Here at OuterInner.com we want you to enjoy wearing beautiful occasions dresses and not to worry about them not fitting or looking and feeling out-of-shape during the holiday period, so we’ve put together a list of 17 helpful tips that you can use to avoid the usual weight gain over Christmas, but still have a good time!
Exercise
1. Set A Goal And Stick To It
In life in general it’s more difficult to make progress if we don’t have some kind of goal. Just ‘seeing how it goes’ each day just doesn’t cut it, so this holiday season try setting a weight loss or fitness goal for New Year’s Eve and focus on that. The feeling of satisfaction when you can wear your stunning cocktail dress and really flaunt your figure will be well worth all of the times you pushed yourself to exercise or said no to the desert.
2. Make Time To Exercise
Of course you’ll be busier than normal, so decide in advance when you can exercise. Even if you can’t hit the gym or the pavement as often as usual anything is better than just letting it fly. You could also try sneaking a morning workout into your routine for instance if you’re partying that night.
3. Adjust Your Workouts To 1 Hour ‘Super Sessions’
Due to lack of time it can be easy to forget about the gym ’til January, but in fact if you change your workout to a 60 minute blitz where you focus on several muscle groups then you can fit a lot of good work into one session that would usually take a couple of visits.
For example, you could focus on legs, shoulders and abs and then have 20 or 30 minutes of cardio. You might not do as much as in a usual gym session, but you will have a well-rounded workout and feel great for having fit in so much.
4. Keep Your Last Or Next Exercise Session In Mind
As you reach for another slice of cake or mince pie think to yourself, “Have I done enough exercise to eat this? Am I wasting my last exercise session?” This kind of thought will perhaps guilt you into not overdoing it!
Food
5. Avoid Overdoing It On Company Christmas Party Food
If you’ve got a company Christmas party coming up then there’s a good chance that the food there has been produced by a catering company. Although no doubt it will be tasty, this mass-produced food is seldom wholesome; so restrain yourself and perhaps eat some fruit or drink lots of water beforehand in order to reign in your hunger.
6. Keep Your Portions Small
Always choose a smaller desert plate when eating at parties and also choose small ‘samples’ of food instead of huge portions. In this way you can try and enjoy the different foods without getting tremendously full.
7. Eat More Vegetables
Load up on veg if it’s available, then you won’t want so much less healthy food. Veg is healthy and filling, so snaffle the salad and say yes to carrots and broccoli!
8. Enlist Your Friends To Help You Stay On Track
If you let your friends know that you’re trying to stay healthy then they’ll be supportive. When you go to their parties then they’ll know to provide some healthier options, or you can ask if you can bring something suitable (and that you know is healthy) and you can eat more of this dish safe in the knowledge that it’s good for your waistline.
9. Stay Hydrated
Keep drinking water as you’ll be amazed as to how it can help you feel full and also less tired. Aim to be drinking about 2 liters per day (that’s about 8 regular glasses) and if you feel a little peckish some water will help stave off the feeling of hunger.
10. Try New Lighter Recipes
If you’re cooking for yourself, your family or a dinner party then try some new, healthy recipes. Just because food is healthy doesn’t mean that it’s not going to be popular or tasty. So add a twist to party food by swapping some unhealthy treats like cake for fruit instead.
11. Plans Your Meals
If you know that you’ve got a huge meal coming up where you’re probably going to overeat, then try to eat less before hand. So cut down on unhealthy meals before the meal, choosing salad instead, and maybe minimize the impact of the calories by working out the same day.
12. Keep Your Larder Stocked With Healthy Food
During Christmas it’s really important to keep plenty of healthy foods around yourself at home. If you have fruit and veg to hand then you’re more likely to eat them. Focus on eating your 3 to 5 servings of vegetables each day.
13. Eat Before Going To Parties
Never, NEVER starve yourself before going to a party so you’ll have “room” for plenty of great food. If you do you’ll be so hungry that you will easily eat more than an entire day’s worth of calories, which is a disaster for your waistline. Instead, eat some healthy food beforehand so you’re full before you arrive. Then you’ll be able to turn down a lot of those tempting party treats.
14. Be Picky
During the holidays foods that you’d usually avoid suddenly become more appealing, because many of us just think, “Oh, I’ll treat myself!” But in order to stay on track you need to be picky. By all means eat a little of the festive treats that you miss throughout the year, such as some Christmas cake, but turn down all of the candies and chocolates that you can get all year round.
15. Don’t Give Up If You Suffer A Lapse
If you have given in to temptation and had a real blow out it’s OK! But just because you have let it slide once doesn’t mean that you have to go on an all-out eating binge! Just focus on the gains that you can still make and then start eating well again from then. In fact, it’s healthy to sometimes treat yourself, BUT you must know when it’s time to stop and behave again!
Extra healthy Tips
16. Cut Back On The Booze
Alcohol is doubly bad, as it’s not only fattening, but also causes you to feel hungry and store fat. By all means have a few drinks, but remember that a glass of wine or beer is like eating bread!
17. Wear Tight Clothes To A Party
If you’re wearing a tight dress then it will be a constant reminder not to eat too much when you’re at the party. Mentally this works, as no one likes feeling like they’re going to bust out of their dress!
So that’s it for our big list of healthy tips to stay in shape this holiday, we hope that they help and you make it to the other side and emerge into January looking trim and feeling great! There must be more good advice out there though, so if you have a tip please share it as a comment below! Is there something you do every Christmas which is guaranteed to help you stay trim?
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