How to not go overboard this silly season 😜

Christmas time = party time! Particularly after the crazy year we’ve all had, we’re all in desperate need for some much-needed festivities, food and wine. However, after Christmas and New Year rolls around, we can spiral into a sense of guilt, restricting ourselves then into another binge which feels like a constant aggressive cycle that we struggle to get out of. 

I’m here to give you some of my tips to stay on track this silly season while still enjoying yourself, but before we get into that let me remind you that I’ve created a FREE 12 days of Fitmas eBook that you can download when you join my email club (sign up via the pop up window on my website). 

THE TIPS:

• Plan plan plan: December can turn into a month full of festivities which can easily roll into January and ‘I’ll start tomorrow’ becomes 2 months of ‘f*^k it’ mentality. It’s important that we’re not celebrating every single day of the month! Try to schedule in the important days like Christmas day, New Years Eve and work around the events where you might try to limit your treats, for example work events. It’s all about that balance.
• Booze: Alcohol can quickly add calories to our daily input so it’s important to enjoy it in moderation and be aware of what you’re consuming. If you’re calorie conscious and still want to enjoy some drinks, opt for lower-calorie mixers such as vodka sodas or wine over cocktails. Remember the indirect impact alcohol can have on weight fluctuations. The increase to your appetite, the likelihood of reaching for more palatable, higher calorie food when drinking, lower inhibitions that lead to poor decision making, lack of sleep which impacts our hunger and satiety levels. This then rolls into the next day where decision making can continue to be poor, training may or may not happen, and if it does you struggle to bring your A game.
• Aim to maintain: I wouldn’t recommend everyone diets during this period as this can set you up for failure. For some who don’t struggle with temptation or adherence, a deficit at this time may be fine - or if you’re able to take controlled maintenance days where you stick to those calories around your planned events. For those that do struggle, there’s nothing wrong with setting calories at maintenance and dropping back into the deficit when you’re feeling up to it. Remember, maintenance isn’t about weight gain, you maintain where you’re at until you’re ready to make a change again. Keep getting your steps in, eat whole foods as often as you can, continue to hit your daily protein goal and get your training sessions in! Virtual high-five to you gurl!
• Keep moving: During the holiday season some gyms may close, or we might be away from home visiting friends and family (not to mention any of you that are in lockdown). It’s important we’re still moving our bodies. Try taking the family out for a walk, or getting some body weight only workouts in. TWS Anywhere is an equipment free program I designed specifically with the holiday period in mind - no equipment? No excuses! I got you!
• Mindful eating: We’ve talked about making mindful choices here, but how about mindful eating? Let’s shift our food focus to enjoying the moment with our friends and family. Before eating at the Christmas lunch table, try taking a few deep breaths, and slowly chewing each bite of food to avoid overeating - really be present with the taste of the amazing food you get to eat.
• Sleep and Sip: When we don’t get enough sleep, we tend to crave more high-calorie dense food as our hormones - ghrelin and leptin are altered (which are the hormones that tell us when we’re hungry and when we’re full). Lack of sleep obviously impacts our energy levels, which affects our workouts and motivation to train/ move. All part of the ‘how did I gain all this holiday weight?’ equation. Drinking water is also essential in keeping us hydrated particularly, in between sipping on alcohol as it can significantly reduce those sore heads we might get the next morning.
• Reflect: I’m big on daily reflections, every night I journal and reflect on how my day was, what I was proud of, what I might be able to do better and how. I then put my words into action the following day, here’s an example: If I overate my calories and it wasn’t planned, I’ll ask myself how and why it happened. Because I hadn’t eaten all day, I started snacking on food around the house that was calorie dense, so I went over my calories. How can I change this? I can ensure I’m eating at set meal times to avoid extreme hunger and poor choices. Bang! New habit formed. 

Now you’ve got the knowledge and the tools to tackle the holidays like a TWS pro! Remember, everything you do is a choice made by you. You get to choose how you behave in any given situation, no one is forcing you to do anything! You got this gf!