The holidays aren't the problem. Six weeks of “I'll start in January” is.

CrossFit Una Stamus  ·  November 2026  ·  6 min read

Every year around this time, the same advice shows up everywhere: skip the stuffing, say no to dessert, white-knuckle your way to January.

We're not going to tell you that. Our advice: Eat the pie.

But we are going to tell you what the research actually shows — because it's not what most people assume, and it changes what you should worry about between now and New Year's.

THE NUMBER THAT MATTERS

1 POUND. That's what the average adult gains between mid-November and New Year's. Not five. Not ten. One.

That sounds like good news. Here's the catch: that pound doesn't leave.

In the National Institute of Health study that measured it, people were still carrying it the following fall. One pound a year doesn't feel like anything. Twenty years of it absolutely does. That's how holiday weight actually works — not as a December disaster, but as a slow stack nobody notices.

And here's the part worth sitting with: only two things predicted who gained. How hungry people were, and how active they stayed.

Not the number of parties. Not stress. Not willpower at the dessert table. Two factors, and both of them are in your control.

This is a grit test, not a willpower test

Our owner and head coach has spent his career studying grit — the ability to keep going when keeping going is inconvenient. And the holidays are a near-perfect grit test.

Not at the buffet. In the gaps. When the schedule falls apart, the calendar fills with obligations, and the easiest thing in the world is to tell yourself you'll restart in January.

That's the real risk. Not the pie.

The parties aren't where the holidays are won or lost. The ordinary Tuesdays in between are.

Three rules for the season

We’ve got a full (FREE!) Holiday Survival Guide with lots more wellness tips, success strategies, and tasty recipes – but everything in our Guide sits on top of these three basics. If you take nothing else from this post, take these:

1. No guilt.

You ate the pie. Good. It was pie. Guilt doesn't burn a single calorie — it just makes the next choice worse.

2. No “all or nothing.”

One big meal doesn't wreck anything. Five weeks of “I already blew it, so what's the difference” absolutely does. The meal was never the issue. The spiral after it is.

3. Play the long game.

You're not training for January. You're training to be harder to kill at 70. One season is a rounding error — if your habits hold.

Three things that actually work

Here are a few of the most useful tactics from the Guide. They're simple, they're specific, and they work.

Win the day before you walk in the door

Train that morning if you can — you'll make better choices all day. Don't “save up” calories by skipping meals; showing up starving is one of the two things that actually predicts gaining. Eat a protein snack an hour before. And decide your plan before you arrive: one plate, one dessert, two drinks. Set it before the buffet sets it for you.

Build the plate in order

Walk the whole spread first so you can pick what you actually want, not what's closest. Then protein first — turkey, ham, shrimp. Veggies next, filling half the plate. Then your must-have, whether that's grandma's stuffing or the bars. By that point there's simply less room for seconds, and you didn't have to say no to anything.

Walk for ten minutes, right after

This is the easiest win in the entire Guide. A 2025 study found that a 10-minute walk taken right after eating blunted the blood sugar spike just as well as a 30-minute walk taken later. The spike peaks 30 to 60 minutes after you eat — so the trick is getting moving before it does.

Yes, it's fifteen degrees out. Put on a coat. Grab the kids, the dog, your uncle. Walk the block, pull a sled, throw a football in the snow. Make it the new tradition.

What else is in the full Guide

This post covers the mindset and a few of the best tactics. The full 2026 Holiday Survival Guide goes considerably deeper — it's 17 pages, and it's completely FREE.

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INSIDE THE GUIDE

What a real serving actually looks like — a full chart of holiday foods with honest portion sizes, not the “one cup of cranberry sauce” nobody actually eats

The drinks breakdown — what's really in the glass, the three things to watch for, and how to handle the quiet refill

A new special section on GLP-1 medications — about 1 in 9 U.S. adults now takes one, and the holidays look different if that's you

Kitchen swaps that keep the flavor — eight ways to upgrade what you're cooking without anyone noticing

Three member-tested recipes — including a high-protein cheesy hash brown bake with no canned soup, and a mini apple crumble with about 2g of added sugar

Our full holiday schedule — so you know exactly when we're open

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And one more thing: Come start Thanksgiving with us

WOD FOR A CAUSE  ·  THURSDAY, NOV. 26  ·  8:30–10:00 A.M.

Our Food Drive & Community Workout has been a CFUS tradition for nearly ten years. Bring something to donate to the local food shelf — that's your entry fee.

Open to the public, all fitness levels, and we're done by 10. Plenty of time to make it to dinner. You earned the pie.

It’s free, but pre-registration is free and helps us plan space and equipment:

unastamusfitness.pushpress.com/landing/events/cal-28273ad17d7f4dc2a8cd97433e24/login 

The whole thing in one line

This season isn't about restriction, and it never was. It's about whether your habits survive six weeks of chaos — because the habits are what carry you into next year, and the next twenty after that.

Eat the pie. Hug your people. Walk after dinner. Show up Monday.

Una Stamus. Together We Stand.

Download the free 2026 Holiday Survival Guide — 17 pages of mindset, plate strategy, drinks, kitchen swaps, recipes, and the new GLP-1 section. 

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