The holiday season is coming up, and for many of us this is a time where we gain weight: whether we justify an unexpectedly large bulk or simply seem unable to avoid our weight inching up despite our best intentions. Learn some practical methods to achieving your goals and preventing or limiting holiday weight gain (or even enabling holiday weight loss).

The holidays present unique challenges: huge meals, home-baked desserts, calorically-dense food items, peer & family pressure, fond memories. We can enjoy the holidays while still moving toward our goals.

First, leave room in your food & training journal to assess why you deviated from your plan. This isn’t to judge yourself, but to build awareness. Were you hungry? Did you eat because you always eat at a certain time? Did you not want to disappoint someone? Did you mindlessly eat? Or, did you just really want that food item?

Approaching holiday meals and time periods with realistic plans. Fasting prior to a meal is likely unrealistic. Eating a protein-rich meal the day of a big meal that will have plenty of fat and carbohydrates, however, makes sense.

For the big meals themselves, have a plan to help you prevent or at least limit overeating. For example, fill your first plate with a normal amount of food. This may mean limiting the items you put on your plate. This may mean putting sample-size amounts on your plate. Then, when you’re done, wait 15 minutes before getting seconds.

For dessert, assess whether you’re hungry or not. Take a dessert home if you really want it--you don’t have to try every type of pie that meal or that day!

Finally, Niki & Gillian discuss the idea of “volume eaters” and “intensity eaters.” Though people may be some combination thereof, volume eaters tend to overeat through large quantities of food, whereas intensity eaters tend to overeat through calorically dense items (eggnog, anyone?).

Arm yourselves with the knowledge and tips to better battle the holidays!

PS - IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TAKING ONLINE COACHING FOR A TEST RUN, CHECK IT OUT HERE. 

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Unleash your physical freedom. Reclaim your body and mind from bad habits, restrictive and narrow goals, and unrealistic expectations.

Thank You, Listeners (aka Beasts & Future Beasts)

Andrew and Niki are thankful for all that has happened in 2024.

Thank you to Stephan, the editor and podcast producer, who is a true expert and professional. You have no idea how much work he does!

Thank you to Dan, Paige, Daisy, Nick, Noah, and the whole team at Barbell Logic. We thank Ryan Matt Reynolds as well.

But most especially, thank you, listeners. You are beasts (or future beasts) and we could not do this without you. We've got exciting podcasts coming in 2025.

PS - IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TAKING ONLINE COACHING FOR A TEST RUN, CHECK IT OUT HERE. 

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Unleash your physical freedom. Reclaim your body and mind from bad habits, restrictive and narrow goals, and unrealistic expectations.

Physical Freedom: Financial Freedom as an Analogy

The concept of financial freedom - no longer stressing about finances and not having to trade your time for things you do not wish to do - helps derive useful lessons for health and fitness.

Attaining financial freedom requires discipline. One must define and follow through with hard decisions over a long period of time.

This, though, is the path to freedom. Don't look for shortcuts. And, even if you somehow find yourself with a sudden pile of money, you will only use that money well if you have developed the habits ahead of time.

Physical Freedom: Bash Bad Habits

The first and most obvious steps you must take is to remove bad habits. You have trouble saying no to highly processed sugary foods. You overeat.

Do you feel free when you make these decisions that do not align with your stated goals? Of course not!

Freedom requires some discipline to build virtues (e.g. the virtue of temperance so you can willingly say no to the donuts).

Physical Freedom: Remove Restrictive Goals

Many of our coaches and clients have followed overly restrictive goals that they bought into. For example, you follow the dictum that physical strength is the most important thing in life.

When you follow this, you will sacrifice your health and get fat to pursue this goal. You will avoid activities you enjoy, such as skiing, swimming, hiking, because this will remove weight on the bar in your next session.

Unless you have a hyper-specific goal or truly believe such a restrictive goal is true, ditch this counterproductive dogma.

Physical Freedom: Own Your Choices

Here is another example. You are so concerned with leanness, that your plan (even if you have not said this explicitly) requires you to never eat your grandma's pie again.

Is this really sustainable? Can you avoid every holiday food for every meal forever? Are you really going to eat chicken breast and broccoli every meal.

When you have physical freedom, you can choose in indulge when appropriate, knowing you will not go off the rails and that you can make another choice to get leaner after a vacation or holiday period.

PS - IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TAKING ONLINE COACHING FOR A TEST RUN, CHECK IT OUT HERE. 

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Don't delay your fitness goals - do it now! Complete that rep or set, go for a walk, take your first step. Become the person you want to be.

Don't Delay Your Fitness Goals: Start Now!

Taking your first steps and the subsequent steps moves you closer to your goal. Too many people will "start tomorrow" or, once they begin, quit when it gets hard or when the initial motivation wears off.

This is not about a 4, 6, or 12-week diet or workout routine, it is about taking steps that become habits. Lean, strong people do certain things (and avoid certain things) regularly.

You will experience pain and anguish, but if you do not make the change you will still be stuck without your goals (and likely having slid further away from them) and experience pain. Think about people who seek comfort and avoid pain all their lives - does pain not creep up to them eventually?

Don't Delay Your Fitness Goals: Every Workout & Meal Matters!

Andrew shares a story of a workout he did not want to do and almost quit. He ended up turning on the camera, getting over his negative feelings, and the workout actually went pretty well.

Visualize the person you want to be and what that person would do. Alternatively, you may envision what your future looks like if you fail to make the changes you desire.

Don't delay your fitness goals! Start (or continue) today.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Building a strong nutritional baseline is the key to sustainable, healthy holiday eating. Don't derail for your health & fitness goals due to the holidays!

How to Build a Nutrition Baseline

Building a nutritional baseline is the ultimate holiday eating hack that let's you truly enjoy special holidays meals and days without totally derailing from your health and fitness goals.

What is a nutritional baseline and how do you build yours?

A nutritional baseline is a normal, habitual way of eating that you do seven days a week that brings you toward your goals. You know how it feels and looks, you know which foods and in what quantities it consists of.

Essentially, you can mindlessly return to this baseline because it is your nutritional normal or your nutritional north.

Building a Nutritional Baseline: Fearless Feasting

How does this apply to holiday eating, though?

Those truly special days that you want to enjoy and not track, you should do so.

The surrounding days and really the vast majority of the days during the holiday period, however, you need to eat at your baseline.

For some, the holiday season can go from before Halloween through the Super Bowl. That's getting close to half the year. You cannot eat sloppily for half the year.

At the same time, however, you should be able to enjoy meals such as Thanksgiving or Christmas with family and friends.

Andrew and Niki recommend not tracking on these days (unless you have super strict nutritional goals) but rather focusing on enjoying the food.

Walking after the meals can help.

Remember, additionally, that eating so much that you are sick is not enjoyable. Enjoy the whole process: family, friends, cooking, eating, drinking, and afterwards.

Those in-between days should be at baseline.

Building a strong nutritional baseline can help you reach your health and fitness goals, even during the holiday season.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Lift your way to a leaner you. Strength training is your secret weapon to leanness, despite the lingering weight loss myth that you should simply diet and do cardio.

Debunking the Weight Loss Myth of Cardio & Caloric Restriction

You go to the doctor and the doctor tells you that you need to lose a certain amount of weight for your health. He questions why you lift and recommends you perform regular cardiovascular exercise.

What do you do? Lift your way to a leaner you (while ensuring you are in a slight caloric deficit).

You acknowledge that you could be a bit leaner, but you've been lifting for awhile. You look better with more muscle on your frame and you enjoy strength training.

More muscle increases your daily caloric expenditure, as it gives some of your incoming calories an additional place to go beyond fat gain.

Lift Your Way to a Leaner You: Slow & Steady Wins the Race

Slow and steady weight loss, with consistent lifting and a healthy, high protein diet help minimize muscle loss during your weight loss. Ultimately, you want to be leaner, you do not really care about the number on a scale.

The doctor in the above scenario is a bit hyperfocused on BMI. Metrics, however, are supposed to measure progress. In this case, we are concerned about health and longevity.

You want more muscle but you also want to be leaner. Abandoning strength training, reducing calories, and adding cardio is likely not going to produce the body you envision. It is certainly not going to help produce a muscular body.

Lift Your Way to a Leaner You: Cardio for Cardiovascular Health

Conditioning or "cardio" is not really the best way to help increase the calories out part of the calorie equation. A better method would be to increase your daily low-level activity, such as increasing your steps.

Regardless, conditioning is really about improving your performance for certain tasks and improving cardiovascular health.

Lift your way to a leaner you.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/   Connect with the hosts

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Buy back your time with a professional coach. Coaching yourself means less progress in the gym and more time learning to become a coach.

Buy Back Your Time: Grocery Delivery Example

You probably need to value your time more. Too often, people avoid certain purchases because they deem them as too expensive. Sometimes this is true, but often buying back your time - a non-renewable resource - is the best thing you can do.

Grocery delivery for most people is a no-brainer. You spend little money to avoid the headaches and time needed to go to the grocery store.

Mowing services for grass are another great example. If you do not enjoy doing these tasks and need more time, pay money to someone who will do it for you to earn back your time.

Buy Back Your Time: Home Gym

Having a home gym is another great way to save time working out. In this case, you will probably also save money over a long-enough period of time.

Don't wait for equipment, don't worry about the broccoli hair Zoomers, lift when you want at your house.

Buy Back Your Time: Professional Coach

This is really the benefit of hiring a professional coach. An expert takes something off your plate, allowing you to not worry about it. That expert will move you to more progress than you otherwise would have gotten. Additionally, you do not have to learn some level of the expertise.

Any time you decide to "do it yourself," you are taking on the burden of learning a certain skill that someone else is an expert or professional at. Sometimes, the task is quick, so it's fine.

You should consider buying back your time, however, by hiring a professional online coach.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/   Connect with the hosts

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Pain and setbacks can derail progress. Overcoming pain and setbacks requires addressing your why and acknowledging how you feel when you perform healthy habits.

Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: Oh Snap!

A client finds himself making progress in all areas of fitness, at the lightest bodyweight in years and working toward specific barbell numbers.

He has a week of stressful work, where sleep was out-of-whack, he sat more than normal, and his schedule was off.

He returns to the gym and during his warm ups feels a tweak and hears a pop.

Training has to change now. Right before he crested the mountain top, he was cutoff at the knees. Suddenly, he found himself letting nutrition, alcohol, and sleep slip too. After all, why was he training now that the clear goals were unachievable?

Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: What is Your Why!?

This client's why had really become the weight on the bar. It is easy to get emotionally tied to seeing the numbers go up. The numbers cannot (and will not) always go up.

It is critical to touch on your deeper whys for training. Even if you signed up for coaching or began training with specific numbers in mind - even if you are an elite lifter chasing numbers - you certainly actually have a deeper reason than seeing a larger amount of iron go up.

Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: What Feels Good!?

Remembering how you feel when things are going well matters. Yes, the numbers were going up. That was fun. Did you feel good when you were eating healthy, drinking less, and ensuring you got sufficient high-quality sleep?

How did it feel to check off your nutrition, fitness, and health tasks every day?

When considering how you feel and how you felt, think about over a long period of time. Yes, staying up late with alcohol and processed food feels good in the moment. How do you feel that next morning? How does it feel to check your bodyweight on the scale? What do things look like after a couple weeks of these behaviors?

Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: Think of February & March!

Think about the future. You may think about running this process through your head - what will things look like if the sloppiness continues for weeks and months?

You might also think about a specific time or place in your future. How do you feel in February after months of excess calories? How do you feel in March (or insert your time here) at that beach vacation?

What feelings arise when someone who has not seen you in awhile sees you and you've gained weight?

Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: Love the Process

Loving the results without loving the process will cause problems.

Enjoy exposing yourself to discomfort through training. Maybe the weight on the bar is not challenging, but you get to feel a pump. Maybe you don't get a pump, but you have to complete high-repetition exercises you hate - this is voluntary hardship too!

Overcoming pain and setbacks is challenging, but you can do it.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/   Connect with the hosts

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Mastering fitness habits is the key to crushing your goals and gaining lasting results to boost your health and quality of life.

Mastering Fitness Habits: Actions You Do No Matter What

Habits are things you do without making new decisions. For Andrew, his four healthy habits are walking, food choices, sleep, and training.

He can go on auto-pilot in these areas, which automatically bring him toward his health and fitness goals.

Niki's dog died recently. No one would have blamed her for not training. For Niki, however, it was not only important to maintain the habit but it actually provided an emotional outlet, where she could get out of the house and get out of her mind and do something healthy for herself.

Mastering Fitness Habits: Applied Principles Not Rigid Rules

This does not mean black-and-white rigid programs. It does not mean if you do not do your 3x5 low bar squats, 3x5 bench press, and 1x5 deadlift with at least 5 minutes of rest you are not doing the program and have failed and are a bad person.

Rather, you incorporate walking regularly as part of your day. Most of the time that means at least 10,000 steps for Andrew, but sometimes that is unrealistic.

On vacation, for example, he continues to train, but workouts will tend to be shorter with less volume and less weight.

Sleep may become a lower priority on vacations, but it is not completely ignored and certain actions that help Andrew sleep better will be maintained.

Mastering Fitness Habits: Find Freedom

Habits do not restrict freedom they create it.

Do you feel free when you cannot say no to the office donuts or that second or third drink or have to go through the drive through on your way home from work? Is this freedom?

No, freedom is not choice. Freedom is the ability to do what you want, in line with your values. If you want to be healthier and more capable, and be able to do more, you have to regularly train, sleep, and eat well.

Mastering fitness habits is not complicated, but it's not easy. Learn some tips to crush your health and fitness goals.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/   Connect with the hosts

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Learn why you should walk more, how it improves your health, mindfulness, and quality of life. Don't eschew this pedestrian but effective fitness tool.

Physical Fitness Benefits of Walking More

A good reason why you should walk more is because it provides many health & fitness benefits.

Andrew mentions a study that shows that the benefits of walking 10,000 steps a day equates to, essentially, a "change in effective years" of 8 years. To simplify, it equates to making you 8 years younger than you otherwise would be.

Now, it is easy to draw too much from studies, but what is clear is that walking was correlated with positive health outcomes. Walking is accessible to almost all people, usually exposes you to the sun and gets you out from behind screens, and gives you time to think about things.

Mental Health Benefits of Walking More

Another reason why you should walk more is the benefits to your mental health. Walking gets you away from screens and your everyday problems. Creating this time and space to do something else let's you think or do other important activities such as think, talk, or listen to a podcast or audiobook.

Walking is a great activity to do with deep work. You can decide to take a break from the urgent and focus on the important, while doing something physical.

Why you should walk more!? Because it's all-around good for you.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/   Connect with the hosts

• Niki on Instagram
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Connect with the show

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• Podcast Webpage
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• Or email [email protected]