Fitness and Diet Tips for The Holidays?

You crazy man

Probably the only site on the net giving advice on how to pack more food into your gut during the holidays!

Happy holidays and a great new year to you, Rusty!

I agree with you totally, we have to live LIFE, specially in those moments spent with the ones we Love. Living a healthy Lifestyle is a good thing but let's not be obsessed with it, we all need to have fun, eating lots of sugar and calories won´t be the rule, but exceptions that we should enjoy. I think that one of the most negative things from other fitness and/or bodybuilding sites is the sick obsession about eating one extra calorie, one gram of protein less than you need LOL, i know it ain't exactly like this but you get the picture, it really makes me angry when they call people losers just because they didn't stick to their diets in these special moments, i just feel like telling them: hey i have a Life outside the gym, i'm not a robot who only thinks about training and diet, but at the same time i feel sorry for those guys, i believe their lives are so empty that they only have that obsession to fill their days.
What i say is, live healthy, but LIVE and be happy.

A merry Christmas and a very happy new year to everyone, with many good things, health and happyness.

God Bless you all

Haha!! I can't believe you just told us to go all out and not to care about nutrition!!!

For the most part I've stopped being so picky about what I eat. But I'm still running and burning off what I can!! I'd like to maintain my weight over the holidays and then return to real workouts once the new year rolls around.

Yavor,

Yeah…It is certainly the only fitness site telling people this…LOL!

Helder,

Yep…I am all about getting fit, but in the context of having a good life…plus it would hurt my Aunt's feelings if I didn't eat about 10-12 of her sugar cookies! I wouldn't want that to happen

C,

Yeah…I will workout these last two weeks of Christmas, just not on the day of the holiday or on Christmas Eve. When I'm with my family, it is all about them. I agree with you…once the New Year rolls around it is time to really push it up a notch!

Have a Great One!

Rusty

"Your Holidays Are Numbered. Enjoy Them While You Can!" — woah, I never thought of it like that before…I mean, I wonder how many more I will be able to spend with my parents? My friends? My other relatives? … wow. Haha, deep thoughts, Rusty!

Heya Rusty!

I've been following your articles/advice since I started my program last july of 2007. I've already lost so much body fat from 155lbs down to 127lbs (six months time!) from 32 inches down to 26 inches on my waist! I did lots and lots of skipping rope combined with gym workouts. With the abdominal muscles almost showing, I've never gotten this lean until now.

Your articles definitely changed the way I view fitness forever.
I used to be impressed with guys who can lift heavy and get bulky but not anymore!

I'm planning to relax a bit more for the holidays and eat everything I wan't. It does makes sense, how many holidays with family do we have in our lifetime? not much! so let's enjoy!

Enjoy the holidays and more power to you!

Gerald,

Great to hear you are getting good results! Keep up the good work and enjoy the holidays.

Jonneh,

Enjoy your holidays buddy! I try to throw out a deep thought every now and then

Rusty

That's great advice Rusty. Since I started following your advice I have seen my body transform! I was so lost and frustrated with fitness and diet before, but now I feel and look so much better.

You're right about enjoying every holiday as much as you can, because you don't know how many more you will have with loved ones. My Dad passed away on February 25th 2007, so this is my family's first Christmas without him. This time last year we had no idea it would be his last. It is really sad, but one thing I have learned is to really enjoy life and be aware of how special times like these are with your family.

Thanks again Rusty for your advice and inspiration. I wish you and everyone who comments a very Merry Christmas and an awesome New Year.

Rusty,

I'm having goose with crispy goose fat/skin, potatoes and vegetables roasted in goose fat, gooseberry sauce made with butter, followed by plum pudding with brandy butter. All washed down with champagne and wine. If I am still alive after Christmas I will eagerly anticipate your next post, which i'm sure will tell us to STOP eating before we need stretch pants…

Merry Christmas to you and all your readers, Steve P.

haha, what a great post!! have a nice christmas

Happy Holidays Rusty and everyone reading this!!!

I know you enjoy life to the fullest.

Thank you for sharing and helping others to savor the pleasures of being alive.

Eric Jones

Sound advice yet again, Rusty.

This is pretty irrelevant but I have a question about facial fat/neck fat/chin (the under the chin area) fat. I'm aware that you can't spot reduce fat, but what would be the best way to go about toning the neck area so that the chin protrudes as far as possible in comparison to the neck? I have a pretty small jaw so I don't really have that chiseled look, and even though I'm ridiculously skinny (115 lbs at 5'9") I have some facial fat and under-chin fat. For example, when I jump or run or something, my face (cheek area mostly) bounces considerably, where it once remained quite taut.

So yeah, sorry for the huge post, but I'm basically just asking how to go about getting a really toned neck/jaw/face so that regardless of what angle I'm viewed from, I appear to have little to no facial/neck/under-chin fat.

John,

Really the best way to keep an angular and handsome face for a man is to have a low body fat percentage. Outside of that, there isn't too much else you can do (besides plastic surgery).

It is kind of the same deal with hair loss. I could have bought transplants or "Hair Club for Men". It is best to just embrace and be proud of what genetics gave you. It is what makes us all unique.

Rusty

rusty i had a question for ya I love mountain bikeing and there are all thses hills on the trail i ride I was trying to incorporate going fast one minutune and slow the next but it seems that I was haveing to peddle fast on the down hill sometimes I was wondering would you just go as hard as you can and the when it goes down hill just coast

thanks
thomas

Thomas,

Yeah, just push yourself hard going uphill and coast when you go downhill. The intervals will vary, but it will still be extremely effective. To be honest the randomness of the length of time will really keep your body guessing and should be very effective at creating the desired effect.

I plan on getting outside more, so I will probably do this exact type of workout.

Great idea!

Rusty

rusty the holidays are over now and i am gonna get ready for spring break.. I was wondering how many days u do cardio and for how long?i bought a tredmill so im pump tp test it out?

Jason,

Aim for 5-6 days a week until you hit your target body fat percentage. At this point you could back down to 3-4 days a week to maintain.

Click the "Aerobic Exercise" category on the right sidebar of this site for quite a few tips on how to get the best workout on your treadmill.

Time to burn body fat!

Rusty

I've found that having a small bit of garlic bread before the main meal makes you hungrier for the meal. I guess it has to do with that high glycemic crash theory where the insulin crashes after going so high. I'm not a believer in the idea that it crashes, but for some reason it works and I can eat a bit more so MAYBE it's true.

I totally believe in living life, which means being fit so you can do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it. Living in a gym and eating celery at Christmas is not for me.

But I just LOVE the video you put up. I grew up with those Christmas shows and looked forward to watching them every year. I forced my son to watch them too but sadly they didn't have the same charm for him as they did for me.

And my all time favorite scenes was the heat miser and snow miser song. And meister burger burger meister!