We all know how it goes at Christmas – you get invited to plenty of parties, dinners and social events. You eat far more than you were intending to, either by going up for second helpings of those lush roast potatoes or a few extra slices of turkey, or by eating too many peanuts from the snack bowls that everyone seems to be putting around. You drank a years worth of calories last night in wine too, right? It’s hard work trying to keep on top of your weight at Christmas – who really has the time for that?
Luckily, we are paying special attention to not putting weight on over the Christmas period, and we are trying a lot of the tricks ourself. Why not have a go at some of them and let us know how you got on… We’d love to hear what got you through Christmas without putting on a few extra pounds! For a few more hints and tips, you could check out some of the other articles that we have featured in the prevent weight gain at Christmas series:
- Easy Christmas Food Swaps for a Healthier Christmas
- Prevent Piling on the Pounds at Christmas
For now, we are going to focus on the important tips that you will help get you through the social events this Christmas without eating and drinking too much. Are you sitting comfortably?
1. Never turn up hungry!
This is a bad idea for so many reasons. If you arrive hungry, you are going to snack throughout the day or night. If they have served dinner up for you and their other guests, you will probably overeat, more out of starvation but possibly out of politeness. If you have a healthy yet small meal before you go around there, you will be eating more healthy foods and less bad foods and this, in turn, can help you to prevent piling on the pounds at Christmas. For example, having a nice low-calorie Caesar salad before you head out to your friend’s for an evening of wine and nibbles, you will eat less of the high-calorie nibbles when you get there. You could have a sandwich before you go, a bowl of soup, whatever it is that you like, but just make sure that it is a low-calorie meal.
2. Never sit by the nibbles!
If you are at a party at a friend’s house and there is a bowl of nuts right next to you, you are probably going to eat them. If you go to a social event where there is food or nibbles, the more attention you pay to the food, the more you are likely to eat. Mingle and walk around the groups of people at the party – talk and have a good time. Isn’t that the point of a party anyway? By diverting your attention away from the food, you are less likely to eat and more likely to have a good time. You never know you might even make some friends!
3. Keep your pace!
If you are going to enjoy the munchies and nibbles, don’t tell yourself that you will only eat for the first hour or so that you are there, and then you will stop. This won’t work. You are more likely to over-eat in that first hour to compensate and chances are; you will continue to eat throughout the evening anyway, especially if you are drinking and you don’t have as much will power as you normally would. Think about it logically – when you tell yourself you can’t have something, you just want it all the time, don’t you? This brings me nicely to my next point…
4. Don’t stop yourself!
Obviously we are not saying that you can cram as much food into your mouth as possible, we are just saying that you should never debt yourself something that you really want. If you want a piece of Christmas cake, have a piece of Christmas cake. Just don’t have two pieces of Christmas cake. There is nothing wrong with letting yourself have a treat and you might find that denying yourself this pleasure could be detrimental to your determination to not put on any weight at Christmas. If you tell yourself not to have a piece of cake, you are going to be thinking about it all the time and there is a good chance that you will give in and have four pieces of cake. Just let yourself have a naughty five minutes every now and again and you will find that, because you aren’t saying “NO!” to anything, you will find life is much easier.
5. Count your nibbles!
As much as we don’t want you to deny yourself anything, we would suggest that you keep an eye on how much you are putting in your mouth. It’s easy to stick five canapés in your mouth and only remember eating three, especially if you are drinking as well. If they are on cocktail sticks, stick the cocktail sticks in your pocket so you can keep a tally of what you’re heading. Just try to keep on top of things… as best you can!
Keep your eyes peeled for Part B of our healthy eating for Christmas tips, and make sure you check out some of the posts we’ve put up in our Christmas series! Why not have a look at some of the following:
- Prevent Piling on the Pounds over Christmas
- Easy Christmas Food Swaps for a Healthier Christmas
The post Top 10 Tips to Make it Through Christmas Without Getting Fat! (Part A) appeared first on I Fashion Styles.
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