Let’s have a think about gaining weight over Christmas.
We all worry about gaining weight over Christmas, but please remember that months of hard work are not undone with two days of extra food intake. If we’re talking about a whole week of turning a blind eye to every serving of every treaty food imaginable, then you’re looking at a different picture – but, a couple of days of a bit of extra intake is not going to undo the progress you’ve made up to now.
It’s true that every day you’re not following your plan puts you back a couple of days and you’ll likely see a gain on the scales too – but, in my mind, that’s just part of life, and the event which lead to it is part of what makes the long journey to reaching your goals more do-able.
The weight you’ll gain will largely be water anyway, held on to by your body for various reasons. Also remember that our bodies are clever and have several tricks up their sleeves which help to use up the occasional unusual boost in caloric intake.
What’s important is the overall picture of what you do day in, day out. And a big part of that is habit and routine.
My advice is to make your goal over Christmas that of guarding your routine. Worry a little less about WHAT you’re eating over Christmas and more about HOW you’re eating over Christmas.
Once the Christmas food is gone, we won’t see it again for a year, but the scars on our routines will hang around and are hard to break. Booze every day and chocolate on the sofa at 8pm anyone?
Enjoy what you want to enjoy for a couple of days at Christmas. But, make a plan for how and when to enjoy it – don’t make life hard for yourself after Christmas.
If you’ve worked hard to break the habit of a glass of wine every day, don’t find yourself having a glass every evening over Christmas – it’ll likely make it hard for you to re-find your routine in January.
Likewise, if you struggle with eating on the sofa in the evening, don’t let the habit creep in over Christmas as it’ll likely be hard to stop again after Christmas.
If your difficult area isn’t food but exercise and you’ve worked hard on getting moving every day – it’s probably worth making sure you maintain this in some way or other over Christmas.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with a relaxed approach to food, eaten in a routine which isn’t going to make life hard for you in January!