December is somehow already here! Which means plenty of delicious festive treats, mulled wine and mince pies are coming up.
So how do you manage to survive it all without piling on the kilos of weight you might have spent the last few months working hard to lose?
Below you’ll find out top 5 tips to help you get through the festive period without undoing all of your efforts.
And you’ll be able to go into 2020 in better place than most with your fitness goals!
Relax about your goals.
Losing weight isn’t an all year round event. You’ll have times across the year when you might maintain your weight (which is harder than you think and just as important as losing it in the first place). And there will be times when it might even go up - think about that one week in the sun with the all inclusive hotel. Losing weight then is probably the last thing on your mind. So relax and don’t put pressure on yourself to lose more weight over the coming weeks - even if you know you still want to lose another 5+ kilo’s in 2020.
Rather than setting unrealistic expectations of carrying on with any weight loss you’ve had - enjoy the other aspects of life with your friends & family.
It’s not a full month event
A lot of the time people will get to the start of the new year and wonder why when they step on the scales they’re 6Kg heavier than at the start of December. It’s because December has probably been treated as a whole “fuck it, it’s Christmas period”.
Now we’re by far not the grinch and the last people to say what you should or shouldn’t eat. But if you’re going to treat the whole month as one big food and alcohol fest, accept your decisions and therefore weight gain.
Alternatively, pick and choose where you will relax and enjoy yourself. The family get together where you pretend to enjoy spending time with your in-laws or your office work lunches and parties. Enjoy those moments, eat the food you enjoy and have the extra drink you wouldn’t usually have. Then where you can, stick with what’s been working for you the rest of the time.
Control what you can, and relax about what you can’t
This links to not treating December as one big “fuck it” moment. When you’re going out for your Christmas party in the evening, do you still have the choice of what you can eat/drink for breakfast & lunch? Well focus on those aspects of your day and relax about your evening. Despite the third Quality Street tin being given to you (we’ll happily accept those off your hands), you’ve probably still got a lot of control of your food environment at home so what can you carry on doing to help make better choices easier - fruit & veg to hand, sources of lean protein easily accessible & don’t be afraid of giving away a chocolate tin if you’re already stacked up to the ceiling with them. Then when it comes to your work environment and there’s always some sort of festive treat open, you won’t stress it as much. You can’t do much at this time of year about it so relax.
Create a buffer
One of the most effective ways some of our clients have avoided loads of weight gain or maintained most of their progress from earlier in the year is through creating a “buffer of calories”. This could be across a day - so skipping a meal (usually breakfast) which you don’t particularly feel you need and that could automatically save you 300-600 calories for you to enjoy later in the day. Or it could be done across the week - so reducing your calories slightly on weekdays (or simply when you aren’t socialising) so when it comes to the weekend, you can relax and enjoy the social events you have on. In practice, this could simply mean passing on the daily mince pie at 3pm with your tea in the office and enjoying your weekend with friends/family.
Keep up with some training
Just because you have a busier schedule and can only do one or two sessions a week, it doesn’t make them pointless. Every session done before the end of the year is another in the bank. You wouldn’t stop saving money completely if for one month you could only save half of your usual saving amount. You’d just save half and move on. Same goes for your training. You might need to plan it a little more around your busier social life but pick the couple of slots you can realistically train and don’t let them slip. It will make getting more active in January so much easier if you keep up some sort of activity in December. Whilst it also isn’t purely done for burning calories, you’ll burn off a few of those quality street’s if you keep up some sort of exercise routine.
So there are our 5 top tips on how to get through the festive period without adding kilos to the scales.
Take from them what you want.
Decided what you want out of December.
And enjoy a festive bake from Greggs ;)
Found it useful?
We’d be forever grateful if you shared it or left us some feedback on what you’re planning to do this December!