10 Tips To Survive The Holiday Season Weight Gain
1. Drink more water -preferably cold. This will keep you hydrated, assist with detox, cut down on water retention, make you feel less hungry and elevate your metabolism.
2. Before attending an event, party or dinner, eat a small balanced meal. Don’t ever show up starving.
3. Analyze the food choices at an event before filling your plate. Always have plenty of protein and good fats with smaller carb amounts. If you consume carbs, the protein and fat will lower the glycemic index of the carbs making them less damaging to your waistline.
4. Watch what you drink. Drinking high sugar, carb heavy drinks will kill your chances of a lean belly just as bad as eating a bag of sugar cubes.
5. Even if you are traveling or visiting family, do some exercise as often as you can. Even 10 minutes a day can do more or you than going a week or two with nothing. Drop down and do a set of pushups, squats, planks, chair dips and hit a staircase up and down a few times. Bottom line- do something.
6. Don’t deny yourself but rather control yourself. Eat some of your favorite holiday foods and treats but don’t eat the whole pie at one sitting. Keep the water, protein and good fat handy right before and after.
7. Get social support from family and friends and tell them about your fitness goals so they can support you and understand what you are trying to do. Don’t keep it a secret.
8. If you slip up on one meal, don’t let it ruin the day. Just eat better the rest of the day. Don’t try to make up for it by starving. One meal doesn't ruin a day, one day doesn't ruin a week, one week doesn't ruin a month. Consistency over the long term is the key.
9. Carbs and sugar are the biggest threats to your waistline. Carbs are everywhere, especially in holiday foods and treats. Enjoy yourself but be aware. Make smart choices and remember that eating carbs only makes you feel full for a short amount of time. Example: if you had a bowl of pasta and you felt full, about 30 minutes later, you could be hungry again. The second bowl of pasta will take you to a place that you can’t recover from. Once again, turn to the protein and good fats. Some turkey and almonds would be a better choice than the second bowl of pasta.
10. If you know you are attending a large family dinner or similar event and a big meal will be served with many courses, one technique is to apply the intermittent fasting (IF) protocols during this season. You could schedule your fast before your event so that during the time of your dinner or event, it would be time to end your fast. You still need to apply the other principles and keep things in check though. That way even if you took in your entire day’s calories at one event, the damage would be contained.
Eric
Posts
