Eating over the Silly Season

The party season has well and truly arrived and for most of us this means the celebrations, parties and family functions, which translates into 4-6 weeks of constant eating and drinking! Unfortunately this tends to mean weight gain. In fact, over the holiday period we tend to gain about 2 kilos, and often takes about 3 months to lose and for some, it stays on for good!

If you consider that just one kilo of extra weight equates to an extra 9000 calories or 20 extra hours of intense training, you may be a little more keen to keep a closer eye on the scales this holiday season.

Tips for keeping weight off during Christmas

Set yourself the goal of maintaining your weight over the holidays

With the extra temptations and indulgences over the holiday season, this is a practical goal if you’re trying to lose weight.

This will mean you can indulge in some of your favourite treats but will need to offset these extra calories through extra exercise or one or two lighter meals each day.

Set some rules for Christmas parties and social events.

Having a few ‘rules’ in place will help you stay on track in these tempting environments. For example:

Avoid going to these events hungry; always eat a protein rich snack (e.g. yoghurt or a small handful of nuts) beforehand;
Limit canapés to five per event (this equals about 400 calories, which is close to an entire meal);
No dessert if drinking alcohol;
Alternate between alcoholic drinks and water or mineral water to help pace yourself.
Enjoy Christmas Day but don’t indulge during the entire month of December. This means avoid bringing Christmas mince pies and pudding into the house until Christmas Eve and if you’re hosting Christmas, offload leftovers to family and friends. This can often be the difference between weight loss and weight gain.

Which chocolate to choose?

Good quality should contain cocoa butter as the fat in the ingredient list as cocoa butter does not increase cholesterol levels or risk of heart disease.

Avoid chocolate that contains vegetable oil & palm oil do.

Best options: