Christmas and New Years are upon us and we all know what that means. FOOD!…and fat gain.

Yeah….that.

With Christmas dinners and New Years celebrations going on almost daily it’s going be hard to stick to your diet and the last thing you want is a repeat of last year. You remember. January 2nd, your face is a bit puffier and your belly pours over the sides of your waistband like the gravy boat at Christmas dinner.

Now you may think “I’m going to be good this year and stay away from all the junk” but we both know that isn’t going to happen. Or maybe you’ve just learned to accept that with the holidays comes an extra 5 pounds on the scale in exchange for all the stuffing you can eat.

I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be either of them. You can come out the other end of January just as good as you started the beginning of December while still eating what you want over those last 2 challenging weeks of the year. It can be done. You will survive.

Here are some tips to indulge in holiday foods without doing serious damage to your waistline.

Indulge on the main holidays but not so much on the other days of the week:

After taking into account Christmas eve, Christmas day, New Years eve, and even New Years day there are still 10 days on which you don’t have to stuff your face during those last 2 weeks.

I know what you’re thinking “But there are dinners all the time in my family, and the leftovers are so good.” Well suck it up son, sometimes you’ll have to make some sacrifices for what you want. The reality is you don’t really have to eat so much on every damn day.


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By eating less on the other days you will keep calories lower throughout the week. This will allow you to indulge on the big days and do some damage control on off days.

 

Limit other foods on the day of holiday feasts:

On the days that you know you’re going to eat big for dinner, eat less during the rest of the day. This will give you more calories to “spend” on big dinners and effectively lower your weekly calories. You may have noticed the theme is to lower your calories everywhere else during the week.

 

Eat lots of protein:

Turkey, beef, ham. Mmmmm. Fill your plate with protein during your big meals. You probably already know the benefits of protein from a muscle building standpoint so I won’t go over that. More protein in this case plays another crucial role which is satiety.

More protein will keep you full for longer and will help lower the amount of carbs and fat you eat by way of filling up your stomach. Protein also has a higher thermic effect of feeding, which means it costs more energy to digest than carbs or fats. Take it where you can get it if you’re into that sort of thing. Besides, how often do you get tables upon tables covered in meat, cooked and ready to eat?

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Choose 10’s:

Never settle. If you’re going to indulge make sure that what you’re eating is worth it. Try to use your calories on the foods that are the best of the best. Your favourites. This will make your experience more enjoyable because you’re not wasting tummy space on things you just kinda like and will serve to keep calories lower because you won’t waste them on things that aren’t as great.

 

Continue to exercise and include NEPA (Non-Exercise Physical Activity):

A common occurrence around the holidays in addition to eating more is moving less. People use holiday time as an excuse for not exercising. It’s like all of a sudden getting to the gym is like bringing the ring to Mordor. (I’ve been on a bit of a Middle Earth binge lately after watching The Hobbit: Battle of The Five Armies. It was awesome. Just sayin’)

Make an effort to go to the gym or workout at home and perform as much NEPA as possible – take the stairs, go for walks, go tobogganing, play pick up sports with your friends since you’re all off from work anyways. This will burn calories and you’ll be in much better shape when returning to more consistent training and eating.

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Get off the gravy train

You don’t have to abstain from eating delicious holiday foods to stay on track, but at the same time there’s no rule saying that you have to gorge yourself to the point of nausea. As you may have noticed, the theme is to keep calories lower as much as possible everywhere else so you can really enjoy those big meals with minimal fat gain. Get lots of protein in and continue to move.

You don’t have to be too hard on yourself, but a little mindfulness can go a long way during holiday meal time.

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