What You Gain When You Eat Clean and Work Out During the Holidays vs. What You Lose by Over-Indulging

We’re diving into a mission critical to your body, mind and warrior-spirit: what happens when you decide to go clean and hard during the holidays — versus the path most take: over-indulge, gain 10 lbs, and pay the price.

At SGPT we don’t roll with the “most.” We roll with the 1 % who fight upstream.

The Scenario: Two Paths

Picture two athletes walking into the holiday season:

Athlete A: Eats clean. Keeps up the workouts. Maintains discipline.

Athlete B: Lets go. Over-eats. Skips workouts. Gains 10 lbs of “holiday weight” and lost momentum.

Which one finishes the year stronger? Which one starts the next season ahead of the pack? Let’s break it down.

What You Gain by Eating Clean & Training Hard

#1. Physical Gains

You preserve muscle mass, keep your metabolic rate high, stay sharp.

You avoid the “holiday bloat” and keep your body composition lean.

You’re ready on day-one of the new year, not playing catch-up.
When you train while others relax, you build the kind of physical edge that becomes visible, and measurable.

#2. Mental & Warrior Gains

You prove to yourself you’re not controlled by comfort or indulgence. That’s the mindset we preach in SGPT: “get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

You build confidence. Example: we see SGPT athletes in interviews talk about going through hardship so when the big moment comes they’re ready.

You develop discipline muscle. Every choice — clean meal, early rise, workout — is a rep in mental toughness.

#3. Momentum Gains

You enter January ahead, not behind.

The habit you build now carries you into the new year with purpose and speed.

You avoid the crash of “I’ll start after the holidays” and the guilt that follows.

1. Long-Term Gains

You’re not just surviving the holidays. You’re using them as a launching pad.

You set a tone: this isn’t a time of pause — it’s part of the mission.

You join the ranks of the few who keep fighting when others quit. In our SGPT interviews you’ll see this again and again — athletes who stay locked in when it’s hard.

What You Lose by Over-Indulging and Gaining 10 lbs

1. Physical Losses

Extra weight = extra work for your heart, joints, muscles.

Your baseline gets raised: you have to spend weeks/months just to recover.

You lose sharpness. The body that could sprint, jump, pull-up, gets dulled.

1. Mental Losses

You surrender a battle early; the enemy is comfort, distraction, giving in.

You betray your commitment to yourself. It’s a small decision now but the cost grows.

You start the year with hesitation, regret, “I should’ve” in your internal voice.

1. Momentum Losses

You’re starting behind. Everyone else has been training, you’ve been absent.

Habits broken now are harder to rebuild; the inertia works against you.

You lose cred with yourself: “I said I’d stay locked-in… but I didn’t.”

1. Long-Term Losses

This one holiday season turns into a pattern: holiday + 10 lbs = new normal.

You settle for being average. You join the majority who wait for January 1st, then quit in 21 days.

You lose the chance to prove you’re different.

DISCIPLINE vs. LOSING CONTROL

We’re not saying you have to live like a monk or turn down every holiday treat. You can have a light beer — just not six. You can enjoy a slice of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving — you earned it. But you don’t need to crush half the dessert table and wash it down with bourbon. There’s a big difference between enjoying the moment and losing control of it. One builds discipline. The other breaks it.

This mission isn’t about being perfect — it’s about being intentional. You’re the kind of athlete who knows where the line is and refuses to cross it. You understand that a single beer or slice of pie doesn’t define you — but consistency does. The average person uses the holidays as an excuse to drift. The warrior uses them as a chance to tighten up, stay sharp, and stay in the fight.

The Mindset Shift

This is where the real battle happens — between your ears. Your brain will whisper, “Take it easy… it’s the holidays… you deserve it.” That’s the exact moment you build strength by doing what you don’t want to do. When you push through that resistance — get up early, hit your workout, skip the extra drink, take a cold shower — you’re not just training your body. You’re rewiring your mind.

As we talk about in “Embrace the Suck, Buttercup” discomfort is the crucible where toughness is forged. Every rep you do when you’d rather quit teaches your brain that pain and pressure aren’t enemies — they’re allies.

And when you combine that with what David Goggins and Andrew Huberman call deliberate suffering, you literally train your nervous system to grow stronger under stress.

The cold shower, the hard run, the clean meal instead of comfort food — these are brain workouts. The more you face the hard stuff head-on, the calmer and more powerful you become when the real storm hits.

Mission Wrap Up

Here’s your decision point: Are you going to be Athlete A or Athlete B?
Will you enter this holiday season with intent — discipline, focus, grit — or will you allow the tradition of over-indulgence to define you?

What you gain (clean + train): strength, momentum, mental clarity, discipline, and a head start.

What you lose (over-indulge): time, opportunity, physical condition, self-trust, the athlete you could become.

At SGPT we don’t wish for success. We work for it. We don’t settle for average. We train while others party. We prepare while others pause.

Your Move:

Choose clean eating. Choose the workouts. Choose the mindset. Let the holiday season be the edge, not the excuse. You have 60 days. Use them. Rise above. Become stronger.

About the Author:

Are you looking to achieve big goals? Do you have a big event on the horizon and you want to finish the drill?

Wanting to complete a Spartan, GORUCK, Tough Mudder or climb a big mountain?

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