Nutrition in December

How to Survive (and Enjoy) the Festive Season

This is coming from me, Darren – head coach, not a nutritionist, and a fully signed-up lover of Christmas food and all the daft festivities that come with it.

December is a weird month for athletes.

One minute you’re nailing your long run; the next you’re halfway through a tub of Roses, clutching a paper crown and wondering if Baileys counts as a recovery drink.

So how do you handle Christmas food, parties and family chaos without either:

• abandoning training completely, or

• spending the whole month saying no to everything and being that person with Tupperware at the work do?

  
  

I’m not here to give you a perfect textbook plan. I’m here to give you a real-world December plan.

First Job: Decide What December Is For

Before we talk about carbs and canapés, be clear on your goal for this month:

• Maintain, don’t “transform” – December is not the time for a big crash diet.

• Keep training ticking over – you want to roll into January feeling reasonably fresh, not starting from zero.

• Enjoy the good stuff on purpose – not every day… but definitely some days.

Most athletes I coach do best with this mindset:

“I’m aiming for an okay average December, not flawless days.”

Some days will be a 9/10. Some will be a solid 4. It’s the average that matters.

The Three Big Levers in December

You don’t need to micromanage everything. Just keep an eye on the three things that do most of the damage (or most of the good):

1. Food quantity – how much, not just what.

2. Liquid calories – alcohol, creamy coffees, hot chocolates, random festive drinks.

3. Movement – steps, light sessions, not spending three days in a row welded to the sofa.

You can get away with a fair bit on one lever if the other two are half-decent.

1. Pick Your “Big Rock” Days

December gets easier when you choose your big days in advance, rather than treating the whole month like an eating competition.

Examples:

• Work Christmas party

• Family Christmas meal

• Christmas Day and Boxing Day

• Maybe one or two meet-ups with mates

  
  

Circle those. On those days, the goal is simple:

• Enjoy them fully. Eat the pudding, have the drink, don’t bring MyFitnessPal to the table.

• Maybe keep breakfast and lunch sensible, but once the main event starts, just be present and enjoy it.

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You haven’t “fallen off the wagon” on those days – they’re part of the plan.

2. Build a “Good Enough” December Plate

On the more normal days (which is still most of the month), aim for a simple plate structure:

• ½ plate veg/salad/fruit

• ¼ plate protein (meat, fish, eggs, beans, tofu, Greek yoghurt, etc.)

• ¼ plate carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, stuffing, roasties… it’s still December)

  
  

Plus:

• A bit of fat (gravy, cheese, oil, butter) – not banned, just not the whole plate.

  
  

If you hit that structure two main meals a day, you’re already winning, even if a few chocolates sneak in afterwards.

3. Look After Your Training Days

If you’re still running, riding or swimming in December (and you probably are):

• Don’t turn long run day into an experiment in extreme dieting.

• Fuel key sessions properly – especially anything 60+ minutes or harder.

• Think: normal carbs before, a bit of fuel during if it’s long, good recovery meal afterwards.

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A couple of long sessions each week, properly fuelled, will:

• Keep fitness ticking over

• Help manage appetite

• Make you feel like an athlete, even if you’ve eaten three pigs in blankets since breakfast

4. Alcohol: The Honest Chat

I’m not going to tell you not to drink at Christmas. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t partial to a festive drink myself.

A few simple tweaks make a big difference:

• Choose your “big nights” (like you did with big food days). Don’t let every mid-week drink turn into a late one.

• Alternate alcohol + water. Boring, works.

• Try to keep most drinking after food, not before. Turning up starving to a free bar is a demolition job waiting to happen.

• Watch the “festive coffees” – a large gingerbread latte with cream can be a full snack on its own.

You don’t need to be perfect; just avoid turning every evening into a mini-Christmas Day.

5. Snacks, Treats and The Chocolate Mountain

There will be Quality Street. There will be mince pies. There will be that one relative who brings four different cheeseboards.

A few ways to handle it:

• Upgrade some snacks – fruit + yoghurt, cheese + crackers, nuts + dried fruit. Still festive, more useful.

• Use “treat windows” – e.g. “I’ll have whatever I fancy between 3–5pm with a cuppa”, not all-day grazing.

• Keep treats in bowls, not boxes – serve a portion, put the rest away.

• Remember: you don’t have to finish everything by New Year’s Eve. Chocolate still exists in January.

6. Movement That Doesn’t Feel Like Training

When the diary gets busy and motivation dips, lower the bar:

• Short runs instead of long ones

• Walks with family instead of extra turbo sessions

• 15–20 minutes of strength or mobility instead of nothing

Think in terms of:

“What’s the minimum I can do today that still matches the athlete I want to be?”

Ten minutes is always better than zero. A walk is always better than sulking because your perfect session didn’t happen.

7. What About Christmas Day Itself?

Short version: Enjoy it. Fully.

If you want a few simple anchors:

• Have breakfast – don’t starve yourself “to earn dinner”.

• Drink some water between the fizz and the gravy.

• Try to get one walk in (before or after food, doesn’t matter).

• Don’t weigh yourself on Boxing Day. Just don’t.

  
  

One day will not make or break your fitness. A month of “ah screw it, it’s Christmas” might.

8. If You Do Go Off the Rails…

At some point, you’ll have a day where the plan goes out the window and you eat like a raccoon at a bin.

Cool. You’re human.

The only thing that matters is what you do next:

• Don’t starve yourself the day after.

• Don’t try to “run it off” with some ridiculous punishment workout.

• Just go back to your normal routine: sensible meals, some movement, plenty of water.

One bad day is noise. A guilt spiral that lasts a week is the problem.

Bring It All Together

So, December nutrition in one simple framework:

1. Pick your big days – enjoy them properly, guilt-free.

2. Keep most days “good enough” – balanced plate, some movement, not a drinking competition.

3. Fuel key sessions – long stuff and harder workouts still deserve carbs.

4. Don’t chase perfection – aim for a decent monthly average, not 31 flawless days.

If you can get to January feeling:

• A bit rested

• Still moving

• Not hating food or your body

  
  

…then you’ve absolutely nailed it.

From Darren – head coach, Christmas food fan, and firm believer that one mince pie will not ruin your season.