EP 59: A Well-Balanced Approach to Movement, Meal Planning, & Prepping for the Holiday Season with Dr. Cindy Kimmi Tan | Part 2

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Okay, So now transitioning this conversation just a little bit, so I'd love to start talking about taking what you've taught us so far and incorporating it into the quickly approaching holiday season. So you know, when this episode airs will be just a couple of weeks away from Thanksgiving, which for me personally really kicks off the season of you know, too much wine, too many sweets, too much junk food, twenty thumb sized servings of cheese, all paired with not enough exercise and just not enough downtime to you know, recover. So with that being said, how do you suggest we start mentally preparing for the holiday season. Yeah, but this holiday season or the holiday season, it starts for me when it's the first day of fall. And actually before that Starbucks they know, you know, you know what I'm gonna say, Yes that PSLSL that comes out like I think the first week of September and for a lot of people, that's like the start of the holiday season. From there it starts. And what I suggest, it's so important to mentally remind yourself of what is important to you. And a lot of the times I feel like we forget what we actually really want or what we forget what is our goal, and that's when we fall into all of the temptations that happened to go before us. So I think that's really important to sit down before the holiday season and just write down what you really want and what you really hope for at the end of the year, and that kind of helps you understand, like what is your motivation.

I think it's important because it helps you make your decisions wisely. So an example it is, let's say you're someone that's okay gaining maybe five pounds and you actually don't really care because food and family is so important to you and five pounds is not a big deal. Because let's say you're a fitness guru and it's very easy for you to lose it. Or maybe you're a marathon runner and you know you have like a couple of huge races after the holidays, so five pounds it's actually more helpful for you because it's energy for those especially those ultra marathoners, oh gosh, and this bonkers singing what they do. But if let's say you're ultramare with honor to them, it doesn't really like it's five pounds, isn't that's bad for them? So then that can help set them up of being like, Okay, you know I allowed this. It's intentional that I allowed I eat a little bit more cheeses and a little bit more wine. But the idea is that it was intentional, you wouldn't wonder of it. It matched your value, and you didn't do something that was outside of your goal. But I think what's important it's just writing down that goal, so you're intentional with what you design. That resonates with me, can we almost to a t? Because personally, part of what I love so much about the holiday season is leaning into that part of the festivities, which for me means leaning into some of those unhealthy choices that typically I wouldn't make and I can clearly isolate it to food and drinks only because even during the holiday season, I can stay pretty consistent with my exercise habits. But it's it's almost like I find it easier two totally just get or like put healthy eating out of my mind so that I don't end up feeling guilty about it, which I'm not saying is a good thing, um, And then just having this mindset of like, Okay, well, I'll just deal with that come January, and that that's something that I've started to think about that I want to avoid this year. And I think that sitting down, you know, in front of the holiday season, you know, for me, like I said, Thanksgiving or the week of Thanksgiving really kicks off that mindset for me. And so carving out some time to sit down both for that week and thinking, you know, like what do I want from this holiday season and like what are like what are the events that I want to enjoy the most and not feel guilty about and then not get to January and feel just like a huge marshmallow because I let it flow into just week nights. Also, you know, oh it's a holiday season. Yeah, I'll drink some wine on a night that I normally wouldn't drink some wine. And and so I think that setting it's almost like setting the tone for your holiday season. doing what you have suggested here, Absolutely, I think it's setting the tone and giving yourself the permission in areas that that match your value. So yeah, and I know you're going to be able to do that this year. It sounds like you already intentionally saying it out loud of what you want your goal to be. And yes, that's half the battle, and it's saying what you want. I'm gonna manifest that. You guys have to uphold me accountable. If you see me with lots of wine on my Instagram stories, remind me to listen to this episode. I think we all we all need that, and that's my community.

It's important. Yes, Oh, you're so right, You are so so right. do you have any other Okay, so, the the tip to writing down you know your goal for the season, what you want to get out of the season is so good. Do you have any other tips or best practices to help us be able to give ourselves grace during the holiday season? Yes, I do. I do. And one of my favorite practices is having a designated plate. And I know when I mean especially think Thanksgiving. For my Thanksgiving is an all day event. You you snack and you just kind of, you know, walk around, and food just keeps coming and it's not one meal, you just kind of eat throughout the day as it flows. And I think it's like that for a lot of people during parties like Halloween parties or New Year's Eve, it's um a lot of grazing, right, Yes, I agree with that. Yeah, So my favorite thing is having a designated plate and only eating what you actually put on your plate. And that intentionality of you visually seeing and tactilely like touching it and picking it up and putting it on your plate. It's it's I guess, a way of you unconsciously or subconsciously keeping track of what's you're eating where. Yeah, that's what's going in because a lot of times you're just grabbing stuff and you're talking to Uncle Bob who knows what, and you're just listening to this story and eating some chips, and before you know it, you're like, did I eat chips? I don't remember, I'm gonna get some more because I don't remember eating eating these chips. Yes, so it's like so if so going back to the chips and DIP's smario maybe, So it's it's scooping dip and putting it on your plate and then grabbing a handful of chips and putting it on your plate before you consume it. Absolutely, and that's not even taking it to the next level. That's just a simple put it on your plate, and what you see is what you eat. And you can even give yourself if you want to take it to the next level. You can give yourself a limit and you can say, hey, what I put on this plate. This is this is my carb, you know, this is my veggie, this is my protein. So when you actually get to the meal, you can realize what you already ate and when you haven't eat. So it just gives you a sort of measurement and some sort of idea of where you're at with the day's meal. Yes, that's a really good one.

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This next question, I feel like is the key to life. How do you personally how do you approach the like the in between seasons, so like between the couple of weeks that are between Thanksgiving and Christmas and then the couple of weeks that are between Christmas and New Year or New Year's Eve. Because I feel like, at least for me, like those weeks get like I've already said, get just like bunched up all into the holiday season and I'm able to put myself way too much slack. So how do you approach those those weeks? Yeah? You know, I was thinking about this the other day and I was just thinking and prepping for the holiday season. I couldn't come up with an answer, and I thought about it, Why why is this so hard to come up with the answer? And I honestly feel like there shouldn't be a difference from how you are every other day in the year. And I think that mindset of MHM kind of preparing yourself beforehands are I call it preparing for war. And you go to war. You train and you do drills and you learn how to do certain things, and then you go to war and that sets you up for success. So holiday season I see it as a battlefield, yes, and it's a it's a battle field for a lot of people everyone really, because it's so fun and it's jolly and there's tons of good food. But I think the key to it is making sure that you build healthy habits going into the holiday season. The little things of like make sure you're drinking your water every day, or make sure you're you know, you go for that morning walk, that ten minute morning walk, or that you stretch for five minutes during your lunch time. Some sort of like habits like that that would just flow into your holiday season and that way in between, you already have this rhythm of things to do. Yeah, that you're used to. But okay, if you didn't have a chance to prepare for war, because hey, that happens, that's okay. Yeah, yeah, maybe someone is listening to this and it's like the day after Thanksgiving. Yeah, and they're like, well I didn't get that time. Yes, And you're like, I want to start now, and I broke the habit. Well, for people who are in that situation, I recommend making a decision to stick with some sort of health habit. So whether that's going on walks or starting some sort of exercise routine, drinking your water, eating a portioned meal, doing some sort of meal prep for one of your meals. Maybe it's going to get a weekly massage, whatever it is. Whatever you choose, pick something that it's an easy win, an easy win, and something that you can do successfully, automatically and right away. So drinking water, I would say, is a great place to start for a lot of people. All you have to do is get a water bottle and you just need to set your timer for for little reminders. And I would say that's a beautiful place to start because that's an easy win. All you have to do is put it to your mouth water three, you don't have to worry about finances, and by just setting yourself up for success by being hydrated, you eat less, you move better, you sleep better, and from there. It's that snowball effect where you're gonna start doing other things. You're gonna be like drinking this water. I'm gonna go ahead and now add vegetables to one of my meals. So I think just starting small and picking something it's a quick win, is a great way for the in between of the the Thanksgiving and Christmas and then the Christmas New Year's season.

I really like so much of this conversation because it it really all is so intertwined together, you know, like those quick winds, that low hanging fruit for the quick win of the snowball effect. Like here it is presenting itself again, Like all of this is just so connected. Yeah yeah, you know, Okay, as difficult as it should be, and a lot of people make the health journey overly difficult, but it's there's a lot of simple things and like techniques you can do that, You're right, they overlap. Yeah yeah, so okay, last topic of conversation, what so and like still in the holiday season, vain so now let's mentally fast forward to Christmas is over and like maybe even like the New Year's Eve festivities are behind us and it's the beginning of January. We're we're mentally there right now. So for yourself, how do you approach New Year's resolutions? Um? And then I'll just ask these two questions kind of together, and then do you also have any advice for a listener who would like to create a resolution that's surrounding eating and movement habits habits? Yes? Yes, So I do this thing every year and it's so fun because I love getting letters getting mail. My husband makes fun of me because after we stopped by the mailbox, yeah, I stare at him like with big eyes, and I'm like, did I get anything? Do I have a letter? Yeah? And then how I handed to me and then I'll open it even before we get to the house. It's like maybe like two from our mailbox to the house. And he always makes fun of me, like, why can't you wait till you get inside? It was like I can't. I love letters so excited, right, and especially Christmas coming up, I'm very excited for all those letters.

Speaking of letters, I write myself a letter every year and yeah, so for the beginning of January, I write myself a letter of what I hope to be at the end of that year. Put it away somewhere, and I have to put it somewherehere. I forget about it because then like I'll stare at it and want to open it, wanna open it. And then when the you know, a year passes and the next New Year's happened, then I pull out the letter and I read it. I read it. Mm hmmm and so cool. It's kind of like a letter from my self and helps me see like what I achieved and what I didn't. And it helps me also see how I've changed as a person, my my maybe my values changed, or maybe my vision of what is a good life changed, And it helps me as I write my letter to myself for the next year, and this, yeah, it's just like a really great reminder of who I want to be and what I want to do. So back to making that that list before the holidays, it's similar. I think it's important to consciously know what you want. Yeah, yeah, when did you start that practice? I didn't. I started this ten years ago. Oh my gosh. And I'm just like, now that I've heard this, it's like my mind is racing with all of these cool ideas. So someone could write the letter to themselves and then stick it in their planner if they have a twelve month planner, um like at the end of December or something like that, and like put it in like a baggy that's paper clipped or stapled or whatever, so that it's kind of like this surprise and delight when you get to the end of December and your plan are like, oh, here's this letter that I wrote to myself. Um, Kimmy, I love that. Yes, yes, it's it's been. It's so fun. But it's also sometimes a rude awakening and sometimes it's a really sweet away. You're like, oh, I didn't I didn't even realize it, so um yeah, that really helps. Like I guess that's my twist of a New Year's resolution. Yes, yes, thinking of it, I guess more holistically and I think when I and this is also for the listeners, like something they can add for their New Year's resolution. I say, don't overdo it, right, I think realistically and then be realistic of where you are at and what you want. That letter can maybe remind you of where you're at and what you want, but make sure you don't go too hard, do you know what I mean? Don't sign up a gym membership and plan to go five days a week. If you've never gone to the gym before, you're not going to go five days a week, I promise you. Yeah, And if you do what's going to be for two weeks and then that's it. Yeah, yep, yep, just something realistic and maybe what I suggests doing baby steps, so instead of just year's resolution, it's kind of like the quarterly check in. You know, business people, there's like a quarterly four times a year, and I think in those chickens, that's where you progress. So something that I do is I like to prove things to myself before I progress. So like if I want to buy a pilates machine, I have to prove that I will go ahead and do polate YouTube clips for three times a week for two months. If I do that, then I go, all right, you actually want to do something with plates. You proved it, you didn't change your mind, and then I'll let myself get the machine. So sometimes, yeah, I do baby steps. Yes, And that's such a good example of utilizing a reward system while trying to create a new habit or routine, because in my opinion and what I teach is that a reward should be directly connected to what it is you're trying to accomplish. So whatever the habit is that you're trying to to start and so that reward and your pilates example is buying the pilates machine, but in order to reach or to to get that reward, you have to do the work of doing the pilates classes three times a week consistently for two months. I love that. Yes, as compared to your reward being you know, like buying I don't know, buying a I'm like drawing, buying a new pair of sandals. I don't know, I can't think OF's something. But just having a reward that is, you know, connected to it and helps you to continue in that progress and that like positive motion forward toward towards what you're trying to accomplish.

I love that kind of Like if you're a runner and your training for like a half marathon, like do the ten k and then you can buy the fancy shoes. Yes, yes, And for that example also, I've been talking to one of my private clients who she really is so aware of what she spends her money on to the point where like she wants to run a marathon, but she doesn't want to spend money on it because you know, what she's telling herself is, well, I can go out and run twenty six point two miles without having to pay to be part of an event. Okay, that's true. But if one of your goals, you know, is you want that full experience and you want to cross the finish line and get the finish your shirt and the the medal, then first, you know, show yourself, stick with your your running plan for three months, and if you've done that, then your reward for that is getting to sign up for the actual event. Which Yeah, it just makes me so excited for her. It makes because she totally can do it. She totally can do it, Tyler from for me. I don't know if she's going to listen to this, but running a race it's so different from when you so is. It's so worth it. It's just adrenaline, being around other people. There's free merch at the end. It really is. I think that running races is like a total drug. And when I'm there as a spectator, that's when I get so sucked into it. I'm like, oh okay, yeah, I'm gonna go home and sign up for something, and then it's it's just it's such a great, such a great community and area of being. Yeah, I love it. Okay, So final question, and you already know what this one's gonna be. Do you have a happiness or life hack that you find helpful that the listeners might want to adopt into their own lives. And I say that like with a huge asterisk, knowing that pretty much this whole conversation have been has been about life hacks and happiness hacks. So do you have something else that you would like to share with the listeners?

I do, And you know what, I wanted to make sure I didn't say the same thing that I did in the last podcast, but I forgot what I said. But I do have a hack, and it's, dear to my heart, it might be the same one. I have no idea you think that's okay? It just if it is, then it just shows your authenticity. Yeah, I mean pretty consistent with like what I value. So that's why I was like, oh am I going to say the same thing. But I think my hack that I would say for everyone in life, no matter where you are at in your health journey or your food journey or just life is having compassion on yourself. Yeah. And when I say having compassion on yourself, I'm talking about in your mind and avoiding negative talk. M yep, because that can spiral you down and take you down, and it can drag you to places you never even knew if if you don't pay attention to it. So I I guess I encouraged everyone to see how you talk to yourself in your head and you'll find that a lot of times you would never say a lot of those things to anyone. Yeah. And I encourage you to have compassion on yourself and have grace on yourself with the things that you are doing well. And I think that goes a long way for anyone's health journey. Oh. I love that. I have another big smile on my face right now listening to that. When you're always smiling, you're always happy. Hence think happy everyone your brand pointing very own brand.

Okay, Keimmy, where can we find you? Where can we connect view so we can always continue learning from you? Yes, So I actually just launched my podcast and for you, Kaitlin and all of our other friends in our mastermind. I finally did it. I beat the bullet so pumped up for you. It's called the vertical movement while on this podcast, so I love it. Pretty easy. You can find me on on Spotify and on Apple. I don't know what the Apple wants called, but pretty much it's all there. And I also have a YouTube have YouTube with movement and physical therapy videos, so you can find that if you just type in on YouTube Vertical Movement Wellness and lastly on my Instagram Vertical Movement Wellness. So it's all pretty easy find me. And I can just vibe to your podcast on um Spotify, which is where I listened to my podcasts, so I cannot wait to tune in. And you, guys, if you enjoyed this episode, send it to a friend. If you enjoy just the whole thing Happy podcast as a whole, don't forget to rate it, review it, subscribe to it. It really does help the word get out. And while you're at it, give Kidney Show a listen. Also, I have no doubt she's gonna be rocking and rolling it guys, Like I mean, just listen to her. Who wouldn't want to learn from those girls she's the best. Um and yeah, you guys, that's a rap for today. Thank you for being here and I'm just gonna talk to you all a little later. Bye. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for joining me for this week's episode of the Thing Happy Podcast. If you just can't get enough, find me on Instagram at think Happy under score Code that's CEO, and online at thinkhappyco.com. See you next week.