Do you ever feel like the world never wants you to lose weight? That is what most of us think as we walk around during the holiday season. With millions of parties full of decadent food, shops selling Christmas treats, and making Christmas cookies, it can feel impossible to lose weight or even keep it off during the holidays. Today we are talking about ways you can keep the extra holiday weight off and also lose some during Christmas this year.
Never Go To A Party Hungry
Since you know that a holiday party is going to be filled with fattening dips and cookies, don’t go on an empty stomach. If you are ravenous, there is no way you are going to be able to resist all the high-calorie foods. I suggest eating something healthy or lightly snacking the day of a party or an event. That way, you don’t feel like you have to eat everything in sight when you arrive. It is much easier to resist frosted sugar cookies on a full stomach than an empty one.
Start Your Plate Off Small
We often overestimate how much we can eat when we are famished. This holiday season, try to opt for a lighter plate to start. It is proven that eating slower helps you to lose weight. This is because our bodies actually have time to fill up and digest. That means that we won’t stuff our faces and end up with a stomachache. This Christmas, be wise about how much food you put on your plate and thus eat. We feel guilty throwing away or wasting food, so we often make ourselves eat much more than we are comfortable with. Go for a slimmer plate of food at first, and then assess how much you can eat after that.
Think Healthy, Buy Healthy
It can be easy when things pick up during the holiday season to just run to the fastest McDonalds or fast food restaurant instead of making a meal. Try your best to avoid doing this. Meal prep every weekend to avoid not having anything to eat during the week. Fill your house with healthy food, and say no to those holiday treats and cookies. If you don’t have them in your home, then you can’t eat them when you are feeling weak.
When you are packing your lunch for work, pack only what you want to eat. Because you packed it, you are stuck eating it. This can be an easy way to shed a few pounds when we want to add a sleeve of Oreos or Christmas cookies to our lunches.
Stay Away From Your “Weakness”
We all have those foods that tempt us far more than others. For me, that would be chips and chocolate. For you, it might be bread, pasta, cream cheese, butter, etc. I am not saying that you have to eat like a rabbit all of December, but don’t overdo it on those foods you just can’t say no to. Practice not buying them in the store. Even have a friend who can be an accountability partner that you can call when you’re this close to purchasing another package of Red Velvet Oreos.
Cook Less, Eat Less
I know for some of us, we have to make Christmas cookies. We are expected to by our families, bake sales for our children’s schools, or just because it’s part of our holiday traditions. But, I know especially for my family, we always end up having way too many holiday cookies left over. Maybe cut back on a specific type of cookie this year or make fewer batches. Focus on the cookies you and your family will eat the most of, and don’t get caught up in making more because you want to be Mrs. Christmas Betty Crocker.
Fewer cookies made means fewer cookies in your freezer, which means less temptation to sneak down in the middle of the night to re-heat some frozen cookies. If you have leftover cookies, another good idea is to pass them out to neighbors or friends. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a great batch of Christmas cookies.
Ask Your Friends To Cool It With Food Gifts
Yes, giving food as a gift is an easy and great way to show love this holiday season. But, it can be frustrating when you keep receiving food care packages from your loved ones. You have to eat it since they went to all that trouble, and now you are back to square one. If you usually receive food from friends and loved ones each year, maybe ask them to lay off this year. Tell them that you are trying to watch your weight and that they don’t need to go to all that trouble. They don’t need to get you anything.
Hit The Gym
The best way to keep weight off during the holidays is to continue working out. Just because you are busy wrapping gifts, getting gifts, and decorating, that doesn’t mean that you have to skip out on the gym. Make it a priority in your schedule.
Ask someone to be a workout buddy to help encourage you to go. Follow a workout plan that you can find online. Or, sign up for classes that will push you harder than you’ll push yourself. Don’t wait until January to lose all the weight you’ve gained, go to the gym now, so you don’t have any weight to lose.
Allow Yourself To Have Treats In Moderation
I don’t want you to leave this article thinking that you can never have a Christmas cookie or a bit of fudge. You can indulge yourself from time to time. It’s all about following the other tips I have listed above. Eating in moderation, not tempting yourself too much, and working out. Don’t feel guilty for eating the reject Christmas cookies or eating Christmas pudding.
We are all human, and we all should be able to have some great treats once and a while. Just make sure that if you are trying to keep off the holiday weight, that you don’t overdo it as you might have in the past.
Yes, Christmas can be a tough time on our waistlines, but it doesn’t have to be. I hope that this can be your healthiest and most joyful Christmas yet!
