Do not wait until the damage is done in January to begin losing your Christmas bulge. Implement some small but positive changes in the weeks prior to the festive period that will provide priceless help in avoiding excess weight gain. Choose some days to diet and exercise and set a goal of losing anything from 3-8lbs and then look to maintain that weight throughout the festive period.
2. Choose your battles
There are usually no shortage of evenings out during the festive period with work colleagues, family and friends. It would be wise to choose your battles well before accepting every invitation, do not look to indulge heavily with high fat/high sugar meals, snacks and alcoholic drinks with every evening out. Select some evenings were you would consume fewer large portions or choose healthier options. Do not drink excessively with every social occasion. Limit your alcohol intake for certain invites only and drink fewer drinks or none at all for others.
3. Spread your calories
It makes no difference if you consume a thousand calories late in the evening as long as you have limited your calorie intake in the morning and afternoon, you will not gain weight. If you consume your normal intake throughout the day and then consume a thousand calories of indulgent foods and drinks you will gain weight. So if you are anticipating a heavy meal with a few drinks in the evening, balance with small meals earlier in the day.
4. Never go hungry!
There are usually an abundance of high fat/high sugar snacks at social occasions and one major mistake that many people make is attending these parties on an empty stomach and satisfying their hunger on foods that are made to make us fat! Make sure you’ve had a quality evening meal prior to attending your social occasions that will make you crave less high fat/high sugar foods.
5. Know your limits
Everything in excess is usually bad for us and too much food and drink is certainly detrimental to our health and especially our weight. Know your limits for food and drink and try your best to stay within them.
6. Watch the numbers
Most people do not have any idea how many calories are in the foods and drinks they consume. Foods with high amounts of fat and sugar can be deceiving as even though they may be small in size, they can be dense in calories. On Christmas day alone we eat approx. 3000 more calories than we do normally! A typical Christmas meal consisting of roast potatoes, roast turkey, stuffing, roast parsnips, cranberry sauce, gravy, boiled sprouts, boiled carrots, sausage and bacon weigh in at a whopping 956 calories!
7. Recycle or donate your food and alcohol gifts to charity
We normally receive far too many gifts that include alcohol and chocolate. Do not keep these gifts for a rainy day, as soon enough they’ll be consumed before you know it! Take the gifts and pass them onto friends, family members or colleagues or donate them to a local charity.
Edinburgh Personal Trainer Mike Heatlie
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