TestoFuel Blog : Make Gains & Pack on the Muscle
Had a good few months packing on the muscle and finally feeling the effects of all your hard work?
The upcoming festive season might fill you with dread, as family parties, indulging at home and various other social gathering come your way to throw you off track.
Never fear. Here at TestoFuel, we’ve put together the best tips to help you maintain that healthy, muscle-building diet and your muscular frame – even through obstacles like the holiday season.
Maintaining a healthy, muscle-building lifestyle during the season of good cheer takes hard work, but with the right strategy in place you can stick to it, continue making gains through 2022 and be more successful in the long run.
Remember to eat nutritious, protein-packed meals alongside all the treats, so that you’re not undoing all your good work. Eating at a restaurant can be difficult too, since you’re more inclined to eat more (and eat less healthier meals) than you would at home.
One goal to offset this could be to decide what you’re going to have in advance. Pick the meal that offers more protein to keep your gains strong. Consider having just a starter or just a dessert. Or if you fancy both, try sharing a pudding with others.
Yes, Christmas is a time for indulging and relaxation, but it’s important to keep your fitness goals in mind if you’re looking to stay in peak physical condition.
While it’s perfectly normal to have a day or two where you can lounge around, try not to get into the habit of sitting at home doing nothing. Stick to your training if you can, or just maintain some level of activity to keep that muscle primed.
It doesn’t need to be the usual or intense, body-pumping workouts, you just need to get your body moving.
You can’t eat healthy if you have processed and high-fat foods around the house. The festive season is full of these types of foods, but you can control that.
As we all know, nutrition choices you make can have a massive impact on your muscle-building progress. Luckily, you can make some good festive food swaps that will indulge your taste buds and maintain your regular healthy, gain-making eating habits.
Here are some examples. Swap:
If you’re on the go a lot, try to avoid grabbing something quick. Carry high-protein substitute snacks around to help keep your muscles fed, curb cravings and reduce your appetite for junk foods[1].
It’s tough to say no to alcohol in the run-up to Christmas and new year festivities. If you’re planning to drink alcohol during the holidays, it’s important not to let your guard down, especially since alcohol contains relatively empty calories – and won’t do any favors for your bodybuilding regime.
As you drink alcohol, your inhibitions are reduced. This may also lead you to consuming more calories from food too – and not the good kind of calories.
Try and minimize your consumption to support your mood and training performance. If you must have a drink, choose healthier alternatives that are lower in calories. Sticking to things like a gin and tonic, vodka lime sodas, a light beer, or some variation of drinks like these can reduce the calories you consume from drinking at social gatherings.
Sticking to your gain-making diet and training regime isn’t all about being perfect and making no slip-ups along the way. The holidays are only a brief period over an entire year, and it shouldn’t affect your progress too much.
Research shows that the amount of self-control we have is restricted[2]. Exhausting it through being too strict with your diet or exercising too hard could make you overdo it when further challenges come up. In the end, muscle building relies on long-term consistency, not temporary changes. It’s all about what you’ll stick with week after week.
It’s easy to get swept up in the holiday cheer and overdo it – but when you’re trying to build muscle, it is key to be mindful of your food choices. If you look to keep things relatively balanced (and high in protein) and try to stay aware of the nutrition choices you’re making – and check they are mostly in line with your goals – then you can navigate the festive holidays with ease.
For an extra edge, make sure you take your TestoFuel capsules. It’s scientifically formulated to reignite your whole body and mind combined, with improved performance, focus and mood so you can stay motivated and achieve your very best gains, whatever challenges come your way.
From all of us at TestoFuel– Merry Christmas and happy muscle building!
