Start Now or Wait Until After the Holidays?

Sometimes waiting is the right call. If your season is truly full, pick a start date you can protect. If the holidays or a trip are the only thing in the way, starting first tends to work better than most women expect, because the plan is built for real life, including the big dinners and the time away.

Let's look at your calendar honestly.

Both answers are allowed here.

And neither one needs to be perfect.

Why does waiting until after the holidays feel safer?

I get it. I really do.

A lot of the women we talk to tell us they want to wait so they can go all in. A clean start. No dinners, no trips, no excuses to slip.

That instinct comes from a good place. You want to do this right.

Here's how the wait tends to play out, though:

First it's the cottage. Then a birthday, then a long weekend.
Then it's the holidays. Thanksgiving, then December, then New Year's.
Then real life shows up anyway. A work trip in February. A sick kid in March.

The calendar is rarely going to be empty.

That doesn't mean you have to start tomorrow.

It just means "after the holidays" deserves a second look.

When is waiting the right answer?

Sometimes it is, and I'd rather tell you that now.

Waiting makes sense when:

Your season is truly full. A move, a family crisis, a parent who needs you, the first weeks of a new job.
You're waiting on a medical answer. If your doctor is still working something out, get that answer first, then plan your start around it.
You can't make room for your coach. The coaching works because you talk to your coach every week. If that's impossible right now, it's okay to wait.

If that's you, pick a date you can protect. Put it in your calendar. Then hold it.

I walk through who coaching honestly isn't the right fit for, and when, in is one-on-one coaching worth it.

What if the holidays are the only thing in the way?

Then let's talk about how our plan actually works.

It was never built for a perfect eight weeks.

It's built for the real ones. Family dinners, a glass of wine with friends, the trip you've been looking forward to all year.

Here's what that looks like:

Real food at the table. No calorie counting, no food scales. You eat the holiday dinner with your family.
A coach who plans ahead with you. Big week coming? You talk it through at your check-in before it happens.
Workouts that fit. About 50 minutes, at home, with a set of dumbbells. Away from home, a shorter workout or a walk still counts.
One meal is one meal. An off dinner doesn't undo your week. You pick back up at the next one.

Chris explains it like this: when you consistently feed your body, move it, hydrate it and let it sleep, it starts to trust you. In our experience, once that trust is there, one holiday dinner or one weekend away doesn't change your body.

Most women come to us wanting to lose weight. What they actually want to lose is fat.

And in our experience, the jump on the scale after a big dinner is mostly salt and water. It tends to settle within a few days of being back in your routine.

If wine is part of your holidays, here's how we handle wine and the foods you enjoy.

What would starting before the holidays actually look like?

Start dates are flexible. When you start matters a lot less to us than whether you can show up for it.

A few things to know:

You get time to get ready. Saying yes and day one aren't the same day. Your onboarding call, your goal and your plan come first.
The first 14 days are the most structured. Lower carb, higher protein, and a short break from alcohol, dairy, gluten and processed sugar. Then those foods come back.
So plan those 14 days around your calendar. If they'd land right on a big holiday dinner, tell Chris on your call, and pick a start that puts them somewhere quieter.
Then the holidays become practice. You head into the big dinners already knowing how to fuel, train and recover through them.

We've helped 1,000+ women lose 10 to 20 lbs of fat in 8 weeks.

Most of those 8 weeks had something real in them. A birthday, a work trip, a long weekend.

That's the point. You learn how to do this inside your actual life.

If a trip is what's on your calendar, read how to keep your progress when you travel.

How do you decide?

Ask yourself honestly:

Is it a few dates, or a whole season? A few dinners and a trip can be planned around. A season with zero room is a different answer.
Can you find about 4 to 5 hours a week? That's workouts, food prep and check-ins, all in. Here's how much time coaching actually takes.
Can you talk to your coach every week? That's the one piece we can't build around.
Has "after the holidays" turned into "next year" before? If it has, that's worth noticing. Gently.

Whatever you decide, it's your call.

Starting now is a good answer. Waiting for the right season is a good answer too.

Sari built for the long term

I sat down with Sari, a 44-year-old mom of two, about leaving years of diet culture behind and the simple strategies that helped her build strength and set herself up for long-term success, no matter how busy life gets.

Not sure which answer is yours?

You don't have to figure it out alone.

Start with the short video on our homepage at fortyfwd.com. It walks through why your body stopped responding after 40 and the method we use to change that.

If it sounds like you, apply for a call with Chris.

He reads every application himself. On the call, he'll look at what's on your calendar and tell you straight whether now is a good time to start, and whether the program is the right fit. If it is, he walks you through the investment then, once you both know it's a fit.

The right start date is the one you can protect.

Let's find yours.

Frequently asked questions

Should I start a weight loss program before the holidays or wait until January?

If the holidays are the only thing in the way, starting first tends to work well, because the plan is built around real food and real events. If your whole season is full, waiting for a date you can protect is a fair answer.

Will the holidays ruin my progress if I start now?

In our experience, one big dinner or one weekend away doesn't undo weeks of steady progress. The jump on the scale afterward is mostly salt and water, and it tends to settle within a few days.

Can I choose my own start date?

Yes. Start dates are flexible, and Chris will talk through timing with you on your call, including where your first 14 days land.

What if my first two weeks land on a holiday?

Tell Chris on your call. The first 14 days are the most structured part of the plan, so you can pick a start that puts them somewhere quieter.

When is it better to wait to start coaching?

When your season is truly full, when you're waiting on a medical answer from your doctor, or when you can't make room to talk to your coach every week. Then pick a date you can protect.

Should I start now, or wait until after the holidays (or my trip)?