Tips to Beating the Festive Season Bulge!
Don't let the Christmas Festivities get the best of your waistline!
We all know that time of year, the weather is warmer, the cicadas are singing, there are Christmas decorations all around the shopping malls (well they’ve been there since June but anyway!), it's the festive season and it can make things pretty difficult if you are on a lifestyle change.
The average Australian will put on over 2kg in the Christmas/New Years week alone! That's not to mention all the Christmas Parties through December or the holidaying you’ll be taking in January. To top it off researchers have found this weight gain is rarely lost afterwards!
Trying to lose body fat or staying on your healthy eating plan can be hard especially with so much temptation!
However, never fear here are a few tips and strategies you can use to stay prepared and make sure you don’t put on the extra muffin top these holidays.
Tip 1: Change your goals for the holiday season!
If your goal is to lose weight, you may want to be a bit more realistic. With so many parties and so much food, you are almost setting yourself up for failure if you insist on keeping weight loss as your goal!
Choosing a goal like keeping your current weight is more realistic. This takes away of the pressure of dealing with the enormous amounts of food and the self-loathing if you do cave. It also makes the holidays more enjoyable! Just don’t go nuts!
Tip 2: Measure yourself before and after the holiday period.
This is important for 2 reasons.
It gives you an indication of where you are starting from so you can make conscious decisions to end up in the same place at the end of the holidays
If you do end up putting on a few kgs, you know where you need to get back to.
You can track your weight, or even better take your hip, stomach and waist measurements to ensure they haven’t expanded.
Tip 3: Choose 1 occasion for the ‘junk’ food and try to stick to the homemade cooking after that.
We can get caught up in all the hype. Candy canes, Santa’s favourite soft drink coca cola and lots of chocolate in our stockings. However, how much of this do we really need? Actually none.
If you neeeeddddd to eat these sweet treats, give a designated day that you will allow yourself them. Make sure they are limited to a certain amount and then make sure every other day is filled with delicious but non-processed foods.
Tip 4: Do some exercise!
It’s pretty busy around the holiday period, and its hard to sneak in a quick session at the gym with reduced opening times, however, grab a loved one and simply go for a walk, swim or bike ride. The weather is glorious, so get outside and move!
Not only will this release endorphins and make you feel good, you’re less likely to reach for that 3rd piece of Christmas pudding as your more conscious of what your eating.
Tip 5: Fill up on protein and veggies!
There are actually foods that can be really good for you flying around the Christmas lunch table. Try and fill up on these so you’re less likely to eat the bad stuff later (like chocolates and puddings)
You’re much better off sticking to filling up on your turkey and veggies than eating all the processed sweets.
Tips 6: Don’t make the whole festive season about eating.
Try to hold off throwing away your healthy eating habits until it’s actually a holiday. For example, your Christmas party is on the 3rd of December, you indulge, then you throw away the rest of December to an orgy of food and drink everyday.
It difficult in an office where there is lots of festive food and everyone is in holiday mode, but keep on track for your regular healthy diet and only indulge on special events, like the work Christmas Party or Christmas Day Lunch.
This way it makes indulging more enjoyable and you’re more likely to keep your weight in check.
Tip 7: Don’t be a glutton or a drunk!
Relax, enjoy your holidays but do make sure you keep an eye on quantity. You don’t need to gorge yourself on tonnes of food or drink excessive amounts of alcohol each day over the holiday period. Enjoy what you have but be mindful of how much you have!
Finally, Remember Christmas is not there to tease or temp you. Food is there to be enjoyed. However, monitoring the quantity and what type of food you eat of Christmas can have a drastic difference to you’re waistline in the end. Focus on the socializing aspect of the holidays rather than eating!
We hope this will help you!