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Oh, Thanksgiving. A time of joy. A time of fellowship! A time of a whole lot of eating food that will cause your waist size to increase!

Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Holly “Lil Bear” Lawson and I punch people in the face for a living. I’m a professional boxer that is ranked Top 5 in the world.

I am here to help you make it through Thanksgiving and all of the feasting that you certainly have lined up. Much of my time will be regulated to watching my loved ones eat pies, yams, stuffing, smothered turkey and so much more. Being a fighter is a lonely thing, full of hard work and sacrifice. For every knock out you see on television, hundreds of hours of training has been logged. For every six pack you see flexing as we throw a punch, that boxer has stood around watching somebody else eat something yummy.

Being a woman makes it even harder. On one hand, the athlete in me gets up to run at 5 am and loves the feeling of being at my physical prime. On the other hand, the woman in me likes it when she fills out her dress and is able to enjoy some of the things I bake for family and friends. It can be quite frustrating to have the same urges to eat as everybody else yet stick to a champion’s regiment.

In the last year I have been through 7 training camps of 4-6 weeks each. That means 42 weeks 294 days) of rationing food, only drinking alkaline water, running and training 6 days a week and most of a year spent gazing longingly at every one’s plates at holidays parties and BBQ’s. It hasn’t been easy, it hasn’t always been fun, but it has given me some insight on what it takes to stick to your diet, especially as you ease into the holidays.

It IS possible to have a good time, enjoy your friends and family and still make it through the holidays without destroying all the hard work and discipline you’ve put into your health and fitness in 2012.

Here are 5 ways to get you through Thanksgiving and the holiday season::

Set goals. This can sometimes seem too simple, it’s not. Even small goals held up as something to work towards, end up being motivation to stick to healthier food. It doesn’t have to be making weight for a title fight, it can be something small like buying a smaller dress for New Years, running a quarter mile faster by Christmas or simply not losing any of the gains you’ve made this year. I think there is something powerful in being able to see/hear/touch something, having your goals be tangible instead of just a number. A good idea for this holiday is to go out and buy a hot little dress and hang it in plain sight. Every time you get dressed for an event you’ll see that outfit you are going to be wearing and carry that image in your head for the evening. Sometimes knowing I have to wear a skintight dress will be the difference between eating one of those cookies or having a glass of water.

Click here to read the rest of  “5 Ways To Make It Through Thanksgiving Like A Champ!”

If you have any questions, comments or simply need someone to give you the tough love and tell you to put down the fruit cake, follow me on twitter at @lilbearlawson and Instagram lilbearlawson