10 Christmas Weightloss Tips
You are doing great with your training and your weight loss is going well, then bam, its festive season an you are concerned am I going to undo the good work I have achieved this past weeks and months? Well here are 10 Christmas weight loss tips to keep you on track and still enjoy your festive season.
Will I put on weight over Christmas?
You need to over eat by 3500 calories to put on 1 lb, so unless you are vastly over eating you will not add fat that quickly.
Why is the scales gone up so much Christmas week?
You will have extra water weight this week with the extra carbs that have been eaten and extra drinks taken, you can have water weight, which will subside once you get back into regular routine in the days after.
Look at these 10 weight loss tips for Christmas below to see what ways might work best for you!
Christmas Weight Loss Tips
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Stay Active
Each day make sure that you are up and moving, yes we can have wet and windy days, just wrap up, stay warm and get out and walk, do a garden tidy up, jog etc. Make it more appealing by including family and friends meet for a coffee, listen to music or podcast and use this time not just for your physical health but mental/ emotional well-being. This will make your mind fresher from any pent up feelings and thoughts and be more at ease.
Sitting around and watching the Christmas movies is perfectly fine to do, but do so after a period of being active.
2. Portion control
Use the method portion control by hand measurements, weighing out your food items, use a smaller plate or the right amount of space veg/ protein/ carbs make up on the plate. Calorie counting is not for everyone, but if you do this method just be as accurate and honest with yourself as much as possible for the month, and you will do great, as you can afford a day off from this too.
3. Low Calorie options
Making just a small change by choosing lower calorie alternatives will easily keep you on track and not loosing out on your favourite foods, drinks or feel excluded in social settings. Switch to low calorie alcoholic drinks like gin and slimline tonic, whiskey and zero cola, light or low calorie beers and wines.
Some zero beers and wines will still keep you enjoying your night and as well as being low calorie, there is no hangover too!
It is best not to drink your calories as you won’t feel full very long, but just be wise.
4. Avoid Snacking
There will also be a load of extra food around the house or work office, do your best if you need to snack go for wholefoods fruit, veg, nuts, dried fruit. Of course you will have some treats of a pick and mix, crisps and chocolate, still have these things but try limit these to not every day but a couple times in the week.
For some people putting them away in a place that required effort to get them works, or for others, breaking up treats into containers that they know what the calorie content is of each container, is a way to treat plan and still have cravings sorted and be on track.
Choosing healthier alternatives to your usual snacks will help too, oven baked crisps / chips rather than fired ones, fun sized chocolate bar rather than a large family sharing one.
5. Increase Protein Level
Eating protein will not just help build muscle, it help you to feel fuller for longer.
Protein takes the longest to digest and breakdown, so it moves more slowly through your digestion system, in doing so you will feel less likely to snack.
6. Get a good nights sleep
When we don’t sleep well we can have the body’s natural rhythms effected, this can throw off our leptin and ghrelin hormones that control and regulate our metabolism
Leptin controls long-term energy balance and our intake of food, when this is higher we eat less. On the other hand when ghrelin is higher it encourages us to eat more.
With proper sleep we keep these two in check and we produce more leptin and dont find the need to snack or over eat as much.
Try to sleep 7-9 hours nightly for best results.
7. Deserts, Yes Please!
Of course have your cake and eat it, but it usually is just a few bites is all you need to satisfy the desire for desert so just have a smaller slice of cake or pudding, without loading up.
8. Eat more slowly
We are usually in a rush around this time of year and eat on the fly very quickly, so if you slow down, chew more slowly, put your fork down between bites, sip more water between bites this will help.
Eating slowly will make you more more aware of when you actually feel full and then don’t over eat.
9. Calorie Banking
If you are counting calories and your daily calories are say 2500 a day, for the week coming up to Christmas only have 2300 and / or then do the same for the week after Christmas, you can bank those calories to be used up on Christmas day and a couple of days after too. This way if you are worried you know that by making this little change, you are still on track.
10. Just enjoy your Christmas Day
Its just one day of the year and one to share time as much a possible with family and friends, eat drink and be merry. This is just one day out of 356 days, it is a day to enjoy and relax from all the food prep and planning.Here
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