried about eating healthily, eat a healthy breakfast.
Simply changing the way you say no to a temptation can make it exponentially easier for you to resist.
The holidays are a reason for celebrating the year’s accomplishments.
Do not indulge too much, nor deny yourself the ability to celebrate with family and friends.
Source: https://www.willpowered.co/learn/survive-the-holidays