5 Tips to Stay on Track This Christmas

Christmas is one of the hardest times of the year to stay on track with your health and fitness goals. Your routine goes out the window, there’s food temptation everywhere, and a lot of socialising. It can be a stressful time for those concerned about their body, health, and fitness, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many tricks to help stay on track and prevent doing serious damage or having to avoid social occasions for fear of indulging. Here are 5 simple tips and tricks to help you stay on track this Christmas.

1. Plan & prepare your meals

You have something called willpower; it’s what stops you from making bad decisions… like face-planting into cake. Unfortunately, it’s not very good at stopping you from making too many bad decisions as it’s required in all decision-making, such as what to eat for lunch, what to wear for the day, whether you'll go to the gym or not, etc. Willpower is limited and is like a battery that is recharged daily. If you spend too much energy on too many decisions in the day, your willpower will deteriorate quickly, and your face may be in that cake before you even realise it. Therefore, the goal is to conserve your willpower as much as possible by eliminating as many decisions as possible. Having your meals pre-planned helps to conserve your willpower and help minimise the risk of you falling off track.

2. Eat mindfully

One of the greatest challenges at this time of the year is eating for the sake of it and without any thought. Being mindful of what you eat can help you to become more aware of what you’re eating and the experience you have from that meal. This can help you to make better decisions about your nutrition. There are 4 pillars to mindful eating:

1. What to eat,
2. Why you’re eating what you’ve chosen to eat,
3. How much to eat, and
4. How to eat. By being more conscious of your food, you can determine if you’re eating to fuel and nourish your body, or if you’re eating for other reasons, such as temptation and boredom. Many tactics can be used to help you become more mindful of you’re eating habits, and our coaches can help you identify your traits and common triggers for overeating so that you can successfully take control of your eating habits.

3. Out of sight, out of mind

One of the most effective ways to avoid picking at foods is to remove the temptation entirely. If it’s not in the house, it can’t be eaten as easily! If you don’t want the temptation of a box of chocolates or whatever is your favourite treat, make it a rule to not keep it in your house. If you want it, have it and then get rid of it – don’t leave it lying around. Chances are, you’ll end up picking at it for the rest of the week and finishing it otherwise.

4. Do some exercise

We all know exercise burns energy and can help you maintain/lose body fat, but what you mightn't know is the psychological impact it can have on helping you stay on track with your nutrition and goals. Exercise also releases many 'feel good' hormones and chemicals, which can help to make you feel better about yourself and encourage you to keep up your fitness regime and healthy eating habits. Training also requires discipline and focus. By getting to the gym or hitting the road for a run, you’re subconsciously reinforcing your focus on your goals; being fit, healthy, and in shape.

5. Balance your calorie intake

Let's be real here; I don't care how disciplined and committed you are, there's going to be some days where you slip on your diet - it's pretty much inevitable at this time of the year. The good news is that it's not the end of the world. Fat gain/loss doesn’t just depend on what you’ve eaten today - it depends on what you’ve eaten over multiple days, weeks, months, and years. The trick to managing your body weight and fat is to learn to balance your energy intake.

If you overeat one day, you can eat less the following day or in the days leading up to a day that you know you will overeat a bit. This doesn’t mean you have to starve yourself - nor do we recommend it either - it just means eating a little less (a few hundred calories or so) each day. That may be as simple as replacing your starchy vegetables (e.g., potatoes) with non-starchy vegetables (e.g., salads). This also applies on a more micro level with your meals throughout the day; if you know you’re going to have a big lunch or dinner, eat a little bit lighter during your other meals to help regulate your calorie intake for the day better.

Set your expectations appropriately

Christmas and New Year are not the best time to be expecting progress in fat loss, especially if you’re quite social. Many people find themselves having an 'all or nothing' attitude at this time of the year; they're either 100% on track or 100% off track. Do yourself a favour and set realistic expectations for yourself. If you haven’t seen many of your family and friends for a long time, take advantage of the situation and shift your focus to maintaining your body weight/condition. This is a time of year when most people gain body weight and fat. If you can walk away from it having maintained yours, you will be doing extremely well! There will be plenty of time in the new year to get back to crushing your goals.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the team at Recalibrated Bodies!