5 Ways to Stay Healthy & Maintain Your Weight During the Holidays

The holiday season is a time for family, friends, traditions, and—of course—lots of delicious food. Between parties, travel, disrupted routines, and holiday meals, it's also a time when many of our usual healthy habits can start to slip.

But enjoying the holidays doesn't mean you need to choose between having fun and taking care of your health.

You can eat your favorite holiday foods, enjoy dessert, skip a workout, and still maintain the healthy habits you've worked on all year. The goal isn't perfection. It's finding a little balance so you can enjoy the season without feeling like you need to “start over” in January.

Here are five simple ways to do it.

1. Don't Spend the Whole Day Sitting

Time away from work often means more time relaxing—and you should absolutely enjoy some of it!

But try not to spend the entire holiday break on the couch.

Movement doesn't have to mean heading to the gym for an intense workout. Go for a walk after dinner, take the dog outside, play with the kids, walk around and look at holiday lights, or squeeze in a quick strength workout at home.

Even a 10- or 20-minute walk is better than doing nothing.

Movement can also be incredibly helpful during a stressful time of year. If you're feeling overwhelmed by shopping, family obligations, cooking, or your never-ending to-do list, getting outside and moving your body can give you a much-needed mental break.

Better yet, make it a family activity.

A walk after a big holiday meal gets everyone away from the table and gives you a chance to spend time together without food being the focus.

2. Don't Skip Meals to “Save Calories”

This is one piece of advice from my original article that I would completely update.

Skipping breakfast and lunch because you know you're having a big holiday dinner can easily backfire. By the time you finally sit down to eat, you're starving—and much more likely to eat past the point where you feel comfortable.

Instead, eat normally throughout the day.

Build your earlier meals around protein, vegetables, fruit, healthy fats, and other foods that keep you satisfied.

If dinner isn't until 6:00 and you're hungry at 3:00, have a snack.

You don't need to earn your holiday dinner by starving yourself beforehand.

And when you do sit down for the big meal, slow down enough to actually enjoy it. Try the foods you look forward to all year, and give yourself time to recognize when you're comfortably satisfied.

3. Have a Plan—But Eat the Foods You Love

Nobody wants to feel like they're on a diet while everyone else is enjoying Grandma's stuffing and homemade pie.

And you don't need to.

Rather than labeling the entire day a “cheat day,” decide what foods are actually worth it to you.

Maybe you couldn't care less about the dinner rolls, but you wait all year for your mom's stuffing.

Eat the stuffing.

Maybe you love pumpkin pie but aren't interested in the cookies sitting in the break room all December.

Have the pie.

Being intentional is very different from being restrictive.

You don't have to eat something simply because it's there, but you also don't have to avoid a food you genuinely love because it isn't part of your normal diet.

Enjoy it, then go back to your usual eating habits at your next meal.

There's no need to detox, fast, drastically cut calories, or punish yourself with an extra workout.

4. Be Strategic With Leftovers

Holiday leftovers are one of the best parts of the holidays—but there's a difference between enjoying another plate of Thanksgiving dinner and turning Thanksgiving into a four-day eating event.

If you're hosting, send some of the desserts and extras home with your guests.

Keep the foods you'll genuinely enjoy and use them to create balanced meals over the next few days.

Leftover turkey, for example, is fantastic.

Use it in soup, salads, lettuce wraps, bowls, or simply pair it with vegetables and some of your favorite leftovers.

And don't feel obligated to eat something simply because it's in your refrigerator.

If you've had enough pie, you don't need to finish it because throwing food away feels wasteful. Freeze it, give it away, or move on.

The holiday meal itself usually isn't the issue. It's when one special meal gradually turns into an entire week of eating completely differently.

5. Keep Some of Your Normal Routine

Your schedule probably won't look exactly the same during the holidays—and that's okay.

But keeping a few of your normal habits in place can make a huge difference in how you feel.

Try to maintain the basics:

• Get enough sleep

• Keep moving

• Eat regular meals

• Include protein throughout the day

• Drink plenty of water

• Get outside

• Make time to decompress

And don't overschedule yourself.

We tend to go overboard trying to please everyone during the holidays—shopping, cooking, decorating, sending cards, attending parties, hosting family, buying gifts, and saying yes to every invitation.

You don't have to do all of it.

Sometimes saying no to another event is exactly what you need.

Your house doesn't have to look perfect. Dinner doesn't have to be elaborate. Every tradition doesn't have to happen exactly the same way every year.

Make room for the parts of the holidays you actually enjoy.

What About Alcohol?

This is another piece I'd add to the updated version because holiday drinking can sneak up quickly.

A glass of wine at dinner is one thing. But between holiday parties, cocktails, wine with dinner, and drinks at social events, alcohol can become much more frequent during November and December.

Alcohol also doesn't exist in a vacuum. It can affect your sleep, appetite, food choices, recovery, and how you feel the next day.

You don't necessarily need an all-or-nothing approach.

Decide ahead of time when you actually want a drink rather than drinking simply because everyone else is.

Alternate alcoholic drinks with water, avoid drinking on an empty stomach, and don't be afraid to order sparkling water with lime when you don't really want alcohol.

And If You're in Perimenopause...

Maintaining your weight during the holidays can feel a little different in your 40s than it did in your 20s.

Hormonal changes during perimenopause can affect body composition, sleep, appetite, insulin sensitivity, and where your body tends to store fat.

That doesn't mean holiday weight gain is inevitable.

It does mean I wouldn't respond by eating dramatically less or exercising dramatically more.

Instead, prioritize the things that become increasingly important in midlife:

Protein. Strength training. Sleep. Recovery. Stress management. Regular movement.

Those foundational habits will take you much further than trying to compensate for every Christmas cookie you eat.

💡 Dr. Stephanie's Tip: One holiday meal isn't going to undo months of healthy habits.

What matters more is what you do between Thanksgiving and Christmas—not what you eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Enjoy the foods that are meaningful to you. Stay reasonably active. Keep some structure to your days. And when the holiday is over, simply return to your normal routine at the next meal.

No guilt. No “starting over Monday.” No extreme January detox required.

Enjoy the Holidays Without Making Food the Enemy

The holidays should be about enjoying time with the people you love—not spending the entire season worrying about calories.

Have the homemade stuffing. Enjoy your favorite dessert. Go for a walk with your family. Keep up with your workouts when you can. Get some sleep. And say no when your calendar starts becoming overwhelming.

Healthy living isn't about being perfect every day.

It's about creating habits that are flexible enough to work even when life isn't following your normal routine.

That's the kind of healthy lifestyle you can actually maintain long after the holidays are over.