It’s almost that time of the year again! You know that time we love but hate. We love it because we can get together with family and friends over delicious food, cocktails by a warm fire. Alternatively, we hate it because we eat, drink, and repeat for a solid month causing many of us to gain weight!! Consequently, January 1st rolls around, and the #1 New Year’s resolution is to ‘lose weight’ which is extremely daunting for people in the dead of winter. With that said, why not have a plan in place to avoid weight gain over the holidays. That way, you aren’t frantically trying to lose the holiday weight the minute the ball drops. Not sure where to start with your plan? Look no further! This post provides strategies to help avoid gaining those pesky pounds that creep up during the holiday hustle.
Do NOT skip meals or eat less in preparation for a holiday meal!
Let me say this again…DO NOT skip meals or eat less to prepare for a holiday meal!! Just DON’T do it! I can’t stress this enough! This is the most crucial way to avoid holiday weight gain! People tend to think that if they eat less earlier in the day, the extra large meal they eat for dinner won’t count. Consequently, this is the BIGGEST mistake people make. This idea of saving calories to eat more later is a dangerous method. Ultimately you will arrive at the holiday party famished eating everything in sight and more! Alternatively, if you eat the proper 2 meals prior to the party, of course choosing healthy choices, you are less likely to binge on all those yummy options!
Make time for exercise!
Let’s face it, holidays completely shake up our typical routine. To the point that we basically have no routine for a few weeks. As a result, exercise is often an afterthought and weight gain is inevitable. Don’t let this happen to you!
Make a calendar of your holiday season before it begins. Include all social events, kids events, family functions, winter activities that are scheduled or that you want to schedule. From there determine the best time of each day to do even a 20-minute workout. Time is certainly an issue over the holidays. Hence, don’t set unrealistic expectations of yourself such as an hour-long workout, although if you can fit that in – great! Instead plan to do something 30 minutes or less reminding yourself that some exercise is better than no exercise. Also keeping in mind that there are PLENTY of effective 30 minute or less workouts. For more on this check on my blog post Top 4 Youtube workouts or The 5 Best Ab Workouts at home.
One great tradition we have as a family is we go for a “family walk” after consuming a big holiday meal. Although it might not be a high intensity workout it helps to digest our meal and allows for some more quality family time! With that said, find something that works for you but be sure to schedule it in.
Drink lots of H2O
When the holiday season hits people seem to forget to mix in their daily intake of water. Who can blame them with all the fancy festive drinks available! Also, the hustle and bustle of the season can rank drinking water as a low priority. Oftentimes it simply slips our minds. Therefore, be sure to have a water bottle handy and consume those 8 glasses of 8oz water per day. Drinking water can also help your body tell your brain that it’s full before indulging in that oversized piece of pecan pie or the second helping of pasta.
Practice Mindful Eating
Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment. You know, taking time to stop and smell the roses. Or in this case, the food! With all the wonderful aromas that the holiday season creates there is no better time to practice mindful eating! The major benefit of mindful eating is it allows you to eat slowly and intentionally which will help to avoid overeating. For those new to this, the best way to start mindful eating is to incorporate all 5 senses into your meal. Notice how the food looks, sounds, smells, feels, and finally tastes. To take things a step further, challenge yourself to take at least 20 minutes to finish your meal. It’s called the art of dining! We’ve somehow lost this art here in North America but it’s never too late to bring it back.
Listen to your body
We all have foods that don’t agree with us whether it be due to an allergy, an intolerance or health reasons. As tempting as it can be to eat those foods you have been avoiding, challenge yourself to steer clear of them particularly during the holiday season. For example, potatoes have always been a ‘trigger’ food for me meaning I feel bloated and awful after I eat them. Thus, I stay far away from them especially if I want to enjoy my evening.
Can you think of what your ‘trigger’ foods are? Those foods that make you feel hungover the next day. If you aren’t aware of this yet, then do some investigating on what foods are off limits for you and work hard over the holidays to avoid them. Typically, holiday events have a plethora of options so choose something else. If you are concerned that there may not be a trigger free option, then offer to bring a dish that you know you can eat. Because I am vegetarian this is my go-to strategy when I go to other people’s houses for a dinner party. People are always thankful that I am offering to help, and I can ensure there is something there that I can eat. As a result, it’s a win-win!
To Wrap up in a Bow…
Since the holiday season is right around the corner start putting these strategies into action now to avoid the dreaded holiday weight gain! Of course, what I love about these strategies is that they apply to any holiday or vacation any time of year and can be used in your day-to-day life as well.
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Cheers to a healthier you!
xoxo
Tricia