Christmas cake for breakfast
(It’s festive. It has fruit. Let’s not overthink this.)

Cheese has become a regular lunch course
Protein? Calcium? Emotional support food?

A 2:40pm sherry feels insignificant
No plans. No justification. Just vibes.

Downloaded four new fitness apps, not gone outside for two days
Extremely informed. Impressively stationary.

I’ll go first. I hold my hands up and admit that in the past week I’ve done all of these.

The difference? I also know I can get back on track easily, because I’ve kept most of my anchoring habits in place. No spiral. No “start again on Monday”. Just balance.

The Science Behind Seasonal Drift

Here’s what’s potentially happening between the last week of November and the first or second week of January: we’re not broken, lazy, or lacking willpower. We’re human beings responding to a period associated with relaxation, indulgence, and a break from regular routines, leading to unhealthy eating habits, reduced physical activity, and behaviours contributing to weight gain.
Studies show that small seasonal fluctuations in body weight, especially between mid-November and mid-January, contribute to more than half of the weight gained annually. But here’s the interesting bit: research found that energy expenditure doesn’t change during the holidays. So it’s not that we’re suddenly becoming couch potatoes. Instead, social settings greatly influence how much we eat, usually pushing us toward mindless munching, with most people consuming up to 6,000 calories on and around Christmas.
Think about it. When was the last time you sat at a Christmas dinner and carefully tracked every roast potato? We’re focused on conversation and connection, not on our usual routines. And that’s not a failure, that’s being present with the people we love.

Why Habits Actually Change During the Holidays

Recent research has uncovered something fascinating about seasonal eating patterns. Scientists discovered that saturated fat affects a protein called PER2, which orchestrates fat metabolism and circadian rhythms, signalling the season of abundance and encouraging the body to store energy. In other words, your biology is literally working with the season, not against you.
Cultural and ritual factors, as well as increasingly sophisticated data-driven marketing, may be more important than nutritional or physiological factors in explaining why we eat different foods at different times of the year. Translation: you’re not weak for wanting mince pies. You’re responding to deeply rooted patterns that go beyond simple willpower.

The Real Problem Isn’t Christmas, It’s January

Research indicates that weight gained during the holiday period is often not lost as the seasons change. But it’s not the box of Quality Street chocolates that’s the problem. It’s what happens next.
The real crash comes from over-ambitious January resolutions that ignore how real life (and tired brains) actually work.
Here’s the pattern: we indulge during the festive period, then swing hard in the opposite direction come January. We promise ourselves we’ll go to the gym five times a week, meal prep every Sunday, give up alcohol, sugar, and carbs all at once, and basically become a completely different person by February.

Research from the University of South Australia found that while habits may begin developing within two months, (and you do see progress) the full process can take up to 335 days depending on various factors. That mythical three-week mark everyone talks about? It’s not backed by science. Habit formation takes significantly longer than commonly believed, with a median of 59 to 67 days.
So, when you give up on your resolutions by mid-January, you’re not failing. You’re just being realistic about how behaviour change actually works.

The Power of Anchoring Habits

Here’s what actually works: keeping some anchoring habits in place, even when everything else drifts.
Anchoring habits are like keystone habits. Research in behavioural psychology shows that keystone habits often shift self-identity, increase willpower, and create structural changes. They’re the habits that hold everything else together, even when you’re living on the leftover cheese board and Christmas cake and trying to remember what day of the week it is.
Keystone habits create a sense of small wins, introduce new structures that help organize time and focus, and promote self-awareness. They don’t need to be big or impressive. In fact, morning routines prove more effective for establishing new habits than evening routines, with studies showing 43% higher success rates.

What might anchor habits look like during Twixmas?

Maybe it’s still drinking water when you wake up, even if breakfast is a mince pie. Maybe it’s going for a daily walk, even if it’s shorter than usual and just to escape some relatives. Maybe it’s taking your vitamins, doing your stretches, or just getting dressed in actual clothes instead of living in pyjamas until your early afternoon shower.
These aren’t the habits that transform your life. They’re the habits that remind you who you are when the tinsel and pine needles have all been hoovered away.

The Science of Small Wins

The concept of marginal gains emphasizes that a mere 1% improvement in various aspects of life can lead to substantial cumulative benefits over time. You don’t need to overhaul your entire existence on January 2nd. You just need to reconnect with the habits that support you. Imagine for a moment you’re a tanker ..and yup that’s not too hard for me to imagine right now as I feel sluggish writing this..Think about altering the course by just one degree. It may feel like nothing but in time it puts you in a very different course and destination.
Self-selected habits have 37% higher success rates than externally imposed ones, highlighting the importance of personal choice. This is why those aggressive January diets (from that svelt looking bouncy personal trainer) never stick. They’re not chosen from a place of genuine desire for change or real alignment to who you want to be; they’re chosen from a place of guilt about the past few weeks.
Here’s the truth: you can enjoy the cheese board and still be someone who values their health. You can have a 2:40pm sherry and still be someone who mostly makes good choices. You can download fitness apps without immediately going for a run, as long as you eventually use them or decide that running won’t be your thing because paddle board is.
The key isn’t perfection. It’s maintaining enough of your helpful habits so that when you’re ready to get back on track, you don’t have to start from scratch.
Balance, Not Perfection
Identity-based habits, where you frame habits in terms of identity rather than outcomes, increased habit adherence by 32%. So instead of saying “I need to lose the Christmas weight”, try thinking “I’m someone who enjoys moving my body” or “I’m someone who feels better when I eat vegetables”.
Making habits is facilitated by repetition, reinforcement, and stable contexts. The festive period disrupts all of that. Your routine is gone. Your usual mealtimes are chaos. Your house is full of people and treats. Of course your habits drift.
But drift isn’t the same as disappearing completely. And that’s the point.
You don’t need to be ‘good’ or disciplined all the time. You don’t need to white-knuckle your way through Christmas, refusing every treat and tracking every calorie. You don’t need to punish yourself in January for enjoying December.
You just need to keep a few anchoring habits in place so that when you’re ready to get back to your normal routine, you can ease back in without the drama of “starting over”.

What Happens Next

If you’re reading this in late December or early January, you’re probably thinking about what comes next. Maybe you’re already feeling that familiar guilt creeping in. Maybe you’re already planning some punishing January regime.
Here’s my suggestion: don’t go all out!

Instead, gently reconnect with your anchoring habits. Not all at once. Not with grand declarations. Just one habit at a time.
Start with the one that feels easiest. The one that makes you feel like yourself again. Maybe that’s your morning coffee ritual. Maybe it’s a short walk. Maybe it’s cooking one proper meal instead of living on leftovers.

Environmental design plays a crucial role, with strategic cues increasing habit adherence by 58%. So set yourself up for success. Put your trainers by the door. Refill the fruit bowl. Hide or give away the remaining Lindt chocolate. Prep some vegetables for some simple soup or the freezer. Fill your water bottle before bed.
And remember: frequency, timing, and individual choice significantly influence habit strength, with morning practices and self-selected habits generally exhibiting greater strength.

The real power isn’t in never drifting. It’s in knowing you can always find your way back along an established well loved route.

The Bottom Line

The average weight gain during the holidays might be small, but the emotional weight we attach to it is enormous. We turn a few weeks of normal, joyful, human behaviour into evidence that we’re somehow broken or lacking discipline.
We’re not.
We’re just living in a culture that tells us we should be ‘media perfect’ all the time, when in reality, sustainable health is about balance, flexibility, choice and self-compassion.

Ready to Build Health Habits That Actually Stick?

If this resonates with you, you’re exactly who my work is for.
I help busy professionals build sustainable health habits that work with their lives, not against them. No punishing January diets. No unrealistic expectations. Just practical, evidence-based support for creating lasting change.

I have a free Webinar in January called The Easy Midlife Reset and you can sign up here

Or

Join the SHINE Group Programme, starting in late January (once all the Quality Street have been eaten, the kids are back to school, and that shiny new Fitbit is no longer being worn, or you’ve already lost your new gym card that you maybe used four times in the first week but not since).
Six group sessions plus 121 personalised coaching (taken at your pace) across three months of structured support, expert guidance, and community accountability to help you build habits that stick, even when life gets busy or stressful.

You can also Join my email list, Rooted & Real, where I share practical tips, resources, and insights on building health habits that actually stick. No guilt. No #nutribollocks. Just real, sustainable strategies for feeling better in your body and your life.

Sign up for Rooted & Real

And if you have questions you know where I am!

To your health
Becky