Can You Stay Fit Through Christmas and New Years?
The answer.
Yes! Of course you can stay fit and healthy during the Christmas and New Year period, and with my help you might even become healthier and look better. This arduous two week period that often begins around the 20th of December, and finishes at the beginning of the new year is filled with good times, good vibes, friends, family, food and alcohol. The element of our lives that we often forget about is our health and fitness, and because of this we finish this joyful period feeling bad about ourselves.
Limit Your 'Picking'
Who has a bowl of chocolates, chips, pretzels, or lollies in the middle of their Christmas lunch table?
We all should! However, you need to make yourself aware of those bad 'picking' habits, as they can add up pretty fast over a couple of hours.
5 Quick Practical Tips
TIPS
| HOW
| BENEFITS
|
|---|---|---|
#1 Do not neglect your strength sessions.
| By heading into the gym for 30 minutes 3/4 times a week and lifting weights you will burn calories, and continue to burn those calories long after you have finished the session. Your intensity need to be high for that 30 minutes and rest needs to be limited. Get in get it done, and get out.
| You will maintain or gain muscle mass, plus you won't be feeling guilty about having that extra bowl of dessert, or that extra glass of wine.
|
#2 Do not feel guilty for over eating.
| It is Christmas. Eat whatever you like. Drink whatever you like. You do not need to feel guilty. Having a positive mindset will relieve stress.
| The stress hormone (cortisol) simply makes you gain weight. If you have a positive mindset in regards to your eating this hormone will be kept at bay.
|
#3 Try something new.
| People in the workforce often take time off during this period, which is a perfect time for you to try something new. Try intermittent fasting. I recommend a 8:16 fasting window. That means you can eat for an 8 hour window (11am-7pm). Your fast would occur in the 16 hour period where you will not consume any calories. A good tip to beat the early morning hunger is to have a black coffee and a big drink of water when you wake up.
| You may be like me and feel more energetic with intermittent fasting, I feel better and have more energy to put into something else, whether that be family, or the gym.
|
#4 Prioritise sleep.
| Christmas and New Years often include some very late nights, there is nothing we can do to change that. By keeping an already establish bedtime routine from work across this Christmas period you will be able to feel better throughout your day. Sleeping in may seem like a good idea until you cannot sleep that night. This habit will snowball and your sleeping pattern will fall apart. Keep routine. Routine is good.
| You will feel better throughout the day, and it will enable you to fit all the chaos of Christmas into your day. Keeping your rotuine will also make going back to work much, much easier.
|
#5 Drink a lot of water!
| We all know the feeling after having a big night Christmas Eve or New Years Eve, waking up the next day dehydrated, and craving bad food. Please I beg you, before you hit the hay that night drink as much water as possible, and if that water wakes you up during the night to go to the toilet drink some more then to. My secret to this is before i go out that night i place a huge drink bottle on my bedside table and guzzle as much as i can when i get home.
| You will wake up feeling a mllion times better than what you would have! Trust me on this one.
|
Drink Up!
Do You Need to Choose Wisely?
Picture this. You have grabbed your plate and you walking through the kitchen to fill said plate with food. You start with veggies (big tick, good on you) you grab some roast potatoes, peas, carrots and broccoli. Then you move onto the meat, you take some roast chicken, lamb, turkey and some ham. You might add some gravy, cheese sauce, salt and pepper.
This is making me hungry just thinking about it.
You sit down eat lunch, with a glass of wine, or an ice cold beer. Doesn't get much better than that does it? You finish your lunch, and dessert is ready. Christmas pudding, pavlova, and cheesecake, you finish your first bowl and if you are anything like me you head back for seconds, and finish that bowl too. Now your belly is full, and you are relaxing feeling like you have eaten far too much. Maybe you are feeling guilty.
Stop right there. It is Christmas, you DO NOT need to count calories on Christmas. Relax, spend time with family, and remember what Christmas is all about.
